Peregrine Falcons at Cibola NWR

While working near Cibola National Wildlife Refuge south of Blythe, California last year, Alex and I saw a number of juvenile Peregrine Falcons. The cottonwood/willow restoration plots attract tons of migrant passerines, but I think it is the nearby flooded fields that lure these young raptors in with their favorite food…shorebirds.  The fields are adjacent to the Colorado River, so birds are funneled down the valley, and pulled in by the prime foraging habitat within a few miles of the river.  We’ve also seen a number of Peregrines north of the refuge, including this subadult we found yesterday.  He is molting from juvenile to adult plumage, so he looks exceptionally awesome!

Peregrine Falcon - subadult

new adult feathers are dark blue-gray in comparison to the faded juvenile feathers; note juvenile outer rectrices and juvenile feathers throughout flight feathers

Replacing the "streaked" juvenile plumage for the adult "barred" plumage

Cibola is a hot spot in the middle of agricultural fields and deserts because of the well-managed network of flooded fields in combination with the nearby Colorado River.  Not surprisingly, the same fields that are hotspots for Peregrines are also hotspots for dowitchers, Long-billed Curlews, Least Sandpipers, and other migrant shorebirds (To view other hotspots in the area for shorebirds, go to the "Explore Data" page on E-bird, and scroll down to "Graphs and Maps". Then select up to 5 species to map in a region/county of your choice) .  To get to a few of the flooded fields near Cibola where you may currently see a Peregrine hunting, follow signs to the nature trail area by taking the dirt road just north of the visitor center that leads west.  Check the first field on the south side of the road, pass the cottonwood/willow restoration areas, and look for more flooded fields to the north and west.

All sightings of Peregrine Falcons near Cibola NWR, Arizona/California, recent sightings in yellow