do birds of prey wait for their victim to die

Question

I noticed this Morning a peregrine on the telephone wire. It stayed there for about 20 mins. It then flew down on our grass behind some trees. Dinnertime iv been down there and There is a half eaten seagull. Was he waiting that 20 mins for his victim to die.

KatTai · Answer

I suspect not as most birds of prey don't have the luxuary of having the time to wait! They have to eat quick and if that means tucking in when the prey is still alive then so be it, if they don't start eating as quickly as they can they more they may lose should a competitor such as a crow arrives to attempt to steal the kill. 
 And as for "too many birds of prey", predators are limited by the amount of prey they have available, not the other way around. Most hunts don't even end in a kill, the prey usually escapes. Predators actually help bird populations by removing the old, sick and weak animals which later competition for others of the same species in more difficult times - such as what we are having now, and prey are adapted to cope with natural losses from predators, bad weather etc. The reason why so many birds are declining is because of people, not because of the predators that they have co-existed with long before we appeared to destroy their habitats. Most birds of prey are recovering from extreme persecution, followed by the devestation of DDT so of course we are seeing more, we should be this shows that their population is starting to recover after we nearly wiped them out. Birds of prey are something wild birds have always lived with and to accuse them of damaging bird populations is, in my opinion, nothing more than an attempt to place blame on another species for the results of our actions.

John B (not the sloop) · Answer

Hi Pauwen 
 Not as a general rule but raptors can be as opportunistic as anything. It may have come across a recent casualty and was waiting for the coast to become clear before getting a free meal. It could, equally, have been disturbed while dining on its own kill, perhaps by a Fox ,and retired to a safe distance. Normally Peregrines will deal with their own kills promptly and cart them off to a favourite plucking spot. If the prey is too big to carry it may even have a "picnic" on the spot. A gull larger than a Black headed may to too heavy to transport especially if the Peregrine is a male. 
 Female Peregrines are capable of striking down surprisingly large prey items. Ravens and Gt Black Backed Gulls occasionally fall victim. If, however, the Peregrine gets into a ruck on the ground with a Raven it can ever be certain who will end up on the menu. Sometimes a Raven, if not seriously wounded, can gain the upper hand.....

goldeneagle788 · Answer

dear pauwen most birds of pray kill there victim but some small birds of pray wait for 
 there pray to die. 
 In the peregrines case it probably had already killed the sea gull and just had not finished eating 
 or something else killed the sea gull.