And Now, a Brief Interlude for All You Falcon Fans:

[lwood]

Peregrine falcons used to be incredibly endangered. They like to dwell in the sides of cliffs.

Rock doves also used to be cliff-dwellers, but now favor the concrete cliffs of modern cities--they're more socially known as pigeons.

Pigeons are the peregrine falcon's lawful prey.

Now, the falcons nest in the skyscrapers, and the hunt begins anew.

One mating pair just hatched a pair of chicks in their nest... at PG&E Headquarters in San Francisco.

GO FALCONS!

Get the straight dope from SF Gate:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/11/MNGLC6JEOO1.DTL

Okay, we now return you to your regularly scheduled, if delayed, travelogue. 8-P

-- Lorrie

Comments

[colubra.livejournal.com]

Oh cool, we join the cool kids! Peregrines have been nesting in big cities around the Pacific Northwest & Canada for a while now: I had wondered if we'd be graced.

[dubhain.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Detroit, we had a Peregrine nesting on the Fisher Building, downtown. It did wonders to help keep the pigeon population down.

The Detroiters quickly became very fond of the falcon, watching it on their lunch breaks, &c. Once the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) found out about it, they announced plans to relocate the falcon to a more 'natural' habitat, thinking everyone would agree it was a good idea(TM).

Detroit was up in arms over it. The mayor (Dennis Archer, IIRC) announced that the falcon was a citizen of the city of Detroit, and that Detroit would not allow one of its citizens to be molested in such a manner. The DNR could go fsck itself.

Eventually, the DNR reversed course, and tried to introduce another Peregrine falcon into downtown Detroit.

That's when the DNR discovered that the territory of a male Peregrine falcon is 'as far as he can see'.

A falcon can see a long way from atop a skyscraper.

The DNR's pet falcon left. Abruptly

Eventually the DNR decided to stop messing about with falcons in Detroit, and let the Peregrines work it about among themselves. To the best of my knowledge, there's still a falcon on the Fisher Building, as well as Chinese pheasants, deer, and other wildlife in some of the less populated areas of the city.

And that's how it should be....

[shantak.livejournal.com]

_We_ had one once, a peregrine believe it or not and not a native. I don't know how it got all the way here. But it made the papers and then a while later someone shot it. *sigh* They never caught the bastard.

[bergtagen.livejournal.com]

Yay! We're lucky enough to see peregrines 5-6 times a year, sometimes more often, but I'm thrilled that our local birds are starting to exploit the SF skyscrapers. It'd be nice to see them as regularly as the other common raptors in the area.

[onyxdubh.livejournal.com]

My mommy works there. :0