Subject: Re: Peregrines eating squirrels
Date: Oct 16 05:08:26 1996
From: Don Baccus - donb at rational.com


Kelly McAllister:

>That's it, a rather unusual kind of call, but not unprecedented for the
>values and point-of-view expressed. Are there any hawks in the city that
>regularly take Eastern Gray Squirrels out on the lawn?

Gawd, I hope so...

For another point of view, consider the folks at Tektronix. I spent about
three mornings photographing baby Coops on their Beaverton campus - mom
had built the nest in an oak at the edge of the parking lot next to one
of the engineering buildings. An engineer there was kind enough to e-mail
me with the news.

My 600/4 usually attracts a crowd (makes it hard at times to photograph!)
and this was no exception. I used the opportunity to teach folks a bit
about the birds.

About a dozen folks asked me if they'd prey on the squirrels - the campus
is overrun. They were really hoping the Coops would, because the squirrels
are obnoxious. I thought it was pretty funny, until (during my first visit)
someone pointed out that there was an obnoxious squirrel in my camera bag.
And on a later visit folks got excited because one of the fledglings was chasing
a squirrel around on the ground just before I arrived (and of course Coops
do eat limited numbers of squirrels and similar critters). They weren't
rooting for the squirrel...

> Should this caller call again, can I transfer the call to anyone out there? :)
Sure! - as long as your department's liability insurance is paid-up.

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, at http://www.xxxpdx.com/~dhogaza