Peregrine Falcon Aerial fight (1 Viewer)

J

jnicholes

Well-known member

• May 6, 2019

• #21

@Hauksen, those are some nice pictures! That's basically what the fight I saw looked like when I started this thread.

I've actually been noticing some fighting near my bird feeder. Occasionally, the house finches and the American goldfinches get Territorial, and they don't want others to take the food. Sometimes, it results in a fight. I've also seen fights between mourning doves and Eurasian collared doves.

It's not just the Raptors. It can be any bird that can fight. I've seen two male mallard ducks fighting over a female once while I was crawfish trapping. In the end, the male who had already bonded with the female chased off the other male, who was the intruder.

Jared

 

J

jnicholes

Well-known member

• May 7, 2019

• #22

You guys are not going to believe what I just saw. So, I just got home from shopping, and I looked in my backyard, and I see a golden eagle and a peregrine falcon having it out. I heard the eagle make its cry, and I see the two circling each other and having it out. It was phenomenal. I actually got some footage of the fight on my phones camera. I will see if I can post it later on.

In the video, you can hear the golden eagle make its cry, and you can see the peregrine falcon doing its dive.

An eagle vs. A peregrine falcon. That was amazing.

Jared

 

H

Hauksen

Forum member

• May 7, 2019

• #23

Hi Jared,

jnicholes said:

You guys are not going to believe what I just saw. So, I just got home from shopping, and I looked in my backyard, and I see a golden eagle and a peregrine falcon having it out.

Click to expand...

Great observation! Probably, birds of prey are most territorial this time of the year, and of course once one has begun to take interest in a topic, one becomes more perceptive, but still - it's really not often that one sees these powerful birds "arguing" in the air!

I've never actually seen a Golden Eagle in the wild ... they're struggling in Germany, with just a few territories in the Alps (which I rarely visit, admittedly).

Regards,

Henning

 

J

jnicholes

Well-known member

• May 8, 2019

• #24

@Hauksen, If I can get a good picture of a wild Golden Eagle, I'll get it to you. So far, all my photos have been distant ones.

Anyway, it's 9:15 PM here. I'll see if I can upload the video of the fight in the morning. I was going through it, and it turns out I also got footage of the peregrine falcon doing its swoop.

Those birds are FAST.

Jared

 

J

jnicholes

Well-known member

• May 8, 2019

• #25

Here is a video of part of the fight. The file was too big to send from my phone to laptop. I had to shorten it. This is the best part. The Peregrine dived in this part of the video. If you listen closely, you will hear when the eagle is hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbYcpa-iA6E&feature=youtu.be

Jared

 

H

Hauksen

Forum member

• May 9, 2019

• #26

Hi Jared,

jnicholes said:

The Peregrine dived in this part of the video.

Click to expand...

Very interesting! It looks as if the Peregrine is flying a curve while repeatedly adjusting the exact turn to get into position to swoop on the eagle, which it does at the end!

That's something I haven't noticed before, but it makes a very purposeful impression.

Thanks for sharing that clip!

Regards,

Henning

 

H

Hauksen

Forum member

• May 9, 2019

• #27

Hi Chosun,

Chosun Juan said:

I haven't come across this before. What is this equation? and where does it come from?

Click to expand...

In addition to what I posted above, I've just learned that the equation is usually referred to as "Kleiber's law":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiber's_law

It seems that are differing opinions about the exact value of the exponent, and the range of its applicability ... in particular, it might itself be a function of mass.

However, in my opinion that doesn't detract from its great usefullness as a first approximation, especially when comparing birds with a mass that doesn't differ by more than one order of magnitude

Regards,

Henning

 

Paul Longland

Well-known member

• May 9, 2019

• #28

A couple of years or so back common buzzards were turning up dead and injured around Lincoln with no obvious signs of having been shot or poisoned. It turned out that it was the local pregrines nesting on the cathedral that were the culprits. The local news channel got some footage and it was clear to see the falcons, who were obviously protecting their nesting territory working as a team to see off the buzzards. The male would make various passing dives at the buzzard and when it turned to take evasive action the larger female used the distraction to slam into it from below. At this point the buzzard would generally bug out. The ferocity of the peregrines attacks must have left significant injuries as several buzzards did not survive.

 

Iceberg slim

Fly by night

• May 9, 2019

• #29

I remember seeing my first Gyr in Cornwall (Cape cornwall 2000), The big falcon was just cruising around, for all the world looked like it was just racing Herring gulls etc, but this flying must of took it over some Pers territory, all of a sudden a pair came screaming off a hidden ledge, and rocketed skywards, then began the feigns and screams, the big female then launched into a power stoop at the Gyr screaming and closing in, the Gyr simply rolled onto her back and just extended those big yellow talons, and the Pers airbrakes and tail fully fanned tail to try and slow her down, in full panic mode, just avoided impaling herself, the Gyr just simply rolled out the other way and silently went on its way to continue its racing gulls, pure exhilaration for 5 minutes, never matched since

 

J

jnicholes

Well-known member

• May 10, 2019

• #30

I saw a fight between two Red Tailed Hawks yesterday. It was very cool to see. I got them circling on video.

I tell you, the birds always fight near my house. I dont know why. Maybe its my pet rabbit they see. Who knows?

Jared