OK back to bidness! First, Noah and I had an offline discussion about where
the remains were found, as I thought I might go over to look for a Great
Horned Owl in the area (they are adapted to urban environments and have been
known to nest on buildings). Also, I decided to check my own assumptions
about Peregrines and found a few papers documenting night hunting by
Peregrines, including one study done from the Empire State Building. And as
for where the Woodcocks were, well, they could have been migrating (they
migrate at night....and indeed, in the study done at the Empire State
Building, migrating Woodcocks were seen, though not taken by the Peregrines
-no Peregrines were observed on those nights). They could be in the fields
at Rock Creek Park or Sligo Creek Park...it seems a bit far to carry
relatively large prey items, but you never know!

Ellen Paul
Chevy Chase