Hi Doug...you asked

I know of no other reports of a Peregrine plucking its prey while in
flight, and am interested to know how common (or uncommon) this is.

I watched an adult female peregrine take a Mew Gull off the surface of the
ocean and struggle to fly with it, just above the surface of the water. She
dropped down onto the sand just above the wave line on the incoming tide,
and plucked and ate part of the gull before being bumped by an incoming
wave. She then flew toward and over me to a nearby root wad to finish her
meal. But as she flew I was amazed to see her eating "on the fly", something
I had not previously seen in the 5 years of watching peregrines here on the
beach at Ocean Shores.

Perhaps the knowlede of bald eagles and other peregrines in the greater
vicinity has something to do with it. I have watched many raptors eat their
prey, and peregrines seem to gulp theirs down quicker than any other. The
Nisqually delta has eagles too as well as other raptors; maybe the answer is
eat fast or lose it to someone bigger!

Dianna Moore
Ocean Shores, Wa.
dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com