BY LAURA ERICKSON

July 12, 2005: At about 8:45, I went to the Fond-du-Luth Casino where I met Kelly Boedigheimer and a lot of really nice people. Kelly and I went up on the roof, where we got some very nice looks at the two adults. The female was perched on the hotel. The male flew over, calling loudly, and then cruised to the Duluth School Administration building where it perched near the tower. This will be a great vantage point for photos next year!

When I left the casino about 9:15, I saw one of the babies perched atop The Last Place on Earth. She was sitting up when I first saw her, but then hunkered down for a nap. Every now and then she opened her eyes and looked up and around, but then closed her eyes again.

About 9 am, one adult was on the roof of the hotel.
The other flew over, calling and clearly checking Kelly and me out (I don't think he or she expected someone on the roof of the casino) and then flew to the school administration building.
The above photos were taken of one young female perched atop The Last Place on Earth. First she was sitting up, but then hunkered down to take a nap. Can you see her on the roof? This is why the birds are usually undetected, even when they're right there.
Except for nocturnal birds such as owls and nightjars, the larger eyelid of most birds is the lower one.

Then about 11 am, Bruce Pomeroy stopped by work and we went to lunch together. We sat in the outdoor upper seating at Hacienda del Sol, and though the hotel was right there, we didn't see any of the falcons--lunch was wonderful nonetheless. But then after lunch we scouted good viewing points downtown. We saw one of the babies perched on a lightpole, and then decided to take a walk on the lakewalk. And boy oh boy! When we got to Leif Erickson Park, two females--P76 and P77--were perched atop lights and gave us splendid looks.

This is P-76 from a distance--Bruce spotted her when we were on Superior Street.		We got pretty close to her when we walked along the lake walk.
The above photos are P-76. Neither Bruce nor I could read her band in the field--fortunately, the one photo captures the number perfectly.
If P-76 was cooperative and close, P-77 was even more so! Both birds are apparently quite used to people walking past them in the park.

After work, I stopped to look for any of them from the parking lot. I saw two of them on one of the lightposts.

I came home to bad news--one of the birds has been badly hurt, and at this writing (8:45 pm) no one knows where it is--someone took it off with him downtown. I don't know which bird it is, either. Oops--false alarm--the injured bird turned out to be a Mourning Dove.

(I'm not a professional photographer, and am as likely to use photos for educational as aesthetic purposes. These photos may be used for educational purposes without permission. Please leave the copyright information on them. I'd also appreciate you linking to Birderblog.com or to Binoculars.com)

Laura Erickson's Birderblog, her bird information web pages, and much of her conservation and education work are funded by Binoculars.com.