Yesterday a comment from one of my readers on a recent post got me thinking about Prairie Falcons. In the comment “James” said ” I would love to see some more shots of the prairie falcon if you have any”. I’d been considering posting more images of this beautiful female and that comment prompted me to get off my duff and finally do it.
The formidable talons of the larger falcons always impress me and this female Prairie Falcon gave me a good look at her scythe-like weapons. From the size of her hugely bulging crop it’s obvious that they serve her well.
Some of you may recall that last November I photographed an amazing encounter between a Prairie Falcon and a hapless Northern Shoveler along the causeway to Antelope Island. These are photos of that experience that I haven’t posted before.
Two days ago I called Bill West, Project Leader at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley to ask him about the effects of the recent forest fires and resulting smoke in the area. During the conversation Bill told me about an incident that immediately got my attention.
Two days ago I posted about a very tame juvenile male Prairie Falcon I photographed last week in the Centennial Valley of Montana. The bird had two bands and I was extremely curious about where, when and why the falcon was banded and by whom so I asked for any insight my readers might have about the bands. Several of you jumped in with advice and suggestions, for which I’m much appreciative. But it was the superb sleuthing of my friend Mike Shaw that paid huge dividends. Mike did some research and learned that the colored band on the falcon (left foot) was issued to Doug Bell, Wildlife Program Manager for East Bay Regional Park District out of Oakland, California. On Tuesday, figuring that Doug might be interested in knowing that his California bird was now in the wilds of Montana, I emailed him with a link to that blog post and an offer to supply any more information about my encounter with that bird that he’d be interested in. I also asked him if he might tell me a little about his experience with the falcon. Yesterday Doug responded generously with information and photos. Since many of my readers expressed an interest in knowing about the history of this young bird I decided to update you with a new post rather than add an addendum to the previous post that many might not see. Besides, there’s a lot of new “stuff” here. Image property of East Bay Regional Park District – used by permission Doug and his team banded “my” Prairie Falcon…
In yesterday’s post about grasshopper-eating Prairie Falcons I promised that today’s post would also be about Prairie Falcons. It is, but only one of them – probably the most approachable larger falcon that I’ve ever encountered in the wild.
I learned something last week in Montana’s Centennial Valley – Prairie Falcons eat insects.
In the past I’ve only seen them eat birds and small mammals and cursory research had backed up that observation but if you dig a little deeper in your research (Birds of North America Online, for example) you’ll find mention of lizards and insects being included in their diet. My friend (master falconer) Mark Runnels says that “Prairie Falcons will eat anything. In really bad years I have even heard of them feeding on carrion. You’ll never see a Peregrine do that!”
With all the incredibly hot weather we’ve had for most of the last few weeks I was ready to post something that reminded me that it really can get cold around here…
On this morning as I was leaving Antelope Island after a morning of shooting I was, as always, watching for a Prairie Falcon along the causeway. Occasionally I’ve been lucky with that strategy but it doesn’t happen very often. One advantage I had is the fact that if there was one there it would likely be perched on the rocks next to the Great Salt Lake. With that dark blue background, the bright whites on the breast of the falcon are often easy to spot. And that’s exactly what happened.
Back in November I blogged about my encounter with a Prairie Falcon and its Northern Shoveler prey. I thought that some of the images I didn’t use back then were worthy of another post. This falcon struck the duck on the water, then waited for it to die and to be washed up onto shore. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in It attempted to enjoy its meal at the water’s edge but waves kept coming in and “rocking the boat”… 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in so the falcon decided to drag the shoveler further up the rocky shore and away from the annoying waves. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in It wasn’t an easy task. Average weight for Northern Shovelers is almost as much as it is for Prairie Falcons (1.3 vs 1.6 lbs) so the falcon really struggled in its attempt to drag the duck to a more suitable dining area. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I thought this was an interesting shot with the wings up, the left foot off the ground and direct eye contact. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Finally the falcon was satisfied with the…
As regular readers of my blog know, I’ve had four close-up encounters with this female Prairie Falcon on the Antelope Island causeway over the last couple of months. I couldn’t resist posting some images of her in different poses that I haven’t published here previously. There is general agreement among folks who are much more knowledgeable about falcons than I am that it was the same bird in all four cases. 1/640, f/4.5, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Here she is on 10/7/12. I’ll never forget that morning because she let me get closer than I had ever been to a wild Prairie Falcon (even had to remove my tc). But there was a tradeoff (isn’t there always?) because the reason she felt so secure was that she was in deep shade, which isn’t the best situation for photography. Still, I’m happy to have the images of her that morning. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in A little over a month later (11/11/12) she killed a Northern Shoveler in the water about 50 yards out and waited for it to drift to shore. Here she has just claimed her prize and seemed to raise her wings in celebration. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in She attempted to enjoy her meal on the shore edge but waves kept coming in and sloshing the duck around so she decided to drag it further away…
Two days ago we located the Prairie Falcon on the causeway once again. This bird spends most of its time on the island itself but occasionally ventures onto the causeway to hunt ducks. I’m quite sure, as are others who are more falcon knowledgeable than I, that it’s the same individual in all of my recent Prairie Falcon posts. Usually I complain about not being able to get close enough to my subjects but here I had the opposite problem. The only way I could even see this bird was from very close. From any further away the falcon was completely obstructed by the road edge and the vegetation growing there. The first two images are essentially full frame (very little crop) and that’s without my tc attached, so the falcon is too tight in the frame but this post is more about falcon adaptations than it is about aesthetics anyway. 1/1600, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This bird was a mess! It had apparently just finished dining on duck so it was wet, blood encrusted and disheveled, with tidbits still clinging to feet and beak. The bird is meticulously cleaning and scratching its beak with those impressive talons, which seems to me to be about like picking one’s teeth with a Bowie knife. 1/1600, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in But what I found particularly interesting about many of the images I took of this bird was the good look at the well-defined and bulging crop. …
This morning on Antelope Island was a photographic bust – heavy snow coming down most of the time and no light to speak of. So finally, after several hours of hoping the clouds would clear, we put our tails between our legs and headed for home. Talk about perfect timing! We’d traversed about half the causeway when the clouds parted, light blossomed and a serendipitous adult Prairie Falcon appeared, hunting for ducks. The falcon ambushed this male Northern Shoveler just as I was getting my pickup in position, so I missed that shot but this one was taken within a second or two of the strike. The duck is bleeding heavily. It struggled for a minute or so, and then died in the water. After the attack, the falcon would perch along the causeway for a short period, then take off and fly over the duck. This was done repeatedly. With my 500mm plus tc I could never get both the duck and the falcon in the image – this is as close as I came. 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Here, the falcon is perched to watch the duck out on the water. 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I had a difficult time locking focus on the falcon as it buzzed the duck because the textured water background was so close to the bird. I kept getting sharp shots of…
This image may look familiar to some viewers because I’ve previously posted another photo of this bird with a different wing position. I only got those two sharp shots of the falcon and I’d never processed this image before because the bird was too tight in the frame. I’d actually forgotten about this photo until recently when I decided it was worth making the effort to add some canvas to improve the composition. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I found this juvenile feeding on its duck kill along the Antelope Island causeway last winter on a dark and blustery late morning. Two ravens began to harass the falcon with the apparent intention of stealing the duck so the rightful owner of the prey took off with the prize in tow. Within seconds, an adult Bald Eagle moved in and forced the falcon to drop the duck. One thing I find interesting about this image is the angle of the bird to the horizon – it looks like it’s flying downward, but in reality it’s actually gaining altitude. Normally, with the bird at this flight attitude, I’d rotate counterclockwise a little to make the flight angle more realistic looking, but since the horizon is in the background it’s obvious that the shot doesn’t need rotation since the horizon is level. The reason for the angled flight attack is the load that the falcon is hauling while it’s trying to gain altitude. The lower background is the dark, stormy and…
Last month, this Prairie Falcon let me get very close to it on the causeway to Antelope Island. It was in early morning and the bird was in deep shade. It’s my impression that they feel less threatened in that kind of light and though it makes for very difficult photography, I’ll take the bird close in poor light, instead of a mile away in gorgeous light – any ol’ day of the week. 1/640, f/4.5, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Previously, I’ve posted a different image of this bird but that one didn’t have the textures provided by the raised feathers that we see here. 1/800, f/4.5, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in When this bird decided it was time to leave it had a bit of a pleasant surprise for me. In this light and with this slow shutter speed I could never get the bird sharp as it took off but just before it launched, it spread its wings and held them there for a few seconds and it even glanced back enough for me to get some light in the eye. But what I like most about this image is the great look at the feather patterns on the left wing and back. Because of the spread wing and the lightly colored margins on each feather, those patterns are very clear and it is easy to delineate each plumage “group” – primaries, secondaries, primary coverts, greater coverts, median coverts, lesser coverts, alula, scapulars,…
