Mariah's Midair Meal

Despite withering heat and humidity (an unwelcome sign of things to come, I fear), Mariah and Kaver both took the opportunity to do some flying at lunchtime today. Carol P, Dana, Dan Stiehler and I were treated to excellent views of both falcons as we sought shelter from the bright sun in the shadow of the old Bru restaurant.

Mariah made the first showing, flying out of the nestbox and over Morrie Silver Way as she headed toward the pedestrian bridge. Through the haze it was hard to tell if she was flying with her foot down, or if she was clutching prey. The answer, it turned out, was both:
          

Carol and I both noted that she was dipping her head repeatedly, and it looked like she might be trying to scratch or groom herself in flight. It wasn't until I was able to examine my pictures that I figured out she was actually eating on the wing:
          
That's a first for me, as far as I can remember! She continued her flight out over the river, circled a bit, then flew low over our heads before heading back to the tower.
          

Kaver joined her a while later and they circled each other over Frontier field:
          

Finished with their aerial dance, they both returned to the tower. Kaver landed around the north side of the cupola out of sight, while Mariah joined her eyases in the nestbox:
          

Just as the noon hour was ending, Kaver left his shaded perch for another flight:
     

     

He ended the hour with a repeat of Mariah's low fly-over, a real reward for the discomfort we had endured:
          

Tomorrow promises slightly milder temperatures, and hopefully the atmosphere won't be quite so hazy.

And the Sky is Filled With... Kaver!

Kaver put on a nice flying show for us today, spending a lot of time in the air. When I arrived in the Kodak visitor parking lot just after noon I found him perched on the north Lily at the very top of the Kodak tower:


He left, heading west out of sight. While I waited for his return Shaky and Barbara showed up. We also saw a mystery woman taking pictures from beneath the awning of the former Bru restaurant. She had an SLR-type camera, and a zoom lens (I'm guessing it was in the 70-300 mm range). Neither Shaky nor I recognized her. She got into a car with Pennsylvania license plates which she had stopped on the street with her hazard lights flashing, so it was clear that she didn't intend to stay long. Since Kaver was nowhere to be found, it appeared that she was photographing the nest box. I'm sure she saw us standing across the street from her, but she made no attempt to communicate, so her identity must remain an enigma for now. Hopefully she'll come back when she has more time to spend and get to know us. In the words of Douglas Adams, we're mostly harmless...

But back to the flying. Carol P, Sue, and Fal-Kenn Martinez joined us, and Kaver reappeared on the Lily. He was off again soon enough, disappearing from view once again to the west. When a group of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) flew through the area he streaked out of the west to escort them away from the nest. After dispatching the quartet of intruders, he stayed around, flying back and forth over the gorge:
          

His flights were tantalizingly low, but he frequently disappered behind the BeeBee station. Soon it became apparent that he was enjoying himself, riding the sturdy breezes, so we headed out to the bridge for a better look. I'm happy to say he didn't disappoint us:
     

          

Eventually he found some updrafts and rode them high into the sky, then went downtown where he frolicked for a while more, played tag with another Turkey Vulture (just for the sport of it). He flew back toward us, rising ever higher, and played havoc with our optics by soaring repeatedly through the blinding sun before finally heading out of sight downtown again.

Barb and I found the Flicker nest that I reported on yesterday. It appeared to be occupied by a female who was busily engaged in enlarging the nest cavity inside the snag. She repeatedly poppped her head out of the hole and disgorged a shower of wood chips, which you can see floating around her in the first of these two shots:
     

We also accounted for all seven of the Canada goslings, plus the two adults. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable lunch hour.

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I'll close with a bit of photographic prestidigitation (which gains a whole new meaning, what with digital photography being my stock in trade these days). There was a bit of a moon up during our watch, a lovely sliver of a crescent, and I imagined how great it would be to have Kaver flying by:

I've been meaning to try my hand at digital compositing, and with Kaver putting on a nice show through the area, it's certainly possible that this scene could have taken place, since I didn't play with the relative perspective. Do you suppose Kaver's a Sinatra fan?

Fly me to the moon and
Let me sing among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars...
...In other words, please be true
In other words, I'm in love with you

If he is, he's a real softy. But then, aren't we all?

Geese, Flickers, Vultures, Kingfishers

An interesting day of flying was my reward for venturing out at lunchtime today. I found myself alone on the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge, so I walked across the span until I located the Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) with their goslings on the dry mud of the island:


I counted all 7 goslings (though only 6 are visible in the photo). A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) landed near the High Falls and did some hunting, but he kept to the shadows, so I didn't bother with a picture. I saw no other watchers on the bridge, so I headed back toward the Kodak visitor parking lot. On my way I spotted a pair of Yellow-shafted Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus)on a far off snag north of the bridge. Carol P and I had heard them several weeks ago but we were never able to locate them. At first, these two appeared to be a pair, but after watching some of their activity, I think they might be competing for the nest:
     

     
The 'aggressor' in these shots is a male, and based upon some manipulation of a couple of pictures not included here, I'm fairly confident that the other is a female. I don't know enough about the behavior I witnessed to make any pronouncements, but these two didn't seem to be cooperating. I'd be interested in any insight that anyone might have about it.

Out in the visitor parking lot I found Carol and Shaky who had just witnessed Kaver chasing off a Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Larry O'Heron joined us just as Kaver returned and we watched him circle rapidly upward on an updraft before heading downtown. We lost him behind the old Bru building, so we headed back out to the bridge. Shaky and I located the goslings again and re-verified my earlier headcount. A quartet of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) flew upriver from north of the bridge, seeking altitude. They circled low overhead as they searched for updrafts:
     

     

There was little activity other than that, so Shaky and I returned to work. Before heading home, I took another short soujourn to the Pont de Rennes. One of the flickers was still present at the tree, but there was no sign of the other. At the east end of the bridge I found a Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) hunting an early supper. He dove repeatedly into the water, disappearing below the surface for a couple of seconds at a time before launching out of the water again. He started in the low trees north of the bridge, but after a couple of unsuccessful dives he flew upriver and landed on the power cable stretched across the river. His first two attempts resulted in failure, but the third time was the charm for him:
          

I tried some panning shots as he flew beneath the bridge with his meal, but he moved so fast that my shots were unacceptably blurry. I lost him when he passed under the Pont de Rennes, so I headed back off the bridge. There's more good weather forecast for the rest of the week, so I anticipate more opportunities for good photos in the coming days.