Rough day for catbirds

Throughout the northeast lots of Gray Catbirds are migrating south on a daily basis. It is also peak falcon migration right now. You can probably guess that this combination isn’t going to fair too well for some catbirds…sure enough, today at the Cape Henlopen Hawkwatch we had a Merlin fly in after crossing Delaware Bay, drop down into the brush near the hawkwatch, and then reappear a few minutes later with a catbird firmly in it’s grip. Towards the end of the day, we were all watching an adult Peregrine Falcon coming across the bay and right as it approached the dunes out in front of the watch, it snagged a catbird out of the sky and proceeded to kill and pluck it as it continued on past us!

Merlin with a Gray Catbird (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Merlin with a Gray Catbird (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Peregrine Falcon with a Gray Catbird (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Peregrine Falcon with a Gray Catbird (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)