Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:49:53 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Rob Pauline Subject: Peregrine attack at Black Hill MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Saturday Jan 18 approximately 4:00 pm a Peregrine Falcon was perched = in large tree across from the parking area next to bridge. As has = already been reported the lake was probably 80-85% frozen but ice-free = areas remained near the parking lot. Numerous species of waterfowl were = congregated in these open sections. A large flock of gulls was on the = ice toward the center of the lake. I waited patiently for Peregrine to make a move, hoping he would do so = before darkness fell. Finally he lifted off and focused on a single = ruddy duck alone on the ice. He came swooping across the ice, but the = duck simply "side-stepped" out of the way on two separate occasions. =20 Most of the waterfowl did not appear to be concerned with the attack in = progress. However, the entire flock of gulls (several hundred) lifted = off . One large gull gave chase to the falcon in a spirited chase. The = falcon appeared to have a tighter turning radius and the ability to fly = nearly vertically, easily eluding the gull. =20 The peregrine focused on another ruddy in an area featuring a greater = density of waterfowl. The raptor again swooped down and grasped the = duck in its talons. It flew low over the ice towards its perch with the = duck in tow, but the ruddy managed by get loose and dropped about 20 = feet back to the ice near a group of ducks. It was difficult to tell if = or how severely it may have been injured. =20 The peregrine returned to its tree. A great way to spend a cold winter Saturday as dusk approached! Rob Pauline Germantown, MD rpauline@wildlifehc.org =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================