Last summer we observed the Peregrines at Snoqualmie Falls on numerous occasions. On one trip before the young fledged, we observed one of the parents plucking, what us and others decided, was some type of gull. We all wondered how this could be. The Peregrine and gull were not on flat ground. They were on a rock outcropping near the top of the canyon where we had seen the Peregrines pluck pigeons before taking them to the babies and/or eating themselves.

About a week after all the young had fledged, we saw two of the young feeding on a gull on a different rock when we first observed them.

In both instances, we saw the gull on the rock without seeing how it got there. Were the gulls flying over the area and the peregrines took them out of the air or did they bring them in from somewhere else? Both seem hard to believe. We think they would be to heavy and/or awkward to carry any distance. If they took them out of the air above the falls, one would think that they would have to take them to an easer place to land other then on the outcroppings. We find it hard to believe that they would have that much control with wings made for speed rather than lift carrying something that big.

We are far from being as knowledgeable as most on this board. It will be interesting to see what others have to say.

Bob n Bernie Meyer
Renton

BobnBernie at Comcast.net




----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Paulson
To: Tweeters
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 5:02 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] large prey for Sharp-shinned Hawk


This forwarded from Dick Logan of Olympia, who's not on tweeters. A robin seems at the large end of prey for a Sharp-shinned Hawk, so I suspect it was a female sharpie.



Begin forwarded message:


From: Dbirdy61 at comcast.net
Date: November 18, 2006 9:24:14 PM PST
To: dennispaulson at comcast.net (Dennis Paulson)
Cc: Mark_logan_seattle at yahoo.com (Mark Logan)


Hi Dennis

We had an interesting incident this afternoon I thought you might be interested in. We were raking leaves in the back about three when a robin started singing in the Doug fir about 15 feet away between us and the house. Suddenly there was an explosion of feathers and a Sharp-shinned Hawk fell out of the tree on top of the robin. It stood on the body looking at us for a minute or so and then began to fly away from us and toward the house. The robin was so heavy that the poor hawk could neither gain enough elevation to get over the house or turn sharply to the left and consequently ran into the house. The hawk and robin once again fell to the ground. Then the hawk jumped up and flew off. I went over to see how the robin was doing but alas it was dead. Left the robin there and went into house but the sharpie never came back. So much for that lunch idea.

Cheers

Dick

Dick Logan


-----

Dennis Paulson

1724 NE 98 St.

Seattle, WA 98115

206-528-1382

dennispaulson at comcast.net





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