New Yersey: sad news

Again we have lost a youngster at fledging. After the youngster was brought back yesterday she was founf dead on the street below last night. The New Yersey nestsite which has a very bad season has lost it's 3th hatchling at fledging.

What happened during this season.
The female laid 4 eggs, which all hatched.

May 10, 2008

We have had a difficult few days at the nest in Jersey City.

Friday’s easterly winds with cold rain made for harsh weather conditions at a time when the nestlings were just 10 days old, a time when they don’t yet have a thick downy plumage. It was somewhat coincidental that we had scheduled a nest visit for Friday, with the purpose of administering medicine to ward off trichomoniasis, a pigeon-borne disease that can infect and kill young chicks.

Biologists removed the four nestlings from the box and took them inside to check them over. While all were damp and somewhat subdued, one of the four seemed near-death, very cool to the touch and mostly unresponsive. We administered medication, along with small chicken pieces, to three of the nestlings, and they seemed okay. We decided to take the fourth nestling to The Raptor Trust, and we hoped he would live that long.

A couple of surprises: the youngster we took away with us began feeling better once he was warmed up in the truck. The transformation was amazing, from cold and listless to head-up and looking for food. This was an unexpected but welcome development, and, assuming he continues to thrive, we hope to return him to the nestbox in about a week.

The really sad news is that, with the continuing cold and driven rain, the female was not able to keep all three remaining nestlings warm, and one of them died by Friday evening. The female was trying valiantly to keep all of them under her wings, but even she seemed soaked by the rains. To make matters worse, viewers tuning in Saturday morning saw two dead nestlings, a second one succumbing during the night. The sun came out and the remaining chick was moving about, and the adults were feeding and brooding it, but they were also trying to brood the two dead chicks. A decision was made to remove them so that the adults would focus their efforts on the remaining live one, and to try to identify the cause of death.

May 15, 2008
The nestling that biologists removed from the nest (she was near-death due to exposure) spent the last 6 days at The Raptor Trust, and was returned to the 101 Hudson nest today. She joined her nest-mate, the only other nestling to survive last Friday’s nor’easter.

June 13, 2008 The report from The Raptor Trust on the fledgling found on Montgomery St. is that there is no apparent injury or health problem at this time. The bird will be moved into a flight cage and observed, and if all is well will be returned to Jersey City on Monday.

June 26, 2008 The fledgling is be returned to Jersey City today. More information will be posted when available.

June 27, 2008 (by Principal Biologist Mick Valent)
Regretful news...the fledgling that was released from atop 101 Hudson St. yesterday afternoon was found dead on the street below. One of the engineers found the bird as he left the building last evening. The bird has not yet been recovered from the site by Division staff so no cause of death has been determined.
Yesterday’s release seemed to go off without a hitch. Just moments prior to the release, both adult birds had appeared on the rooftop near the nest box. A good sign, I thought, to have the adults nearby as the fledgling was being released.

As the side of the transport box slid open the fledgling cautiously hopped out onto the roof and stood momentarily before taking flight. She flew upwards above the building and for several moments hung stationary in the wind currents. Then in an instant she banked left and disappeared around the west end of the building and out of sight. Seconds later she appeared on the east side as she circled the building. Her flight appeared strong, another good sign, I thought. Within seconds one of the adults appeared - then the other. Then all three disappeared from view but the calls of the fledgling and adults remained loud suggesting they had landed on the east end of the roof and out of sight. Within seconds the adult female appeared and demonstrated her displeasure with my presence - as she always does. Once back inside I felt optimistic about the bird’s chances for survival.

One of the unique problems of urban nests is that when fledglings end up on the ground, as they do at non-urban sites as well, the adults are reluctant to approach them on the busy city streets. When this occurs there is always a decision to be made. Should the bird be immediately placed back near the nest or taken to a rehabilitation facility to determine if the bird has been injured?

These decisions always result in tradeoffs. On the one hand, if the bird is injured and nursed back to health it has a much better chance of surviving. On the other hand, any time a young bird is removed from the parents they miss out on invaluable learning experiences that can only be gained from being with the adults. Was this bird away from the adults too long? Would it have learned, at a slower pace, about flying amid the buildings with their expanses of glass? Did this inexperience contribute to its demise? We’ll never know for certain. If we are able to determine the cause of death through a post-mortem examination we will post it here.

It's so sad that after so much trouble to keep an eyas alive it will in the end die anyway.
So little sweet falcon......soar free.....soar high