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Post by billhammond on Jun 5, 2022 9:58:42 GMT -5
For 35 years, a 300-foot-high building at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester has hosted a nesting box for peregrine falcons way up high, and chicks have ensued every year -- four this year, hatched in early May. On May 25, it was time to band them and weigh them, something their mom, Hattie, really does not like. My favorite Strib photographer, long-timer Brian Peterson, somehow got this shot of Hattie dive-bombing the workers.  |
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Post by billhammond on Jun 5, 2022 10:00:52 GMT -5
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Post by epaul on Jun 5, 2022 10:23:41 GMT -5
I have a nesting box for Kestrels on top of the utility pole at the farm. A few years back, I noticed the bottom mounting bracket had broken away and the box needed imminent repair (the wooden box was several years old). Not the best timing for a repair job as a pair of Kestrels had claimed it. But as the landlord, I was on the hook for any damages/loss of egg that could result, so I pulled out my 32' ladder, some lag bolts, my trusty Milwaukee driver, and up I went. And the Kestrels were not happy. And they let me know it by screeching and swooping at me. I had just finished and was admiring my repair when one of the swoops got a little too close and I felt a wing brush against the back of my head. Time to go. Note to self. Do box repairs in the fall.  |
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Post by david on Jun 5, 2022 11:46:16 GMT -5
Cool pics and stories, boys. Makes me want to visit the Washington Park Zoo aviary, but I see that the birds have been moved inside to protect them from the flu.
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Post by Marshall on Jun 5, 2022 13:50:49 GMT -5
You guys are for the birds.
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Post by millring on Jun 5, 2022 18:02:09 GMT -5
I have a nesting box for Kestrels on top of the utility pole at the farm. A few years back, I noticed the bottom mounting bracket had broken away and the box needed imminent repair (the wooden box was several years old). Not the best timing for a repair job as a pair of Kestrels had claimed it. But as the landlord, I was on the hook for any damages/loss of egg that could result, so I pulled out my 32' ladder, some lag bolts, my trusty Milwaukee driver, and up I went. And the Kestrels were not happy. And they let me know it by screeching and swooping at me. I had just finished and was admiring my repair when one of the swoops got a little too close and I felt a wing brush against the back of my head. Time to go. Note to self. Do box repairs in the fall. I had long ago heard that kestrels can hover but I had never seen it until I was on a route last year and saw one hovering over a field. |
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Post by Village Idiot on Jun 5, 2022 18:56:41 GMT -5
Yes they can. It's really cool to see.
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Post by frazer on Jun 7, 2022 3:19:55 GMT -5
Where I'm from, you can watch the peregrine falcons hunting along the cliffs - in fact, you can even look down on them hunting. It's wonderful to watch them coasting along with the wind and then turning to hover, motionless. For example, here:   |
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Post by Marshall on Jun 7, 2022 7:54:00 GMT -5
Looks lovely, frazer.
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Post by epaul on Jun 7, 2022 10:32:15 GMT -5
One of my enduring Grand Canyon memories is the sight of Ravens spiraling in the sky below me.
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