Peregrine Falcons
 

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.


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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

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

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what is your lens?

Wow! Amazing pictures!

Splendid pictures of magnificent birds of prey... The two chicks are cute http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/tongue.gif

Killer shots David!

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

Shutter priority?

Again, nice work.

Great shots, David!

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.

Stunning birds, stunning photos! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/drool.gif

very nice!

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Wonderful birds and photos. Great posting!

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

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. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...es/redface.gif

The chicks- those are some knarly looking feet.http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

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.

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Impressive pics David!!!! Jean

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Thanks for sharing these wonderful pics!
Best regards, Gina