Peregrine Falcon (Falcon peregrinus) photos by Larry Jordan

This past weekend I had a photo blind reserved at Delevan National Wildlife Refuge, part of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex. When I arrived at the blind about an hour before dawn, as is required, I was not too excited. As the sun rose above the Sierra Nevada Mountains, I saw nothing but American Coots and a few Greater White-fronted Geese. All the other birds were way off in the distance.

I did get some good looks at Lincoln Sparrows and Song Sparrows that were foraging behind the blind, and eventually a Marsh Wren hopped up right next to the west facing blind window and gave me some great poses!

However, as the sun rose higher in the sky and it got a bit warmer, many birds headed in my direction.

The thrill of the day for me came a little past 11:00 when I looked up to see a Peregrine Falcon (Falcon peregrinus) perched on the snag directly in front of the blind! I grabbed the video camera first.

Then I began taking photographs of this beautiful raptor (click on images for full sized photos).

As you can see the bird has its back to me, facing North, into the wind. In my experience, raptors seem to prefer facing into the wind when perching.

Luckily for me this Peregrine Falcon was very cooperative to the point of giving me my favorite raptor pose, the “I’m watching you” pose, or what I call the “raptor’s stare.”

He came back about four hours later (yes, I waited in the blind hoping he would come back) and got a few more full bodied shots.

Before he took of with those rapid, powerful wing beats.

I wrote a post nearly three years ago on the Peregrine Falcon telling of their history and their amazing come back from near extinction in 1970 with only 39 breeding pairs left in the United States. They are a truly astounding species deserving our highest reverence.

As this National Geographic video shows, they are also the fastest animal on, or above, the planet.

To see more great bird photos from around the world, check out World Bird Wednesday.

Gray Wolf (Canus lupis) photo courtesy of Rocky Mountain Tracking

Our environment is under attack by the United States Congress! Current members in the U.S. House of Representatives have cast the most anti-environment votes of any Congress in history.

You can read the minority report in its entirety from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce here.

The conclusion of this report is:

1. The House was in session for 165 legislative days in 2011 and took 191 anti-environment votes during that period. On average, the House Republicans averaged more than one anti-environmental vote for every day the House was in session.
2. More than one in five of the roll call votes taken in 2011 – 22% – were votes to undermine environmental protections.
3. On average, 228 Republican members of the House – 94% of the Republican members – voted for the anti-environment position during these roll call votes.
4. On average, 165 Democratic members of the House – 86% of the Democratic members – voted for the pro-environment position.
5. The anti-environment votes included 27 votes to block action to address climate change, 77 votes to undermine Clean Air Act protections, 28 votes to undermine Clean Water Act protections, and 47 votes to weaken protection of public lands and coastal waters.
6. The Environmental Protection Agency was the target of 114 of these votes; the Department of the Interior was the target of 35 of these votes; and the Department of Energy was the target of 31 of these votes.

I don’t know about you, but this kind of news scares the hell out of me! We obviously need to keep an eye on our elected officials and write letters or send emails to our representatives when they are doing the right things, and most definitely when they are doing harm to our environment.

When congress begins erasing the environmental safeguards we have been putting in place for decades and strips away protection for the planet’s biodiversity, we need to act.

You can check out how your legislators are doing by checking this Conservation Report Card from Defenders of Wildlife. You can look up records of individual Congressmen both from the House and Senate on that page.

I found this cartoon from Joe Liccar depicting the U.S. Congress score card and thought it was way too generous.

Personally, I would give them a FAIL!

Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) photos by Larry Jordan

Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) seem to be doing very well in northern California. I see them nearly every day in several different locations (click on photos for full sized images). As I have said many times, these hawks are my favorite Buteo.

This beauty was seen in McArthur when I was on the hunt for the Common Redpoll (see previous post). As I left the road where the Western Screech-Owl was located, this juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk was seen atop a telephone pole looking for lunch. As it turned to take off of from the cross-member, I took this photo. You will notice its nictitating membrane is covering its eyes. This is an inner eyelid used to clean and moisten the cornea.

As the bird flew down from the pole, it pounced on something and was back up atop a pole on the other side of the road in an instant. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have gotten out my video camera to document the rodent lunch.

As it was, I didn’t even have time to adjust the settings on the camera for a faster exposure and got several blurry images of the hawk scarfing down what looked like a meadow vole. I chose the best one for this post.

It only took the hawk about 15 seconds to dispatch the vole, finishing it off in one big gulp. By pulling it from his talon and lunging down with his head, he engulfed the entire rodent and then took a big swallow.

The show was over. Time to clean up a bit. Check those talons for tidbits, scrape the beak and relax for a moment.

From the look of that pole, it is used fairly often, probably by this same bird.

I think this Red-shouldered Hawk is still hungry.

I did get a shot of him looking right at me but it wasn’t sharp. I love those photos of raptors looking directly at you. I call it the raptor’s stare. He took a second glance at me, then looked off, not considering me a threat after all this time.

Is it any wonder why this is my favorite Buteo? Just look at him or her, just finished lunch and ready to go!

For more great bird photos, you will definitely want to head over to World Bird Wednesday. If you haven’t already posted, come on and join the fun!

Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) photos by Larry Jordan

On our recent Fall River Christmas Bird Count on December 17th, we tallied 127 species in our count circle. Some finds were extraordinary, like the Long-tailed Duck, Common Redpoll, Red-naped Sapsucker and American Tree Sparrow.

Others like the Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) are seen every winter in the Fall River/McArthur area. However, according to this range map, courtesy of Terry Sohl of South Dakota Birds, I should look for Prairie Falcons there in the early spring when they begin nesting. Click on photos for full sized images.

The Prairie Falcon inhabits dry environments of western North America where cliffs or bluffs punctuate open plains and shrub-steppe deserts. An efficient and specialized predator of medium-sized desert mammals and birds, the Prairie Falcon ranges widely, searching large areas for patchily distributed prey¹.

Several species of ground squirrels are the mainstay of the Prairie Falcon’s diet; they provide fat-rich calories that the Prairie Falcon needs for raising its broods of 4–5 young during its 3 to 4 month nesting season. When ground squirrels move underground to escape summer heat and dryness, Prairie Falcons leave their nesting areas in search of other prey. Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks are important prey items in winter¹.

Having missed the opportunity to see the rare Common Redpoll (rare for our neck of the woods or savannahs that is) I headed back up to McArthur to try to see the Redpoll about a week after the CBC. I dipped on the Common Redpoll but got these photos of the Prairie Falcon for my efforts.

A second trip to the Fall River area a couple weeks later yielded the Common Redpoll, American Tree Sparrow and the Western Screech-Owl seen in the previous post. I was never able to catch up with the Red-naped Sapsucker but getting close-up views of the Prairie Falcon was enough to make this birder happy!

If you want to see some really incredible photos of the Prairie Falcon, check out my friend Mia McPherson’s post. Now those are some gorgeous shots! To see more great bird photos from around the world, check out World Bird Wednesday!

References: ¹Birds Of North America Online

Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) Patriot and Liberty at Turtle Bay

Patriot and Liberty have been nesting successfully at Turtle Bay since 2006, fledging a dozen healthy eaglets from the same nest. They are a bit unusual, having twice fledged three healthy eaglets! Click on photos for full sized images.

This autumn they returned to Turtle Bay where they began building a new nest. For the past three years we were able to view their nesting activity on the Turtle Bay Eaglecam. Unfortunately, since they have begun building a new nest, only yards from the old one, the nest cam will not be available this season.

It is very interesting watching them build their new nest. Both partners are involved with constructing a nest which is among the largest of all birds. Patriot and Liberty’s previous nest was 5 1/2 feet wide and 5 feet deep during the 2010 nesting season¹.

The nests are made of rather large sticks, interwoven into a pattern to fit the tree in which it is built.

I shot this video of Patriot and Liberty as they built their new nest in a large Cottonwood tree very close to their previous nest.

Interesting things I saw in the video were: at the 1:50 mark, the two eagles have a ritualistic tug of war over a small sick in the nest; at the 2:20 mark Patriot takes off from a lower perch and flies erratically as he searches for a stick to break off and bring back to the nest; at the 3:37 mark, as Patriot is working diligently trying to place a stick, Liberty is seen (seemingly) playfully grabbing Patriots tail,  but he appears to be all business.

Many times they seem to look down from their perch before taking off, apparently looking for appropriate sized sticks for the nest.

This beautiful pair of Bald Eagles should begin laying their eggs in February if past history is any judge, with eaglets coming in March.

One more look at the much smaller male, Patriot, waiting in the nest.

To see more great bird photos from all over the world, you gotta go check out World Bird Wednesday!

References: ¹Turtle Bay Eagle Cam