I was priviledged to experience a first for me yesterday. I looked out my sliding glass door as I routinely do, and noticed some movement in a tree in our apartment courtyard. It's not unusual for birds from wild canaries to crows to the occasional red tailed hawk to hang out in our courtyard--it's a large green area where the kids play football or catch. But I noticed this bird did not have the silluette of any of the regular birds we have around here. I finally was able to identify it as having the body shape of a peregrine falcon, the ferarri of the raptor world. I've seen them on nature shows and even at a couple of educational raptor events locally, and I knew that they've been reintroducing them to the Omaha area for at least the last 20 years or so, both in the downtown area (where they have a falcon camera feed when there are eggs in the nest on top of one of the skyscrapers), and at the Raptor Center about 10 miles from me, but I've never seen one just hanging out in the wild, especially not in my apartment complex. It had apparently caught a groundsquirrel and was working on it's breakfast when I noticed it, and I don't think it was used to people, as it would stop and guard it's catch everytime someone appeared within about 30 yards of it.
Peregrine falcons are considered an endangered species, and there's more information on them here peregrine falcon info They are considered one of the fastest birds in the world, in a dive having been recorded going almost 70 mph. They've been trained by raptor handlers for centuries, and were almost wiped out by widespread use of DDT in the 60's.
And I got to see one in my neighborhood. Coolness :)
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