A Windy Day for Sabrina and Aura

Thunderstorms at home and a too-comfortable bed dissuaded me from heading downtown at 7:00 as I'd intended, but by 8:00 I had made my way there, despite mostly overcast skies and a brutal wind that made photography with a long-barreled lens a study in frustration. Perseverance is a watchword of mine though, so in spite of the conditions I made the trek out to the observation deck on the east side of the Genesee river gorge. On my way out I had just missed some energetic flying by two of the fledglings near the gorge wall, and I was hoping for more. Hope doesn't always translate into reality though, and up on the observation deck all was quiet. Not one to waste an opportunity, I grabbed my Tamron 17-35mm wide angle zoom for some scenic shots:
          

Now, sometimes what's bad for me is good for the falcons. The wind jostled me without surcease the entire time I was on the exposed platform and to a lesser extent out on the Pont de Rennes bridge, but it created ideal conditions for the fledglings to dart and zoom through the sky. So even though a majority of the several hundred images I shot this morning were spoiled by the wind, I couldn't complain too much. Sabrina was the first to get back into the air, and my choice of vantage turned out to be excellent, as she made one pass after another near the observation deck:
          


     

Durning one of her flights over the trees she snagged a leaf, and apparently it held great interest for her, because she examined it quite closely while she flew:
          

She made one more flight over my head then flew off toward the Kodak tower:


Aura was active too. She and Sabrina chased each other up and down the gorge repeatedly. I went back to the bridge to join the other watchers including Jon and Joni, Brian, Liza and Song, and Kathy O. When Aura landed atop one of the buildings of the High Falls Brewing Company, I walked back up the path toward the observation deck to get the light at my back. I readied my camera just in time to see her taking off:


My choice of position again proved fortuitous as Aura circled around the edge of the gorge:
          

Sabrina appeared for another game of chase:


Aura alighted briefly on the brewery again, but she didn't stay long before launching into the gorge once more, this time flying low:
     

My camera's autofocus let me down here, preferring to lock onto the rocky gorge walls or the relatively contrasty trees rather than the flying falcon. As a result, most of those pictures showed little more than out of focus blobs. I'll need to hone my technique, and perhaps forego the autofocus for a manual approach. The good news is that I have plenty of time to learn, and if the falcons continue in their present habits, I'll have opportunities in plenty as well.