| Author | Message | ||
| pauldo
Senior Member Username: pauldo Post Number: 1513 Registered: 6-2006 |
Almost tempted to post this in "What Are You Listening To Now?", but really this is what I listened to this morning. I get up early (old guy syndrome) and was sitting inside enjoying my coffee when all of a sudden I hear a rather loud QUEAK QUEAK QUEAK - it sounded a lot like a bad wheel bearing, very rhythmic in nature and ,,,, well kind of queaky. The sound did not stop and there was no Doppler effect (ala a car rolling by with a bad wheel bearing). So out of my comfy chair and to the back stoop I go. Step outside and find a Peregrine Falcon on the electric pole right in our back yard (on 56th Street in Milwaukee). The bird had adult plumage and was queaking whilst raising it's wings partially. Almost in a distressed manner. All of a sudden another Peregrine appears and pearches atop of the electrical pole with something clasped in it's talon. The bird below it kept queaking and raising it's wings while the bird above sat there holding it's prize. Then, to my wondering eyes, a third Peregrine comes swooping in (hardly at full speed!) and dive bombs the queaker. Several passes at the queaker did nothing to dissuade its queaking. Finally the queaker took off and landed on a roof two doors down. The dive-bomber pursued it and kept 'attacking' whilst the queaker kept a queaking. After several passes the queaker was dislodged from the roof and went out of sight, the 'attacker' also went out of site. Now the bird with the prize starts quocking (a lower pitched queak if you will) but again rather rhythmic and certainly loud. Somewhere during this I went inside and grabbed our camera; I started to video the quoker and watched as it rhythmically quocked and started pivoting in a circle atop the electrical pole. As if it were calling out to at least one of the other Peregrine's. After a short video shoot (hopefully the quoking is faithfully reproduced) I switched the camera to 'picture' mode so that I could zoom in and get some hopefully nice shots. Well our camera makes a 'beep' when a picture is taken, the bird heard the beep and turned towards me and became silent. I went inside and futzed with the camera to turn off all sounds (beep and fake shutter noise). The quoker kicks it in gear again and starts calling out. My wife was awake now, she came out and we saw the quocker two doors down atop an electrical pole still holding it's prey. Suddenly the bird flies by and then 2 second later another Pergrine goes flying by in the same direction . . . we ass-u-me it was the 'attacker'. And they flew out of sight. All three birds had adult plumage, again with the assumptions . . . perhaps the 'queaker' was a young adult (not sure when they get their adult plumage) and it was time for the young one to fend for it's self. The male caught breakfast and the female was 'attacking' the youngster in an attempt to show some tough love and let the bird find its own way. All in all it was wondrous way to start my morning, we have seen hawks in our neighborhood plenty of times, but the Peregrines were a special surprise. | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 4290 Registered: 5-2009 |
Double post correction (Message edited by sonicus on June 21, 2015) | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 4291 Registered: 5-2009 |
That must have been very interesting to observe . I treasure such moments as well . | ||
| rv_bass
Junior Username: rv_bass Post Number: 36 Registered: 8-2014 |
Double post (Message edited by RV_BASS on June 21, 2015) | ||
| rv_bass
Junior Username: rv_bass Post Number: 37 Registered: 8-2014 |
Hi Pauldo, What a great way to start the day! Did the squeaker being attacked have a brownish color, vertical streaks on its underside (rather than horizontal bars) and was smaller than the other two birds? If so it was a juvenile. Were the other two birds grayish and was the attacker the largest of the three? If so they were adults and the large attacker was the female. Peregrines display reverse sexual dimorphism (females larger than males). You might want to run this by the folks at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (link below). Thanks for sharing! - Rob http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Peregrine_Falcon/id | ||
| pauldo
Senior Member Username: pauldo Post Number: 1514 Registered: 6-2006 |
Rob, the attacker was constantly in motion, couldn't compare it's size very well. The queaker appeared to have the same gray color and perhaps a tad smaller. Thanks for the link. | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 6111 Registered: 7-2004 |
Cool story. As is often stated around here, where are the pics? Bill, tgo | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 409 Registered: 6-2014 |
Related funny story: A few years ago, the nearby City of Roanoke, VA. was suffering from a pigeon overpopulation problem in the city market area. After the plastic owls, sirens, and firehoses couldn't get the pigeons to relocate willingly, somebody at City Hall got the bright idea to bring in some Peregrine falcons. It worked brilliantly, being quite a wildlife buff, I knew what was about to happen, but I don't think anybody else had a sense for what public reaction would be when the majestic birds of prey began slaughtering pigeons by-the-bushel down on market square. To this day there's still a running joke around here... whenever City Council chooses to table an issue rather than deal with it, we say - "maybe they oughta' get some more falcons", or "maybe they're still remembering the falcons". | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 410 Registered: 6-2014 |
I can't find the aftermath news story online, (because apparently 1992 was a long time ago!) but paragraph two of this article mentions the effort to establish "urban" falcons in downtown Roanoke. http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/birds/peregrine-falcon/recovery-efforts-western-virginia.asp Since Peregrines are outnumbered by eagles, ospreys, and other hawks in this part of the state, it's rare to see them here, but it happens. I know of one county a couple hours north of here where bald eagles are actually becoming a nuisance. (as in; hazard to livestock) | ||
| pauldo
Senior Member Username: pauldo Post Number: 1515 Registered: 6-2006 |
This is the best shot that I had. You can see the prize in its left talon.  | ||
| rv_bass
Junior Username: rv_bass Post Number: 38 Registered: 8-2014 |
Nice Photo! | ||
| pauldo
Senior Member Username: pauldo Post Number: 1517 Registered: 6-2006 |
This morning I heard one the Falcons again . . . I think they may have a nest in a cell tower that is about 4 blocks away! I'll be watching. |
