5280 Peregrine Watch #2

As referenced in the first video of this series, the male peregrine falcon is shown here feaking (cleaning his beak) after plucking a small bird and delivering it to the nest site. He dropped lunch off, and quickly returned to this spot where he could relax, clean his beak of any pieces of lunch, and then do a full preen of his feathers. You may also notice that occasionally his eyes appear white. He closes the bottom lid upwards and grabs a little shut eye. We don't know how many young falcons he and the female are feeding at this point, but it will require a lot of hunting to keep even one young peregrine growing well. Their food will be birds in and around the city. This includes the pigeons everyone associates with city habitat, to more exotic fare like small ducks, northern flickers, robins, starlings, and so on. Not only do the parents have to feed one or more growing falcons, they have to feed themselves. Being a successful peregrine parent in any habitat is hard work!