8 am Monday Oct. 9
Just watched a Peregrine Falcon bring down a duck near the fresh
water pond at the tip of Bush Point, Freeland, WA. Thirty or so
crows immediately gathered to scold and take turns swooping at the
falcon. The crows seemed a bit less bold than they are with other
birds of prey and left after about 10 minutes. The Falcon has the
wide sideburns of the Pacific ( Peales) variety. The Falcon began
plucking and eating the duck before the duck expired and the falcon
went on to remove a a lot of feathers. At one point a neighbor
driving off allarmed the Falcon enough that it took off. The Falcon
tried to lift off with the duck in it's talons, but dropped the duck
and circled around the immediate area for a few minutes, hovering,
looking around, circling, etc. before returning to the dead duck. At
8:50 the falcon is still feeding on the duck. I believe it was a
Mallard, but it was hard to see in the flurry of wings as the falcon
brought the duck down to earth.