It has been an amazing week. The Grey Falcon on Tuesday, and then another 300 kms further west yesterday and (I think) the same one again at the same location as the first, Papunya, today. Today's one was joined by a Black Falcon, and a Peregrine, the poor Zebra Finches and Cockatiels didn't stand much of a chance.
In the space of about an hour, I saw all six "Falco" we have here in Australia. The three mentioned above as well as the Brown Falcon, Australian Hobby and Nankeen Kestrel.
I have now experienced the sheer power of the Grey Falcon, and the speed. It is certainly faster than the Black Falcon which can be incredibly fast. At Kintore I had only one chance to see the Grey Falcon. For the previous two or so weeks, Singing Honeyeaters had been piping out the alarm call as Brown Goshawks, Collared Sparrowhawks and Black Falcons had buzzed the birds around the Poo Ponds. But, the Magpie-lark gave out the call and birds scattered everywhere. I watched as the Grey Falcon flew parallel to the fenceline, Zebra Finches, Chats, Wagtails and anything else were splaying out of its road like the spray off a waterski, but in front of the ski instead. It was incredibly fast. And the noise sounded a bit like a jet engine.
These photos are from today at Papunya, as the Kintore bird was too quick for anything but ID photos. The bird in the photos below was hunting for about 25 minutes, then had a break for about 15 minutes while the Peregrine took centre stage, then the Grey resumed. Amazing experience.
Grey Falcon
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