Ok, this is my first sighting in quite some time, not to say for sure that no falcons were in downtown South Bend but after a couple of weeks not seeing them, I quit going down town to check. (Last Friday I thought I saw a blob on the box, but it vanished before I could get my binoculars up.) Then last night (Sept 11) I was headed to the movies when I saw a bird perched on the nest box, so I had to check it out. I quickly pulled around and parked, grabbed my binoculars and there it was, a beautiful
brown PEREGRINE FALCON ! She (?) was sitting on the nest box rail, and appeared to be quite relaxed. I decided to walk closer for a better view, and as I lowered my binoculars, I saw, could it be ...... could that be ........
another falcon on the County-City Building? Certainly a bird of some kind, and what kind of bird would a pefa tolerate? I whip my binocs up, and sure enough, the other bird finally turns its head and I see the black stripe, it is another pefa.
I was able to see and enjoy these wonderful birds for the next 15-20 minutes.
The first falcon starts preening and doesn't seem to pay any attention to the other one who is perched about 40-50 feet away. Both these guys had their backs to me most of the time, so I couldn't really make out who they were. ( My theories below)
The first one appeared to be some kind of light brown, but that may have been due to the light. (S)he spent most of the time sitting, then preening, then sitting again. The feathers looked kind of um, well, a bit shabby, maybe this bird is molting? I saw a bit of white on the face, but the bird never turned enough to let me see the chest, so I don't know if this was a juvie or not. The second bird had its back to me the entire time, colored a charcoal black. It sat quietly, serenely, also seeming not to notice the other bird. I dropped my gaze for a minute, lost in other thoughts, and when I lifted my eyes both birds had vanished, as if they had taken fight just one moment apart from one another. Apparently, they had been in tune all along.
So who are these birds?
Possibility A: Zoe on the nest box, Guinevere towards the building edge.
Possibility B: Guinevere on the nest box, a new bird towards the building edge. Possibility C: Two new birds.
I will try to watch again and find out more. Maybe you guys can tell me some things to watch out for and together we can find out who these birds are, ( or at least a better guess.)
now returning to my duties as the
SBWatcher