Rfalconcam Forum

My, aren’t we all just thrilled that the peregrine falcons have arrived back in Fargo (Forum, March 19).

Well, I for one am not. The falcons have been given free boarding at the Bank of the West rooftop so that all those who want access to them don’t have to get their feet dirty climbing an appropriate lodging in the woods, which is where they belong, not in the city limits.

These are vicious predators. They do not sing a melodious beautiful song. If you have one flying in your neighborhood looking for prey, you can forget about having any robins, sparrows, hummingbirds, bluebirds, doves, etc. They will disappear.

How do I know? It happened on my block last year. I never saw another bird after the falcons arrived.

Why do I sound angry? Because I am. I have a small dog that was almost a victim of a falcon last year. I am a responsible pet owner. I put up a fence to keep her home. Now in order to keep her safe, I have to be aware that she could be attacked from the air. She can’t be free to run at will. Is that fair?

I have had conversations with our honorable Judge Wickham Corwin, but he brushed my comments aside because he thinks I am confused with what I saw. I guess his eyes are the only ones that matter.

I have talked to the Audubon Society and they are reconsidering their opinions about falcons living in populated areas. Smart people.

I am sure the family who lost their pet in the Island Park area to the falcons agree with my feelings. How many more small pets have disappeared without any knowledge to what happened? Can you imagine the horror they felt to know their beloved pet was being torn apart by the falcons? You certainly wouldn’t want to put a baby on a blanket on the grass in your own yard and leave it for even a moment.  :stupid:

These are predators. If you feel as I do, let your opinions be heard and don’t be put off by anyone saying you don’t know what you saw or know.

Coon lives in Fargo.

Forum City in Fargo

Sheesh, he's all rattled!

Yikes, all of our canine falcon watchers had better start wearing hard hats and Kevlar.

 :hysterical:

That person must be related to the one who believes Mariah and Kaver had eight-foot wingspans!
His dog is probably safe until it fledges...
Carol Furnée

I volunteer to give him some tin foil for a hat. I'm sure that the aliens will be probing his brain next (if they can find it since he seems to be full of doo doo)

 :stupid:

I feel compelled to respond to the recent letter arguing that the Peregrine falcons nesting in downtown Fargo are “vicious predators” that threaten our pets and children.

In every respect, Peregrines are remarkable creatures. It would be impossible to pack more bird, or more charisma, into such a small package. They also represent a true success in modern conservation. Peregrines prove that, at least on occasion, human mistakes can be corrected and species we have decimated can be saved from the brink of extinction.

One of the reasons for the Peregrine’s resilience is its adaptability. They readily accept man-made structures as substitutes for the natural nest sites provided by tall cliffs. As a result, they are now living in urban environments and in regions where they were never found before. We are indeed fortunate Fargo has been home to a pair of these birds since 2000. There are many reasons to be thrilled every spring by their return.

Of course, Peregrines are predators. More specifically, they are avian predators and make their living by killing and eating other birds. In all the years I have been monitoring Fargo’s peregrines, I have known them collectively to eat only one mammal. That was a vole, an animal the size of a mouse.

As hunters, Peregrines are both efficient and opportunistic. They range far when hunting, and size seems to be the only limiting factor in the selection of prey. For these reasons, they do not have an appreciable impact on the local populations of any prey species.

Peregrines aren’t very big themselves. It does them no good to catch food they can’t carry. I have never seen our male return with food much bigger than a dove. The larger females seem to focus on pigeons, but even they struggle to carry such a load.

I should also mention that Peregrines are not the only raptors that nest in Fargo. Cooper’s hawks, in particular, have become common. If you see a hawk nesting in a tree, chasing birds from your backyard feeder, or eating one of the rabbits that used to live in your garden, think Cooper’s hawk, not Peregrine falcon.

Confusion also results from the failure to distinguish between hunting behavior and territorial aggression. Many raptors will do their best to deter any perceived threat that approaches their nest site or young. They stoop at dogs and cats because they are protecting their young, not because they are hunting for food. (The first female Peregrine who nested in Fargo would dive and scream at any dog who came within blocks of the nest site. None of those dogs were harmed in any manner, and most did not seem to be overly impressed by the 2-pound bird that was trying to chase them away.)

In closing, predators are a natural and essential part of life. Human attitudes toward predators have changed dramatically in my lifetime. At least for most of us, fear and persecution have been replaced with understanding and appreciation. Believe me – when it comes to Peregrine falcons, there is much to marvel but nothing to fear.

Corwin is a Fargo district judge. He has been observing, photographing and studying Fargo’s Peregrine falcons for more than a decade.

 :clap:  Well said Corwin!  ;D

Coops wish they looked as good as Peregrines.

What about Sharpies? My niece and her kids had the excitement of seeing either a Coop or a Sharpie eating a meal in their backyard in NJ... and ever since (as the video is not wonderful), we have been emailing re which it could be. Both have similar MOs, right? Race through/around bushes/trees, smash and grab. (Our bird for that is the Sparrowhawk.) Anyway - suggestions appreciated! Their video is on my FB page - somewhere.

Flight Lines: Are your pets at risk with peregrins?

If one is to believe the premise of a recent letter-to-the-editor in the Forum, there is a direct threat to the lives of pets everywhere in the metro area and it’s coming from the sky. Even more alarming, your babies are at risk. Or so the letter claimed.

The author was attempting to paint the Fargo-nesting peregrine falcons as “vicious predators” of all you hold dear. Only problem is, it’s mistaken, unless you are a small bird outside of town.

A person could make a reasonable argument against peregrines being within Fargo city limits given the fact the bird has no natural history here other than during the brief migratory periods of spring and fall. It’s a cliff nesting bird, after all, and there are no natural cliffs in the Red River Valley.

But to make such a case on the basis of threats to leashed pets just doesn’t hold water. Peregrines, you see, are almost exclusively bird-eaters. Usually the only time the birds eat something else – like rodents or fish – is when it’s pirated from other predators. Oh, and peregrines are open-air hunters and are not seen with any regularity within residential areas.

That’s not to say there aren’t natural predators in neighborhoods. There are. But odds are it’s one of the other raptors which have gained a foothold in urban areas.

Every time someone relates seeing a peregrine sitting on their back fence I smile. Then I try to explain the growing number of Cooper’s hawks in town. As recently as 20 years ago, a sighting of a Cooper’s hawk would generate a few excited phone calls to other birdwatchers. It was that uncommon. That is not the case anymore.

Cooper’s hawks are widespread woodland hawks and will potentially nest in any group of trees; they don’t mind residential neighborhoods at all. Today, the birds are found all over town during the nesting season. The diet of Cooper’s hawks is not unlike that of peregrines: Mostly birds, but with a few more small mammals such as rabbits and squirrels. Quite commonly, these birds will sit on fences.

A different falcon which has come to outnumber peregrines in the city is yet another recent addition to the urban raptor roster: the merlin. Like Cooper’s hawks, these medium-size falcons were darned hard to find a few years ago. A person would have been lucky to see one during fall or spring migration but that was about it. In 2005 Fargo’s first merlin nest was recorded. Now there are many in the metro area including West Fargo. That’s in keeping with Cornell University’s All About Birds website which says, “It is becoming a regular breeder in urban areas.” Merlins, like their larger cousins, are bird eaters.

Why these raptors have made the move into populated areas is largely a matter of opinion. Perhaps the best explanation comes from Bismarck birder and N.D. Birding Society’s webmaster, Corey Ellingson. He points to the growing number of bird feeders with accompanying concentrations of songbirds.

More to the point is his take on habitat change, and this is where he nails it in my opinion. Ellingson said, “In Bismarck we’ve seen the expansion of homes into new areas. Now we have woodland habitat where there used to be treeless prairie.”

The fact that homeowners see a fairly large bird sitting on a fence doesn’t mean their pets are threatened. Even a bold swoop doesn’t necessarily equate to a direct risk. More likely, the raptor is simply attempting to frighten dogs away from nest areas.

Despite all the urban legends depicting the slaughter of pets by hawks, eagles, owls, or falcons (such as the one about finding nests filled with collars), I’ve yet to hear a factual account of such events actually occurring.

Facts have a habit of getting in the way of a good story I suppose. It’s so easy to make assumptions about critters like raptors. They look somewhat menacing, they come equipped with hooked beaks and sharp talons, and they can appear seemingly out of nowhere, often when we are outside walking pets. But to make the case such predators as peregrine falcons are responsible for Fifi’s disappearance is simply erroneous.  :clap:

West Fargo Pioneer