#Peregrine Falcons

[antiqueanimals]

Drawing Birds. Written and illustrated by Maurice Wilson. Published in 1965.

Internet Archive

[dduane]

Birdwatching

It's a nice sunny morning over in Illkirch-Graffenstaden (outside of Strasbourg) and business as usual appears to be proceeding at the peregrine falcons' nest there.

The mother (or just "falcon": males are called "tercels" due either to being a third smaller than the females, or due to an old myth that only one of every three eggs hatches out a male) just spent five minutes or so fiddling around with the twigs and junk on the platform in front of the nest. These may have been brought by the idiot pigeons that keep trying to nest there even while the falcons are in residence. The falcon's attitude at that point seemed to be one of "Where the F did this stuff come from, I don't remember bringing any of this here..."

When she got bored with that she got back into the nesting shelter and scratched the nest materials around a little: then did a bit of a squat-and-wiggle and settled herself over the egg. (There seems to be just the one: you can see it there under her wing.)

...And there she sat for a couple minutes more, until something made her get up and start observing the space around the church spire very intently. Quite soon after that she plainly saw something that concerned her, went straight to the edge of the platform, and leapt off into the air to have a better look at whatever it was. She hasn't been back since. (That was about fifteen minutes ago.)

Here's the live cam on YouTube. WARNING: turn your sound DOWN before going there. The wind noise is genuinely deafening.

ETA, 1:07 Strasbourg time: And oh FFS, here are the pigeons. We've stumbled into a bird-based soap opera.

I'm going to be sooooo interested to see what the falcon does when she gets back and finds them there. It's going to amaze me if these dingbats don't get killed and eaten, sooner or later.

...And here the tercel (whose name is apparently Valentine) comes back and sees the pigeons off. ("Lou", one of the commenters on the feed, grabbed the video...)

...Valentine then stands there shouting in indignation for a couple of minutes. Well, who could blame him.

(Also, noting the red smudge on his lower breast feathers. Looks like he may have been hunting.)

(ETA: there's another view of the nest, from inside the nesting box and above, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99QErpXgXBU)

[mapsontheweb]

Peregrine falcon in Kazakhstan

by golden_horde.mapper

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Smithsonian Magazine:

Long absent from Yosemite National Park, peregrine falcons are making a comeback with help from some unlikely allies: rock climbers.

Rock climbers and peregrine falcons could easily be at odds, since they both flock to the sheer granite cliffs of the 1,169-square-mile California park. The presence of climbers can disturb nesting falcons, and rock climbing is listed as a potential threat to the species. But instead, humans and birds have forged a unique partnership that has allowed peregrine falcons to flourish after decades of decline.

This week, the National Park Service and the Yosemite Conservancy provided an update on the peregrine falcon recovery within the park. In the spring of 2024, naturalists counted 17 breeding pairs—a nearly 113 percent increase from the eight pairs counted in 2009—as well as 15 nests and 25 chicks. Since 2009, 51 total nesting sites located within Yosemite have produced 385 baby birds.

“Peregrines are at the top of the food chain and the most susceptible to contamination,” says Frank Dean, president of Yosemite Conservancy, to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sam Whiting. “So to have them bounce back to this degree is a sign of the health of the entire Yosemite ecosystem.”

Peregrine falcons are the world’s fastest animal, reaching speeds of up to 200 miles per hour when they dive from great heights to catch their prey. These majestic birds live on every continent except Antarctica, seeking out rocky cliffs to build their nests and raise their young.

Once abundant around the world, their numbers began to dwindle after World War II because of the use of pesticides like dieldrin, aldrin and DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane). Dieldrin and aldrin are toxic and killed the birds outright, while DDT weakened chicks’ eggshells, lowering their odds of survival.

At the behest of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, climbers once again scaled El Capitan writes the Mercury News’ Lisa M. Krieger—but this time, they collected samples of eggshells from the nest and brought them back down for testing.

The eggs were delicate and thin, so researchers decided the best course of action was to incubate them in a laboratory, then return the hatchlings to the nest. Rock climbers helped with this, too, much to the chagrin of the protective peregrine falcon parents: As the climbers carefully removed eggs or replaced chicks, the falcons dive-bombed them—one bird even struck a climber’s backpack.

“Just when I thought I was going to die, they would flare their wings above my neck and glide off, just inches from me,” says Ken Yager, one of the climbers who helped with the efforts and the founder of the Yosemite Climbing Association, to the Mercury News.

Yager’s story illustrates how climbers were willing to “risk all” to help the birds, as Rob Roy Ramey II, a biologist and climber who helped with the project, told Outside’s Ula Chrobak in 2018.

[soupy-sez]

Peregrine Falcons are Feathered Fighter Jets, Basically

[pomegranate]

sometimes my job is fun

[richaldis]

https://sussexheights.co.uk/sussex-heights-brighton-peregrine-falcons-nestbox-camera

[aisleopedia]

Laser shone into bird box disturbs peregrine nest.

A laser beamed into a bird box has disturbed nesting peregrine falcons.The incident at St Peter and St Paul's church in Cromer, Norfolk, caused the female peregrine to leave her nest and chick "for a considerable amount of time", Read More.

[cathartidae]

she's so gorgeous

watch here

[valtsv]

i enjoy comparing the different ways that birds of prey attack. you've got eagles doing the classic lord of the skies, king of the air, death from above pose

and then you've got peregrine falcons who are just like "fuck it. tactical missile strike."

[antiqueanimals]

Drawing Birds. Written and illustrated by Maurice Wilson. Published in 1965.

Internet Archive

[swkrullimaging]

Photograph Cliffside Peregrin Falcons

I had the opportunity yesterday to photograph the peregrine falcons that reside on the cliffs of beautiful Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs. I learned a few things that I thought I would pass on to my readers. How to Find Them It’s fairly easy to locate the birds if they are perched at their nests in the crevices and caves high on the sandstone spires. You just have to look for the…

[awkward-parabuteo]

A very flappy guy

[if-i-eated-soaps]

one of my favorite birds! @todaysbird

[space-watcher]

Sunrise at Orange,FalconCam Project

[rfskia]