Subject: hawk and falcon showdown in Red Square!
Date: Jan 16 12:47:04 1999
From: Martin J. Muller - martinmuller at email.msn.com


Tweetsters,

Concerning yesterday's reports by Alyssa and Scott on the Peregrine Falcon
(Falco peregrinus) stooping a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis):

Most likely the Peregrine Falcon was D1, the second-year female (banded as a
hatchling in an eyrie in the San Juan Islands by Bud Anderson), who this
past October, took over the I-5 Ship Canal territory after the disappearance
of "Freeway" (the female who used that territory for at least seven previous
winters).

In the past Red-tailed Hawks have been known to raid Freeway's caches of
left-over pigeon, and Freeway would on occasion do aerial battle with
redtails. D1, however, seems to be much less tolerant of redtails. She will
frequently fly from her perch on one of the power towers next to the I-5
Ship Canal bridge to wherever the redtail is and, as described yesterday,
relentlessly harass the redtail. The redtail in case usually is an immature
bird that has been hanging out on the University grounds a lot. Last week,
while walking to the Fisheries and Oceanography library, I walked underneath
the bird perched in a (25 feet?) lamppost. From my vantage point I could see
the I-5 Ship Canal power towers and I checked for the "extra blob" in the
top, indicating the peregrine's presence. Silly, really, for most likely if
it had been within sight it would have come over to harass the redtail. I
guess I was hoping to witness what was seen in Red Square yesterday.

To help keep track of peregrines in the area and incidents like these it
would really help if people call these incidents (time, location, event)
into the Seattle Peregrine Hotline (206/654-4423) maintained by Ruth Taylor.

Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at email.msn.com