A Lesson on the Birds & the Bees (told in photographs)

Blogs don't have ratings, do they? I don't think so.

For the purposes of this post, I have had to borrow a self-imposed rating from the Motion Picture Association. I feel strongly that the photographic narrative below should be rated PG-13. The guidelines for receiving such a rating are -

Parents Strongly Cautioned: Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. May contain moderate language (nope), minimal strong language (not even one bad word), some explicit nudity (mmm, maybe? the feathers cover most everything though...), intense violence (no violence here, just love) and/or gore (do they mean Al Gore? If so, then no... he's not in this blog), or mild drug content (certainly not!).

Folks, it's a raptor romance, a true bird love story, an avian romantic comedy, a chick (making) flick... with some copulation involved. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll want to see it again and again.

Anyway, you have been warned.So now you know...

-Dan

Feb 22nd: More Of The Same

I arrived on Sunday afternoon to my favorite PEFA viewing spot just as the clouds were thinning after the morning's uneventful snow. On my way down to the beach with my scope, camera and binoculars, I had hopes of again seeing the falcons perform their Blue Angel-like aerial show.At first, my quick scan offered no sightings of the Peregrines. But just as I was about to pack up and head home, I heard the female scream. She was directly above me. She, the larger of the two Peregrines, must have snuck on to her perch in the tree top while I was scanning the river. How very stealthy of her.The male Peregrine, known as a TIERCEL, flew in to prove to her that he is her one and only. The two falcons copulated for the second (witnessed) time this weekend, and then he went to grab a beer with his buddies and watch the game. Lucky bird. I'm kidding of course. He did fly off and I was unable to relocate him. Truth be told, I really can't prove that he wasn't watching the game and drinking some beers... you know those tiercels.

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH: Just after she let out her scream, I pointed my camera straight up and started shooting with my camera.It would appear from this photo (above) that she is trying to bite her partner, no?I was able to get a few more photos before she flew off to join her man for an early dinner. I think Grackle may have been on the menu. On the way home in my car, I saw one of them slicing through the skies, diving exceptionally fast into a large flock of those recently-arrived blackbirds.Craig Koppie, a USFWS Peregrine Falcon expert explained to me in an email today that it seems a bit early for nesting. More than likely, the male might just be heating up the courtship-romance, perhaps in relation to last week's warmer weather. Craig also mentioned that he has seen similar behavior in AMERICAN KESTRELS, America's smallest falcon.

Finally, here she fixing up her flight feathers just right. She is preening, but the date already appeared to be over. Women are smart... it's always important to look your very best. Plus, it helps her to go fast in the sky... very fast.I will happily keep you posted. More soon.

-Dan

PEREGRINES COURT, DECLAN ROCK OUT and EVERYONE SLEEPS IN

After a hard night of rocking out... Declan decided to sleep in this Monday morning. His parents happily obliged and snored for an hour and half longer than usual.Declan (I mean, just LOOK at him... a TOTAL rock star) enjoyed a few breakfasts and his mother and I, an entire pot of coffee. Now full, the entire Haas family decided it was time to take a trip. First stop, oddly enough, turned out to be lunch. Did I mention that we move slow on holidays? In accordance with our new fitness goals, a turkey sub with no mayo proved to be both healthy and delicious. The family's hunger was now subsiding, so this was the perfect time for me to pop the question:

Can we go watch the falcons?Happily, they responded with a rousing, "Yes!" So off we went to Uncle Frank's beach.Not two minutes after we got out of the Volvo and finished stretching our legs, the Severn River PEREGRINE FALCONS appeared in the sky over the river. Darting between the puffy white and grey clouds, in and out of the blue skies and sunbeams, the male falcon and the visibly larger female falcon were conducting an wildly acrobatic aerial display. I felt like I was watching nature's version of the Blue Angels, the US Navy's best impersonators of the PEREGRINE. The Blue Angels perform here in May every year for the Naval Academy's Commissioning Week.At one point, both falcons streaked into the middle of a passing flock of CEDAR WAXWINGS over the Severn River. PEREGRINE FALCONS (click to view Bill Hubick's deluxe photo) are exceptionally fast fliers, capable of reaching speeds up to 69 mph in direct pursuit of prey. Cool, yes? Well check this out: in a hunting stoop from nearly a half a mile up, a Peregrine can reach speeds of 200 mph as they plummet toward their prey. Needless to say, the Haases were thoroughly impressed with today's show. And Uncle Frank says hello too.While we were there, we met up up with two folks from the bridge painting company named Gary and Paul. Along with their workers, these two guys crisscross the country, painting bridges and other hard-to-reach areas. Gary installed the scrape that helped a pair successfully fledge chicks on the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia. He told Emery, Declan and I that no one else really had the desire to climb that high with the box, rocks and materials. Lucky for the falcons, Gary and Paul are used to great heights.Hopefully, our local falcons will have their scrape installed and ready for occupancy soon. I shall keep you posted.

Good Courting,

Dan