Peregrine Falcons and Other Birds

Catching up on my blogging tonight. Despite my not posting, I have been out birding every night this week to take advantage of the last days of June because July will most likely get a little boring for birds.

The picture above was taken by the maintenece man to my buidilng. He called me yesterday and told me to get up to 24 quick as both the male and female Peregrine Falcons were up near the sky light. I get up there as quickly as I can to see that they were in an area where photo taking would be close to impossible due to how they were positioned.

He told me the only way I could get some decent shots would be to go up this flimsy little rusted metal ladder and peek my head out of the honkin skylight which he could open for me if I wanted to. He looks at my shoes and says "maybe that's not such a good idea". I say "of course you are right Tim" and I am kicking myself for not wearing sensible shoes! He offers to go up with my camera and take some photos for me. I zoom to where I think he should be to get the shot and use my favorite camera setting and off he goes. There he is ooohing and aaaahing over the falcons and I am down below jealous of his fortune. HA! Suddenly I can hear the Kaw-Kaw of one of the falcons as it flies of to be with his young on the BankNorth Building. The picture above is of the male before he took flight.

"Is the other one still up there I yell". Yes he says. Tim I yell, Can I get up there for a shot of the other? He comes down from the rickety ladder and looks at me nervously. Ummmmmmm, Sure, Just be careful. Okay I say as I am half way up the ladder trying to get up there as quickly as I can before it decides to flee.. I stop my speed halfway at the thought of falling off of the ladder because I know I have to see my mother this weekend and if I were to injure myself by falling off a ladder going up to the skylight and open window of the tallest building in Worcester to get a picture of a bird (that's what they all are to her), would just re-c0nfirm to her-her theory that I have taken my birding a little too far. HA! Not to mention how the heck could I bird the rest of the summer with a broken ankle!!!! I think of myself plowing through powerline trails on one of those scooters you always see elderly people on in the grocery store and caution naturally sets in. So I climb up gingerly and make sure I hang on tight with one arm while I angle the camera with my free hand.

I get up to the open window and the first thing that strikes me is how much sky there is up there!!! It is windy too and the wind is blowing my hair all over the place as I try and get my eye on the falcon. It is the female and she is almost directly above me. She looks at me and I freeze. I cannot take a picture, and I cannot breathe because I am in awe of this bird and unable to move. Finally I get my wits back and I manage one photo before she does her own Kaw-Kaw and flies above my head. I hear her wing beats and remain there for a minute wishing she'd come back.

Picture of how one appears in the skylight

I get off of the ladder to realize I have dirt all over my work pants. I wonder how I am going to sneak back in the office in this condition, but don't care at this point because I had my fix for the day! I am telling you it's almost like the runners high I used to get while running, but the best thing is my knees don't hurt afterwards! ;o) So cool and can't wait to do it again. ;o).

I also did a little birding on the ground this week too. The picture above is of a female Baltimore Oriole on my mulberry tree. Not the best shot, but the first one I have gotten this year of a Baltimore Oriole on my tree.

I went to St Philips tonight to check to see if I could spot either the Pileated Woodpecker or Black-crowned Night Heron (both no shows), but I can confirm that there are at least THREE GREEN HERONS there as I saw all three of them together and they flew right past me.

There were also two Red-bellied Woodpeckers which is the first time I have seen them here since early April. Perhaps they are gathering food for nestlings??

Another bird that has been in hiding but made an appearance was this Northern Mockingbird. There were 4 of them there today but I couldn't get a confirmation on juvies as they were too far up in a tree.

And lastly a squirrel on my mulberry tree. There were FIVE of them on there at the same time when I came home from work today!

Will be doing local, solo birding tomorrow to take advantage of the warmer temps. Take care everyone!!