It has been more than two years since I last saw one of these fast and ferocious raptors. They simply don’t visit the plains of Colorado very often, usually only during migration.
This past weekend I spotted one and while it never came very close and my pics were disappointing, I was excited at the sighting and opportunity. It was initially on the ground, guarding some unlucky white-feathered creature it had just finished dining on.
With its meal done, it turned its attention on a red tailed hawk in a nearby tree that seemed to be working on a nest. The falcon let the hawk know it wasn’t happy about its presence by dive-bombing it a few times, the peregrine falcon’s favorite mode of attack.
I never did get a decent capture of it striking but it did appear to make contact more than once. The hawk hunkered down a bit further into the tree for cover and the falcon gave up and moved on.
