Day 9 - My first glimpse of Maya the Shaheen this year

 July 6th 2025

Our MRC Nagar Shaheen falcon - christened Maya - arrived this year on 30th May 2025, two days after I left the city for a stint in Bangalore.  

MRC Nagar's Leela business centre building may be abandoned and unoccupied by humans, but for the birders of the city, it is a very happening building - 

Vismaya the peregrine is a resident in the winter.

Maya the Shaheen is here through the SW monsoon.  This is the sixth monsoon she has been sighted.  From 2020 onwards.

Arrival dates: (Courtesy Sanjeev)

26th June 2020
31st May 2021 
2nd June 2022 
25th June 2023
9th June 2024

30th May 2025

She comes in with the monsoon winds, and every year we watch her movements - her hunts, preening, her ramp walks on the balustrade.  We provide much curiosity and amusement to the citizens of MRC Nagar who are bemused at our fascination with a bird.

She's the bird with the fastest dive. Falcons are awesome.  As GK, our Raptor Guru says, "It's a Shaheen female based on the longer  moustachial stripe & the overall build.  Shaheen Tiercels are quite compact & small, with a short broad moustachial stripe.

And we assume it's Maya based on the perches she take, her routine, all that. If another female reaches here & follows all that of Maya, it's practically not possible to find out unless they're a permanent visible clues in non-feathered parts."

I have recorded seeing her on 16th June 2024, both in the morning and in the evening on eBird.

Morning 6am was with Sagarika, Ramanan and his son.

6.05 - No bird on usual perch from the Leela viewing point
6. 35 - A black kite flew close, pigeons were disturbed 
7.05 - We walked towards the police tower, saw her taking a dive and returning to perch away from us, Northern side, then moved towards North West and moved southeast before flying towards Leela at 7.29 am. It was not well settled and kept moving its head.
724 - Wing Stretching
729 took off toward the East
742- Not seen in the usual place, but corner ledge, facing Jains.
8.00 - Wing stretched and flew towards Jain making 2 circles
803 - Back without kill, perched on window rail, finally seen facing towards the glass. Looking at own reflection perhaps

Pictures in the ebird list here.

Evening 530 pm ebird list

She did a spectacular aerial display of diving, gliding and soaring over the Business Tower.

Circling the Leela building.
535 pm - circled and chased a pigeon - failed hunt.  
flew around the roost area and then a little south, then circled back and was seen over the main Lee hotel for a long time.  
No successful hunt observed.

June 15th 2025 pictures from Hrishu.  I was not there.

Photo by Hrishu.  Falco peregrinus peregrinator

Photo by Hrishu. Falco peregrinus peregrinator

I finally got a live Darshan this morning!  Thanks to Hrishu and Aaditya's message that she was sighted.

See that little black blob on the railing?  Well that is the falcon who has turned her back on us.

 Here's the Ebird list for the morning, from Hrishu.

Hopefully, I will see her more regularly in the coming weeks.