The UAE National reports that a falcon recently brought down a drone in a back garden in Dubai.

A drone enthusiast was brought back down to earth when his gadget was attacked by a bird of prey.

The remote-controlled device was flying above Jumeirah Park when it encountered a falcon.

The bird, possibly mistaking the rotor-powered drone as an adversary or a meal, locked its talons into the device and took it down in front of an astonished onlooker.

Lukas Franciszek, from Poland, was out for a stroll last week with his wife and 16-month-old baby when he saw the drone hovering.

“We looked up and there was a drone, and I told my wife that we should move away,” said the resident of four years.

“We walked two or three metres and then heard a whizzing noise and a thump. As I turned around, I saw the drone going down and a bird right after it.”

The drone crashed into the garden of an elderly Arab woman, whom Mr Franciszek approached to notify of the incident.

“She didn’t speak English very well, so she telephoned her husband, and he asked me to check out the situation,” said Mr Franciszek.

“We walked in, and we saw the drone on the ground but no bird was in sight. However, when I came close, I saw a big bird sitting on a plant pot and realised it was a falcon.

“I was looking at the bird, it was looking at me. We had a little stare-off.”

As Mr Franciszek approached the drone, the falcon rushed and perched on the device.

“He was looking at me as if to tell me: ‘Hey, back off. This is mine. I hunted it’,” he said.

Mr Franciszek then took a photo of the bird, which he later posted on social media.

The owner of the drone arrived and said that the falcon, which was tagged, did not belong to him.

It is not clear to whom the falcon belonged but social media users who commented on Mr Franciszek’s picture said it belongs to a Dubai man.

Eventually, the falcon flew away, leaving Mr Franciszek and the others dumbfounded by the bizarre events.

Hat tip to Matt MacLean.

Falco peregrinus

Hat tip to Ratak Monodosico.

Birdcam view:

From Steve Bodio via Karen L. Myers.

(photo: Rick Remington)

In Chicago, this winter, a Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) took a go at a Snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus). A local birder named Rick Remington got some great photos and described the action.

North American Birding:

[The owl] would do a somersault just as the Peregrine approached and flash its nasty talons in an attempt to scare off the Falcon. The battle lasted for 5 full minutes before the Falcon headed off in another direction and the Snowy Owl flew down to the rocks by the lake. It was a surprisingly violent and noisy encounter, with both birds shrieking loudly and the owl extending its giant wings to intimidate the smaller falcon. I fully expected this to end badly for the owl based on what I was watching. In spite of the obvious mismatch, the Snowy Owl managed to hold its own and escape unscathed.

Miniature video cameras strapped to the back of the two hawks give humans an opportunity to experience from a firsthand perspective the speed of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) and the manueverability in woodlands of the Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis).