Het begin van de leercurve van een jonge Slechtvalk Falco peregrinus en een jonge postduif Columba livia

On 24 July 2016, a juvenile male Peregrine apparently attempted to capture a racing pigeon in/over woodland on Berkenheuvel, western Drenthe. His flight ended close to a solitary house in the woods, adjacent to a small heath, where he landed in a solitary Scots pine Pinus sylvestris 15 m away from the house. The open beak and slightly opened wings indicated recent exertion or stress. During its 15 minute stay he gradually calmed down, and started to look around, before flying away in a low-level flight. The bird was ringed, probably also colour-ringed, but the number could not be read. The racing pigeon, a grey-plumaged juvenile, had taken cover in close proximity of the house, where it stayed for several hours, almost immobile but apparently unharmed (body mass 445 g). After the owner was contacted, it turned out that the pigeon had taken part in a race the day before, when a flock of juvenile pigeons had been released near Tilburg, 166 km to the SSW of its encounter with a Peregrine. Many pigeons had been grounded in between, probably due to thunder storms and thirst, and struggled to the loft the next day.