It’s been a long time since I’ve found a mostly cooperative Peregrine Falcon on or near Antelope Island.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
This juvenile was perched on the mudflats near the road as I was leaving the island yesterday morning. I spent 10 wonderful minutes with the falcon until a huge, fast and loud FedEx truck came along and scared the bird off. Here it’s flying partly away from me but I like the shot because of the good look at almost the entire dorsal surface, the widely flared tail and the head turn as the falcon is looking back at me. I also enjoy the contrasting colors of the background. The bird has some food debris hanging down from its beak.
At first I was seriously taken aback by the gray color that appears on the upper back of the bird and wondered if it could be caused by dried mud or some other debris. It’s something that I had never seen (or at least noticed) before on either an adult or a juvenile Peregrine Falcon. I also wondered if it could be caused by an effect of the light but I have almost 300 shots of this bird and when I can see its back the grays appear in all of them.
But in the end I believe this falcon is probably transitioning from juvenile to adult plumage and those grays are the blue-grays of the adult. That theory may be reinforced by the single uppertail covert that is a similar, well-defined bluish-gray.
Any thoughts on the subject from those in the know? I’m far from an authority on plumage and molt patterns so I’d appreciate any feedback.
I’ll likely post more images of this falcon sometime down the road.
Ron
A Late Addendum: Dan Weisz sent me this image of a 1 year old male Peregrine Falcon (a rehab/educational bird) transitioning from juvenile to adult plumage. It shows the blue/gray feathers of the adult plumage coming in on the back and elsewhere – quite similar to the bird I’ve posted.
I thought some readers might like to see it. Thank you, Dan!
Copyright Dan Weisz/Arizona Desert Museum – Image used by permission
Thank you for posting the photo that Dan was kind enough to provide. Something still seems odd about the bird in your photo. On Dan’s photo, the adult feathers are pretty obvious. Besides the blue-gray color, they exhibit a consistent pattern (barring) that is different from the juvenile feathers. I’m not seeing a different pattern on the feathers of the falcon you photographed. Perhaps that’s just due to individual variation, but to my blurry eyes, a good portion of the “adult” feathers still look like discolored juvenile feathers. I wish someone could explain that to me! : )
Mark, I’ll be posting more images of “my” peregrine soon – probably early next week. Hopefully some of them will give you additional clues. If I remember I’ll crop tightly on one of them that shows those blue feathers clearly and that may help you to see what’s going on. I’m curious too.
I’d say that your “blurry eyes” are doing quite well…
Thanks Ron.
I asked Hans Peeters for his opinion on the grayish feathers. After looking at your photo, he thinks that the grayish color is due to the “bloom” that I described earlier, and that the single upper tail covert is the only adult feather that he can see on the bird.
Isn’t this fun? Hans definitely knows his stuff and being such a gifted artist, he has an amazing eye for detail. It will be interesting to see if your additional photos you post support his opinion.
Guess I freaked…
Ooooh.
What a sight. And what a post.
Loving my early morning education. I feaking love having my mind sharpened. And broadened.
My family were/are peasants so we got to keep our heads.
HEHE EC! Yep, there’s a lot to be said for being a pauper!
Congrats, EC. You were the first one to use the word in a novel way.
Beautiful Photo, I love the blue grey of the feathers. I saw the same bird yesterday flying along the causeway about 11am. It was too far out for a decent photo for me but I stopped and watched it fly. Yesterday was a gorgeous day at Antelope Island.The clouds were beautiful and the light very dramatic. The air was clean after the storm and the dusting of snow was attractive. Very few people, and I was totally alone on all my hikes. It was a bit busier in the late afternoon but by busy I mean one or two people at the points of interest.
Good for you, April – you must have taken a well-deserved day off. Too bad I missed you on the island. When I got there about a half hour after dawn (I was late) there was a cloud from hell hanging over the island that stayed there for almost an hour. After that it was gorgeous.
I’m glad you were able to see the Peregrine.
It is spring break for Salt Lake School Dist. I try to avoid popular places for the break. Davis County is not out yet. It is always funny to run into a student in the middle of nowhere.
Interesting photo! I wonder if that young bird is a female?
Juvenile feathers are generally a one-time show. If they’re pulled out by a rambunctious sibling while still in the family unit, for example, an adult looking feather will grow back in its place (assuming the feather follicle wasn’t damaged beyond repair). This could explain the single, upper tail covert, which is definitely an adult feather, but it’s possible that the feather was already replaced naturally through the molt process.
The grayish tinged, back and nape feathers look peculiar to me and appear more like discolored juvenile feathers than newly replaced adult feathers. If you look closely, you can see that some of the feathers in question still have the juvenile pattern on the surfaces. One possibility, though probably not very likely, is that Peregrines are known to have a grayish “bloom” to their feathers, caused by the presence of “powder-down” feathers that crumble at the tips. These powder-down feathers grow continuously and are never shed. The powder is distributed over the other feathers during preening activities and is thought to make the feathers more water resistant. (Herons also have powder-down feathers). According to Hans Peeters, “Raptors of California”, if you rub a piece of black velvet along the back of an ADULT Peregrine, the material will readily show the gray discoloration from this “bloom”.
All that aside, I wonder if the gray-tinged feathers were possibly discolored due to contact with some foreign material?
Some interesting possibilities, Mark. Since I’m mostly an ignoramus on the subject I’ll just have to sit back and see how it plays out. Thanks very much for your contribution.
Also, a molting Peregrines’s feathers typically aren’t replaced as evenly as this bird’s gray-cast feathers are shown to be. I would think that one should be able to see a distinct separation between the new, adult feathers and the remaining juvenile ones. I just don’t see that distinction here.
Mark–Very interesting info…thanks for sharing it…
Hmmm…….it’s not that easy to see on my phone screen, but upon further inspection of the photo, I think I may have to eat a little crow. The upper back and nape feathers look so uniformly and consistently adult colored that I don’t see how dust or something else could be the cause for the gray plumage. An early molt seems more likely. I think the juvenile markings that I noted earlier could possibly be remaining juvenile feathers mixed in with adult feathers. The gray looking plumage seems to be present only on the the body feathers. If it was due to dust or something else, I would think some of the wing feathers would be discolored as well. So, like several others had the good sense to post, I now think the gray plumage must be the result of an early molt of the body feathers.
Thanks for your further thoughts on this, Mark.
Thanks for that information Mark! Interesting!
Wonderful shot, Ron!:) The detail and the bird looking back at you is perfect! Does look like dust on it’s back for sure.
“Does look like dust on it’s back for sure”
That was my first thought, Judy.
Gorgeous photo of this falcon. Before I even read your commentary I was enjoying everything about the image you mentioned liking yourself. I like this a lot.
It sounds like you and I have similar tastes, Dave. Thank you.
A beautiful shot it is. Thanks for all the other info too. I’m just thinking about how I will be able to use the word “feak”!
Oh, BTW, I’m not a birder, so I love getting all this information.
Thanks everyone, Carol
“I’m just thinking about how I will be able to use the word “feak”!
Our minds work alike, Carol. So many possibilities!
It’s tough to work feak into a regular two-legged sentence 🙂
Arent we humans feaking our beaks when we brush our teeth??? I feak with Crest…twice a day….
Patty, we lack the ability to sharpen…just clean. LOL!
I agree with you Ron. I was a little surprised to see molt in a juvenile (second calendar year) raptor this early in the year, but don’t have close-up experience with this age/plumage. I took a look in Pyle’s ID Guide (the definitive 2 volume work that has everything you could ever want to know about molt and aging and feather details), and apparently hatch year/second year Peregrines undergo a limited preformative molt on their nonbreeding grounds from Oct-Mar including up to 25% of body feathers. The nicest example of it in this bird (and a little more distinct than the gray on the back) is the lovely gray barred feather in the uppertail coverts which stands out clearly from the browner juvenile feathers.
Thank you, Brian. I thought the same about that gray uppertail covert. I’s nice to know that my hunch was correct. Sometimes even I get it right!
Lovely photo–just lovely! If this photo was taken now (timing), it looks like the molt has begun. I don’t know about the gray feathers on the back, but that upper tail covert is an adult feather. The annual molt time has just begun, spurred on by the increased daylight hours and the rush of breeding hormones. I’d also suggest that a tail preen is in order, but most likely, the tail feathers discomboobulated while the bird was eating whatever leftover is on its beak. FIE on the FedEx truck for busting this bird before it had time to feak its beak (rub its beak on a hard surface to clean and sharpen it)!
And this is one of my pet peeves that’s really not much valid. In ancient and arcane falconry language, the falcon is presumed to be the female. The male would be called a tiercel, referring to its size that’s roughly one-third smaller than the female. So it would be either a peregrine falcon or a tiercel peregrine. The not much valid part is that only about eleventy dozen folks on the face of the planet know that arcane falconry language and 96.473% of those folks are falconers (and we’re a weird bunch). It pains me that the word falcon has become (morphed) into an overall term mainly because the falconry language is so much more descriptive. But that’s just me and I’m weird 😀
BTW, if you’re ever on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” Toyota borrowed the concept of tiercel for it’s compact car, the Toyota Tercel!
Oh and feak is another one of those ancient and arcane falconry words. And while feak has mostly wandered into antiquity, several other falconry words survive to this day–sometimes changed slightly in meaning, but they’re still here. MY favorite is haggard, meaning in arcane and ancient falconry language as an adult bird (or the survivor) has morphed into the concept of an Old Hag. I’m proud to say I’m an old hag! It’s a compliment!
Just FYI, if you’re reading Shakespeare’s work, it’s really helpful to know falconry language because there’s a lot of it in there.
And that concludes your lesson in arcane and ancient falconry language for today 😀
Laura, yes, this photo was taken “now”, as in yesterday morning.
A fascinating lesson on the history of falconry! I’d never made the connection between falconry and the Toyota Tercel – wonder why they changed the spelling…
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to avoid calling the male a falcon – it just seems logical to me that since the common name of the SPECIES is “Peregrine Falcon” that both sexes would be falcons…
My guess (read GUESS) as to why Toyota changed the spelling is that Tercel is easier to spell for regular two-legged people, but that’s just a guess.
As for the usage of falcon, yes, it is the species name, but back when the whole ancient and arcane falconry language was developed, they didn’t know about those things. So you’re also right. I just love the antiquity of it all in falconry, so share it when it’s available. If you’re ever transported in time back to Merry Olde England back in the day, you’ll need to know these things or it could be an “Off with his head” kind of thing. Just sayin’!
And Hey Mark! I was going to add that part of the molt, but my knowledge on peregrines is a little spotty so I kept my fingers shut. I’m thinking seriously of migrating over to the dark side with one of them pointy-winged thingies, but haven’t gone there yet, except with Kestrels. 😀
Laura, I trace my ancestors (with lots of interesting details) back to “Merry Olde England” so I suspect at least some of them had falconry knowledge, partly because most of them were nobility.
Interestingly, my first ancestor to migrate to America (Governor Thomas Dudley of Massachusetts in 1630) was one the first to make a written account of the Passenger Pigeon that still survives today. I take great pride in that.
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2013/12/05/my-puritan-ancestor-and-the-passenger-pigeon/
As well you should take pride in that, Ron! That’s pretty spectacular, and yes, I’ve known of Thomas Dudley and read several of his missives back in my quest for a Masters degree in American history. VERY nice!
You have tenacity, Laura. That stuff is difficult to read!
Shakespeare, at least for me, is not so difficult once you get used to the language and its cadence. But then again, I’m a history geek, too.
And I forgot to mention (in response to your “Off with his head” remark) – two of my ancestors were beheaded at the Tower of London. Believe it or not I’m proud of that too.
Well, maybe proud is the wrong word but it sure makes for some interesting and notorious family history and I enjoy the hell out of all of it!
Yep, there were times in English history when it was a challenge to keep your head attached to your shoulders, especially if you were nobility or near nobility and hanging out around court. Just one little slip when the king/queen wasn’t in a good mood and there you are! Mostly it was about various political power plays (or to be rid of an annoying wife who didn’t produce an heir!)
WOW! I had forgotten that I had responded to that post! Boy, that really is showing my age!
Although half of my ancestors are from the Pilgrim side in Plymouth, the other half are from Scotland, and one was murdered for the throne of Scotland.
Proud of both heritages!!
I need to do the ancestry thing someday soon. I suspect I have more ruffians and thieves back there! Although I know one of my grandfathers was a Scots Guard. That’s all I know.
Actually, I was referring to Gov. Dudley’s letters. I had a very difficult time wading through them and he’s my direct ancestor!
While they would have had nearly the same language, it’s really hard when it’s handwritten. Ss and Fs look pretty much alike and there’s all manner of spellings. Yes, I can imagine how difficult it was to read those. But at the same time, oh how cool that he’s one of your ancestors! I need to find out how many rogues, dastardly doers and ne’er do wells are in my background 🙂
Our British friends use the “tercel” spelling.
Also of interest is that the “one-third” designation for male peregrines is possibly due to the fact that roughly one-third of the nestlings are said to be males.
Mark the number of females/males in a nest can vary widely. One year, watching the Harrisburg, PA peregrine nest, they had all females (I think…do NOT quote me. Could also have been all males). But USUALLY there are more females in a nest.
Hi Ron,
You are correct. This bird is part way into her first molt. This bird appears to be an Anatum subspecies. We often use the Tundra subspecies for falconry as well. The Tundra have an interesting molt pattern in that they will molt half their feathers in North America; migrate; and then molt the second half in South America. As falconry birds, of course, they don’t complete their first migration and often wind up spending their first year with half immature and half mature plumage. They look pretty ragged, but the second year they are glorious!
Nice shot. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Mark. I was hoping that you (or Laura Culley or Mike Shaw or all three…) might chime in on this. Thanks also for the additional info on their molt.
What a FABULOUS “shot”!
Thanks very much, CaJ.
Beautiful shot Ron! Wonderful to have a cooperative falcon!
Thanks for sharing these past shots, much appreciated.
I’m glad you like it, Dick. I do too. Thank you.
Nice,nice, nice! Colors are interesting echoes of the water…like the feather detail and the upward turn of the bird’s right wing. I always like the dorsal and “butt” views as they give me valuable visual information…
“I always like the dorsal and “butt” views as they give me valuable visual information…”
Very good point, Patty.
Ron, the gray is the beginning of the molting from juvenile to adult. At the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum’s Raptor Free Flight program, we had a very young peregrine that came to us from a rehab facility. At one year (last summer) he began his molt and the combination of brown and gray feathers throughout this year was very beautiful. I can send photographs if you’d like. Dan
Thanks, Dan. It would be interesting to see those photos if it isn’t too much trouble for you. I’ll send you my email address in a few minutes.