> At 05:31 PM 10/14/96 -0800, you wrote:
> >A question for Tweets.
> >
> >Michael Price, in speaking of Vancouver's urban peregrines, noted that
> >
> >>Anyway, when you're a pigeon, all hands are turned against you.
>
> >JH: "So doesn't anything eat starlings?!"
>

William H. Lawrence:
> >
> >reaching back to the '30's--i was in a group of young falconers (several
> species of falcons including gyrs) in wash dc and we came up with the bright
> idea of catching starlings wholesale, freezing them for hawk food. a friend
> and i went out into maryland farmland to barn in current use as a winter
> roost by starlings. we did not check with owner since it was a 2am visit.
> with 2 flashlights and 4 gunny sacks we climbed up into the hay loft roused
> up the starlings until several hundred were flying around in the dark then
> turned on the flash lights and stuffed birds as they landed on the lighted
> spot into the sacks. we tied them off and climbed down and out of the barn
> with months' supply of food we thought--deep freezed em. after a few, very
> few meals the hawks rebelled and would not eat enough to keep them fit to
> fly. chucked the lot and waited for the spring migration and collected
> bushels of warblers and other small birds killed by flying into the
> washington monument. would freeze these birds to keep them. excellent food
> and well accepted. so much for the "flying rats" great name for starlings.
> starlings are probable not a steady source of food for peregrines etc.

As a counterexample to this, there was a Gyrfalcon that spent a winter 6-8
years ago at the West Haven, Connecticut, landfill. Being right next to a
largish city (New Haven) and only an hour and a half from New York, this
bird was watched constantly, and a detailed picture of its behavior
emerged, including when and where and what it hunted, where it flew to
pluck and eat it, where it slept. To cut to the chase, the Gyr hunted at
the landfill itself, among superabundant supplies of Rock Doves, Crows,
Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, and one Eurasian Jackdaw (!). And the Gyr
ate.....Starlings. Pretty much exclusively, according to the local
birders. I myself walked around under the tree where the Gyr habitually
plucked and ate its prey, looking for pellets, and found several snapped
off Starling bills (the Gyr would break off the bills as part of the
processing of the prey). So at least to that one individual, Starlings
were plenty palatable.

I've heard that young birds of prey tend to catch bigger prey, which are
easier to catch (less manoeverable), but riskier in that they are more
likely to injure the raptor. As the raptors get older and develop better
flying skills, they tend to leave the pheasants and rock doves alone and
hunt robins and warblers instead. So even though it would seem to make
sense for a Gyr to catch pigeons or Black Ducks, it might be more
profitable in the long run to specialize on starlings, if enough are
available. Anybody know whether that's really how it works with wild
raptors?

Chris Hill
Everett, WA
cehill at u.washington.edu