After my description of Yellow-headed Blackbirds showing up as peregrine prey
in Seattle, Michael Price asks:

>Where would the YHBL be coming from, Martin?

To tell you the truth, Michael, I don't know. I know they're not going
anywhere though...

But seriously; several springs ago an immature male YHBL showed up at Green
Lake, displaced three male Red-winged Blackbirds from their territories and
sang his little heart out for three weeks before giving up and leaving (or did
he die?). Again no idea whence he came or went.
Perhaps if we didn't have peregrines patrolling the area this would happen
more often.

My own feeling is (very unscientific) that birds of prey have a certain
prey-search-image (if you will). They hunt certain species in certain areas,
based on availability, or what they were taught, or learned to like (see the
posting on the peregrine with a taste for Cattle Egrets from miles away). Then
when something out of the ordinary shows up, they may even make an extra
effort, just to find out how it tastes. I know I like to try new things, why
wouldn't peregrines?

In this vein you could even explain why Stewart's mate Bell, one summer
morning, spent ten minutes chasing, finally catching and then delivering to
the young in the nest box, a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Nothing wrong with RBNU in
Seattle. Except Bell hunted and caught this one above the fourty-seventh floor
of a building in downtown Seattle...(I watched the hunt from a nearby buidling
and FRG-volunteers identified the prey delivered minutes after the event from
the video images)

This prey-search-image is very unscientific and anthropomorphic, but that's
how I feel. Give me another lifetime and I'll research it...Anybody out there
ever get the same feeling? Anybody ever come across literature on this subject
(other than the standard knowledge that predators will take what is most
readily available etc.)?

Just wondering out loud...

Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at classic.msn.com