Peregrine at work

There are few things I like to spot more than prey remains (its not that weird), and today is a good one; and its in one of my work buildings. A racing pigeon that was a low carb, low fat, protein rich feast for a peregrine falcon. 

You may ask how I knew it was the work of a peregrine; there were lots of clues! 

There were a lot of feathers- so the pigeon was left at the plucking site. Birds of Prey (BOPs) use their bills to pluck their prey - so the quill usually has a puncture or broken casing (whereas foxes tear them out en-masse leaving the bottom bit stuck in the skin).

The pigeon was decapitated (another calling card of a burly BOP.

It was also on a rooftop and in an enclosed space (tricky access challenge for a fox).

So, we are left with two choices- peregrine or sparrowhawk? Although female sparrowhawks can take down a pigeon, they tend to prey on smaller passerines and rely on ambush. The position of the kill was below an active pigeon roost in the centre of a hip and lively campus, which is not the domain of the sprawk. That leaves our much fabled aerial killer, peregrine, renowned predator of pigeons and no stranger to urbanised habitats. 

Racing pigeons are a particular delicacy for peregrines; they are usually in very good muscular condition, they usually haven’t been pecking around the entrance of Greggs, and although fast in flight, they are no match. Predation by BOPs account for around 14% of losses to racing pigeons. Of those pigeons that were taken by BOPs, a significant number of them had already strayed from their lofts and become feral before they were gobbled up. Nice work!