South AfricaDaily Maverick8 h ago

NOTES FROM A SMALL PLANET: Peregrine falcons are taking over the high ground

Meet the feathered speedsters thriving above our traffic and the scientist who has spent decades studying them, dodging their claws and occasionally losing his hat. It is difficult to maintain scientific dignity with your head wedged into a cliff ledge and your rear end being spanked by a furious peregrine falcon. Dr Andrew Jenkins has tried. Ringing chicks sometimes meant inserting his head and shoulders into a recess, leaving the rest of him inconveniently available to their parents. He would work away while the owners registered their objections. Peregrines are rockets with claws. They can rake a scalp hard enough to send blood into your eyes, which explains why Jenkins took to wearing a scrum cap.

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