Friday, June 6, 2008
Terminal Tower Cleveland
Chad and Chris report:
No further fledging today, although Spirit and Thriller had us on pins and needles all most of the day. Spirit and Thriller continued to share the west side ledge through much of the day
Here Thriller gave us a thrill in a way that we weren't thrilled about (I know, it's a corny way to put it, but we're posting late). Anyway, Thriller went out on the scaffolding, and all of a sudden the scaffolding elevator started lowering down from the top! I'll admit I was a bit frantic, so I ran up the stairs one level, whipped open the window and called to the workers in the elevator to alert them that Thriller was below. Chad stayed on the nest level to watch and see where he would end up if he tried to fly. The workers stopped the elevator, then called back to us that Thriller would be okay if he stayed on the side and they proceeded slowly down past him. Amazing how incredibly tolerant this PF fam has become (and it's also great how cautious and concerned the construction workers are-- they really look out for them)! Here's "the Thrill"...
And SW, who was perched across on the east side most of the day "on guard" for when Thriller and Spirit would fly, came quickly when the window was open. This is the only time that we've opened any of the outside windows since we've been monitoring, but we did take a few shots as she flew up...
Meanwhile, Tiki did some flying and landing on the unique architecture of the building. In this first set, she was on the motel, and jumped down into a shallow puddle of water on the roof for a moment before jumping back up and taking off.
Later, she was on similar protrusions across on the east end of the building and took off from there...
And here Tiger flew through chasing after Buckeye and calling at him. This is also a fun time to watch because the juvies start to chase down the adults and always seem to want food. They actually food beg in the air, which is known as the "flutter-glide" posture, where their wings hang lower as they glide toward the adult for food. This shot is just a noisy chase after Buckeye, though...
Derby Cathedral Peregrines: ohh those wings!!
Read all about the peregrines and how to order the superb Derby Peregrine DVD:
De Mortel: 47 days old
The 4 juvies are in the air and everywhere on the tower, except in front of the cam.
So not many pictures today. Tomorrow I will visit the nestsite to take a look at the flying actions myself. Looking very much forward to that. We will have a look where all 4 juvies are.
Indianapolis: fledge
I have been reading and enjoying myself reading the Falcon Head Blog by Laura James-Reim for many weeks now. She is writing about the Indianapolis nestsite.
These are her postings on the fledge adventures of the Indy-4 of th epast 2 days and it made me smile and laugh. I can recommend all of you to read her postings on:
http://blogs.indystar.com/falconblog/
Here we go:
June 5, 2008
2:05 PM UPDATE
So much for calm. Just received a call from DNR downtown. We are pretty certain there is a juvenile down on the ground at Market and Illinois by the Hilton Hotel. Two downtown volunteers are on their way over and Richard is leaving now from his place to assess the situation.
UPDATE to UPDATE: Volunteers are there - it is Adira. They were able to read the band. No rescue attempt yet but will probably happen shortly.
June 5, 2008
3:00 PM - A Happy Ending!
Okay, everyone, breath deeply. All is well. There were several volunteers to watch her while they waited for Richard to arrive and she was walking and flapping. Richard arrived, did his remarkable grab job, she did a remarkable grab job with her talons (but Richard wasn't injured), he checked her out for injuries and then headed up to the Market Tower 31st floor to put her in the gutter to start all over again.
My hunch is that this is the one who was on the south side of Market Tower, 31st floor ledge and either slipped or got blown off. The wind is very strong today. But she is okay and there is no reason to believe she won't be successful in the long run.
June 5, 2008
6:00 PM Update
We have had another flight at about 3:30. Don't know who it is, except we know it is not Adira since she was watched since she was released on 31, but the juvenile has been located on the old Federal building. There is an excellent layout of the buildings of downtown Indy on the Falcon FAQ (link at the bottom of this post) that shows where they are located if you are interested in following the birds' trails. I can say I'm not thrilled about this bird's location - we've had them there before and it usually takes a while for them to figure out where to go and what to do. It isn't a very tall building, but it is a big building with lots of nook and crannies - often hard to spot a juvie when it is stuck on the inside of the roof area.
Two are still on Market Tower behind stanchions. One juvenile at this time is on the north side of Market Tower, 31st floor ledge. We theorize this is the one that flew at 6:15 this morning. The first flyer was spotted by someone in another building across from Market Tower earlier today, along with one of the adults. Thanks Rick - much appreciated. We can surely use all the help we can get.
June 6, 2008
Falcon Escort Service
I think the word is spreading among Edna, Adira and Val. Richard's concierge service will provide fast, speedy and to your door service to the 31st floor ledge. Yes, we had another rescue today. Before you panic, everyone is okay as of when I left at 1 pm today. But Edna gave us our falcon highlight of the first half of the day.
Fairly early this morning, we had all six birds accounted for. Three juveniles were on the 31st floor ledge, two adults had been seen at various spots and in the air and we located the juvenile that had been on the Federal building at the 6:00 pm update yesterday.
First I have to give a huge kudos to Leanne, a super volunteer, who stayed downtown last night until after 9 to keep on eye on that juvenile. She last had her in sight on the rooftop of the Wellpoint building on the Circle. When she called me on my cell phone this morning to let us know where the bird was, I had just finished saying to Richard, "I hope she's not on the Wellpoint building!!" Oh, I have eaten so many words in my day and often jinxed things by saying what I don't want to occur - then it usually occurs. But the Wellpoint is not the most ideal building to be on for a juvenile falcon. It is low and there aren't too many options nearby to get higher without tremendous effort. I can't tell over the 10 years I've volunteered how many young birds I have followed on the ledge of that building, walking back and forth, back and forth while one of them is deciding how best to extricate itself from the situation, all the wailing at the world for the injustice of being down so low among us mortals. One year, we watched a bird for almost two full days walk that ledge. Argghh!!!
Anyway, the juvenile didn't wait too long to make a move. Leanne was inside Chase Tower and was able to witness it fly back to the old Federal building. I quickly made my way down there and located it right away.
To make a long story somewhat short, the bird was okay. Leanne and I were parked on the SE corner of Meridian and Ohio street, in front of Chase Tower watching it. The bird was still antsy to be on the move toward Market Tower so I wasn't sure if we were in for a very long day of antsy flapping with no action or real fly-trying. To top all the tenseness off, there was a very strong wind coming from the south that the bird would have to fly into it in order to go back toward MT. Yuck.
Thank goodness it was the real fly-trying choice for this young lady. Around 10:30 or so, she suddenly decided to take off and headed across the street toward us. She attempted to land on a small ledge about 10 or 12 stories up but didn't make it. She fell down a little, recouped and flew around in attempt to come back at the building again but at an even lower level. By then she was right over our heads and I even screamed at Leanne, "She's going to come down right on top of us!!" While I'm screaming this, I'm screaming in the radio for Richard to come down with a box because I knew she was only going one direction and that was down.
Now I know I make it out sometimes that at times there is some weird falcon thing going on with me but truly it was an amazing event today - I wish I could fully describe where the young lady eventually slid down the building and landed. It was almost literally at our feet. There are some indentations on the Chase Tower street level where floodlights are located. Somehow, the juvenile came in contact with the building right where one of those chutes was located and slid all the way down right behind us. Plop, there she was.
A small crowd started to gather as Leanne and I sort of "roped off" the area. She couldn't go backwards as the building was right behing her and we had her blocked from the front. We could easily read the band and it was Edna. She fiercely looked at us, almost as if to say "I dare you to come close." Richard soon came around the corner, box in hand, with the other volunteers and we quickly set up the rescue operation. There was a nice couple who videotaped the event with Richard's camera and I'm sure Richard will be posting it later on YouTube. I'll let you know the address when it is complete. Also, many folks had their cameras with them so I'm sure there will be some photos on the Google group later. .
She did not go down without a little fight. She dug into Richard's hands with her talons and Leanne and I had to dig them out. He finally got her wings under control, briefly checked her out and got her in the handy dandy falcon rescue box which has been useful lo these last 10 years at least.
So back up to the 31st floor ledge for Edna to be placed in the gutter to try all over again. We watched from the street to make sure no one else had a hankering for an adventure. And of course KathyQ quickly spotted the "intruders" to her kingdom and was kakking and swooping while Richard and Leanne were out there.
After that, there was not much activity. All was quiet on the eastern face of MT where the three young ladies and one young male were spending the afternoon. I thought we might see more flight from the one who flew yesterday but did not. Again, only a hunch - nothing to substantiate it - but I feel it was Magee. However, it obviously is doing okay because at some point it had to fly up to the 31st floor to join its siblings.
I can only imagine the conversation going on behind those stanchions, "Okay Val, we've both done it, now it's your turn. Really, it's kind of exciting..."
Well, I hope that isn't their "plan." I just want peace and quiet and success, young ladies!
Rochester: transmitter for Quest
from Jess on Imprints:
http://rfalconcam.com/imprints/?p=521
Today, with the help of the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, we fitted Quest with a solar-powered satellite transmitter. Her stylish new high-tech gear will help us to track her movements after she leaves the nest box. Quest was chosen to carry the transmitter during last week’s Banding Day. Mike Allen and Barbara Loucks of the DEC found her to be the biggest of the eyases, which will give her an advantage when carrying the 22-gram transmitter.
Mark Nash of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation came from Toronto to lend his expertise, while Mike Allen got to play tailor, sewing the neoprene harness that holds the transmitter. Rochester Falconcam team members Kenn Martinez and Jim Pisello offered their assistance throughout the two hour procedure, and captured pictures as the work progressed. The team ran into a bit of trouble when they found their can of neoprene cement had solidified, but not to worry! They found an able substitute: Mexican Red ladies’ nail polish! The team used it to seal the knots in the heavy nylon thread (otherwise known as mint dental floss!) that secures the transmitter to the harness. The colorful nail polish turned out to be a good match for the harness color too! To keep Quest calm during the procedure, she got to wear a red falconer’s hood, and it worked. She went through the fitting with only a couple of squawks.
With the transmitter in place, Quest was returned to the nest box. As you can imagine, Mariah wasn’t too happy that her daughter had been eyas-napped, and she let the transmitter team hear her displeasure with lots of kacking and aggressive fly-bys. As Quest’s feathers continue to grow she’ll preen them around the harness, and it won’t interfere with her flying, hunting or eating. As soon as she starts moving around, we’ll plot her travels on a map so that everyone will be able to follow her as she “peregrinates”, or wanders on her own quest for adventure!
UPDATE
We’ve fitted transmitters to several of the Rochester falcons in past years. They always generate a lot of interest, a lot of questions, and some concerns, so I thought I’d take a moment to provide a little more information about them.
The modern satellite transmitter for a Peregrine weighs less than 5% of the Peregrine’s total mass. This 22 gram transmitter was fitted to the largest of this year’s females, Quest. We haven’t weighed her, but female eyases at fledging usually weigh somewhere around a kilogram or so. The transmitter and harness are about 2% of her fledging body weight. These birds will shortly be carrying food brought to them by their parents that will weigh hundreds of grams, so the weight of the transmitter is inconsequential to the fledgling’s ability to fly, hunt, or perform any of the normal functions you’d expect from a Peregrine including mating and raising a family.
Why fit a transmitter at all? Well, it turns out that even though Peregrines have made a remarkable comeback from the brink of extinction by moving into urban environments, we don’t actually know a lot about the migration patterns of these urban-raised Peregrines. Leg bands can be helpful, but they’re only useful if you can actually get close enough to read them. For a falcon on the wing that’s nearly impossible. During a migration the only way to read a band would be to capture the migrating bird every few days along its route. If you think about what it would take to actually do that in terms of time, people, and other resources, you can see that the odds are pretty small for getting any useful data that way.
The great advantage of a transmitter is that we never have to touch, see, or interact with the falcon at all in order to follow its movements. We’ll be able to get updates every few days showing the bird’s actual location, so we can plot its travels over time. This provides the potential to learn more than we ever could about migratory patterns, even from many hundreds of banded birds.
Since Mariah has been nesting in Rochester, four of her offspring have worn transmitters. Unfortunately, none survived their first year of life. At first glance, it might seem that the transmitter acted as some kind of hindrance to the birds, but that’s really not the case. Studies of captive birds wearing transmitters have shown no difference in their behavior, flight or hunting capabilities once they have adjusted to the transmitter. In Quest’s case, she’s ahead of the game because she’ll be wearing it beginning with her first flight.
The simple fact, as we have pointed out many times here at Imprints, is that the first year of life is hard for Peregrines, and many just don’t survive. In this year’s group, it is likely that three or more will not survive their first year. Of Mariah’s 38 fledglings from 1998 to 2007, we know the whereabouts of only 5. We know of the deaths of 7. So taken together, we know the status of less than 1/3 of her fledged offspring. It is likely that many more failed to survive than the seven we know of. So 4 out of 43 eyases have had transmitters. That’s fewer than 10% of Mariah’s offspring. Since the first year survival rate is something less than 50%, it is not surprising that all of the falcons fitted with transmitters have died. The two whose circumstances we know about– Hafoc and Skye– both had causes of death that had nothing to do with their transmitters. Hafoc was hit by a car, and Skye was the victim of a predator. 2001’s Mary Ann got a transmitter after she was rescued from the street and spent several weeks recovering. Her transmitter stopped working near Braddock Bay during the fall of that year. Given the time and her position, it is likely that she too fell victim to a predator, most likely a Great Horned Owl, many of which are found in the woodlands around the bay.
Finally, I’d like to repeat that the first priority of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Genesee Valley Audubon Society, and the Rochester Falconcam, is the safety and well-being of Mariah, Kaver and all their offspring. We have invested much of our lives, time and effort to maximize the chances for their prosperity. We won’t do anything to jeopardize these marvelous creatures or their success.
We all hope everything will turn out fine for Quest and the device will not bother her. I'm sure we all love and adore her and wish only the very best for this so special creature.
For more info about tracking peregrine falcons on migration read the Blog of the Souther Cross Project
http://frgroup.frg.org/
http://rfalconcam.com/imprints/?p=521
Today, with the help of the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, we fitted Quest with a solar-powered satellite transmitter. Her stylish new high-tech gear will help us to track her movements after she leaves the nest box. Quest was chosen to carry the transmitter during last week’s Banding Day. Mike Allen and Barbara Loucks of the DEC found her to be the biggest of the eyases, which will give her an advantage when carrying the 22-gram transmitter.
Mark Nash of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation came from Toronto to lend his expertise, while Mike Allen got to play tailor, sewing the neoprene harness that holds the transmitter. Rochester Falconcam team members Kenn Martinez and Jim Pisello offered their assistance throughout the two hour procedure, and captured pictures as the work progressed. The team ran into a bit of trouble when they found their can of neoprene cement had solidified, but not to worry! They found an able substitute: Mexican Red ladies’ nail polish! The team used it to seal the knots in the heavy nylon thread (otherwise known as mint dental floss!) that secures the transmitter to the harness. The colorful nail polish turned out to be a good match for the harness color too! To keep Quest calm during the procedure, she got to wear a red falconer’s hood, and it worked. She went through the fitting with only a couple of squawks.
With the transmitter in place, Quest was returned to the nest box. As you can imagine, Mariah wasn’t too happy that her daughter had been eyas-napped, and she let the transmitter team hear her displeasure with lots of kacking and aggressive fly-bys. As Quest’s feathers continue to grow she’ll preen them around the harness, and it won’t interfere with her flying, hunting or eating. As soon as she starts moving around, we’ll plot her travels on a map so that everyone will be able to follow her as she “peregrinates”, or wanders on her own quest for adventure!
UPDATE
We’ve fitted transmitters to several of the Rochester falcons in past years. They always generate a lot of interest, a lot of questions, and some concerns, so I thought I’d take a moment to provide a little more information about them.
The modern satellite transmitter for a Peregrine weighs less than 5% of the Peregrine’s total mass. This 22 gram transmitter was fitted to the largest of this year’s females, Quest. We haven’t weighed her, but female eyases at fledging usually weigh somewhere around a kilogram or so. The transmitter and harness are about 2% of her fledging body weight. These birds will shortly be carrying food brought to them by their parents that will weigh hundreds of grams, so the weight of the transmitter is inconsequential to the fledgling’s ability to fly, hunt, or perform any of the normal functions you’d expect from a Peregrine including mating and raising a family.
Why fit a transmitter at all? Well, it turns out that even though Peregrines have made a remarkable comeback from the brink of extinction by moving into urban environments, we don’t actually know a lot about the migration patterns of these urban-raised Peregrines. Leg bands can be helpful, but they’re only useful if you can actually get close enough to read them. For a falcon on the wing that’s nearly impossible. During a migration the only way to read a band would be to capture the migrating bird every few days along its route. If you think about what it would take to actually do that in terms of time, people, and other resources, you can see that the odds are pretty small for getting any useful data that way.
The great advantage of a transmitter is that we never have to touch, see, or interact with the falcon at all in order to follow its movements. We’ll be able to get updates every few days showing the bird’s actual location, so we can plot its travels over time. This provides the potential to learn more than we ever could about migratory patterns, even from many hundreds of banded birds.
Since Mariah has been nesting in Rochester, four of her offspring have worn transmitters. Unfortunately, none survived their first year of life. At first glance, it might seem that the transmitter acted as some kind of hindrance to the birds, but that’s really not the case. Studies of captive birds wearing transmitters have shown no difference in their behavior, flight or hunting capabilities once they have adjusted to the transmitter. In Quest’s case, she’s ahead of the game because she’ll be wearing it beginning with her first flight.
The simple fact, as we have pointed out many times here at Imprints, is that the first year of life is hard for Peregrines, and many just don’t survive. In this year’s group, it is likely that three or more will not survive their first year. Of Mariah’s 38 fledglings from 1998 to 2007, we know the whereabouts of only 5. We know of the deaths of 7. So taken together, we know the status of less than 1/3 of her fledged offspring. It is likely that many more failed to survive than the seven we know of. So 4 out of 43 eyases have had transmitters. That’s fewer than 10% of Mariah’s offspring. Since the first year survival rate is something less than 50%, it is not surprising that all of the falcons fitted with transmitters have died. The two whose circumstances we know about– Hafoc and Skye– both had causes of death that had nothing to do with their transmitters. Hafoc was hit by a car, and Skye was the victim of a predator. 2001’s Mary Ann got a transmitter after she was rescued from the street and spent several weeks recovering. Her transmitter stopped working near Braddock Bay during the fall of that year. Given the time and her position, it is likely that she too fell victim to a predator, most likely a Great Horned Owl, many of which are found in the woodlands around the bay.
Finally, I’d like to repeat that the first priority of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Genesee Valley Audubon Society, and the Rochester Falconcam, is the safety and well-being of Mariah, Kaver and all their offspring. We have invested much of our lives, time and effort to maximize the chances for their prosperity. We won’t do anything to jeopardize these marvelous creatures or their success.
We all hope everything will turn out fine for Quest and the device will not bother her. I'm sure we all love and adore her and wish only the very best for this so special creature.
For more info about tracking peregrine falcons on migration read the Blog of the Souther Cross Project
http://frgroup.frg.org/
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