Thank you for attending our 14th Annual Fall Flights performance!

It is an honor to share The Peregrine Fund's mission of conserving raptors worldwide through an artistic trifecta of performance, the spoken word, and music. While science lights the way forward in protecting the natural world, conservation burns brightest when we feel connected to nature. We hope that you have learned and felt much as our Avian Ambassadors shared their air space with you today. Along with recognizing the talented performers that you saw to day, we would like to pay tribute to the authors and poets featured in today's work.

We invite you to submit your feedback as well as share photos taken during today's performance.

Fall Flights 2024 Guest Feedback

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A handler wearing a falconry glove with a hawk sitting on it

Linda Ledbetter

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If you captured photos of great memories at Fall Flights, we'd love to see them! Just click the button below to email your photos to us so that we may share with our audience.

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If the button doesn't work, you can email your photos to visitor.experience@peregrinefund.org

flight crew

Flight Crew

Flight Crew 2024

Thank you to our amazing flight crew that keeps our Avian Ambassadors in tip top condition. Our flight crew is lead by Stephanie, our Curator of Birds, and our Raptor Specialists, Jadn, Amanda, and Rachel.

Authors & Poets

Photo of Terry Tempest Williams

Act I

What do we wish for? To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from. ~Terry Tempest Williams

Chief Dan George

Act II

If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys. ~Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation

Fred Rogers

Act III

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." ~ (Mr.) Fred Rogers

Leopoldo Lugones

Leopoldo Lugones

EL HALCÓN

Una sombra fugaz gira en el claro.
Y como si en su grito descorriera
Un sonoro cerrojo, campo afuera
La avizora gallina busca amparo.

Vibra él, alto en los aires. El sol lustra
Su atigrado plumaje cuando vira.
Punza, bravío, su ojo de oro. Y su ira
En un lamento lúgubre se frustra.

A. Jackson Frishman on the edge of a canyon

Greg Russell

A. Jackson Frishman

And now aloft high in Heaven, She soars on her huge wings,
The wild wind bridling, Wheeling and climbing

Upon Death’s steed riding, Dread of the Earth-bound,
She folds her vast pinions And toward her prey plummets,

Striking in silence, Deadly and swift.
And the man as he watches, Earnestly waiting,

Is now fully certain That in such a silent
And brooding dark Heaven
Thunder was born.

T.H. White with falconry bird

From The Goshawk

T.H. White

"Falconry is not a hobby or an amusement: it is a rage. You eat it and drink it, sleep it and think it. You tremble to write of it, even in recollection. It is, as King James the First remarked, an extreme stirrer-up of passions."

T.H. White is best known for his timeless works such as The Sword in the Stone and The Once and Future King. However, he dabbled in falconry and wrote about his experience in The Goshawk, a beautiful memoir with many profound insights that continue to resonate deeply with modern falconers.

Jane Goodall

Dr. Jane Goodall

"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

Dr. Jane Goodall is a world renowned conservationist who needs to introduction. She has spent her life working to better understand and protect the natural world. Her call to action here is simple and poignant; the perfect final thought for the future of raptor conservation.

Musicians

ACT I

Tulio

“To Shibalba” from The Road to El Dorado Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer and John Powell
This musical piece evokes the mystery, excitement, and foreboding of exploring a South American jungle… a place where you might find incredible predators such as Ornate Hawk-Eagles quietly watching from the shadows for an opportunity to strike at their unsuspecting prey.

Oliver

“Feel the Sounds of Kenya” by Cee-Roo
This piece was composed as a music video to highlight life and culture in Kenya, a country in which The Peregrine Fund operates and where Verreaux’s Eagle Owls are found in abundance. It combines the sounds and rhythms of daily life in Kenya with chants from tribes endemic to the region.

ACT II

Lucy

“Funeral March” by Frédéric Chopin, arranged and performed by 2WEI
This updated version of Chopin’s classical piece helps to paint a dark picture of some of humanity’s most negative perceptions of vultures, but ends with a more positive, hopeful tone for the future.

Griffin

“Homeland” from the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer
“Homeland” was originally composed to evoke feelings of wide open spaces in North America. The opening to the animated classic even features an eagle flying alongside a band of wild horses. We can’t think of a better track to accompany Griffin’s soaring flight style.

ACT III

Rosa

“Diablo Rojo” by Rodrigo y Gabriela
This fast-paced guitar masterpiece feels like the perfect backdrop for flights of our own Latina beauty. The music is beautiful and complex, with surprise twists and turns… just like Rosa!

Farah

“What’s Up Danger” by Blackway & Black Caviar
This song, which was featured in the Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, is all about living on the edge and thriving on danger. It feels very close to life out on the sagebrush steppe where life-and-death battles are fought every day between species such as rabbits and Ferruginous Hawks.

FINALE

Makeda/Murphy

“Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco, arranged and performed by the Amadeus Electric String Quartet
This mashup, which reenvisions Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus” and adds samples written by Mozart, himself, brings to mind the fast-paced and dramatic flights of a large falcon pursuing prey. We love the juxtaposition of the modern music with nods to more classical pieces; a musical theme that we revisit often throughout our show as we try to connect the past, present and future of raptor conservation. It also seems appropriate that “Falco” happens to be the genus to which all true falcons belong.

“AC/DC Thunderstruck - Barrios” by AC/DC and Augustin Barrios, arranged and performed by Mozart Heroes
This track starts out slow and tentative with a sample Barrios’ “La Catedral”, but quickly builds to a string cover of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck. It is the perfect track for us to leave our audiences with some final, empowering thoughts about how small changes can make a big impact… for better, or for worse.

“Paradise” by Coldplay, arranged and performed by The Piano Guys, featuring Alex Boyé

Post-Show

"Paradise" by Coldplay, arranged and performed by The Piano Guys, featuring Alex Boyé
This take on Coldplay's song reimagines it in an African setting. The music video found on YouTube, highlights a beautiful desert landscape. We chose it to close out our show as a reminder of the paradises all over the world that birds of prey and people both inhabit which are all worth saving.

Watch on YouTube