Subject: [Tweeters] Peregrine Falcon vs Cooper's Hawk
Date: Oct 1 17:50:44 2007
From: Ruth Taylor - rutht at seanet.com


Hello:

A few weeks ago a post mentioned a brief interaction between a Peregrine
Falcon and a Cooper's Hawk, with the Coop buzzing the perched peregrine and
then perching nearby. I've spent years watching peregrines (and an
increasing amount of time watching Cooper's Hawks in recent years) and have
never seen an interaction between the two.
Last Saturday I watched an adult female peregrine repeatedly chase a
plethora of pigeons at the Grain Terminal and saw a brief interaction with a
Coop. In my opinion the peregrine chases did not appear to be the intense,
"serious" hunts of a hungry bird.
While the falcon was out of view on the other side of the structure, I
spotted a juvenile Cooper's Hawk perched on an out-of-the-way railing. The
peregrine then flew back on the side of the structure where the hawk was,
but didn't approach it and returned to a regular perch near the water. A few
minutes later, the peregrine put the pigeons up again, and the Coop swooped
down at her as she flew a little below its perch.
Instantly the peregrine was in hot pursuit of and rapidly gaining on a
Cooper's Hawk that was headed toward the adjacent street as fast as it could
fly. The two birds appeared to be the same length, but what a difference in
shape! To my great disgust, a building blocked my view just as the birds
were at the street; about 3 or 4 seconds later, the peregrine flew back into
view and headed to the Grain Terminal. Since I didn't see a dead hawk in the
street, I assume it escaped into the trees just across the street.
About ten minutes later, with another pigeon chase in progress and the
peregrine again on the far side of the structure, I saw a Cooper's Hawk
flying close to where the hawk had been perched before, though I couldn't
see where it went. I don't know if it was the same individual, but I suspect
it was trying to take advantage of the disturbance and nab one of the
pigeons that the falcon had flushed.
Did I mention that this was great fun to watch and that the falcon was
beautiful? Sometimes birding the industrial areas can be rewarding.


Ruth Taylor
Seattle/Ballard
rutht at seanet.com