Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
One of my most memorable sights occurred as I was searching for nests early
one morning. The neighborhood I was in featured many wooded trails, and
as I walked down one I heard a commotion of crows coming my way. Their
mobbing calls told me I was about to intersect a predator, so I sat and waited.
As the calls grew louder, I could see the birds diving toward the ground. Sud-
denly a regal bobcat, stubby tail held high, pranced by. Its entourage of crows
trailed behind, a bad omen to any unsuspecting rodent or ground-nesting
bird, but a thrill to me.
Raptors—the term we apply to hawks and owls—seem especially able to
live in cities. Peregrine falcons have nested in cities and towns since the Middle
Ages, feasting on pigeons and other moderate-sized birds. Their populations
plummeted in the mid-twentieth century because of pesticides such as DDT.
Banning DDT and dedicated restoration ef orts, however, have brought the
falcons back to more than sixty urban centers in the United States alone. They
eat mostly pigeons, but also much more—juncos, jays, woodcocks, and whip-
poor-wills. They are not dainty eaters, as I learned at a University of Washing-
ton football game. Above my seat, high in the steel girders of the stadium roof,
perched a peregrine. Without l ying, it scampered along the I-beams and deftly
snatched a pigeon. As it plucked the bird, feathers l oated down like dry snow-
l akes onto the fans engrossed in the game. After an hour the full bird roused
its plumage and began bobbing its head in preparation for a l ight. A sated bird
always lightens its load before l ying, and this peregrine was no exception. It
cocked its tail and sent a missile of whitewash onto the crowd. Fortunately, my
seat was just out of range.
Peregrines aren't the only raptors in urban areas. Bald eagles, burrowing
owls, eastern screech-owls, osprey, and Mississippi kites reproduce at high rates
