[Tweeters] Feral vs. Wild Rock Pigeons

[LMarkoff]

Bob, regarding your p.s. about the possibility of the Prairie Falcon that you saw taking a Rock Pigeon, I would say that there is a good chance that it could.  When I was visiting the Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, CO, in February, 2000, I saw a Prairie Falcon hunting the Rock Pigeons that were on the cliffs.  I didn’t see it catch one, but it sure was trying.  

 

And for a comparison, a Cooper’s Hawk is smaller than a Prairie Falcon.  When I lived in Virginia I had a good number of hawks winter in my yard.  One time a Cooper’s Hawk took a Rock Dove off my feeder, and then struggling, flew with it to the bottom of the hill that was my back yard.  There on the ground the Coop and the Rock Dove wrestled, desperately.  It was a wild, lengthy tussle, but in the end the Coop won.  The Coop then ate on the Dove until full, so full that the Coop could hardly move.  Eventually it managed to hop up on the nearby fence.  There it sat for a few hours before eventually flying away.  So if an overachieving Coop can take a Rock Dove, I would guess that a Prairie Falcon could too.  

 

Lori Markoff

Citrus Heights, CA

 

From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Robert O'Brien
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2022 4:45 PM
To: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson at comcast.net>
Cc: TWEETERS tweeters <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Feral vs. Wild Rock Pigeons

 

<snip>

And then here is a flock I photographed a few years ago at the remote Fort Rock in Lake County OR.  (The ~15,000 year old sandals were found near here).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/159695762@N07/

All these images appear mostly the 'blue form' with quite a bit of variation.  Seems like Cornell is waiting for the regression, if it occurs at all, to be completel  

 

Bob OBrien  Portland

PS  As to my Rock Pigeon photos, the third is a Prairie Falcon in attendance at the 'Fort'.  Looks pretty tiny to take down a Rock Pigeon, but who knows?

<snip>

 

 

 

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