In the five years I was involved with kodak.com’s birdcam, I never once saw one of the Peregrines actually catch prey. It’s something I’ve always wanted to see, but always seemed to miss by a few moments.

This afternoon I watched as a large bird flew into a tree here on campus. I stared at it for a few moments thinking “Wow… that’s a big pigeon.” Then my brain kicked in and I realized I was staring at a hawk. Not able to identify by myself, I called Drea, who is an expert at these things. Slowly I edged to the bottom of the tree it was in as I described it’s features to her.

Suddenly it took off, flew into the ivy covered wall of a building no more than ten feet away, and lighting fast, emerged with a small bird in its talons!

With total disregard to snow and fellow pedestrians, I chase the hawk to a nearby fire escape and watch as it tears into it’s dinner, feathers flying everywhere. All the while I’m relaying a description to Drea. She successfully ID’d it as a Cooper’s Hawk.

So I’ve finally seen a raptor take prey in the wild. While it wasn’t a peregrine, its still a cool start. My great regret… no digital camera to take a picture. I need to get one. I keep looking at the Kodak DX7590… I’m a company man, what can I say. Hey guys (you know who you are), any chance of a price drop in the near future?