I got home last night about 7:30 and my wife said she thought the crows had
something cornered in the trees of the ravine. When I went out to look
things were calm for a couple of minutes and the flock of about 12-15 looked
like it was getting ready to leave. As they started to stream out a young
Peregrine Falcon came shooting in and tried to snatch one out of the air.
For the next 5 minutes it made engaged in aerial combat with the crows
trying to grab them. When they tried to perch and shelter in a Douglas-fir,
the falcon would climb up some distance and then dive down hard on them and
try to knock them out. It made about twenty attempts before giving up and
flying off. The crows at first thought they could mob it but soon were
dodging for their lives. The Peregrine was incredibly agile but could never
figure out how to actually capture a crow. I assume it was a young bird not
very good at hunting yet but maybe it was just trying to mess with the
crows? Photo by my son Garnet on ebird.



Good birding,

Ed

Ed Swan

Nature writer and guide

edswan2 at comcast.net <mailto:edswan2 at comcast.net>

206.949.3545

www.theswancompany.com





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