Peregrine Falcon M or F ?
Discussion
It's a crap photograph, and the colour balance of the photograph itself makes it difficult to tell, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that's either a female or a juvenile - both tend to have feathers that look a little browner and more mottled on their backs, whereas adult males tend to be a more uniform slate grey.
Equus said:
It's a crap photograph, and the colour balance of the photograph itself makes it difficult to tell, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that's either a female or a juvenile - both tend to have feathers that look a little browner and more mottled on their backs, whereas adult males tend to be a more uniform slate grey.
My thoughts to and I noticed the facial markings aren't very sharp.I'll try and get a better pic when he/she is facing the other way (It was a pic of the CCTV screen while at max zoom). I do agree that it seems to be a young bird. When watching it preen and move about, the talons look extremely big for the body size, and it has just started to hang out here over the last few weeks.
Bird box constructed and waiting to be installed.
Bird box constructed and waiting to be installed.
Not putting myself forward as any type of expert but as I understand it the major difference between adult male/female peregrines is size, which if your not used to seeing peregrines regularly, or just looking at photos presents a problem. Also I'm not sure whether they use bird boxes either, in the natural environment aren't they more cliff/rock face nesters, I know they do frequent and nest in urban environments seeing high rise buildings etc as cliffs/rock faces. I note from your profile you're based in East Yorkshire, it's a bird watching hot spot,I'm sure you can probably get info/advice from the county bird recorder, details should be on the web somewhere. Good luck.
jned2 said:
Not putting myself forward as any type of expert but as I understand it the major difference between adult male/female peregrines is size
Females of most raptors (including Peregrines) are larger than males. But judging on size alone can be very difficult, unless you've got one sitting immediately next to the other.And unless the OP can get us a high resolution picture of the bird sitting next to a tape measure, it's certainly not going to help us here.
Although less well defined, there are other visual differences of colour and markings, however. Females look a lot like juveniles, though, so telling the difference between a female and a juvenile - particularly from a poor quality image - is next to impossible, out of context.
It is not a "Box" as such, but more of a Hutch. You are correct that they don't build a nest but a "scrape" where the female lays eggs in a small depression. We have sand/stone about 50mm deep behind a 10mm plank to stop accidental egg rolling.Got the design from a specialist website... No! not that type ;-)
. Many years ago I worked in the Telephone Exchange in Hanley, those from Stoke will know it as the grey monstrosity at the top of Clough Street.
We had peregrines nesting on the roof, quite often when looking out of the windows you'd see a puff of feathers as another pigeon got nailed.
Only problem was that the top of the building had a cutaway on one side creating a terrace on the 7th floor where the office for the supervisors of the Operator and Directory Enquiries staff lived.
These were mostly ladies of a certain age with a rather over inflated view of their position in life, they demanded that the nest was removed immediately as the parents and fledglings were dropping the bits they didn't want to eat out of the nest up above the 9th floor, down onto the terrace where it was rotting away right outside the windows to the office.
Rotten pigeon doesn't smell too good..
Apparently it was a joy to behold their expressions when they were told that the birds were protected so hands off and keep the windows shut if you don't like the smell!
We had peregrines nesting on the roof, quite often when looking out of the windows you'd see a puff of feathers as another pigeon got nailed.
Only problem was that the top of the building had a cutaway on one side creating a terrace on the 7th floor where the office for the supervisors of the Operator and Directory Enquiries staff lived.
These were mostly ladies of a certain age with a rather over inflated view of their position in life, they demanded that the nest was removed immediately as the parents and fledglings were dropping the bits they didn't want to eat out of the nest up above the 9th floor, down onto the terrace where it was rotting away right outside the windows to the office.
Rotten pigeon doesn't smell too good..
Apparently it was a joy to behold their expressions when they were told that the birds were protected so hands off and keep the windows shut if you don't like the smell!
Scotty2 said:
It is not a "Box" as such, but more of a Hutch. You are correct that they don't build a nest but a "scrape" where the female lays eggs in a small depression. We have sand/stone about 50mm deep behind a 10mm plank to stop accidental egg rolling.Got the design from a specialist website... No! not that type ;-)
What was the website??We have a kestrel (I think...) roosting on one of our window sills and I'd like to encourage it.
The window in question is 3rd floor and quite small but deep. It faces East and overlooks our drive and farmland. The only issue I can see is that as it's above the drive there's a bit of traffic that might put them off.
Good info on this site:
http://www.londonperegrines.com/services/index.php
A Kestrel will need a more traditional box. Just search for Kestrel Nest Box images.
http://www.londonperegrines.com/services/index.php
A Kestrel will need a more traditional box. Just search for Kestrel Nest Box images.
Loads of info on this website
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/...
There's various photos and videos in the links that should help with your identification.
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/...
There's various photos and videos in the links that should help with your identification.
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