Peregrine Falcon

[David Salem]

This is a haggard teircel Peregrine. These terms are falconry and ornithological terms. The haggard is a falcon, or most raptors that are adults, after their first moult.
Falcons and hawks that are in their first year are called passages. The teircel is the male of the species and the falcon is the female of the species.
This teircel is a father to four eyases, three teircels and one falcon. The eyas is the baby falcon that has not left the eyrie location. The eyrie is the cliff side nest site used by most falcons.
This eyrie was lots of fun to shoot this year and is still happening although they are starting to disperse a bit now. The eyases are just starting to learn to hunt on their own. The parents are starting to withhold feedings and the eyases are getting hungry, this is how they learn to hunt on their own, they are driven by hunger.
This teircel is a great dad and almost single handed raised four babies to maturity. He is also a very handsome bird with a classic full dark cap and a bright yellow cere.

1DX---600mm---f7.1---ss1/2500---ISO800---HH@8:20am---30% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[David Salem]

Oops forgot to remove a dust spot below the rt wing.

[christopher galeski]

Beautiful flight pose,great detail,if mine may remove that bit attached to the bottom beak,WDYT,well done.

[David Salem]

Thanks Chris, I did think about it but thought I would leave it in as shows some remnant of the last feed. Thanks.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi David, superb capture considering the speed that these fly at. HH, very impressive, someone has been working out in the gym.

Techs look good and I like the HA, nice wing angle too, IMHO.

TFS
Steve

[keith mitchell]

David agree with Steves comment above, you have done very well to get an image of this quality on a bird moving at speed.

Keith.

[arash_hazeghi]

this is sweet Dave! Excellent topside bank with killer details! well done

It was shooting!

[John Robinson]

just the right head angle and expression on this. Well done David
John

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Arash, it was fun having you here. We sure had a productive few days of shooting. See ya soon.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, great dorsal view from the banking angle, and with good eye contact too. Lots of feather detail to look at, and an interesting colour to the BG - compliments the falcon nicely. What is it? Oh... and well captured.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Excellent dorsal view. Everything looks great here. I too have reservations about the tiny bit on the bill simply because it is so small and not obvious what it is. Keep it up guys, your peregrines have been superb!!

[David Salem]

Thanks Daniel, I think you are right. I will remove it at final.

Thanks Stuart. The BG is the sandy ocean below close to the waves. Kinda has a neat grey/blue look to it. Glad you like it.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

My lower jaw hit the desk - hard. One word - amazing!
Perfect eye contact, awesome dorsal view and killer details.
I'll bookmark this page, not just for the excellent image, but also for the instructive write-up. Top notch work Dave.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Awesome topside view, very impressive write up and neat comp and superb details David! Well done & TFS.

[Loi Nguyen]

Sweet image, David. Love the reflection of the sun in the bird eye. I wished I could have been there with both of you, but had prior family commitment. This is a difficult location as you would have to shoot down with a high barrier between you and the bird. Anyone tried to capture a fast flying falcon would know how hard it is. Great job. Hope I will still see them there this weekend. Loi


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[Satish Ranadive]

Spectacular flight shot with wonderful top side view with superb fine details and beautiful HA.
Nice information too.

Regards,
Satish.

[Greg Oakley]

Doesn't get any better than this. Simply awesome David.
Silly nit-pick, but I'd boost the mid-tones just slightly...

[Jim Crosswell]

Great image David! I like the IQ, details, banking position, composition and BG.

[Robert Hardy]

Really stunning shot.

Rob.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate it.

Chris, looks good with the mid tones boosted a bit. The back looks better but I think the head has a little sell feather detail. Maybe I will selectively do the back. Good call.

[Richard Flack]

Awesome David! Amazing shot!

[Peter Scholer]

Wonderful work. The well lit head turn and wing position are extremely pleasing to view. Sharpness is perfect for me. Well done.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments.