We suspect the one that attacked Joes Whip It was a juvenile. It seems like the young ones havent quite figured out whats prey yet. We actually get all sorts of birds at that spot- Ive seen golden eagles, ospreys, hawk, peregrine falcons, and lots of turkey vultures. The turkey vultures are so curious some times that they will fly right into the furball of combat wings just to see what all the excitement is. They come swooping in from behind us and out into the lift band.
The peregrines will lock onto the tail of your plane like some sort of air-to-air missile and suddenly fold thier wings against their body and pass you like youre standing still.