[mou] Falcon in Richfield

[Alt, Mark]

I am sitting at my desk in Richfield at corporate Headquarters for Best
Buy, talking on the phone, when I spied a Peregrine in a
wings-half-closed stoop shoot across the open sky and disappear behind
the building adjacent to mine. My impression was it was shaped like an
"E" and was going very fast. The sighting of the bird moving was like
seeing a meteor at night. It was a single streak and if I were not
looking at the area where it happened, I would have missed it. The
apparent speed relative to my position was very meteor-like also.  I
walk the area and found the bird feeding on its prey on the top of a
street lamp just north of the Kohl's store in Bloomington. It fed for
ten minutes then walked around on top of the light. When these birds
walk, they seem to be humped or stooped in the back and shoulders,
perhaps they must lean so far forward to clear their tail as they walk?
I could not tell what its prey was, but tit seemed large, so I would
guess pigeon or mallard, both of which are common in the area.


Mark Alt