15 April 2025
Ten days in the past in Birds Displaying Off I blogged concerning the courtship flights of 4 raptor species: western marsh harrier, golden eagle, bald eagle and peregrine falcon and included pictures of peregrines flying the wrong way up from C&C’s Ohio Peregrine Web page on Fb by Chad+Chris Saladin.
In case you possibly can’t think about this, Chris posted a tremendous sequence on 10 April of a male peregrine in sustained the wrong way up flight whereas courting his new mate at Hilliards Bridge. Discover that he twists his head virtually 180° in order that his imaginative and prescient is rightside up. Wow!
Peregrine in sustained the wrong way up flight
Hilliards Bridge, Ohio, Spring 2025 (pictures by Chad+Chris Saladin)
The backstory is superior, too, quoted from Chris’s put up:
We have been enthralled and entertained by Gusto and Luna participating in gravity-defying courtship flights across the Hilliard bridge on a really windy day (30-40 mph winds that might blow our hats off with out our hoods up tight over them)! It was powerful to stabilize and to carry our cameras nonetheless sufficient to seize it.
We’ve talked about earlier than that seeing peregrines flying in heavy wind and getting to look at them within the showy courtship mode as they’re bonding ends in a few of the most mind-blowing flight angles and physique postures conceivable! And peregrines are superb sufficient in flight with out assistance from the wind, however if you add within the heavy gusts the velocity reaches UNREAL proportions!
They have been zipping over and round us, by the bridge arches beneath after which reappearing over our heads with swift ring-ups. They have been hanging within the wind almost immobile, after which with a slight twitch or tuck they’d velocity by, slicing by the wind, or angling their our bodies for a tailwind to push them into overdrive!
You possibly can usually see the distinction between men and women in flight, with males attaining more proficient maneuvers and better speeds total. On this case the distinction was much more putting, because the expertise of maturity confirmed—though Luna was actually transferring by the air shortly, it was as if Gusto may fly circles round her!
On this album we’re sharing a sequence of Gusto in flight the wrong way up out over the valley—it was considerably distant, so we tried to not over-crop this sequence, however we nonetheless hope this gives sufficient element to indicate his sustained the wrong way up flight together with his head contorted as he was centered on his flight path whereas flapping and gaining much more momentum! INCREDIBLE!!
Comply with C&C’s Ohio Peregrine Web page on Fb for extra breath-taking peregrine information.
