{"id":55643,"date":"2018-01-11T06:18:17","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T13:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=55643"},"modified":"2018-01-11T15:54:42","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T22:54:42","slug":"my-most-thrilling-prairie-falcon-encounter-and-continuing-story-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/11\/my-most-thrilling-prairie-falcon-encounter-and-continuing-story-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"My Most Thrilling Prairie Falcon Encounter (and continuing story) Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days ago I received an image\u00a0request from Anastasia (Staci) Hobbet, leader of the Peregrine Team in Pine Canyon (CA).\u00a0Staci and her\u00a0group are\u00a0charged with keeping trespassers out of a Peregrine Falcon\u00a0<\/em>closure zone during the nesting season. She asked to use\u00a0the Peregrine Falcon images from my post two days ago in their local education program designed to gain the\u00a0support and cooperation of locals in keeping the nesting area free\u00a0from disturbance. I of course granted permission for that use. I only mention\u00a0it because that was the inspiration for this post.<\/em><\/p>\n

It turns out that Staci and her group work under the auspices of Mount Diablo State Park in Walnut Creek, CA and\u00a0it was cliffs in\u00a0the Diablo Range that\u00a0contained the nest site where my most memorable Prairie Falcon was fledged. My correspondence with Staci brought back wonderful old memories and as I reviewed those older posts I\u00a0was reminded\u00a0that it’s been about 4 1\/2 years since I published them which\u00a0means that many current readers have never seen them. <\/em>So I decided to incorporate both posts into a single edition of Feathered Photography and tell the entire story\u00a0again in one big gulp. <\/em><\/p>\n

By the way<\/em>, Staci knows Doug Bell (whom you’re about to meet) and says\u00a0“he’s famous around here”. <\/em><\/p>\n

For this version I’ve edited the text and formatting. <\/em>The original posts were published on July 30 and August 1, 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/pre>\n
In yesterday’s post about grasshopper-eating Prairie Falcons I promised that today’s post would also be about Prairie Falcons. It is and this bird was the most approachable larger falcon I’ve ever encountered in the wild.<\/p>\n
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\"prairie<\/p>\n
1\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
Three\u00a0things were immediately obvious as I very slowly drove up on this bird in Montana’s Centennial Valley\u00a0– it was a young juvenile, it was eating a grasshopper and it was banded. In fact it had two bands.<\/p>\n
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\"prairie<\/p>\n
1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
As I got closer it didn’t fly off as expected.\u00a0It just stood there on the post with the breeze ruffling its feathers and looking quite\u00a0at ease.\u00a0Perhaps\u00a0its slightly bulging crop contributed to its calm demeanor. At this point I also noticed that there were dried remnants of a recent meal on its bill.<\/p>\n
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\"prairie<\/p>\n
1\/1600, f\/4.5, ISO 800, 500 f\/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
Soon it flew down and\u00a0ate another grasshopper\u00a0and then\u00a0landed on\u00a0a different\u00a0fence post. This time it let me get even closer (as usual I was shooting from my pickup)\u00a0and it was undisturbed by my presence.\u00a0I was so surprised that it didn’t fly\u00a0you could have, well… knocked me over with a feather. Typically prairie falcons are as skittish as any species I photograph.<\/p>\n
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\"prairie<\/p>\n
1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
After hunting grasshoppers once again it landed on a third post and this time I was as close as I wanted to get. As you can see, the falcon didn’t care and was comfortable enough to yawn leisurely but enthusiastically.<\/p>\n
My fear with being so near the falcon was that I’d clip body parts as it took off, which is exactly what eventually\u00a0happened.<\/p>\n
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\"prairie<\/p>\n
1\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in, canvas added for composition<\/em><\/p>\n
By this time I was near enough to the bird that I had to shoot vertically and this was the only lift off shot I got that didn’t clip its wings. As it was I had to add canvas to this image because the bird was too tight in the frame.<\/p>\n
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\"prairie<\/p>\n
1\/1250, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in, canvas added for composition<\/em><\/p>\n
My consolation for the clipped shots was that the falcon landed on the ground very close to me and gave me this\u00a0soulful look with a partially spread tail in what I thought was interesting side light.<\/p>\n
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\"prairie<\/p>\n
I’ll admit to being extremely curious about the origin of those two bands. I wondered if they could be falconry bands\u00a0but Prairie Falcons are seldom used by falconers so my best guess was that the purpose of the bands\u00a0was scientific research. I sent a couple of photos to master falconer Mark Runnels and asked him about his thoughts on the matter. He made the following observations:<\/p>\n