This morning at Oe I observed a Peregrine Falcon consistently attack an Eurasian Bittern.
Although the falcon gained height and swooped down on a few occasions, it never actually “hit” the bittern – it kept breaking off its attack just before striking.
I can only surmise that as it had lost the advantage of surprise, the falcon realised it couldn’t get a killing strike on the bittern and could therefore be in trouble itself if it continued to attack – or perhaps the bittern’s ruffled feathers and bold actions put it off.
Nevertheless, I have witnessed on numerous occasions Peregrines hunting prey but coming up short even though you would expect them to make a kill.
In any event, the bittern survived to live another day and the falcon flew off elsewhere to try to be more successful in replenishing energy lost on futile missions!
John Wright
John Wright is an Australian wildlife photographer and bird guide based in Kyushu, Japan. John became seriously engaged in nature photography while living in Japan and then Thailand. He returned to Japan in 2008 and has since concentrated on wildlife photography, especially birds. John visits Southeast Asia and Australia regularly, but usually travels within the Japanese archipelago, where he also guides visiting birders and wildlife photography enthusiasts.
Leave a Reply