6 May 2026

Early last week many of us noticed a long feather at the nest. Where did it come from? Not from prey. On Tuesday 27 April, Carla preened vigorously and pulled it away from her wing.

24 hours later the discarded feather was near the chicks as Carla fed them. A smaller feather was visible as well (photo at top with arrows). Carla is molting but Ecco is not.

Male and female peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) that are resident in the mid-latitudes molt at slightly different times. Females molt their primary wing feathers while they’re incubating eggs and brooding young (March-May) because their mates are doing all the hard flying to provide food. The males molt their primaries in July after teaching the young to hunt.

Read more about molting at Time to Molt written in July 2022. Peregrine falcons are the last bird in the article.

p.s. Peregrine molt information can be found at:

• Experience of Chad+Chris Saladin (C&C’s Ohio Peregrines) posted on to the Rochester Falconcam forum.
• Birds of the World: Peregrine Falcon molts.
• Remigial Molt Patterns In North American Falconiformes As Related To Age, Sex, Breeding Status, And Life-History Strategies by Peter Pyle published in The Condor 107:823–834, 2005.
• Moult FAQs at Raptors ID