Peregrine Falcons
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Not the biggest or most showy bird, but the Peregrine is arguably the fastest animal on the planet, and until you see it in action you can't appreciate just what this means. Starting as a speck in the white sky, you have just a couple of seconds to realise that it has started an approach before it tears past the lure. With claimed speeds of up to 200mph, it is so agile that it is nearly impossible to take good action photos. The only hope was to prefocus around the lure, pan and hope!
The peregrine has the keen, acute vision common to all birds of prey.
From the top, peregrines tend to be coloured slate gray; this bird is at home in cliffs and gulleys.
Unusually, the outer featers are almost colourless from below.
Having reappeared from over the horizon, the bird has spotted the lure and lines up for an attack...
Holding the wings in a V during high speed flight.
'Missed'
'A near miss'
'Gotcha'; Despite being taken at 1/800th of a second, you can see the wing-tips rotate as the bird takes the lure.
Retrieving the lure requires a certain amount of diplomacy!
A couple of other runs, this time more of a gentle fly past, probably no more than 100mph!
"You're Grounded"
Hybrid Falcon
This is a 'hybrid' falcon, and I didn't note the pedigree, but there was certainly some Peregrine in it.
Another fly-past; I took over a hundred such photos to get the few sharp shots on this page.
And some juicy meat as a reward
Another lure caught
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