Prey's-Eye View of the Peregrine Falcon

Monday, Dec. 1, 2014

The morning was overcast and threatening to rain. I put on my rain jacket and headed for the lagoon. Yesterday, Herb, one of our local photographers, had posted the Hooded Merganser in flight, taken at San Elijo, for his "photo of the day year 11".  All of the local photographers were eager to get their own photos of the "Hoodie".

Having no luck finding the Hooded Merganser at San Elijo, I decide to drive to Rios to see if I could find it there. Arriving and scanning the lagoon, I decided to go to the Pole Trail and see if the "Hoodie" was in some of the hidden tide channels. But all I could find were raptors. The Osprey on a post, the Red-tail Hawk on the cross bars of the fifth pole and the American Kestrel on top of the first pole past the pumphouse, glaring at the Peregrine on the next pole over. Here is a shot of the Peregrine Falcon sitting on top of the second pole.

Soon it moves forward and flies away from my camera and I get an awkward shot of its departure... Wires and metal are everywhere and all I could manage was a belly shot of the falcon.

The Peregrine flies off a few hundred yards and banks a hard right turn... you can see it looks like it's going to rain.

What I see through my camera lens in the following shots could be described as a "Prey's-eye view of the Peregrine"!

Target locked on...

Coming straight at me.

The leading edge of his wings slices through the air like knives.

An amazing sight to see through my camera lens...

Still coming straight at me... I'm trying to keep the focus and holding my breath to keep my camera steady...

Getting closer.

The falcon scans his flight path...

  

Something to his left gets his attention.

Back to focusing on his target...

Presents an intimidating posture...

I'm not moving and he stays his course...

Coming in strong...

No flinching...

If I were a bird, this might be the last few moments of my life...

Glides in close...

At the last second...he veers to his right... lol, it feels like I just played chicken with a Peregrine.

 

Wow, what a look at this magnificent bird... flying by very close!

He is beautiful and so graceful and yet I can just imagine how terrifying this sight would be to his prey right now...

 Shows us his underside...

  

I am elated and floating on a cloud. This has been such a fantastic morning. Sometimes there is a chance to photograph a wonderful subject like this Peregrine and as you take the photos, it is always in the back of your mind that this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to get a shot like this. So you are so very grateful for the chance to get up close and personal with such a amazing bird!

The Peregrine flies off heading Southwest and it's time for me to go home.

Have a nice day everyone.