By Mel Carriere
Since I decided to start blogging about birds about a month or so ago it is amazing what interesting avian sights I have seen coming out of the skies and up from the murky depths of San Diego Bay. Either I am paying more attention to birds or the narcissist divas of the feathered set have heard about my blog and are craving the spotlight of being featured here. Sorry birdies, your captive audience so far consists of only 239 people who probably stumbled upon my writings by accident. It's still a work in progress.
Since I began blogging I have seen some really cool stuff. On January 17th I spotted a pair of Magpie Jays flying between Eucalyptus Trees down by the Tijuana River. Since they are not a native species the Magpie Jays do not count as far as listing is concerned, but they have established a colony down in the river valley that appears to be maintaining a tenuous lease on life, and whether native or not they are an impressive sight.
On February 7th I reported a Pacific Loon here that I spotted swimming alongside a shipyard pier, which was a new one for me and a score for the list. Then on February 10th there were Bluebirds in my front yard, which is a first for my neighborhood. Finally yesterday, which would have been February 11th, I spotted A Peregrine Falcon that raced in to harass a flock of Crows that were yelling insults at it from the safety of the thick foliage of a pine tree.
I haven't seen too many Peregrines during the course of my birding career, but as soon as I saw this one swooping in from a distance of about a half a mile I knew immediately what it was. By the wing shape it was definitely a Falcon, but too big to be a Kestrel and flying much too fast to be a Hawk, who typically approach at a more leisurely pace. There are very few occasions where I don't question what a distant bird shadow may be, and this was one of them. The raptor had "Peregrine" written all over it, as if it had been copied and pasted into the sky from the silhouette section of the Peterson Field Guide.
The Peregrine Falcon, from this brief observation, is ass kicking on the wing, and the Crows hiding deep in the greenery of that pine tree acknowledged this too. There have been many times I have seen a "murder" of Crows harassing a flying raptor, and most of the time that raptor is trying to get away; albeit while flying slow enough to maintain a sense of decorum at the same time. I have never seen Crows back away from a fight with a Red-Tail or a Red-Shouldered Hawk. They make a noisy, boisterous display of chasing these predators safely out of their neighborhood.
But the Crows hunkering down in that tree weren't about to sally forth to rumble with that Peregrine. They were making a great deal of noise, to be sure; the air was filled with their loud, raucous protests, but it was kind of like the neighborhood nerd taunting the neighborhood bully from the safety of his second story window. It really doesn't have any effect whatsoever on the bully except to maybe piss him off a little more for the next time you and he are alone in a room.
As a matter of fact, the Peregrine seemed to be the one taunting the Crows. It swooped in to practically brush the tip of the pine tree giving refuge to the Crows, and I gained an impressive profile view of the bird as it buzzed the Crow tower. As a matter of fact I believe the Peregrine may have caught the Crows off guard, and judging from its sudden change of direction and the breathtaking dash it made toward that tall pine, I believe it intended to "eat Crow" for dinner.
As it turned out it was a near miss for the Crows, and the only thing that was dined upon was some humble pie by the Corvids in the treetops who were, to quote the bard, "...full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Judging by this uncharacteristic humility of the Corvus clan in this instance, for me the Peregrine Falcon is the unrivaled raptor champion of the skies.
As usual, my poor photography skills require outside help. This stunning photo is attributed to: "Falco peregrinus -Morro Rock, Morro Bay, California, USA -flying-8" by Mike Baird - Flickr: Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) at Morro Rock, Morro Bay, CA 03 Dec. 2012. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Falco_peregrinus_-Morro_Rock,_Morro_Bay,_California,_USA_-flying-8.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Falco_peregrinus_-Morro_Rock,_Morro_Bay,_California,_USA_-flying-8.jpg
Birds by Mel is powered for flight by copious amounts of shade-grown warbler-friendly coffee, which unfortunately is very expensive. I have nothing to do with ad selection, but if you don't find them overly offensive or aggravating please see what my sponsors featured to the right and on the bottom of this post have to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment