Peregrine Falcon

 

 Lately I have been spending some time photographing the peregrines at the Ford Bridge that connects St Paul and south Minneapolis. The bridge is not far from an active eagles nest and a spot where Merlin falcons frequently nest, so it enables me to photograph several different nests from several different species in a very close area.

 For the past few years the peregrines have decided to nest under the bridge which makes it impossible to get any decent pictures of the nest. Back in 2010, when most of the pictures in this post where taken, the peregrines nested in the nesting box which is on the side of the dam.

The dam box is very visible from the observation platform at the dam which made it very easy to document the peregrines early life through photographs. When they were very young it was difficult to see them inside the nest box. Fortunately through my connections with The Raptor Center I was able to attend the banding that year. The top photo was taken  at the banding at the beginning of June.

A few weeks later the peregrine chicks were almost as big as their parents and already had a majority of their flight feathers, the second photo. They are also very hungry. In another week they are ready to fledge / fly, the third photo. Eventually they will look like their parents, final photo. This year since they are nesting under the dam I can only photograph them when they visit one of their neighboring perches. Hopefully i will get a chance to photograph the chicks before they leave the area.