scott@mccall.uucp (12/11/89)
This weekend I saw a hawk eating a wren. I live in the city(~30,000). I rarely seen a hawk in town much less eating its prey. I live in an apt. building, and this hawk was on my neighbors patio. Has anyone seen this before? -- Scott Davis (800)255-2762, in Kansas (913)776-4041 The McCall Pattern Company, 615 McCall Rd., Manhattan, KS 66502, USA UUCP: rutgers!ksuvax1!mccall!scott Internet: scott%mccall@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu
dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) (12/12/89)
In article <1870.2583873c@mccall.uucp> scott@mccall.uucp writes: >This weekend I saw a hawk eating a wren. I live in the city(~30,000). I >rarely seen a hawk in town much less eating its prey. I live in an apt. >building, and this hawk was on my neighbors patio. Has anyone seen this >before? It is certainly likely. Peregrine falcons have been known to make their nests in large cities for the past several years. Tall buildings are an ideal habitat for this cliff-nesting falcon, and as the bird is a bird-eater, the presence of pigeons creates a real smorgasbord! There are two well-known nests on two skyscrapers in Boston, and one nest was reported last year on the Verazzano Narrows Bridge in New York. Some cities actually "hacked" peregrines within the city limits for the express purpose of reducing pigeon populations. I've heard that this was done a number of times in Manhattan....but not Manhattan, Kansas, where Mr. McCall posted from! It's still possible that this city has its own population of 'grines who find buildings as comfortable as cliffs. -- Sam Conway dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu Chemistry Dept., Dartmouth College Vermont Raptor Center, VINS Save the Humans!
patth@ccnysci.UUCP (Patt Haring) (12/12/89)
In article <17866@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) writes: >In article <1870.2583873c@mccall.uucp> scott@mccall.uucp writes: >>This weekend I saw a hawk eating a wren. I live in the city(~30,000). I >>rarely seen a hawk in town much less eating its prey. I live in an apt. >>building, and this hawk was on my neighbors patio. Has anyone seen this >>before? > >It is certainly likely. Peregrine falcons have been known to make their >nests in large cities for the past several years. Tall buildings are >an ideal habitat for this cliff-nesting falcon, and as the bird is a >bird-eater, the presence of pigeons creates a real smorgasbord! There >are two well-known nests on two skyscrapers in Boston, and one nest >was reported last year on the Verazzano Narrows Bridge in New York. > [ ] Peregrine Falcons live in Midtown Manhattan (New York City) right around Central Park; also on the East Side near Rockefeller University and New York Hospital where ** FALCON WATCHERS ** scrutinize them most every day. Last year, or was it the year before, the daily newspapers ran articles about one of the young falcons learning to fly; it, unfortunately, couldn't land very well and fell into one of the large smokestacks (chimney) on one of the buildings on the east side but fortunately two or three falcon watchers saw it fall into the smokestack (some of the doctors from Memorial/Sloan Kettering were also watching the young falcon practice flying/landing) and reported it - another falcon watcher ran to the building where the smokestack was located - they opened the unused furnace and there it was, none the worse for wear :-) I believe it was placed back in/near its nesting place and lived to practice flying/landing with its nest mates once again :-) I saw a documentary film showing falcons living in big cities in Japan so this must not be an unusual occurrence. -- Patt Haring patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-
teexmmo@isis.educ.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) (12/13/89)
In article <1870.2583873c@mccall.uucp> scott@mccall.uucp writes: >This weekend I saw a hawk eating a wren. I live in the city(~30,000). I >rarely seen a hawk in town much less eating its prey. I live in an apt. >building, and this hawk was on my neighbors patio. Has anyone seen this >before? If you could see that it was eating a wren, you probably got a good view. Did you note any identifying marks colours etc? How did it fly when it departed? Did it make any noises? Here in sunny London (~10^^6) a falcon called the kestrel is fairly common, (I saw one within the last week), and it feeds on small birds and rodents. Like some other city birds (crows, pigeons) it is also often found on cliffs and hills. -- mjm@cu.neur.lon.ac.uk | Post: Computing & Statistics Unit JANET : mjm@uk.ac.lon.neur.cu | Institute of Neurology INTERNET: try mjm%cu.neur.lon.ac.uk | Queen Square, London, WC1 Phone : 01-837-5141 | London WC1 3BG