Previously at Gull Point on Sunday, a Peregrine Falcon was spotted and photographed before apparently departing to the southwest. Following account per a BirdingPI.com staff member on site: “With the bad weather, after losing sight of the falcon, seemed like a good idea to head back to Budny Beach. Approaching the old observation platform, however, we spotted an agile and fast-moving bird in flight to the north – maybe the falcon again?”
“Flying along the north dune line, it dived several times towards the beach:
“Final time, it didn’t come up again. Maybe it caught a bird?!?
“Nothing to do but quickly, or as quickly as possible, head through the grass, dunes, and snow to the north side of Gull Point. Fairly soon after that, saw it with prey in talon, an unfortunate but apparently ‘tastier than gull’ Mourning Dove.
“The falcon settled down on a driftwood stump, calmly plucking away feathers, which were blown away in the wind. Meanwhile, we’re ‘hiding’ in the grassy dunes just to the south, taking pictures.
“It flew further down the beach, but regularly stopped for working on the dove carcass. Fascinating to watch.”
Coming up soon, it gets ‘grislier!’
[Editor’s note: the ‘we’ in the quoted text above is apparently the ‘royal we.’ BirdingPI.com lacks the budget for deploying more than one staff member to Gull Point on the weekends.]
This team member, (staff??) who was having coffee while all this went on, is in ‘mourning’ for the dove….Thanks, Team Leader for leading the way! Good photo essay about the Falcon eating lunch1
Cheers! A bird has to eat, after all.