Its been an exciting opening weekend at Peregrine Watch site. The falcon was battling an intruder buzzard at 10am yesterday morning and must have worked up quite the appetite staking her claim on their territory. She spent most of the day calling for her mate to go hunting for more food. Only a heavy hail shower could distract her from snacking on half a starling this afternoon, but that didn’t keep her quiet for long. After the hail relented the tiercel was out hunting again and returning with another starling (he has to eat too). The falcon then seemed to quieten down, her crop looking suitable full.

Here is a quick video of the falcon in the hail. The video is hosted on our Facebook page but is available to be viewed by all, whether you are on Facebook or not.

The falcons healthy appetite is a good sign. Although the pair have been here together for 10 years now, the tiercel still needs to prove his hunting skills to the female by providing her with food as she gets into condition to produce and lay her eggs. In a successful season he will need to provide food for his mate and their eyasses up to 5 or 6 times a day. In the 2012 season, when they he had two female eyasses to feed (they need more food as they are larger than males) he provided 123 prey items of the recorded 163 the pair caught that season.

Hope to see you soon.

Adam Murphy – Peregrine Ranger