Peregrine Falcons

[emydura]

Here are some photos I took of a pair of Peregrine Falcons. These things are amazingly fast and not very easy to photograph. Unlike the rest of the world, Peregrines are still pretty common here and stable in numbers. They are always a joy to see. The photo of the chicks was taken by my friend who studies them.

The last two photos are of a Wedge-tailed Eagle chick. This is the largest Australian eagle and the 3rd largest in the world. These use to get hunted a lot by farmers as they mistakenly believed they killed sheep. There numbers were greatly reduced but they are now protected and have recovered well. They can be commonly seen soaring high in the sky.

 

[Stone]

Fantastic David!!!!!!!!!!!!! My favorite raptor!! I was lucky enough to watch one chase down a pigeon and come crashing into a tree after it in my backyard a couple of years ago and I've only seen it once since then. We also have a pair of resident wedgetails which make an apearence from time to time. Love those pics!

Mike

 

[gonewild]

Great Falcon shots! Is that a wild or a trained bird? Either way nice job.

 

[emydura]

Great Falcon shots! Is that a wild or a trained bird? Either way nice job.

Thanks Lance. No, they are wild birds. They breed along the cliffs of the Murrumbidgee River.

 

[ehanes7612]

what is your lens?

 

[W. Beetus]

Wow! Amazing pictures!

 

[paphioboy]

Splendid pictures of magnificent birds of prey... The two chicks are cute

 

[Clark]

Killer shots David!

2 Qs-Did your friend do the banding in #5 ?

Shutter priority?

Again, nice work.

 

[SlipperFan]

Great shots, David!

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Great shots! I never knew peregrine's are also found in Australia...thought they were strictly northern hemisphere. Believe it or not, although I haven't seen any, they do very well in NYC. The bridges provide their ideal nesting sites, and we have loads of pigeons for them to eat.

 

[Lanmark]

Stunning birds, stunning photos! :drool:

 

[cnycharles]

very nice!

 

[emydura]

what is your lens?

I used a Sigma 70-200 f2.8. One of the better third party lens. Still it was a bit short for this sort of photography, so I had to crop them a bit. Hence they are a little soft. Maybe one day I will fork out the cash and buy a much bigger zoom lens. In the Wedge-tailed chick photo I included a 1.4 * tele-convertor lens.

Splendid pictures of magnificent birds of prey... The two chicks are cute

Those claws don't look too cute.

Killer shots David!

2 Qs-Did your friend do the banding in #5 ?

Shutter priority?

Again, nice work.

I can't see any bands. Are you talking about the two chicks? He normally does band the chicks but I don't think he did in this case as the parents were getting a little aggressive.

Shutter priority - f4. I'm not sure why I wouldn't have shot f2.8 but the light was pretty bright so speed was not such a problem.

Great shots! I never knew peregrine's are also found in Australia...thought they were strictly northern hemisphere. Believe it or not, although I haven't seen any, they do very well in NYC. The bridges provide their ideal nesting sites, and we have loads of pigeons for them to eat.

They are pretty much cosmopolitan. They are found over the whole of Australia. The effects of DDT which resulted in huge declines in the northen hemisphere populations wasn't as big a problem here. Fortunately it was banned before it had too much of an impact.

 

[Shiva]

Wonderful birds and photos. Great posting!

 

[monocotman]

great shots. Like Eric, we have populations in many cities in the UK, lots of pigeons and places to roost and nest,
David

 

[Clark]

David- No, not the chicks.

Photo #5- just magnified to 400%. On bird's right leg, there is a off-white/light gray stripe around. After further scrutiny, maybe this is the result of missing leg feathers(exposing parts not normally seen, not sure if this is called down on raptors, like goose down).
Also just noticed, in photo #1(same bird?), looks like loose feather on same leg.
So, maybe what I'm seeing is just white feathery down in #5. My bad.

The chicks- those are some knarly looking feet.

Nice you can go f2.8. Love shutter priority. Can't think of any other setting at the moment.
Over the last 3yrs, I have about four sightings of Peregrine within 400 meters of our home. But there are a few areas within an hour drive,
that they can be viewed consistantly.

Thanks for the feedback David.

 

[emydura]

David- No, not the chicks.

Photo #5- just magnified to 400%. On bird's right leg, there is a off-white/light gray stripe around. After further scrutiny, maybe this is the result of missing leg feathers(exposing parts not normally seen, not sure if this is called down on raptors, like goose down).
Also just noticed, in photo #1(same bird?), looks like loose feather on same leg.
So, maybe what I'm seeing is just white feathery down in #5. My bad.

The chicks- those are some knarly looking feet.

Nice you can go f2.8. Love shutter priority. Can't think of any other setting at the moment.
Over the last 3yrs, I have about four sightings of Peregrine within 400 meters of our home. But there are a few areas within an hour drive,
that they can be viewed consistantly.

Thanks for the feedback David.

Yes, that is just a white feather showing through. A bit high up on the leg for a band.

Actually I chose f4 as that is the real sweet spot in that lens. It rated as well as the Nikon 70-200 f2.8 at that aperature (which is one of Nikons flagship lens). I think the shutter speed was 1/5000 of a second so it was fast enough.

It is good to hear that the Peregrine Falcon seems to have made a good recovery in many parts of the northen hemisphere.

 

[JeanLux]

Impressive pics David!!!! Jean

 

[gonewild]

Thanks Lance. No, they are wild birds. They breed along the cliffs of the Murrumbidgee River.

I hope you wear a hard hat!

 

[Lycaste53]

Thanks for sharing these wonderful pics!
Best regards, Gina