New Year, New Falcon?

Having heard the reports of Sabrina flying with a newly arrived adult Peregrine of undetermined identity, I brought my camera to work with me today in the hope of seeing the two of them in the air together. There was no sign of Sabrina, but the adult did show up. Carol P, Lisa McKeown and I were out on the Pont de Rennes bridge, scanning the sky when I spotted it late into the lunch hour. The falcon was flying just south of the Kodak tower, making a good show of harrassing a gull. I'm in my sixth year of watching the Kodak falcons and in all that time I've never seen Mariah or Kaver even pay much attention to a gull, much less harrass one, so it would seem that we have a new arrival. The bird was pretty far away even as it chased the gull out over the river. When it turned back toward the tower I started shooting:
     

     

Despite my attempts to sharpen and otherwise enhance my images, I couldn't make out the presence of a band, though it appears that the falcon has something white on one of its feet (possibly white feathers?). It landed on the south side of the cupola atop the Kodak Tower and we followed for a closer look:
     

The sharp cold wind made steady shooting a challenge, so the pictures are less clear than I would have liked. The bird's wing shape doesn't look like Mariah's. There was no sign of her typical split primary flying style. To me the body also looks different. Reports of Sabrina's flying with a new, possibly banded adult falcon make me suspect that today's visitor is that same bird, especially since it flew right back to the cupola as did the adult falcon yesterday. This one was about the same size as the gull it chased, leading me to believe it is a female. If so, and if the pair flying yesterday was a courtship display (as I'm beginning to suspect), then we may have yet another indication (beyond her small size in relation to other known females) that Sabrina is actually a tiercel . It will be interesting to see if Sabrina joins this adult for more flights in the coming days. Tomorrow promises warmer weather, so I'll be on the lookout.