On arriving on the Univ. of Washington Campus Monday morning, I saw an
adult female Peregrine Falcon. That's not so noteworthy by itself, but
the bird was diving repeatedly at something on a telephone pole crossbar,
so I went to investigate. It turned out the Peregrine was diving at a
perched Red-tailed Hawk, and was KAK-KAK-KAK-KAK-ing for all it was worth
on every dive. I don't know why the Peregrine was so upset at an ordinary
looking Red-tailed Hawk (it was already diving at the red-tail when I
arrived, and continued for at least 20 more dives over a couple minutes
while I watched). There was nothing in the Red-tail's feet to explain it.

I'd never heard a Peregrine vocalize like that except on tape, and had
always thought that call was associated with nest defense.


Christopher E. Hill
Department of Zoology
University of Washington
P. O. Box 351800
Seattle, WA 98195-1800
cehill at u.washington.edu