Wings for My Flight by Houle Marcy Cottrell;

Author:Houle, Marcy Cottrell;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Published: 2014-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

EARLY IN THE SECOND week of July, Alex and I caught a glimpse of the two young peregrines, well feathered now but with patches of down still sprouting comically from their bodies, peeking out from the eyrie. From the first moment, it was obvious the two were an inseparable pair; wherever one trudged along, the other crawled immediately behind. From their smaller size, I ascertained they were two males, and nearing six weeks old, they were on the verge of fledging at any minute, though they still seemed terrible cowards, beating their wings and screaming as they jumped up and down, never daring to take off and fly. I couldn’t say I blamed them, with a 360-foot drop-off looming below me, I probably would have never left the nest.

Arthur once again was heralding his return home from a hunt, apparently for the benefit of the nestlings. Hearing his call, they both got mad with excitement, flapping their wings so fast they often were lifted off the ground a foot or more. One nestling, each time he found himself aloft, squealed a high-pitched “Ki-Ki-Ki!” In fact, I noticed this bird drew attention to himself whenever he moved at all; even when waddling from one small ledge to another on the cliff top, he shouted for all of heaven to hear. He was the less adept of the two: trying to run, he would fall down; trying to climb, he would more often than not slide down backwards on his rear; and trying to follow his brother into some of the more difficult nooks and crannies on the ridge top, he would trip and land on his beak. His sibling rarely did such things. But the bird seemed little distressed by his lack of agility; what he lacked in finesse, he made up for in sheer lung power.

Arthur, at first, was not selective as to whom he would give the prey procured from his sorties. He left it up to them to fight it out, getting out of the foray as soon as possible, and the selfish nature of the little birds was apparent at once as they dashed to the food and tried to snatch it away from each other. When young peregrines fledge, they continue to eat significantly more than adults, to build up their stores of fat. What this meant in graphic terms was that the birds reveled in competition over food. Usually the more physically advanced, bold and aggressive nestling was the first to get it.

July 12 was a typical day in the life of nearly fledged peregrines. Arthur dropped off what looked to be a redwing blackbird, and the more aggressive falcon lunged for the food, dragging it away as fast as he could along the ridge top. It was a decidedly difficult task, for the prey was almost as big as he and in his haste, the young falcon continually tripped over the hunk of food hanging from his beak. The sibling who always seemed

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.