After having twitched the Wallcreeper at the Drachenfels outside Bonn in January (covered in my previous post), I visited the site again with my parents so that my father could see the bird as well. The bird had now been around for over two months and drew a significant number of birders in this time. We did see this species, but it was higher up on the cliffs compared to last time, and thus the views were not as good. It also soon disappeared into an area out of sight, which meant we had to entertain ourselves with other sightings. This was not difficult though as another birder alerted us to the presence of a Eurasian Eagle-Owl, which roosted on the cliff under the cover of a dense ivy ticket. It afforded excellent views, although darkness provided by the ivy made it hard to pick up against the bright surrounding cliffs.
However, the real treat came in the form of two Peregrine Falcons, which swooped in and perched on the cliffs for a while, before engaging in impressive flight maneuvers while pursuing each other close to the cliff face. I believe that this was courtship behaviour, as I have never seen this in the species before and the time of year appears fitting.
At other times, the birds just circled above the vineyards and cliff, eyeing us with their piercing gaze as they flew past at quite short distance. This was easily the best sighting I’ve had of this species, with the impressive claws and minute barring of their underparts clearly visible for a long time.
This sighting confirmed my impression that the area of the cliff and vineyard always seems to produce good sighting. When we visited again briefly several weeks later, it appeared to be a raptor hotspot with Common Kestrel, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Red Kite, and even Hen Harrier seen in the timespan of a few minutes. Yet, I still have not seen what is probably the biggest special here, namely Rock Bunting. I am still hoping to come across this bird here, but it seems like I should hedge my bets more on some other vineyards a little further South along the Rhine, where this species is much more regular.
My Zone Is Birding 
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