Like many city dwellers, my experience with Peregrine Falcons is from a distance. They usually nest high up on a building or perhaps on a bridge. Either way, they are hard to view and does not make for great photography.
Most of us know Niagara Falls for, well, the Falls. There's also Marineland. But as I found out recently, Niagara Falls is one of the best places to view Peregrine Falcons and to photograph them. When you face the Falls from the Canadian side, you have the American Falls on the left and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls on the right. Right in between these 2 Falls, if you look down over the railing next to the sidewalk/walkway overlooking the Falls you will see a rectangualr shaped flat area 100 feet below you. That is the old decomissioned hydro building's roof. The roof now has plants growing on top and 4 resident Peregrine Falcon young. On the vertical face of this very long building (I'm guessing it's easily over 100 yards long), a pair of Peregrine Falcons have nested for 2 years. In years previous it nested over on the USA side of the Falls, on Goat Island, facing this decomissioned hydro building.
Last year I believe 2 young Peregrine Falcons were hatched. This year, 4 young were born. The young Peregrines are still learning to hunt and can be found quite frequently on the roof of the decommisioned hydro building. If you look over the railing you can see them perched on the roof, either resting, grooming, eating or fighting with each other.
I went to see them over the past 1 1/2 days and these young Peregrines have put on quite a show. Incredible aerial displays, Peregrine chasing Peregrine, sometimes 3 together, climbing high up above where we're standing on the sidewalk/walkway and then diving after prey or each other over and over again. Sometimes they are at eye-level and sometimes too close to get a bead on them with the auto-focus. In the 1 1/2 days I have seen a Peregrine perch within 6 feet of me, usually on a grassy ledge just 6 feet below the railings. No close-up photos as my 400mm lens was too close (the MFD is 11 feet). By the time I backed up far enough they've usually become airborne again. They put on aerial displays for over an hour sometimes. Lots of good photo ops. Watched a Peregrine eating what appeared to be either a gull or pigeon recently, right on top of that roof....twice in one day.
I use a Canon 40D and a 400 5.6L lens. If the lighting is dull and the subject not close enough, the Ai-Servo has some difficulty locking onto the subject (darkbrown feathered subject) especially against a greenish background. The water in the gorge is a lovely green colour which makes for a great background for those flight shots which the young sometimes take quite frequently with intervals of inactivity. In such cases I revert back to my old Canon 300D days when I used One-Shot AF in place of a barely working Ai
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0 repliesMost of us know Niagara Falls for, well, the Falls. There's also Marineland. But as I found out recently, Niagara Falls is one of the best places to view Peregrine Falcons and to photograph them. When you face the Falls from the Canadian side, you have the American Falls on the left and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls on the right. Right in between these 2 Falls, if you look down over the railing next to the sidewalk/walkway overlooking the Falls you will see a rectangualr shaped flat area 100 feet below you. That is the old decomissioned hydro building's roof. The roof now has plants growing on top and 4 resident Peregrine Falcon young. On the vertical face of this very long building (I'm guessing it's easily over 100 yards long), a pair of Peregrine Falcons have nested for 2 years. In years previous it nested over on the USA side of the Falls, on Goat Island, facing this decomissioned hydro building.
Last year I believe 2 young Peregrine Falcons were hatched. This year, 4 young were born. The young Peregrines are still learning to hunt and can be found quite frequently on the roof of the decommisioned hydro building. If you look over the railing you can see them perched on the roof, either resting, grooming, eating or fighting with each other.
I went to see them over the past 1 1/2 days and these young Peregrines have put on quite a show. Incredible aerial displays, Peregrine chasing Peregrine, sometimes 3 together, climbing high up above where we're standing on the sidewalk/walkway and then diving after prey or each other over and over again. Sometimes they are at eye-level and sometimes too close to get a bead on them with the auto-focus. In the 1 1/2 days I have seen a Peregrine perch within 6 feet of me, usually on a grassy ledge just 6 feet below the railings. No close-up photos as my 400mm lens was too close (the MFD is 11 feet). By the time I backed up far enough they've usually become airborne again. They put on aerial displays for over an hour sometimes. Lots of good photo ops. Watched a Peregrine eating what appeared to be either a gull or pigeon recently, right on top of that roof....twice in one day.
I use a Canon 40D and a 400 5.6L lens. If the lighting is dull and the subject not close enough, the Ai-Servo has some difficulty locking onto the subject (darkbrown feathered subject) especially against a greenish background. The water in the gorge is a lovely green colour which makes for a great background for those flight shots which the young sometimes take quite frequently with intervals of inactivity. In such cases I revert back to my old Canon 300D days when I used One-Shot AF in place of a barely working Ai