Prairie Falcon

I have been wanting to see a prairie falcon for years. On Saturday, January 10, 2025, the wish was fulfilled. I was at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area, next to Varner Harbor, on the east end, walking in and around the dense foliage looking for small birds. I got some wonderful photos of the beautiful, yellow headed, Verdin. I came up to the road right about where the boat ramp used to exist (it is now blocked off at the bottom) and looked up and saw the falcon standing on a lamp post. I immediately knew it was a bird I'd not seen before and suspected it was a prairie falcon. I only took a few photos before it flew away. I immediately sat down on a bench and went to All About Birds on my cell phone and and compared the photos with my own photos. Voila! I then spent quite a bit of time looking for where it had flown to, including driving around. I saw it at a distance at the same spot and took a long-distance photo, but it flew away before I could get closer again, from people walking near it below. I was on a high all weekend!

Illustration from Birds of the World.

It is an early arid land offshoot of the peregrine falcon and it has developed to survive in the more sparse arid environment of the American west. It eats mostly small mammals (particularly in summer) and small to medium sized birds.  

Range from Birds of the World.