# Neighbourhood wildlife **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 10, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbourhood-wildlife/180906 "2003-06-10T16:49:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbourhood-wildlife/180906/41 "2003-06-12T23:08:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cowgirl \* > \*\*Oh, and for you bird-spotters - I’m sure I saw a buzzard in Muskoka, picking away at some road pizza. I’ve never seen or even heard of buzzards in S. Ontario. Could this be possible? > > … off to find websites that provide this sort of information … \*\* Yes, turkey vultures can be found in S. Ontario in the summer. Re: the red-tail vs. the peregrine: I was going to say that if it was larger than a seagull it had to be a red tail, but Sibley’s _Guide to Birds_ tells me that herring gulls (your garden variety seagull in many areas) are in fact larger than red-tailed hawks! I would use a crow as a comparison. Red tailed hawks are larger than crows, whereas Peregrine falcons would be smaller. Red tails are often seen beside highways on light poles, telephone poles or other perches 20-50 ft. above the ground. In Cambridge MA where I work I ofen see them staking out parking lots and empty lots. They are on the lookout for mice, rats, squirrels etc, although I think they take other birds too. Peregrines I think are more likely to be found higher up on building ledges (or cliffs, traditionally). They tend to prey on birds more than rodents…in cities they eat a lot of pigeons. I found a couple of good pictures: [Red tailed hawk](http://www.bio.davidson.edu/projects/dcep/bird%20pics/red%20tailed%20hawk.jpg) [Peregrine Falcon](http://aviary.owls.com/peregrine/peregrine.html) ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbourhood-wildlife/180906/42 "2003-06-12T23:17:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cowgirl \* > \*\*I’m sure there are rats, but I’ve never seen one. Closest thing is the mice that live in the subway tracks. > \*\* Go to Queen Street across the stree from CityTV is a block that runs from John to McCaul. In behind it is a little park. You can see rats there frequently enough. Usually big dead ones. I you go near the loading doors of the AGO, next to OCAD you can find the rats there too. Yu-uuuuuck! For cool wildlife though, my co-workers and I got to watch a hawk eating a pigeon in the tree just outside out office window (we work by CityTV – right downtown!). Very cool. Disgusting. But very cool. And there was a raccoon waiting on the ground for the hawk to finish so he could eat the leftovers. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbourhood-wildlife/180906/43 "2003-06-12T23:23:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph \* > \*\*Yes, turkey vultures can be found in S. Ontario in the summer. > \*\* They were having a tough time of it for awhile. I used to only see them when I was rock climbing along the Niagara Escarpment. But whoa, nelly! Turkey vultures have made quite the comeback! I see them quite a lot now. Mostly when I’m driving along the 401 expressway (they seem to circle lazily until some poor creature gets struck by a car.) I even have pictures from when a curious turkey vulture kepp swooping down to take a closer look at my camera as I was shooting an old barn. (Unfortunately I was using a very slow shutter speed so you just see a blurry black swoosh that mostly looks like a daytime ghost.) _Big_ birds up close. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbourhood-wildlife/180906.md?page=2)