I'm sitting here watching a GREAT BLACK BACKED GULL being converted into PEREGRINE FALCON amid a 6 foot puddle of feathers on our front lawn.
About 40 minutes ago, I watched a probable male Peregrine go after 4 gulls that were foraging on the lawn.
Numbers 1, 2 & 3 managed to slip away as the falcon executed impossibly tight, low-level turns and made pass after pass. But #4 became "odd man out" and could do nothing but flare, pop a few feet into the air and try to keep facing the attacker.
Eventually the falcon managed to latch onto the gull's neck and get in a few deadly slashes with its beak.
Now it's refueling for tomorrows migration flight.
It's really quite impressive: The Great Black Backed Gull was, by all appearances, healthy and fit, and those gulls are easily twice the weight of the of a Peregrine.
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