Just when you imagine you’ve exhausted the supply of local birds, something new turns up in the neighbourhood. Spotted this juvenile female Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) perched in a tree at the edge of Rampton Spinney on the Cottenham Lode side. It startled and headed across fields North Eastwards…sat on a mound of earth about half a mile away and out of range of cameras and even Mrs Sciencebase’s snazzy new bins.
Anyway, I got a few snaps of the Peregrine in the tree. Brings my photographed total since buying this big zoom this time last year to 130 different species. Even if you’re not a birder, you can’t fail to be impressed by this species, surely? It can stoop on its prey at speeds well in excess of 350 kilometres per hour! The record is 389 km/h.
Just cribbing a bit about this bird of prey from Wiki:
The peregrine's breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic Tundra to the Tropics. It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, except extreme polar regions, very high mountains, and most tropical rainforests; the only major ice-free landmass from which it is entirely absent is New Zealand. Nevertheless, it is the world's most widespread raptor.