Soaring Peregrine Falcon

by Judi Dressler

Title

Soaring Peregrine Falcon

Artist

Judi Dressler

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Photograph - Photography

Description

A good friend of mine is a falconer, and this is his young Peregrine Falcon, just a few months old. He is being trained to fly high and learn that when flying high, he can stoop (i.e., fly straight down) at a super fast rate to catch another bird as prey. He is still learning and 'only' flies up to about 600 feet now, but hopefully he will learn to fly up to at least 1000 feet or higher. I was invited to come and watch and photograph a training flight. It is amazing to watch -- falcons can fly at an amazingly fast speed!

One of the world's fastest birds; in power-diving from great heights to strike prey, the Peregrine may possibly reach 200 miles per hour. Falconers and biologists alike regard this falcon as one of the noblest and most spectacular of all birds of prey. They were almost eradicated from North America by pesticide poisoning in the middle of the 20th century, but after significant recovery efforts, Peregrine Falcons have made an excellent rebound. They are now regularly seen in many large cities and coastal areas and are found on six continents, however, the Peregrine is still uncommon in most areas.

Photo taken on January 2, 2020, in Longmont, Colorado

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Descriptive tags and keywords for this image include peregrine falcon, peregrine falcons, falcons, flying, in flight, soaring, juvenile, raptors, birds, birds of prey, predator, hunter, falco peregrinus, falco, captive, training, hawk, wildlife, nature, colorado, photo, photograph, photography, judi dressler, and dressler.

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January 13th, 2020

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