Reader Dom called my attention to this video showing a mated pair of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) who seem to be nesting in Norwich Cathedral. I’ve never actually heard them call, but listen to the cacophony as they talk to each other. They sound like penguins!
My deceased cat of 16 years sounded like a pigeon when she purred. In fact, when she was at the vets, people kept asking where the pigeon was!
Your cat purred at the vet’s?????
Supposedly cats have two or three different kinds of purr. Something like, 1)contentment, 2)nervousness / anxiety, and 3)attention seeking (I’m so cute, don’t you want to feed me?). Supposedly the purrs in each category are different. I vaguely remember something about 3 having something in common with human babies attention seeking cry.
In my experience, there could be something to this. I’ve have certainly had cats that purred in all three of those circumstances.
Interesting. I’ve certainly experienced purrs 1 and 3, but never the scared variety.
Are you sure the female wasn’t scolding the male for not scooping a better “nest” for her? 😉
That was my thought exactly! Looked like she had a “want something done right” humpf. Lovely couple.
Huh … us over in Worcester have our own much loved peregrines that inhabit both our cathedral ( which is much finer than that pesky East Anglian one 😉 ) and a landmark, a partly demolished church, known locally as the “Glover’s Needle”. One peregrine is known, inevitably I suppose, as “Bobbin”.
So a plug …
https://www.facebook.com/worcesterperegrines?fref=ts
Well think about it – the peregrines in Norwich are about as high as the highest point in the county!
Norwich has the second highest spire in England & the second longest nave, but the tallest surviving Norman Tower I think.
that was cool, have to keep tabs on these two.
Let us be very happy that there is still a family of Peregrines’ , that we can see and enjoy😏
Bird 1: “Did you forget the milk and bread??”
Bird 2: “What, am I only bird in this nest with 2 wings?!”
I built the nest, I catch the mice, I scare off the humans. And what does she do? The washing and the ironing – big deal!
Delightfully intimate view.
We have a pair that nest every year up under the Franklin D. Roosevelt Bridge which crosses the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, NY. They nest about 2 meters below the road bed with cars and trucks roaring overhead. Our rowing club takes our shells along the river there and we watch as they raise young 30 meters above us.
As I was watching that, it suddenly struck me how odd and utterly wonderful it would be to have absolutely no fear of heights or fear of falling.
I was a chorister at Norwich so despite never believing in god I still love the building (& much of the music). My English teacher was at school at Salisbury where his English teacher was Golding. I recommend his novel (among others!) “The Spire” which is loosely based on Salisbury…
You do know that falcons are raptors, and that, at least according to New Hampshire Republicans, raptors are evil? Almost as evil as abortionists? See: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/03/19/new_hampshire_legislatures_kill_fourth_graders_bill_and_dreams.html
Here is a website in Holland that has a whole host of webcams two cams of which are trained on a pair od Peregrine: http://www.beleefdelente.nl/vogel/slechtvalk
The website’s name translates to “Experience Spring Time” and operates from early in the new year until the summer solstice.
So, 3 months of avian adventure still ahead.
Links in the top bar to other birds.
There’s a pair of peregrines that nests every year on campus. They’re generally pretty quiet while the clutch is being incubated, and while the nestlings are being raised. But once the young are fledged and flying (and how wonderful it is to watch them barreling through the air), they get very vocal, and they have very loud voices. It’s common to see two sitting on windowledges at opposite ends of the top story of the Social Sciences Building, yelling at one another – you can hear it hundreds of metres away. It must be deafening if it’s your office windowledge they’re sitting on.
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.