{"id":6730,"date":"2012-12-08T05:03:33","date_gmt":"2012-12-08T12:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6730"},"modified":"2025-02-22T04:55:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T10:55:52","slug":"adult-prairie-falcon-with-a-full-crop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/08\/adult-prairie-falcon-with-a-full-crop\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Prairie Falcon With A Full Crop"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was some beautiful light yesterday after several\u00a0days of gloomy\u00a0gray so I had to get out to see if I remembered how to use my camera.<\/p>\n

After leaving Antelope Island<\/span><\/a> I spotted this adult Prairie Falcon perched on a rock near the shoulder of the causeway. After pointing the falcon out, I was able to takes some images of the striking bird.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Prairie Falcon after a meal – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 328mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It was obvious that the falcon had just finished a meal because there was blood showing on the ventral feathers, there were bits of meat on the talons, and most importantly the falcon’s crop was bulging.<\/p>\n

The crop is an expandable muscular pouch near the throat or gullet used for food storage prior to the digestive process. In this image the crop extends down from just below the bill to just slightly above the raised foot and talons of the falcon and side to side to the frontal edge of the mantle and scapulars.<\/p>\n

I wish I had been in a better position with a better angle of light. Due to vegetation growing along the road there were just a few clear areas between the rabbitbrush to get an unobstructed view of the Prairie Falcon. I do like how the photo shows off the full crop.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Prairie Falcon photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wish I had been in a better position with a better angle of light but due to vegetation growing along the road there were just a few clear areas between the Rabbitbrush to get an unobstructed view of the Prairie Falcon but I do like how the photo shows off the full crop. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,1095,26],"tags":[4004,2663,1139,4278,4078,4279,5993,11483,2617,153,4188,1999,373],"class_list":["post-6730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-prairie-falcons","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-crop","tag-falco-mexicanus","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-hypersaline-lake","tag-lake-shore","tag-prairie-falcon","tag-raptors","tag-shoreline","tag-talons","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/prairie-falcon-adult-mia-mcpherson-3573.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Ky","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6560,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/11\/prairie-falcon-with-a-northern-shoveler-as-prey-graphic\/","url_meta":{"origin":6730,"position":0},"title":"Prairie Falcon with a Northern Shoveler as prey (Graphic)","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this morning I spotted a Prairie Falcon perched on a rock while on the Antelope Island Causeway, before we could get stopped and into position to photograph the falcon it took off over the water and attacked a Northern Shoveler.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Prairie Falcon lifting Northern Shoveler over rocks on the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park in Davis County, 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6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The bird that started my day was an immature Prairie Falcon at sunrise next to the Great Salt Lake and as the sun started to rise the falcon seemed to glow.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Prairie Falcon at sunrise next to the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/prairie-falcon-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-4550.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/prairie-falcon-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-4550.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the fall of 2011 I enjoyed being able to photograph this first year Prairie Falcon several times close to the Great Salt Lake in Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Early morning Prairie Falcon, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/prairie-falcon-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9910.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/prairie-falcon-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9910.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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I'll be grinning (and dancing) about this for quite awhile!","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Prairie Falcon getting ready for lift off, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-1st-year-mia-mcpherson-9922.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-1st-year-mia-mcpherson-9922.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-1st-year-mia-mcpherson-9922.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-1st-year-mia-mcpherson-9922.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4599,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/06\/prairie-falcon-the-fun-keeps-going\/","url_meta":{"origin":6730,"position":5},"title":"Prairie Falcon ~ The Fun Keeps Going","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have had an amazing time photographing Prairie Falcons (Falco mexicanus) since last fall. Since the ducks are no longer near the causeway to Antelope Island I have had a more difficult time locating them because they are now searching for their normal winter diet of Western Meadowlarks and Horned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Prairie Falcon lift off #1, Antelope Island State Park in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-6716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-6716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-6716.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prairie-falcon-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-6716.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}