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This young female peregrine, mostly molted into adult plumage, had eclectic tastes: over the course of a few weeks she was seen eating a barn owl, snowy and cattle egrets, and this white-faced ibis (a couple of months later, I photographed her with a cinnamon teal, and a coot). The ibis was killed in an open field, and the feeding falcon allowed me to walk slowly to within 12-15 meters. She ate everything but the head, neck, wings, legs (didn't like 'drumsticks', apparently) and most of the viscera. The heart and liver were consumed but the gizzard and intestines were carefully removed and dropped away from the carcass (see below). Finally she finished, wiped her bill on the grass, and flew (heavily, it seemed) to the shady side of a power pole to rest. The pictures were taken at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area in Riverside County, California; another juvenile with lunch is shown here. |
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