Birds and Nature

(Click on Read More  to see 3 additional photos) I spotted this Peregrine trying to dry off from a drenching rain when this Common Raven tried to chase it out of the neighborhood with aggressive harassment.  Note that the raven looks bigger than the falcon because it is closer to the camera.  It was quite surprising to find this Peregrine Falcon where it had landed which was in a residential area of the city so it must have been soaked to land there.  The raven wasn't the only neighborhood bird that didn't like this visitor.  A couple of blackbirds were perched below the Peregrine and the bottom pic shows it watching them.    SeEtta

I took these photos of this juvenile Peregrine Falcon from my car, a a technique I use frequently to reduce disturbance. I was pleased to be able to get several photos and leave with the falcon still perched on this pole. This bird was near Hargil Playa which attracts waterfowl and shorebirds, a good place to hunt especially for a juvenile. SeEtta

While I photographed this Peregrine Falcon it lifted it's foot and pointed it's middle toe directly up in the air and it's looking down towards me! Well, maybe not it's 'middle toe' (they have two toes facing forward and 2 back behind so they don't really have a middle toe). In the pic above it's 2 forward, 2 back toes are evident. And actually those are called talon. Check out those long,sharp nails! SeEtta

I spotted this Peregrine Falcon this week in a town called San Juan here in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Since there aren't any big cliffs on which these birds can perch, they can sometimes be seen fairly close here perched on tall buildings.  SeEtta

I spotted this Peregrine Falcon perched in a tree near the Canon City Valco ponds where it was apparently looking for prey. Before I could get a shot off with it perched it took off and circled the ponds, flying fast. I got this pic at 1/2000th of a second, but even at this fast camera speed it was not fast enough to get a good pic of this fast flyer. SeEtta

I found this Peregrine Falcon on a tower structure in Mercedes, Texas. It was more than 50 feet above and another hundred feet north of me but I used a long telephoto equivalent to about 1200mm; however, I still stayed in my car I stayed in my car and took photos from it to reduce the risk of flushing it. It was still on the tower structure when I drove away. SeEtta

While the Peregrine did not look at me but a few times, it did often look over towards the river or up to the sky as though guarding against some possible threat (I did not see any mammal or people around nor any other raptor above so maybe this is just usual preventative behavior). Since the Peregrine had already been eating on the carcass of it's prey all I ever saw was this large piece of feathered meat as shown in these pics. It apparently at the foot shown in the photo on the previous post as I looked for it after a truck flushed the falcon and did not find one. As can be seen in the bottom pic it devoured the intestines. SeEtta

I spotted this Peregrine Falcon perched on top of a utility pole just east of Canon City. I positioned by car so I could photograph from inside, using the car it as a blind, to try to avoid disrupting this bird's meal. Soon after I started taking photos I was surprised to see the Peregrine with a very large foot in it's beak. I had thought it had a duck since it was a large meal and it was very near the Arkansas River; however, this is not a webbed foot but a foot that looks like it came possibly from another raptor as it is not only quite large but has very long nails. It's yellowish foot and leg with the long claws look a lot like that of a Cooper's Hawk's foot , or maybe a  Sharp-shinned foot, but I am open to other species. Though I was successful in avoiding flushing this Peregrine it did look at me a few times presumably in response to the mechanical sounds of my dslr camera. More pics to follow. SeEtta

This photo shows nicely all the barring on the underside of the bird's wing. And it shows how long the wings are. Enlarge the pic for better viewing by double-clicking on it. SeEtta

The Peregrine Falcon has finally moved to another branch on the same snag then flies away. This has been a very nice experience. SeEtta

The Peregrine Falcon preens each tail feather carefully providing a nice view of the upper side of it's tail. SeEtta

. Double-click on each pic for better viewing. The nice thing about still photos is they provide a better view of the bird's plumage and appearance. I will use descriptions utilized in Raptors of Western North America . This adult has a wide black malar mark that does not cover the auriculars (can't tell if auriculars are spotted or not). The forehead appears black like the remainder of the crown and nape. It has a whitish throat then an unmarked tawny breast. Flanks are barred. Belly is tawny with spots on the upper parts then barring. The underside of the tail is light with barring. Now to the last two short video clips. SeEtta

The flock of migrating swallows, the ones I could saw were Tree Swallows, along with a few resident Barn Swallows are flying all around the Peregrine Falcon with some coming in close. The falcon actively follows many of them. The Mourning Dove remains on top of the fence post behind the falcon. But the Peregrine Falcon makes no attempt to go after any of them-either it had just eaten a very big meal before I started watching it or it's a vegetarian. SeEtta

The flock of migrating swallows, the ones I could saw were Tree Swallows, along with a few resident Barn Swallows are flying all around the Peregrine Falcon with some coming in close. The falcon actively follows many of them. The Mourning Dove remains on top of the fence post behind the falcon. Go figure? SeEtta

To the left of the Peregrine Falcon is a Mourning Dove that flew in and landed on top of a fence post less than 50 feet away. The falcon continues watching a flock of migrating swallows fly below and makes some interesting movements with it's head as it does. At the end is some of the flock of about 70 Canada Geese that the falcon has been watching in the river. Though not viewable in this clip are several Eurasian Collared-Doves on other fence posts to it's right. This is a veritable 'kid in a candy store' with all the possible avian prey all around it and I kept thinking it is going to nail something here soon. SeEtta

In this short clip the Peregrine Falcon does more stretching. At the end of the clip the bird spots some migrating swallows below it and it follows the movement with it's head the same way one of us might watch a bird flying below us. SeEtta

The Peregrine Falcon that I found near Canon City,CO is seen doing some nice stretching in this short clip, providing additional views of the bird. All the video clips can be enlarged to fill a computer screen by clicking on the box (with 4 arrows) in bottom right corner of screen (at least it comes out clearly on my 14" laptop screen) SeEtta

I spotted a raptor on a snag that just looked a little different so I got closer and found it was an adult Peregrine Falcon. The snag was on a steep slope above the Arkansas River near Canon City,CO and within 15-20 miles of known Peregrine nesting locations in nearby foothills. I was able to drive my car to within about 200 feet of the falcon and behind a tree so I was at least partially obscured when videotaping the bird with my 40 power Canon videocamera. I watched it for an hour and this is what it did for most of that time--just chill-out and watch the parade of prey birds that came near including some rock pigeons that were flying close by during this clip. SeEtta

This adult Peregrine Falcon was hanging out at the Blanca Wetlands just northeast of the town of Alamosa. Blanca Wetlands are quite large and provide habitat for a number of nesting waterfowl and waterbirds which is a draw to Peregrine Falcons like this one. The Peregrine Falcon is one of the success stories for the Endangered Species Act. This species, like the Bald Eagle, suffered due to the use of DDT and other organochlorine. The Endangered Species Act provided necessary protections and recovery plans that included reestablishing birds with the significant assistance of the Peregrine Fund . SeEtta