Birds of Prey in D.C.
Eric L Raun (raueri@Juno.com)
Sat, 26 Dec 1998 11:24:52 -0500
Wednesday, December 23, 1998 at 2pm (a few hours before the snow storm).
16th and I Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. (near Lafayette Square). One
was a Rock Dove, and the other somewhat bigger bird was pursuing the
Dove. They circled several times until the bigger bird hit the Dove.
The Dove kept flying, but the bigger bird quickly hit again, grabbed the
Dove out of the air, and flew about two blocks to the top of the New
Executive Office Building (home of the Office of Management and Budget).
On a narrow ledge, the bigger bird, which had a dark helmet, tore into
the Dove, feathers flying. After about 30 seconds of tearing at the
Dove, the bird stretched its head up to show its white chin and dark
streaking with some orangish color on the belly. It stretched out each
wing in a pointed V. It was a Peregrine Falcon.
Suddenly, another even bigger bird appeared. It flew by the Falcon from
above and then banked up spreading its red tail. The Falcon was now in
flight, and the dead Dove had disappeared. The Red-tailed Hawk flew
northwest with the Falcon in pursuit. The Falcon caught up with the
Hawk, gained altitude over it, and dove several times coming close to but
not striking the Hawk. Each time, the Hawk raised its head or took
evasive action to avoid the Falcon. The Hawk landed on an aerial. The
Falcon attacked several more times and then flew away. The Hawk remained
on the aerial for at least fifteen minutes.
Eric Raun
butterfly gardening web site:
http://home.cwix.com/~eric.raun@mci2000.com/btrfly.htm
e-mail address: raueri@juno.com
___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]