[mou] FW: Downtown Peregrines

[Alt, Mark]

> I ride the bus to work now. I have always wanted to do the "green" =
thing and now that I work in Richfield, I do and I love it.  I wait at =
Marquette and 6th until the express 576 takes me south to begin my day.  =
It just so happens that Marquette and 6th is the prime vantage point to =
see Peregrines on the Multifoods tower. I have watched them every week =
since May.  Last Tuesday, July 8th, an adult put on a flying clinic, =
soaring up into a stall about 100 feet above the top of the  tower on =
the north side, using the strong winds to climb straight up , then he =
would veer sharply to the right, tuck into a half stoop, wings forming a =
narrow "W", and bomb past an immature bird sitting near the nest box on =
the east side.  He would then open his wings in a full soar, veer left =
and up and float back to its original position above the north side.  If =
the bird was a sky writer, there would have been an elongated ellipse =
scribed in the air.   I saw this move repeated twice, and decided to =
time it on my stopwatch. In the middle of what appeared to be a third =
such move, the bird leaned right and continued out of sight behind the =
tower.  It emerged a few seconds later and soared up to its holding =
point hovering on the heavy gusts above the north side.  From the time =
it stooped until it was back up in position soaring it took 6.2 seconds. =
I estimate the Multifoods tower to be 150 feet long on  each side.  I =
estimate the path of the falcon was about 50 feet beyond the building on =
average in its flight.  The perimeter of a circle with a radius of 125 =
feet is 785 feet. The bird appeared to travel 150 feet vertical down to =
the perched juvenile and then back up  to soar again, so the total =
distance traveled was about 1000 feet in 6.2 seconds. If my conversions =
are right, this amounts to an average speed of 110 mph.  It was a =
breathtakingly awesome display of flight.  It seemed to me the adult was =
"showing off" to entice or train the juvenile.  The birds have not been =
present the past two days, so I assume they are off flying somewhere. I =
miss them.=20
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> Mark Alt
> Brooklyn Center, MN
> mark.alt@bestbuy.com
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> "Birds and their songs are important to me, they add to my enjoyment =
of life"=20
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