Girls In The Gorge

Continuing their intriguing morning activity, the fledglings treated us to another hour of fun. Today, though, the girls had the gorge to themselves-- Zephyr and Diamante were nowhere to be seen.

Quest, who has shown herself to be an outstanding flier made an unlikely, and ultimately unsustainable landing on a branch that was much too small for her. I arrived on the bridge just in time to see her ill-fated attempt:
     

Yep, that's her clinging upside down by a single talon to the little wisp of a branch. She made a couple of attempts to right herself, but gave up the enterprise when it's hopelessness became apparent. A couple of minutes later Seneca flapped her way out to the large power cable strung over the river:


Since the flying had already begun fellow shutterbug Don and I made our way to the observation deck where, despite the shadows that plagued our photography, we had a front-row seat for the morning's action. Susan B took center stage with a variety of fly-bys, fly-overs and passes in front of the falls:
     

That's not to say that the others were absent; Redeeming her earlier clumsiness, Quest joined her sister in the gorge:


After a brief round of chasing little Suzie surprised us by landing among the grass below the observation deck! Of course, we took full advantage of our good fortune to get some shots:
     

Quest had other ideas, charging up the river to bother a group of Mallards in the shallows above the falls:
          

Susan B must have decided she'd had enough standing around because she left the gorge wall and engaged Quest in some chasing and tag:
          

     

After a minute of fun Quest headed for the Kodak tower. Susan B landed on some algae covered rocks at the other side of the falls...
     

...then left two minutes later to harass Seneca:
     

Seneca resented the intrusion and shooed sister Suzie away. If she was offended, Susan B didn't show it. Instead, she flew up and down the gorge, letting us get a good look at her:
          

          

Her tour of the gorge ended on top of the Gorsline building:


Seneca took that as her cue to get moving:


We expected her to make a circuit of the gorge, but she surprised us, making a direct run at the gorge wall and landing right beneath us!
     

She stayed for only a minute; more than enough time to get some nice pictures:
     

Then she was off again. In the distance to the west we found three fledglings chasing each other and being pursued by a Kestrel They were too far away for pictures, but it was comical to watch the Peregrines alternating between mock attacks amongst themselves and diving at the Kestrel. At least one of the boys must have been in the group because Seneca stayed relatively close while the others headed toward the Kodak tower:
     

I had to leave soon thereafter for a meeting. I continue to be mightily impressed, if not plain amazed, with these morning flights. I find myself looking forward to these hours of action, and I'll be sorry to see them end.