Peregrine Falcon's dusty adventure

Hi all,

I had an awesome and unintended birdy experience last week at work. On Wednesday, during the dust storm, a Peregrine Falcon landed on the balcony near my 5th-floor office. The uni at which I work is bordered by bushland, so we think the bird got a bit lost in the dust (I'm at Mt Gravatt, in Brisbane, Qld). The falcon sat on the balcony wall for 3 hours! The Welcome Swallows swooped him for the entire time.

Two of my colleagues are birders. We went into an office that was close to where the falcon was, so we could see every feather. It was incredible. One of the birdmen filmed him. He'll email me the photos later and I'll try to post them here.

This is the adventure part: At 4pm, the falcon flew away. The next day, there was an article in a local newspaper, saying that a peregrine falcon was found (don't worry - alive) on the South East busway (a freeway just for buses) at peak hour. That busway goes past my uni, so I reckon it was our falcon. He was on the road, oblivious to the buses going past every few seconds, and he was eating a pigeon. Someone called wildlife rescuers, and they collected the falcon and released him at a safe location. Isn't that fantastic?!

It was just awesome to watch him at close range for 3 hours (didn't get much work done!). It was also nice to know that he managed to find a feed in the dust, and that the lovely wildlife rescuers helped him home.

Andy.