At 11am today I was enjoying a sunbreak in the South end of Lord Hill Park
off Tester Rd. I was sitting in a sunny spot overlooking the old quarry when
a group of robins started alarm calling. Several of the birds feeding along
the road edge flew up into the trees, but a flicker and 3 robins stayed put
on the ground. The alarms stopped and the flicker flew up heading across
the large open space when a falcon came off a tree. The robins all started
alarming again and the flicker changed course, made a 90 degree turn and
headed into some cedars. The falcon made a straight line fast flight
towards the three robins that had been on the ground and were now flying and
calling with loud short chips as if to say...Oh Sh*T...

The three robins all got to the trees pretty much just as the falcon did and
I saw one come back out the way it had come, the other two were lost to
view. There were about 20 or so Robins around the vicinity and all of them
were alarm calling. After about 5 minutes everything settled down and I
walked over to where the falcon was last seen. I poked around and was just
about to give it up and continue my hike when a flash of wings revealed the
falcon flying through the trees. I poked around some more and found the
robin carcass, with no breast.

I marked the area and left on my hike. About 2 hours later I returned
intending to take the carcass home (to photograph) and I was not too
surprised that it was gone.

Looking through my field notes this is 6th year in a row that I have seen a
falcon in this area in February.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Snohomish County, WA