Adding to Bill's worries...
It's very possible (maybe even likely) that these city-nesting
Peregrines are picking off more nocturnal migrants (including
declining wetland species and neotropical migrants) than wild-nesting
Peregrines ever did. The glow of urban light pollution attracts and
confuses nocturnal migrants and presumably aids Peregrines in catching
them.
Two pieces of the puzzle:
A YouTube video of a Peregrine hunting at night under city lights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtiWWr3e8-U
A blog from Oklahoma State University detailing the migrant birds that
collide with a glassy building on that campus. Window kill rates at
the OSU Rec Center last fall were similar. And these aren't even
skyscrapers we're talking about.
http://birdsmack.wordpress.com/
Dave
Dave Slager
Graduate Student
Terrestrial Wildlife Ecology Lab
School of Environment and Natural Resources
The Ohio State University
210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road
Columbus, OH 43210-1085
[log in to unmask]
On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dave & all--
> Yes, the UM data are very good. This pair has not successfully nested
> (so don't have young to feed), but has been present yearly since 2006.
> Cuckoos form a surprising proportion of their diet (I recall numbers of
> remains in the 60s recovered in one summer). Other major menu items are
> rails and woodpeckers, also weak fliers. I visited Janet Hinshaw, manager at
> the UM Museum, last week, and found her reassembling wings of cuckoos from
> the debris dropped by those falcons. If I recall correctly, our Akron birds
> have been knocking off a surprising number of cuckoos, too. Who can blame
> these birds for taking easy tasty prey?
> Is having a couple of showy top-of-the-food-chain raptors of dubious
> parentage worth significant impacts on populations of local birds? They
> aren't killing many of the other introduced birds--pigeons and starlings--we
> hoped they'd eat. What if we gave names like "Chloe" and "Charisma" to the
> local cuckoos? What is the theoretical limit of the spread of this
> population of falcons? Ohio has 35 nesting pairs now. What will prevent them
> from occupying every church steeple and bank roof ledge in the state? To me
> it seems they are joining the growing list of problematic show-birds with no
> legitimate claim to Ohio citizenship, like trumpeter swans or 'giant' Canada
> geese, which while they may not so often kill native birds (I've seen one of
> the former trying to kill one of the latter, though), at least chase them
> off traditional nesting localities. Anyone's who's been checking Pond 3 at
> Killdeer in recent years will know what the swans do; interestingly, they
> are not there this year, and I hope managers are to be credited.
> Bill Whan
> Columbus
>
> Dave Slager wrote:
>>
>> The diet of the peregrines nesting at the University of Michigan is
>> well-documented. Rails and cuckoos are especially well-represented
>> including a Yellow Rail.
>>
>> http://www.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/birds/peregrine/um-peregrines.html
>>
>> I have found 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoo carcasses under the Horseshoe at
>> OSU, beneath a common perch for the Columbus Peregrines.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>> Dave Slager
>> Graduate Student
>> Terrestrial Wildlife Ecology Lab
>> School of Environment and Natural Resources
>> The Ohio State University
>> 210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road
>> Columbus, OH 43210-1085
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 10:34 AM, William Hull <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> In the Cincinnati area rarely do I hear non-birders discuss the
>>> downtown Peregrine Falcons. Typically I run into people who are
>>> interested in the increasing number of Bald Eagles and Wild Turkeys.
>>> It could be observer bias on my part since I do not spend a lot of time
>>> downtown and do spend a lot of time in areas where Bald Eagles and
>>> Wild Turkeys are found.
>>>
>>> I have heard from people who have monitored downtown nest sites that
>>> the Peregrines' prey items include American Woodcock and Yellow-billed
>>> Cuckoos. An introduced raptor preying on local breeders can not be a
>>> good thing. It could be that the location of the Cincinnati birds
>>> near the Ohio River and the floodplain parks of the Little Miami River
>>> gives them easy access to these birds. I wonder what the Columbus
>>> birds prey upon?
>>> Cheers,
>>> Bill Hull
>>> Cincinnati, OH
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 4:41 AM, Margaret Bowman <[log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I suppose one of the better results of the peregrine program is the
>>>> interest
>>>> it generates in non-birders. With things the way they are right now,
>>>> anything that excites the interest of "laymen" can't be all bad, and the
>>>> Columbus peregrines have really caught the attention of folks who know
>>>> that
>>>> I'm a birder. Every time a conversation comes up, the peregrines come
>>>> into
>>>> it before it's over. Even people who don't know a robin from a cardinal
>>>> have caught on to the drama of the Columbus falcons. What's wrong with
>>>> that?
>>>>
>>>> Margaret Bowman
>>>> Licking Co., OH
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Tom Bain" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 11:17 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Raptor nest sites?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Peregrine fans,
>>>>>
>>>>> Here's an intriguing statement from an observant Moravian missionary,
>>>>> David
>>>>> Zeisberger, speaking of the Muskingum River valley, in his "History of
>>>>> North
>>>>> American Indians" describing eastern Ohio during the American
>>>>> Revolution
>>>>> and
>>>>> after, page 67:
>>>>>
>>>>> "Of other birds of prey, there are to be found here the hawk, the
>>>>> stone-falcon, that remains near the rocks, the pigeon-hawk, that
>>>>> pursues
>>>>> not
>>>>> only the pigeon, but all other birds it can conquer, though it is a
>>>>> small
>>>>> bird and not as large as the pigeon."
>>>>>
>>>>> Tom Bain
>>>>> The Clayey Till Plains
>>>>> Delaware, Ohio
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>>>>> Bill
>>>>> Whan
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2010 12:51 PM
>>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Raptor nest sites?
>>>>>
>>>>> It seems like a good time of year to discuss nesting. I have
>>>>> questions
>>>>> about the nest sites chosen by raptors our wildlife agencies have
>>>>> introduced/re-introduced to Ohio, and would be very grateful for
>>>>> first-hand reports of nests in truly wild situations.
>>>>> First, peregrine falcons. As many bird students know, prior to the
>>>>> introductions there was no evidence this species had ever nested in
>>>>> Ohio. Nevertheless, wildlife managers decided to join a
>>>>> hastily-conceived stampede to introduce hacked birds to many locations
>>>>> in Ohio and other states, in an effort to support a recovery of the
>>>>> regional subspecies (even though they mostly introduced other
>>>>> subspecies), to provide educational opportunities, and also, I suppose,
>>>>> to promote their stewardship of non-game species. I don't want to argue
>>>>> any more about that, but is anyone aware of a truly wild nesting site
>>>>> for a peregrine falcon in the state? Not a building or a bridge, but a
>>>>> real cliff or tree, etc.??
>>>>> I have the same question about ospreys. While I regard the osprey
>>>>> project undertaken by wildlife managers to be a far more justifiable
>>>>> operation--ospreys have a solid record as Ohio nesters in the past,
>>>>> making the project a legitimate re-introduction effort--I have a
>>>>> similar
>>>>> question. Is anyone aware of a successful osprey nest in Ohio that is
>>>>> placed in a wild nesting site---not a platform, a utility tower, etc.,
>>>>> but a real tree, etc.??
>>>>> I would be glad to hear that falcons and ospreys have returned to
>>>>> natural nest sites, but then I would not be terribly surprised to hear
>>>>> they have not. If the latter is the case, is there anyone else out
>>>>> there
>>>>> who feels uncomfortable about such a situation? Are we approaching a
>>>>> time when kestrels all nest in kestrel boxes, and barn owls in barns??
>>>>> Bill Whan
>>>>> Columbus
>
>
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