Saturday, August 3, 2013
Wildlife in the patio
About 5 weeks ago our resident Chipmunk went missing. Fortunately only a day before we last saw him I had managed to get a bunch of nice shots from about 2 feet away using the I-pad and tub of birdseed for lure. Friendly little fellow that we had gotten quite used to. He lived under the tool shed where over the last 2 years I am sure he must have stockpiled at least a dozen 20 lb bags of birdseed
Then this morning while washing my face in the bathroom I hear Annie yelling at me to look out the window . . .
Seems a Peregrine Falcon spotted one of the Morning Doves that feeds on the birdseed in the patio and figured he would make a meal of it. I managed to grab the camera and get a shot of the gruesome scene before he flew away with his prize. The circle of life in real action. I only hope it was not the tamest one of the doves that would not fly away when we passed by. I think we know now where our chipmunk went.
Then the Turkey flock made another mad dash through the neighbor's yard.
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Is the falcon big anough to fly with a chipmunk in her claws?
ReplyDeleteOh certainly, the chipmunk is only about 5 inches long and really no more than 1/4 lb in weight. The Dove s actually much bigger and heavier. I Always thought that falcons fed off rodents but we have proof here that they will eat other birds as well.
DeleteTo give you an idea, the tub the chipmunk is sitting in is about 5 inches (15 cm) long. I was really close when I took that photo of him. The falcon was about 17 or 18 inches tall.
DeleteOne reason that I quit feeding the birds and squirrels was that a hawk figured out that the hunting was good in my back yard.
ReplyDeleteYour wildlife is so different from ours here! The only chipmunks we have here are three annoying ones on the TV that sing badly! And as fior the turkeys it must make christmas dinner cheaper!
ReplyDeleteKev:
DeleteOver here we have both the gray squirrels and the chipmunks. No reds at all. I am told at one point there were about in Maine but the grays took over. The wild turkeys here went extinct from over hunting about the late 1800s. Some time about the mid 80s the National Rifle Association in conjunction with other outdoor hunting and wildlife groups reintroduced turkeys to New England and they have been prolific ever since. They love urban areas where they feed of scatterings from bird feeders and are subject to little predation. In Maine we have 2 turkey hunting seasons on in early spring and one in fall. But you would not catch me out in the woods during that time. Way to many of the mooks that shoot at anything that moves. Every season we see the news about a couple of hunters that get shot by folks in their own hunting party or someone else setting across a field from them.