ZT writes:

Is this corkscrew hunting method of the Peregrine the common
observation? (Naturally, we had both expected the warp-speed stoop.)

I had the good fortune to see one of the downtown Seattle peregrines
take a pigeon about two months ago, and I was surprised at how many
times it missed, recovered, and tried again; by my count it took three
stabs it it before it latched on. I too expected it to basically nail
it the first time or give up.

There are advantages to having an 18th-floor window in one's office!

Josh Hayes, Columbia Basin Research
josh at pogo.cqs.washington.edu