Darn! You had my hopes up thinking that the Peregrine had the Starling
for lunch! :)

Bryn Kildow
Olympia, WA

Desilvis, Denis J wrote:

>11:47am start - outgoing tide; mudflats visible
>12:11pm end
>
>Tweeters,
>[This didn't get through the outgoing system yesterday afternoon--thus, late delivery.]
>Brief interaction between the Peregrine Falcon and a European Starling atop the east-bank power tower. The falcon was perched near the top of the south end of the tower, but not at the extreme south end, so there was a structural brace between the falcon and the end of the tower top. A starling landed on a cross-brace on the end of the tower, about 5-6 feet away and 3 feet down from the falcon. As soon as the starling landed, the falcon tilted its head to look at it; the starling made several movements looking as if it was going to fly (everything pulled in, lowered body), but didn't. Starling = jerky movements; falcon = craning its head, peering down, but not looking as if it was going to fly (its position was facing away from the starling). This went on for many (30+seconds) until the starling took off to the east at as fast as I've seen a starling fly (proverbial bat outa hell). The falcon looked at the starling, but then turned to look back to the north. Because the starling approached the tower from below, it could be that it didn't see the falcon perched toward the tower interior. Big surprise!
>
>Birds seen during this scan include the following:
>Canada Goose (2)
>Gadwall (2)
>Peregrine Falcon
>Mew Gull (8)
>Glaucous-winged Gull (3)
>American Crow (6)
>Bewick's Wren
>American Robin
>European Starling
>Red-winged Blackbird
>
>May all your birds be identified,
>
>Denis DeSilvis
>Seattle, WA
>mailto:denis.j.desilvis at boeing.com
>
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