Here are a couple more. A marsh hawk is a northern harrier and a sparrow hawk refers to a merlin. According to Audubon, a pigeon hawk refers to a merlin. ---- 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 > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]