Not long ago a hawk landed in our back yard. It had caught some small animal of bird and was having lunch (poor creature but that is nature). I went out after it was finished and the hawk had devoured it so completely that I couldn't even tell where it was eating. There was nothing left.
It flew onto the deck and was only about 8 feet away.
Despite their tendency to flee rather than confront a bigger foe, peregrines also can become spectacularly aggressive when protecting a nest. That was certainly the case with a bird researchers had dubbed Her Majesty, who nested on the Bay Bridge a few years ago.
"Over the course of one nesting season, she hammered four red-tailed hawks, killing three of them," Gregoire said. "The one that survived was rescued by the Coast Guard and taken to the Marin Wildlife Center, where it eventually recovered."
And I can remember a Chronicle story years ago about one nailing a pigeon in North Beach and devouring it on the sidewalk in front of the Washington Square Bar & Grill at lunchtime, ruining the apetite of a few lunch patrons.
Great pictures!
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