Bird of prey ID please

[sharky620ti]

While sitting in a hide in North Devon last week my friend and I saw this bird land in a tree in the distance.

we think its a preregrine, but what's your opinions?





taken with a 550D and sigma 150-500.


Chris

[faz]

it is indeed they are very common around woolacombe ,combemartin aswell

[sharky620ti]

thats good to know. It was a miserable day as you can see. It sat there in the rain for the best part of an hour before flying off.

Do you know if there are any peregrine roosting sites around north devon that are accessable to photographers? (rspb sites...ect?)

[htcdude]

Light front, dark back/wings, face markings rule out Kestrel and Sprawk for me, and Hobby won't arrive til a bit later.

Size rules out anything larger (Buzzard etc) or smaller (Merlin)

Nige

[Rye]

Yes it's a Peregrine.

[aeshna5]

I've probably seen hundreds of Peregrines in various countries over the years + I think that is the first I've seen perched in a tree- they've either been on the ground, on a pylon, cliff, building or in the sky.

[sharky620ti]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

I've probably seen hundreds of Peregrines in various countries over the years + I think that is the first I've seen perched in a tree- they've either been on the ground, on a pylon, cliff, building or in the sky.

It was the highest tree on a very big hill next to a steep valley. the best vantage point in the area probably?

[King Edward]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

I've probably seen hundreds of Peregrines in various countries over the years + I think that is the first I've seen perched in a tree- they've either been on the ground, on a pylon, cliff, building or in the sky.

Out of a fairly limited number of Peregrine sightings, I have seen a few perched in trees (albeit trees on cliffs). They can also nest in trees - there was apparently a now extinct population in East Germany that mainly nested in trees (in old nests of other birds).

[Jonathan]

Most of the peregrines I see in trees perch on dead boughs (the trees in front of Public Hide at Leighton Moss are a typical example). I do occasionally see them land amongst living branches however, one tiercel I used to see regularly in Argyll would perch in an oak wood on a hill above the River Add estuary, using this lofty vantage point to launch attacks on the marsh's wader and duck population.

A pair of peregrines nested in a tree a few years ago in Shropshire. Didn't they utilize a hanging basket the farmer had put up? As KE suggested there used to be a large population (c400pairs) of tree-nesting peregrines in central Europe, but these had all died out by 1930. There is an on-going project to re-establish them (info circa 2007 I think):

Presently there are again ca. 1000 pairs of Peregrines in Germany exhibiting a strong decline of numbers from west to east. In eastern Germany there are actually 70 pairs on cliffs, 38 pairs on man made structures, among them 5 on power pylons, and 18 pairs on trees, the latter exclusively gained by imprinting reared young and young from endangered broods on buildings on that way of nesting amidst wooded lowland habitat bare of cliffs and high buildings.

The former tree-nesting population in the German lowlands amounted to ca. 400 pairs. Since 1992 all Peregrines in eastern Germany and partly in Poland and Czech Republic, too, are marked by colour- and identity-rings concerning nesting habitat (cliff, building, tree) and origin (wild brood or managed young, i.e. released/adopted). Reading the rings at the breeding sites offered new knowledge about population biology, especially about age structure, sexspecific dismigration, turnover at the breeding sites and, the most important finding, about the separation of the population into nestsite-types, the tree-nesters receiving no input from cliff- and building-nesters. Further came out, that as a rule pairs don´t change the nestsite-type cliff, building or tree after having settled primarily at one of them.

In northeast Germany tree-nesters and building-nesters live together in the same area. But only young fledged from release cages or wild broods on trees have chosen treenesting again with a portion of 54%. Of the 59 young fledged from buildings and found settled later only 1 female is paired with a tree-nesting male. This result confirms, that the choice of tree-nesting is decidingly influenced by imprinting on that type of nesting.

Within the wooded lowlands of eastern Europe the Peregrine must further be considered extinct besides a few scattered broods on industrial buildings. To bring about the reoccupation of this huge european tree-nesting range it will require an international management and commitments concerning marking by colour- and identity-rings and the special methods of release and imprinting.

Cheers
Jonathan

[Redrob]

I would bet on this been a Peragrine, but not normally found in trees where I live. The most common grounds for this species are sea front cliffs on high ledges, or old quarries. Now they are also quite common in cities on high buildings. An excellent place for one of there favourite meals, Pigeon.