With Jay Sumner and Sharon Fuller, I spent an afternoon in the field checking rock cliffs on the Blackfoot River for Peregrine Falcon occupancy for the Montana Peregrine Institute. We were treated to three birds at one nesting cliff, the second male perhaps from another nearby (and as-of-yet unknown) nest. Some other cliffs looked like prime nesting locations, but no falcons yet. And at the last spot we observed and filmed the Peregrines mating, sure sign of occupancy, and looks like they are planning to use a site from three years ago. The female is very large and has a different coloration than the one here last year. At both of these nests, the parent birds fed on salmonflies, catching them in the air over the river. Jay and I wrote a paper on this behavior that was published in the journal, Western Birds.
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