Found on sidewalk at SF Bay Model in Sausalito

[Paul Meadow]

Hi all,

I assumed this was a pigeon hit and eaten by a raptor, but now I’m not so sure it’s a pigeon. I should have taken more time to inspect it but we had to leave.  The orange plastic band has no markings.  

Thoughts?  

[Jennifer Miller]

Ha! Wow! Looks like maybe a domestic pigeon (or Rock Dove to use the parlance 😉). 

Just eating its head! Wow! Happy fat bird, Coops behavior?

- Jennifer 

On Jan 30, 2026, at 12:32 PM, Paul Meadow <meado...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

I assumed this was a pigeon hit and eaten by a raptor, but now I’m not so sure it’s a pigeon. I should have taken more time to inspect it but we had to leave.  The orange plastic band has no markings.  

Thoughts?  

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[Paul Meadow]

Ah, interesting.  Actually, I believe the majority of the body cavity was eviscerated. The ribs at the back were picked clean.  I just didn’t end up getting a shot of that.   

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[Paul Meadow]

So people put color bands on their domestic pigeons? 

On Fri, Jan 30, 2026 at 12:51 Jennifer Miller <miller.je...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[John Farnsworth]

Pigeon breeders will band their birds, sometimes just to indicate hatch year.  

That looks more like the work of a peregrine than a Cooper’s hawk. When I lived in Swig Hall we’d see such carcasses around the dorm, and it was always the work of our resident peregrine. 

John S. Farnsworth, PhD
Reading Nature: The Evolution of American Nature Writing

Nature Beyond Solitude: Notes from the Field
Coves of Departure: Field Notes from the Sea of Cortes

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[Paul Meadow]

Thanks John!

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