COVID-19-related quarantines have reduced the proportion of pigeons in the diet of London peregrine falcons. It has been reported by the British Ecological Society.
The peregrine falcon is a species of hawk found on every continent except Antarctica. They are considered a rare species, but small populations also live in large European cities.
For the research, ornithologists used online feeds from 31 peregrine falcon nests in 27 cities in the UK. The observation was carried out during three breeding seasons, the first of which coincided with the quarantines introduced in connection with the COVID-19 outbreak. It turned out that during the outbreak in London, the peregrine falcons took a smaller proportion of the pigeons (-15%) as prey and replaced them by starlings (+7%) and parrots (+3%). However, in other cities, pigeons remained the dominant prey throughout the study.
Most likely, people fed fewer pigeons during quarantines. In addition, the amount of waste these birds can use may have been reduced. Under the influence of these two factors, pigeons may visit places in the city where calico falcons usually hunt less.
The authors believe that their work demonstrates the existence of complex relationships in nature. Similarly, scientists had previously found that the goshawk population in Poland had almost halved after farmers had drastically reduced the breeding of pigeons and other poultry.