perigrine(sp?) falcon sighting

[YPSIFLY]

I was walking home from class the other day when what looked like a perigrine(sp?) falcon flew down from a tree, looked at the ground, and the flew off to the old basketball arena. Awesome bird, I was real close. I could see the markings across his chest. I walked around the building He came from to look for a flock of pigeons that is always around the science quad. They were laying pretty low, not one to be seen.

I didn't realize We have these birds in MI. Can anyone tell me something about these birds?

[Liver and Onions]

If my memory is correct, a few years ago these were introduced to both Grand Rapids and Detroit. The idea being that there would be plenty of pigeons for food and they would use the tall buildings for their nesting area.
L & O

[TBone]

From what I understand, Detroit has been a real success. It's one of your best shots at seeing one.

I wonder if it has anything to do with lots of tall abandoned buildings, and lots of rodents to eat? :p :p :p

[TBone]

I looked around trying to find how many are nesting in Detroit. I am not completely sure that I have read everything right. Looks like three nests in Detroit (Fischer building, Book Building, and Whittier apts.) and one in Monroe(Edison power plant). It seems like there are quite a few birds moving around. Reading about the bird at Whittier apartments is like reading porn! They are supposed to mate for life! Not her, she's a real tramp.

My rodent joke wasn't very accurate. They pretty much just eat other birds. Seems like there was a segment talking about them eating lemmings in Canada though on one of the specials that I saw on those birds. They are really pretty neat.

[Lunker]

Toledo also has a few pairs introduced and are doing well as far as I know. You cant think about disturbing them or the bird nazi's will get you so there doing very well. I also know of 2 pairs of Bald eagles and there nests in Monroe county and are doing very well. Youlle often see them while driving down I 75 if you keep your eyes open.;o)

Lunker

[maxemus]

I work in downtown Lansing and we also have a peregrine falcon on the old Michigan Tower. My coworker got a pic of it on a summer morning sitting on top of our building.Will post if I can figure it out. We find remains of pigeons and ducks on our roof all the time. Does anyone know if they stay around thru the winter? Haven't seen it lately.

Maxemus:cool: :cool:

[YPSIFLY]

I found a dead pigeon while walking through downtown Ypsilanti last night. It looked like it was killed by a predatory bird, not an ally cat. The carcass had almost all of the feathers intact except where it had been eaten. I've noticed when cats kill birds, there are feathers all over the place.

I'm going to keep an eye out for the bird I saw last week. I would like to take some pictures and post them if I get the chance.

[Rupestris]

If I'm not mistaken, they were also used around some airports to keep the nusance bird population down. (pigeon, seagull) Does anyone know if they were ever used around Metro airport?

Rupe

[rookie1]

I work for the owners of the Fisher Building and each year we set up a "nest" for the falcons to hatch their eggs in. We set up a camera in the lobby so you can see the babies eat. The falcons have been down here for about 9 years now. It's pretty cool to watch them pick off the pigeons in mid air.