The last few weeks I've had a pair of doves that hang around the building i work in.

This morning i walked outside and one of them flew down and landed right next to me



A second later i see this raptor fly right over me and then fly up and land on my building





It stayed and watched for quite awhile before it flew away.

I think the dove was using me for protection.

What kind of raptor is it?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: navyshooter,

I am going to say a Swainson's hawk.

Could be immature Cooper or Sharp shinned too

BTW im located in San Diego

I'm a birder/wild bird photographer, and it looks like a peregrine falcon due to the dark cheeks and head...which resembles a helmet.

Just today, I was watching two Coopers following each other, trying to scare up some doves in the area, but I didn't see any kills today. Not for certain,but again, looks like a peregrine.

Eurasian collared dove

The raptor is likely a peregrine falcon, but it could also be a prairie falcon just hanging out.

Peregrine falcons are F cool and pretty adaptable. The coolest place I've seen one was at the top of the Palazzo hotel in Las Vegas.

I'm going with peregrine. Yes, I'd say that dove was using you for protection .

Peregrines have been known to hang out in cities, nest on tall bldgs, bridges, etc.

That is a falcon.

Yeah, the dove used you for cover.

See the side of its face, it has clown tears.

That dove is, like another post said, a Eurasian Collared Dove. It's an introduced species that is crowding out our native doves. You should have let the falcon have him.

I miss Borrego Springs

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
That dove is, like another post said, a Eurasian Collared Dove. It's an introduced species that is crowding out our native doves. You should have let the falcon have him.

I think the Falcon got the Doves mate......I found a bunch of dove feathers later in the day.

There's a mating pair of Red Tailed Hawks by my house that I like to watch hunt. They do a job on the local ground squirrel population.

I was out in the Hangar bay and saw the Dove fly by with the Falcon in hot pursuit.......I walked outside and saw breakfast was happening.











...I wonder if Falcons eat Seagulls

I wonder if Osprey eat doves. That second bird looks like an Osprey.

quote:

Originally posted by navyshooter:
BTW im located in San Diego

There's a dove hatching her eggs in a nest a few feet away from a staircase in my San Diego condo right now.

Its an African no European .... ahhhhhaggggh..''!!

quote:

Originally posted by HK Ag:
Its an African no European .... ahhhhhaggggh..''!!

Look, a 5oz bird cannot carry a 1 pound coconut!

I thought this was going to be a Ford thing.

He's preparing to attack you too, starting with severing all the power!!!!

The building that my wife works in has a pair of peregrine's that she enjoys watching when she goes outside at lunch time. One day she took a pair of binoculars to work with her in order to get a better look, and that of course drew a little attention, so they soon had a group of people staring up at them. She's telling me this, and starts laughing, so I asked what was so funny, aside from a bunch of people who had apparently never realized what they were before. She said that I should have been there to see the looks on people's faces when one of the peregrine's pounced on a "poor smaller bird". Guess they didn't know that peregrine's have to eat too.