The Peregrine Falcon – 11 November 2018

Every now and then you get lucky, especially when it comes to photographing wildlife. Such was the case when I got this photo of a Peregrine Falcon. The Peregrine Falcon is possibly the world’s fasted animal. While it flies at speeds averaging 30 mph, when it hunts it may reach speeds as high as 200 mph. Since it hunts medium sized birds in-flight that speed is necessary for it to catch and kill its prey in the air. This falcon was not hunting, but swooping between the trees. It was very hard to keep my camera trained on the bird, so the best photo I got was as it was coming straight towards me. A spectacular bird! =efh=

Eagles Nest – 12 April 2019

A couple months ago I met up with a friend a spent a few days hiking and camping in Eastern Oregon. We were fortunate to come across this eagles nest with two chicks. We had a great view of the nest from a rock ledge which allowed us to see into the nest rather than looking up at it from the ground.

It was fascinating to watch how the parents watched over the nest and took care of their young. One eagle would fly off in search of food and the other would watch the nest. When it returned, it would start to feed the young chicks, and the other parent would take off and search for food. They always returned with something for the chicks. On one occasion, a red tail hawk got a little too close. Even though there was only one parent at the nest, it took off after that hawk, chasing it out of the area, but at the same time, never left sight of the nest. We watched this nest for most of the day, and left with an increased respect for the care natures provides for raising its young.   =efh=