Great privilege to see a falcon on the hunt

A BLACKBIRD can easily teach its young to scratch amongst fallen leaves and uncover grubs and insects; I’ve watched such lessons from kperegrinemy work-room window, the student standing close to the teacher, watching the process intently and waiting for succulent morsels to be popped into its bill.

A thrush can easily teach its young how to cock its head and hear worms burrowing in the lawn. But watching a peregrine falcon teach its young to hunt is a rare privilege, albeit the unfortunate victim of the exercise suffers the same cruel fate as a mouse in the tender mercies of a cat.

I heard the story of such a tutorial from Jim Kennedy, of the Sea Kayaking School at Reen, in West Cork. He’d seen the birds that morning, so the details were fresh in his mind. The parent and the juvenile flew together over the bay, the parent, probably the hen, with a live wood pigeon in its talons. It would release the pigeon, and the young bird would give chase. However, the pigeon was fast enough to evade it. The mother would stoop on the pigeon again, and carry it a short distance before, again, releasing it. Again, the juvenile would have a go, to no avail. Time and time again, the pigeon was caught and then released.