Peregrine Falcon in flight prey transfer

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cr_wildlife said:
Having just spent a good number of hours trying to get some photos of a pair of Peregrine Falcons transferring prey from the male to the female without improving on a series of images that I got pre-pandemic, I thought that I would post the old series here. As most of you know, these falcons nest in caves in cliff faces. The female has the jobs of incubating the eggs and nestlings, of feeding the nestlings, and of guarding the nest cave. As she can't leave the nest site to hunt, the male has the job of catching and bringing food to her, both for her to eat and to feed to the nestlings once the eggs hatch. He also helps guard the nest site when he is not hunting. As he has the food, but the female needs the food, the pair do an inflight prey transfer. The male calls to the female as he is approaching the nest with prey, and she calls back and flies out of the nest cave. As the female continues to call, they come near each other in the air, and the female comes under the male to grab the prey in his talons. He lets go, and she flies back into the cave to feed the nestlings and herself. This series of five images shows the male holding the prey, in this case a blackbird, as the female comes in to take it and shows the female leaving with the prey. I think that these images really show well the difference in size between the male and female, with the female being quite a bit larger than the male. All photos taken with a Nikon D850, Nikon 600mm f/4 FL ED VR, TC-1.4E, 1/3200 second @ f/5.6, ISO 640.View attachment 87811View attachment 87812View attachment 87813View attachment 87814View attachment 87815
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Outstanding sequence!
 
Member's gallery
cr_wildlife said:
Having just spent a good number of hours trying to get some photos of a pair of Peregrine Falcons transferring prey from the male to the female without improving on a series of images that I got pre-pandemic, I thought that I would post the old series here. As most of you know, these falcons nest in caves in cliff faces. The female has the jobs of incubating the eggs and nestlings, of feeding the nestlings, and of guarding the nest cave. As she can't leave the nest site to hunt, the male has the job of catching and bringing food to her, both for her to eat and to feed to the nestlings once the eggs hatch. He also helps guard the nest site when he is not hunting. As he has the food, but the female needs the food, the pair do an inflight prey transfer. The male calls to the female as he is approaching the nest with prey, and she calls back and flies out of the nest cave. As the female continues to call, they come near each other in the air, and the female comes under the male to grab the prey in his talons. He lets go, and she flies back into the cave to feed the nestlings and herself. This series of five images shows the male holding the prey, in this case a blackbird, as the female comes in to take it and shows the female leaving with the prey. I think that these images really show well the difference in size between the male and female, with the female being quite a bit larger than the male. All photos taken with a Nikon D850, Nikon 600mm f/4 FL ED VR, TC-1.4E, 1/3200 second @ f/5.6, ISO 640.View attachment 87811View attachment 87812View attachment 87813View attachment 87814View attachment 87815
Click to expand...
What a moment. Great job
 
Member's gallery
cr_wildlife said:
Having just spent a good number of hours trying to get some photos of a pair of Peregrine Falcons transferring prey from the male to the female without improving on a series of images that I got pre-pandemic, I thought that I would post the old series here. As most of you know, these falcons nest in caves in cliff faces. The female has the jobs of incubating the eggs and nestlings, of feeding the nestlings, and of guarding the nest cave. As she can't leave the nest site to hunt, the male has the job of catching and bringing food to her, both for her to eat and to feed to the nestlings once the eggs hatch. He also helps guard the nest site when he is not hunting. As he has the food, but the female needs the food, the pair do an inflight prey transfer. The male calls to the female as he is approaching the nest with prey, and she calls back and flies out of the nest cave. As the female continues to call, they come near each other in the air, and the female comes under the male to grab the prey in his talons. He lets go, and she flies back into the cave to feed the nestlings and herself. This series of five images shows the male holding the prey, in this case a blackbird, as the female comes in to take it and shows the female leaving with the prey. I think that these images really show well the difference in size between the male and female, with the female being quite a bit larger than the male. All photos taken with a Nikon D850, Nikon 600mm f/4 FL ED VR, TC-1.4E, 1/3200 second @ f/5.6, ISO 640.View attachment 87811View attachment 87812View attachment 87813View attachment 87814View attachment 87815
Click to expand...
Incredible, patience paid off in spades. Super series. Your shots are another great example of why BCG is such an outstanding site and why I and so many others follow it.
 
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