In the afternoon of this sunday we saw on the webcams an intruding female on the ledge and coming into the nestbox. The male peregrine was there immediately, but stayed on the ledge.
The 2 females where fighting in the box. And it was some fierce battle. Our female had all her feathers stucked up to frighten off the intruder. Just watch the video and you can see what happened. The video was made by Arjen Rodenhuis.
Later that evening one of the members of our DenkTank was there in Nijmegen and saw a second battle in which our female gave the intruder quite a beating with her wings. The intruder fell of the ledge. Good riddance that was indeed. Way to go girl!
3 comments:
Yikes. I hope the intruder will leave her alone now. How come the Dad did not help out?
Great video - thanks for embedding this in your blog for all to see. It's a great way to keep up with all that's happening in the northern hemisphere right now.
Trudy, thanks for your comment. When there is an intruder both peregrines will try to chase him/her away. But when it comes to a fight this is always between two birds of the same gender. The other one stays out. In nature it's all about survival of th efittest.So with the strongest genes. It is in the interest of the partner that the bird wins with the best genes. So offspring will be strong, healthy and can survive.
When things get really serious, one of the birds will be killed. If the fight is between females it is always about the male plus the territory. So the one who wins get the male and the territory.
When 2 males fight over a female and one gets killed, the female decides if she wants the winner. Or not. If not she becomes a floater and moves. Untill she finds a territory with a male and often a female and the whole thing starts all over again.
This whole territoriality is an essential part of the peregrine falcon. It is their way of life.
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