Oberhausen: again a pigeon

The pigeon was delivered but they had no interest. They waited until the female arrived again to dine on it together.

A word on the fact that the Peregrine falcon is a bird of prey. Someone posted a rather sarcastic mail here on this blog about the peregrine being the shark of the sky killing innocent pigeons. That we should pity all those pigeons that are killed by this raptor. ( yesterday on "Oberhausen to catch a pigeon")
Of course things are quite different. The peregrine falcon is an excellent hunter because his skills are closing in on perfection in the dive-bombing tactic. They have to kill to survive. Evolution changed the body of this bird dramaticaly to be able to dive over 300 km/h.
But a healthy strong pigeon will never be caught by a peregrine. Pigeons have developed a lot of manouvres to escape a hunting peregrine.
A peregrine only hunts on flying pigeons. And it only hunts when it is hungry or has young to feed. The peregrine does not kill for the sheer fun of it. That is something only humans do. When the peregine strikes it brings instant death, no suffering, no playing with prey.
A pigeon sitting next to a peregrine will not be harmed. That is because a peregrine does not recognise a not flying pigeon as prey. This flying is what triggers it. Nervous flying even more. Pigeons have all kinds of tactics to escape. They fly together. The peregrine will try to get one out of the tribe. Only then he will be able to strike one. Peregrines have to attack a lot to succeed. Only in 30% he will catch a prey. Juvi's in only 7-10%. It is a very energy consuming business. Because of this low succesrate many juveniles do not live to see the next year after they've fledged. When they weaken because a lack of food they are immediately attacked by crows and raven. Kill or be killed. It is the law of the jungle.

Raptors are a necessity in wild life. They catch the weak and sick and are able in this way to maintain a healthy wildlife. They are at the top of the foodchain. Anything wrong in the environment will be visible in these raptors. As was in the late fifties when DDT almost drove the peregrine to extinction. It became a worldwide endangered species. Fortunately this so very special bird of prey is slowly recovering. All over the world hacking programs where set up to bring many juvenile sinto the wildlife. Only 30 % survived. The rest was killed, mainly by owls.
For instance in our own country the Netherlands we only have 30 breeding pairs at the moment. That is very little. We are very, very happy with every eyas that is born and will fledge. We rejoyce worldwide in all hatchlings that come into our world. That's why we have webcams on these nests. That is why we gather around them and admire this special, mythical creature. As did the old Egyptians, where the falcon was and still is divine and known as Horus.