John Sproul called my attention to a website that discusses Peregrine
Falcons that tried to nest unsuccessfully in a tower across from the
University of Michigan's Museum of Zoology (http://
www.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/birds/peregrine/um-peregrines.html). People
working in the bird collection have been keeping track of the prey
dropped from the tower, where the Peregrines have been roosting for
several years. I have summarized what they found in 2007, between
March 11 and October 18. I didn't include unidentified prey remains,
including a few unidentified rails and cuckoos and thrushes. The site
is near a marsh and a river, thus the water birds. Obviously some
birds are much more vulnerable than others to the Peregrine mode of
hunting.

Birds such as pigeons and doves, flickers, and cuckoos that commute
by flying above their breeding habitat seem especially prone to be
prey. Note that a fair number of prey items are what we would
consider in the size range of Merlin food. Note also that among the
most frequently documented prey are birds that we don't see all that
often. Bird-eaters are better birders.

Pied-billed Grebe 6
Horned Grebe 5
Least Bittern 2
Green Heron 1
Bufflehead 1
Virginia Rail 3
Sora 15
American Coot 1
Killdeer 3
Dunlin 1
Wilson's Snipe 3
American Woodcock 18
Bonaparte's Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 15
Mourning Dove 17
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 22
Black-billed Cuckoo 3
Belted Kingfisher 2
Northern Flicker 12
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
American Robin 2
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
Brown Thrasher 3
European Starling 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5
Eastern Meadowlark 3
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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