Monday 25 June 2018

Peregrine's Maiden Flight




Looking at this fine juvenile Peregrine it is perhaps hard to believe that it is just thirty eight days old and experiencing its Maiden flight around high Cornish cliffs.


It was looking good in the air but then comes the tricky bit of landing which takes them quite some time to master and this one flies straight into a section of vertical cliff without any ledges.


It tries but fails to grip the steep crumbly surface and has to take-off again.




This time it manages to land on a small ledge but is not happy and calls to the watching adult birds for assistance.


It comes by way of its mother carrying a grisly looking juvenile Jackdaw prey offering which was what the juvenile was tempted into the air for in the first place.


Now it was the adult birds time of trouble as the juvenile did not have skill enough to select a landing place where the mother could land with her prey offering as well so she returned to her own ledge,


The young bird took off again and this time managed to get back to the location where its mother was now perched and still holding the prey,


So our juvenile Peregrine has survived its first flights and now has the young Jackdaw prey which its mother leaves for it to feed on.

The next few months will be a steep learning curve where all young peregrine have to sharpen up their skills if they are to survive the first winter that lies ahead of them !!

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