Gallery – Seneca Enjoys A Salad
Fledge Watcher and Rochester Falconcam team member Carol Phillips kicks off our 2008 Gallery at Imprints with a terrific shot of Seneca adding some roughage to her diet after consuming a pigeon earlier this week. She wasn’t really going vegan on us– Peregrines are pretty strict carnivores– but it’s a fun image don’t you think?
The breakfast left-overs are visible in the lower right corner of the image– don’t look there if you’re squeamish!
-Jess
July 19th, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Awesome picture, worthy of a calendar! 😀
July 19th, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Again, another stunning shot of our babies. Carol, I don’t know what business you’re in, but it definitely should include photography. I noticed the feathers are getting more of the adult coloring – our babies are growing up!
July 19th, 2008 at 6:56 PM
is this the flower power?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:20 PM
Thats a great shot
July 19th, 2008 at 11:31 PM
Awww. Great shot! Perhaps she’s cleaning the remains of lunch from her beak. Clicking the picture enlarges the it showing more detail. Actually, can someone confirm that the greens she’s dining on isn’t poison ivy?
July 21st, 2008 at 5:48 PM
Hmmm, leaves of three – good catch Rosamund! We have the vining variety, and it has a very distinctive, more elliptical and pointy tipped cluster of 3 leaves, sometimes shiny, with a woody stem. Maybe Jess would know whether poison ivy affects birds. My guess would be that it primarily causes misery for people, not other living creatures so much. I know from personal experience that it does not have the same affect on dogs,cats, or other furry little woodland creatures, that it has on me!
Great photo, Carol! When I brought up Imprints, the first thing out of my mouth was “OH, WOW”!
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:14 AM
There is definitely alot of poison ivy in this area. There are signs warning of poison ivy on the path leading up to the observation deck. I’ve seen Seneca quite a few times since she ate her “salad”, and she seems just fine. – Carol P.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:20 AM
I found this from Penn State U. on-line:
“Poison ivy is a very widespread and productive plant. It flowers in May and June and produces dense clusters of white berries that ripen between August and November and often persist through the winter. Over sixty species of birds have been documented to eat the berries of poison ivy! These birds, apparently, do not become sensitized to the volatile oils and do not experience allergic reactions to the plant. As mentioned in the “Winter Bird” section of this web site, poison ivy berries are an important natural food source for the over-wintering birds on the Nature Trail.
A secondary consequence of birds’ eating the poison ivy berries is the passage of the poison ivy seeds through the birds’ digestive systems. The seeds, then, are energetically dispersed throughout the active range of the birds.”
http://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/poisonivy.htm
Glad to read that birs are not affected by urushiol. But it is a new thing that among the 60 species that eat the plant there are also raptors:-)
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:53 PM
Thanks for the article, Alison. I knew birds eat the berries of poison ivy. From that picture it’s obvious the mighty Peregrine Falcon is not sensitive to the oily toxin the leaves produce. If so, Seneca would be pretty uncomfortable by now and showing symptoms (inflammation of the digestive track, e.g.) and she is obviously not. They say, and I’m not sure if this is accurate, that all wild animals know instinctively what is and isn’t safe to ingest.
Glad the watchers are aware of the presence of poison ivy in the area. Especially as you’re all usually looking up, and not down. 😉
Poison ivy and all, Carol, that picture is just priceless!
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 PM
Thank you for such wonderful pictures and stories these past months! And thanks to all the fledge watchers for their time and devotion to our “babies.” It has been soooo facinating watching them. I have recently had the pleasure of running from window to window at the Chase Tower watching the Juvies playing Talon Tag and just soaring overhead! And, yes, I am always looking up when I go for a walk, hoping to get a glimpse of the girls and boys before they move on.
Our Chili blogger posted a “plead” for help in securing a new home for Mariah and Kaver next year. Check it out on the D&C, Communities, Chili Blog. Thanks, Tig.
God Bless everyone!