Living less than a mile from the Cohalan Courthouse complex in Central Islip, I had no excuse to not go see the nesting Peregrines covered in the Newsday articles this past week. I did so this afternoon on my way home from birding Cupsogue County Park, Pike's Beach, and the Gabreskie Airport area. I quickly spotted a Peregrine perched on the east side of the white courthouse as I drove past on my way to find a parking spot. This bird remained on this perch for the entirety if my 15 minute stay, calling softly on a regular basis. The other adult arrived several minutes into my stay, flying along the south façade, passing the building, circling back, and then slipping through a small gap between the main structure and the semicircular atrium, near the top of the latter. Excited vocalizations soon followed, presumably from the remaining nestling/fledglings. I did not see the second adult reemerge before I left. On the staircase from where I did my observing were the partial remains of a House Sparrow (1 leg and a small section of body). Seems too small a morsel for a Peregrine, but it might suffice if the local pigeon population has been effectively thinned.
Some photos of the perched falcon are here: http://tinyurl.com/43dv7gn -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
