Peregrine in my garden

[forgotusername]

Late yesterday afternoon, we were amazed to see a Peregrine Falcon eating a pigeon in our garden. Although we are in a rural area, it's not a place where you would expect to see Peregrines. It's some miles from the Avon Gorge where they nest on cliffs and a similar distance from an old disused quarry. We often see Buzzards and Kestrels but this was definitely a Peregrine. Here are a couple of photos. I'm afraid they were taken from our kitchen some distance away so they're not very sharp.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/019l7cV ... gS4rB1RPLw
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cbJbd0 ... aEVSZorPog

The Peregrine spent well over an hour on his meal. Initially meticulously plucking the bird as you can see from the big heap of feathers. Then he ate until all that was left was a bit of leg which he managed to fly off with. What really surprised us was the lack of a carcass when we came to clean away the residue. There were no bones at all, not even the skull or beak nor legs. I can only think he ate every bit of the dead bird. DAK if they do that? Although a bit gruesome to watch, it was enthralling to see such a magnificent predator in action.

[bungeejumper]

Fabulous pics! We thought we were doing well with the barn owl which hunts pigeons among our apple trees (and which also leaves no mess apart from the feathers.) But I'm properly jealous now.

BJ

[Tedx]

Fabulous pics! We thought we were doing well with the barn owl which hunts pigeons among our apple trees (and which also leaves no mess apart from the feathers.) But I'm properly jealous now.

BJ

Yeah, great pic. We've had a Sparrowhawk in our garden a couple of times over the years but that's about it.

Just out of town, we've seen Buzzards and Kestrels.

[forgotusername]

Yes what a sight. We've also just found the rest of the carcass in another part of the garden. That solves the mystery of the missing body. Didn't see him fly over there. It's food waste day in our recycling so just in time.

[Mike4]

Excellent photo!

He doesn't look much bigger than the pigeon being eaten. Some of the pigeons around here are HUGE, almost the size of battleships these days.

Ok perhaps the size of small chickens...

[Dicky99]

Late yesterday afternoon, we were amazed to see a Peregrine Falcon eating a pigeon in our garden. Although we are in a rural area, it's not a place where you would expect to see Peregrines. It's some miles from the Avon Gorge where they nest on cliffs and a similar distance from an old disused quarry. We often see Buzzards and Kestrels but this was definitely a Peregrine. Here are a couple of photos. I'm afraid they were taken from our kitchen some distance away so they're not very sharp.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/019l7cV ... gS4rB1RPLw
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cbJbd0 ... aEVSZorPog

The Peregrine spent well over an hour on his meal. Initially meticulously plucking the bird as you can see from the big heap of feathers. Then he ate until all that was left was a bit of leg which he managed to fly off with. What really surprised us was the lack of a carcass when we came to clean away the residue. There were no bones at all, not even the skull or beak nor legs. I can only think he ate every bit of the dead bird. DAK if they do that? Although a bit gruesome to watch, it was enthralling to see such a magnificent predator in action.

Despite the low resolution it looks a lot like a Sparrow Hawk to me.

[jaizan]

I would love to have some predators to take out the pigeons where I live.

[EviesDad]

Late yesterday afternoon, we were amazed to see a Peregrine Falcon eating a pigeon in our garden. Although we are in a rural area, it's not a place where you would expect to see Peregrines. It's some miles from the Avon Gorge where they nest on cliffs and a similar distance from an old disused quarry. We often see Buzzards and Kestrels but this was definitely a Peregrine. Here are a couple of photos. I'm afraid they were taken from our kitchen some distance away so they're not very sharp.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/019l7cV ... gS4rB1RPLw
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cbJbd0 ... aEVSZorPog

The Peregrine spent well over an hour on his meal. Initially meticulously plucking the bird as you can see from the big heap of feathers. Then he ate until all that was left was a bit of leg which he managed to fly off with. What really surprised us was the lack of a carcass when we came to clean away the residue. There were no bones at all, not even the skull or beak nor legs. I can only think he ate every bit of the dead bird. DAK if they do that? Although a bit gruesome to watch, it was enthralling to see such a magnificent predator in action.

Despite the low resolution it looks a lot like a Sparrow Hawk to me.

I also would say that was a Sparrowhawk.

[Dicky99]

Took me a while to locate the photos but a few years back I had cause to visit the tower blocks opposite Acton Police station. When I exited from one of the blocks I was greeted by the sight of a Sparrow Hawk tearing chunks out of a pigeon on the grass bank.

To my absolute amazement as I inched closer and a bit at a time it paid no attention to my presence and I ended up sat on the grass 3 or 4 metres away watching. Even more amazing was that after a good few minutes of the hawk tearing chunks out of the pigeons breast, the pigeon suddenly extricated itself and flew off with the Sparrow Hawk in pursuit.

Hopefully the link will work.

https://imgur.com/a/xZlp0DG

[forgotusername]

Eviesdad said it looked like a sparrow hawk. That's probably the result of less than sharp photos. Seeing the bird over the course of an hour confirmed that it was a Peregrine. I mentioned it to my neighbour who said that he saw a Peregrine sitting on the fork of a small tree in his garden looking intently at their bird feeder. This was only a week or so ago.

[EviesDad]

I still would say it's a Sparrow Hawk based on eye colour, leg colour & plumage.
https://www.nwt.org.uk/wildlife-explorer/birds/birds-prey/sparrowhawk?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8MG1BhCoARIsAHxSiQm49uVJRcHz-4RPXtUBJwp23W9QLgkyq35RLtGp8I6Xzv5Oe3IciwcaAn8CEALw_wcB

vs Peregrine Falcon
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Birds/Peregrine-Falcon

[Dicky99]

It was the length of exposed leg that made me suspect it was a Sparrow Hawk despite the low res.

[MrFoolish]

How strange! I saw a very similar scene this morning as I set off for work. Some sort of hawk dragging along a pigeon. It didn't seem keen to shift out of the way of my car. Wish I'd got a better look at it.