Day: May 18, 2026

Each day’s visit gave us new opportunities to see some changes in the young Falcons.
They were still dependent on the adults for food, but the deliveries were becoming stretched out. Perhaps food was harder to find, or as I suspect the young were being encouraged to start seeking for snacks on the ground.
However when it did arrive, it came in big pieces. Whole Tiger Snake was obviously quite the top of the range item. The male, “Ophiuchus”, was certainly living up to his name.

It soon became obvious that one of the birds was bigger than the other. Certainly she was a female, and was noticeable by the large dark tear marking at the back of her eye. The male, had a smaller tear marking and some bare skin around the back of the eye. So it helped in being able to identify them.

We named them “Max” and “Mary”. (No doubt someone will get it).

By now they were un-fussed by our presence, and the male, when he was exploring would make quite close approaches. It is a bit humbling to be having eye to eye contact with a raptor.
There was always the concern that the birds would become habituated to humans if we were that close. I am happy to report that while we were watching them, anybody coming along the road, or riding a bike, would be either ignored or if the bird decided that it was too close, then it would fly.
Each visit we always approached from the same direction, took a few minutes to stand or sit quietly, to give them time to adjust and then if they showed no agitation, we would begin work.
I’ve said it before, but no photo is worth losing their trust.

I did later on in the season invite a friend to join us, and the birds made themselves scarce. Yet when he and I moved on, EE had no problem working with them. Anecdotal, I know, but there it is.

Enjoy