Hi Tweeters,

Last night after work I spent some time at the fill and saw the most incredible Peregrine Falcon flight. There were several shorebirds that were very unsettled and I watched them wheel around 2 or 3 times. I thought a young man at the north end of the main pond was the problem but found out differently. At one point when the small flock wheeled around 2 of the birds dropped to the cattailed pond near the snags. I thought that was a little strange. I finally gave up on seeing any of them land on the shore and was walking away when a Peregrine Falcon passed me by with a bird in the talons. I never saw where it came from, it just appeared. The prey bird was still alive and struggling. Then the peregrine did the most amazing thing. It put it's wings on autopilot, dropped it's head and brought it's talons up with the prey to it's head at the same time. The falcon was not able to dispatch it's prey the first attempt and looked up and then tried again. The second time it
succeeded and then put on the afterburners to shake some harassing small birds (who knows what, I was focused on the falcon). The peregrine zoomed off to Husky stadium for dinner. It was one of those birding moments when it is all over, you look around to see if anyone else saw this and if they did to compare notes. But nope, just me so far as I know. I was amazed the falcon didn't drop down to the ground to finish off the prey, or that it never wavered in it's flight despite the fact the captured bird was struggling.

Kathy

Kathy Andrich
Roosting in Renton
chukarbird at yahoo.com


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