7/16: Atlantic City falcon
 

[IMG]pictures/acfalcon.jpg[/IMG]

If there's anything undeniably cool in this world, it's birds of prey. This one is a peregrine falcon. But not just any falcon; this one has taken up residence at the Atlantic City Hilton, on the boardwalk. And not just anywhere at the Hilton, this bird has taken up residence at the penthouse level, 22nd floor, and has lived there for 17 years.

Interesting note about Atlantic City and birds. If you go to a casino parking lot and look out over the edge, down to the rooftops below, you notice the black rooftops dotted with white. Gulls and other such birds have adapted to man's presence. They like to break open shells to get the meat inside. Somehow they have learned to pick up shell-housed ocean beasties and drop them from heights, onto roofs and roads. The shells crack open and the birds have their meal.

Hmmm... It would appear that they adapt not only for survival, but also for ... fun.

I recall a story I heard a couple years ago about how they were having a terrible problem at the st. petersburg cathedral in russia. It seems as though crows would come along, and throw stones onto the (stained glass) roof of the cathedral, because "They like the sound of the glass breaking".

Apparently, in the wild, crows often throw rocks into streams and whatnot, just so that they can hear the "ploop!" noise that it makes.

How much of that is true, I'm not sure, but it's certainly an interesting hypothesis...

Gulls and other seabirds have always dropped shellfish on rocks so I don't think dropping them on other hard objects qualifies as a big strech.

just my 00000010 cents

Re: 7/16: Atlantic City falcon
 

Location, location, location...

In all seriousnes though, good for it. I mean, grabbing seashells, ripping into meat with the beak, that's pretty exhausting work. I think it deserves a little creature comfort.

~Mike

Call me paranoid but while i don't doubt the story for a second this pic looks rigged - made up of multiple images....look at it clsoely, some really wierd stuff going on there......

But i agtree iwht chew, give it a proper penthouse.

fugazi?
 

Ideed, it looks fake. how often do you get a falcon to pose like that? And, for that matter, how many photographers do you find lying about penthouse roofs (rooves?) waiting for the off-falcon to fly by?

Not jsut that, there is a kind of pixelated line between the top of the building/bird and the rest of the photo, and behind the bird there is a kind of white fog, either its got terrible gastro or someone has played with this in photoshop...or gimp

The pixellated line and the other edge effects are JPEG artifacts; they don't prove anything.

The fog is normal for this shore town. The reason the bird is there, and pissed, is that a conservationist is busy banding its young as this shot is taken.

There is white fog, only directly behind the bird.
Low quality jpg..
ah well
I think i'm getting image manipulation paranoid. Too much photoshop work.

The picture looks pretty real, I think.

You can even see even the bird´s claw´s reflection on the ledge, and also his overall shadow. It would be too much a good job for something so dumb.

About the dropping of stones...
 

... I don't really know anything about birds, but my guess is the crows drop the stones to see if any insects or small animals are startled by them.