25 November 07
Peregrine Falcon
There had been a report of a female peregrine falcon sitting on one of the UC Davis water towers over the past couple of days. I headed over there on my bike on the way home from lunch today. Sure enough, there she was, preening.
I pedalled home to get my new scope and spent close to an hour, doing about 20 sketches. Most of them are miserable: I feel as far away as ever from mastering raptor bills, though I’m determined to keep practicing — but I’m posting quite a few to give a sense of how the bird moved “in place” — preening, looking, keeping an eye out for prey and anything else.
I’m also becoming less worried about how bad the drawings are and more able to be grateful just sitting in the presence of something so awesome. It’s sometimes easy to forget that peregrines were almost wiped out by pesticides thirty years ago. We saw one yesterday in Inverness on Point Reyes. Seeing one again today seems unbelievable. Seeing one for close to an hour so that I could draw it? Fantastic.
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