Hi Tweets,



On Sunday evening, around 7:30, Marissa Benavente and I were going out for Sushi in Georgetown and were approaching the 1st Ave South bridge when she asked me if I'd seen the Peregrines that nest there this year. I told her I had seen the pair only once this year, about 3 weeks ago. We then proceeded to cross the bridge northwards when Marissa cried "There's one now!" A male, judging by his small size and slender proportions, was flying rapidly north, off to our left. As we watched (and I continued to drive without hitting anything) it streaked over the big?sign for Michigan street that was covered with a bunch of non-plussed Starlings and made a beeline for a different target bird, crossing over the bridge in front of us, about 30 feet up and moving fast.



I saw the probable target was a Rock Pigeon and thought, "No, too big", but the little male went straight at it and the pigeon made a last second attempt to juke the peregrine, but received a glancing blow instead. The peregrine made a very, very tight 180 degree turn and snatched the pigeon out of mid-air, rapidly losing elevation as it did so. By that time it's path took it right over the bridge, in front of us still,?but the?little male stabilized his flight and was making off with its dinner. For a moment I thought it would come too low across the bridge and be startled into dropping its prey by all the traffic. This seemed to be a savvy, urban peregrine though, and the only thing we missed was the bloody denouement of the whole hunt. Since I was on my way for sushi though, I didn't mind being spared that. Raw fish is daunting enough for me to handle without thinking of bloody pigeons...



Score: Peregrine 1, Rock Pigeon 0. (Just like the hapless Sounders vs. Red Bulls?game tonight)





good birding,




Jim Flynn
Seattle, WA


good birding,




Jim Flynn
Seattle, WA