Wikipedia, and every other source I could find, suggests that the Peregrine Falcon’s name means that it comes from foreign lands, a name due to early falconers catching this bird during migration, rather than taking it from the nest.
Still, when one birds in Spanish as well as English, it becomes hard not to think of the Halcón Peregrino, or Peregrine Falcon, as the Pilgrim Falcon, since the word peregrino is usually used to refer to religious pilgrims.
My wife and I had the opportunity to spend a few days in France on our way back from a work trip to Spain and Morocco. Our best flight option turned out to be through Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport, and we didn’t feel like wrestling with that big city on this visit. So we decided to stay in the nearby town of Chantilly, known for its Chateau, lace, and whipped cream. As it happened, this was also a surprisingly good birding spot, and my life list for France went from 27 to 41 in four days. (“Honey, I swear that wasn’t my reason for choosing this town. No, really.”)
Among all my new species for France, the Song Thrush was my one worldwide lifer.
Mute Swans were new to me only for France. But the reflected fall color did make for a lovely portrait.
Eurasian Moorhen, Chantilly
One of many Great Cormorants along the Great Canal, which feed the Chantilly Chateau’s moat
On our final full day in France, we drove to the nearby town of Senlis, known for its medieval cathedral and Roman wall fragments. I did not expect to do any birding on this day, as I would be constantly accompanied by my long-suffering non-birder wife. But we had barely come within view of the cathedral when I saw what appeared to be three birds of prey circling the church’s bell towers, emitting a call I had not previously heard. I desperately tried to take photos, but could not get my travel camera to focus on the birds.
Fortunately, these birds of prey seemed extremely faithful to this site, and so were we. As we circled the cathedral — which describes the entirety of the tourist experience en Senlis — the falcons also continued to circle it. At one point one flew by, with prey in its talons, flew behind the campanario, and showed up no more. It was clear that it had chosen the church as its roosting site, a pilgrim indeed.
At that point, I still wasn’t sure which bird of prey I was seeing. A quick listen to the first Peregrine Falcon call on Merlin gave an almost perfect duplication of what I had heard. But would this species actually occur in central France in the deep of winter? At home in Mexico, the Peregrine is a winter-only species. But even in the highlands, our climate only barely brushes freezing, and it never snows. Still, the Merlin map on my phone suggested that Peregrines are indeed a winter species in France’s interior.
But would my best photo show a Peregrine Falcon? Well, here’s the problem: I travel with a smaller Olympus camera, and have not yet learned how to take good photos of birds in flight with that camera. I only managed to take two photos of these falcons, one of them no more than a silhouette. The other shost required a ridiculous amount of manipulation to move beyond that condition. But in the end, I was able to just barely see that facial pattern, as well as the classic Peregrine shape (along with its unidentified prey, probably a pigeon). And even though no one had registered a Peregrine Falcon on eBird for the town of Senlis, it did result that they had been recorded in many other towns and cities of northern France in that and previous Novembers.
Fortunately, at home in Mexico I have managed several better photos of our local variety of Peregrine Falcon, all taken with my too-heavy non-travel camera. These include the photo at the top of this post, taken to the north of Morelia, and the one below, taken to the east of the Morelia. These Pilgrim Falcons do get around!
Key lesson in Paul’s post: do not travel with a non-birder. No, sorry. Changing subject. The Mute Swans are indeed lovely.
Enjoyed reading about a non-birding, birding trip to France.
Great article! I also learnt recently that learnt that Hayabusa means Peregrine Falcon in Japanese and therein is the origin of the Suzuki Hayabusa’s name.
Persevere with your Olympus camera, Paul. I find that the autofocus on my camera (OM-1) is brilliant for capturing birds in flight. I like your song thrush shots. Despite being a common bird here in England they are seldom easy to photograph as they ar rather shy.