A falcon dragging its prey in the tree only yards away!

Who ever said that there is no wildlife in the city?! I live here very central and guess what I saw from my balcony the other day?

A falcon!!

Look at him!

If this were in the States I'd say it was a hawk, but falcons are more common here and it appears (based on pictures I found on the net) to be a European Falcon.

Birds do like to hang out in the willow tree between my building and the one next to it...I'll often see magpies or pigeons sitting in its branches, resting. But a falcon?! Right here in town? Wow!

There appeared to be a bit of bird drama happening, too. Upon looking more closely at the falcon, I noticed it had something in its talon - a dead (gray) bird!! It had caught something and was dragging it with him in the tree!

falcon with its prey (yes, that's some blood you see!)

The magpies seemed very upset by the whole scenario, squawking away noisily at the falcon. At first I thought the falcon had caught a magpie baby, but its kill looked like it was only gray in color. It was probably just a pigeon and the magpie wanted some!

the falcon keeping an eye on its catch

Finally, after picking at it some, the falcon abandoned its prey and flew to another branch, leaving the kill available for all. The magpie saw his chance and went for it!

the scenario

Of course after the magpie pecked a few times at the prey, it fell to the ground, where it was apparently suddenly not interesting any more - drama over!

Talk about nature up close and personal! How cool is that?!

Gotta love my slice of heaven here!