[texbirds] Peregrine Falcon at Austin Purple Martin roost past two nights (Sat & Sun 8-2 & 8-3-14)
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "drbirdie@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 20:00:35 -0400 (EDT)
Hi All,
A juvenile Peregrine Falcon has been seen at the Austin Purple Martin roost for
at least the past two nights (Saturday and Sunday August 2nd and 3rd). I was
down there both nights (at the Jack-in-the-Box on Highland Mall Drive) and was
alerted on Saturday evening by Shelia Hargis, who told me that she and others
had seen a peregrine fly through a few minutes before I arrived (at about 8:15
p.m.). Friends and I (and 200+ other people) watched the accumulating martins,
and it was still an amazing show, although the numbers seemed to me to be down
a bit from my last visit 2 weeks earlier - maybe more like 200,000 birds than
500,000 (or maybe it's 500k instead of 1000k, I'm not real sure).
Sure enough, a peregrine did fly through again sometime after 8:30 p.m. It was
pretty dark by then, and I couldn't tell for sure, but the bird looked pretty
dark ventrally, suggesting it might be a juvenile. I couldn't tell if the
raptor made a kill on its brief pass through.
Last night, I got there just a bit after 8:15 p.m. The martin numbers seemed
noticeably reduced even from the night before, now more like 75 to 100k, but
still pretty special. A peregrine flew through the gathering birds about 8:20
p.m. I don't think it caught a martin then. I was able to view it through
binocs, and get a few grainy flight photos, and it was indeed, a juvenile
peregrine. Photos suggest to me that it is a different bird from the one I
photographed in late June in north Austin, as last night's bird has a
wider-appearing moustachial mark.
The peregrine came through again about 8:35 p.m., but which time it was getting
too dark for photos. The falcon flew in a leisurely manner into the swirling
mass of martins, and plucked one from the air just as you might walk by and
pluck a grape from a low-hanging vine. I watched the falcon flying off
clutching its kill in its talons.
Folks should be on the lookout for this falcon until the martin roost
dissipates, which is likely to be in the next couple of weeks.
Good birding ya'll,
Byron Stone, Austin
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