Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!occrsh!uokmax!apple!usc!samsung!uunet!edsews!edsdrd!gss From: gss@edsdrd.eds.com (Gary Schiltz) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: anyone seen any... Summary: Released bird? Message-ID: <107@kepsalu.edsdrd.eds.com> Date: 6 Sep 90 16:32:24 GMT References: <34190@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> <49339@olivea.atc.olivetti.com> <49343@olivea.atc.olivetti.com> Organization: EDS Research and Development, Auburn Hills, MI 48057 Lines: 39 In article <49343@olivea.atc.olivetti.com>, mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) writes: > In article <49339@olivea.atc.olivetti.com>, mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) writes: > > > > A juvenile Peregrine Falcon was much more > > successful in picking off a peep. When we first noticed it, the peeps > > were already up in the air and the falcon was only about thirty > > feet above the ground. It dropped quickly to the ground and landed > > on a peep that refused to fly. > > I thought that this behavior was somewhat unusual. It was my > impression that peregrines only took prey birds out of the air. Of > course, we may have come into this drama late and missed something. > I suppose that it is entirely possible that the falcon had already > struck and was merely retrieving its prey from the ground. > > Mike My wife was the hacking attendent for the Peregrines raised for the Peregrine reintroduction project in downtown Detroit the past few years, and she also considers this to be a strange behavior. Another possible explanation is that the falcon could have been from this or a similar project. After young Peregrines are released, but before they learn to hunt, they are fed dead birds (cowbirds and domestic quail) attached to food boards on the "ground" (actually the roof of a 40 story building). Only after the birds are very successful at catching their own prey is the food reduced and eventually withdrawn. Since the young birds have this food source for a time while they are fairly independent, perhaps they are more likely to consider taking a bird off the ground when they are truly on their own. ---- /\ What cheer, /\ | Gary Schiltz, EDS R&D, 3551 Hamlin Road | / o< cheer,