Quest of Rochesters travels...

Photo courtesy of Rich Johnson

Our beautiful young lady of Rochester is doing just fine. She has put up camp at Cape Cod where she will probably spent the rest of the summer. It’s an attractive spot for a young Peregrine. Prey is plentiful, because of the high concentration of shorebirds. It’s also a migration route for other birds, so getting food is probably not too hard for her.The data of her transmitter is placing her there and she has been seen by eye witnesses as well.

Lyn and Bill Howard have seen her in stoop and killing a stern. So our youngster can take care of her self very well indeed. http://rfalconcam.com/imprints/?p=580#comment-10889



“Witnessed Quest on Aug 7th at 9:45am on north shore of Tuckernuck Island west of Nantucket Island and observed with binoculars, Quest gain altitude and perform a stoop. Kill obscured by land. Kayaked to sand spit and observed Quest on a Tern Kill at eye level 15 feet away. Quest flew off 70 minutes after first siting to the southeast after being dive bombed by 2 terns repeatedly and headed right for a startled Blue Heron working a tidal pond then disappeared over a bluff of land. Nothing left of kill except feathers. What an experience. Only saw a silver leg band on right foot and the transmitter wire. Any other bands might have been obscured by leg feathers-also a small red area on her breast was observed assumed where feathers had been lost [ed. note: This is most likely the transmitter harness, which is made from red neoprene material]. We look forward tracking Quest’s voyage wherever she goes… Thank you Quest for letting us be there with you…”

At the end of August Quest was seen at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Refuge by Rich Johnson. He reports:
“Three days ago I noticed a peregrine strafing [Goose Pond] here at WellfleetBay and the volunteer naturalist there (Ivan Ace) put his binocs on it and saw the antenna profile… The photos are from Aug 17…”

And he made the wonderful picture of Quest.

Read all aboout Quest and the relocation of the nestbox on Imprints:
http://rfalconcam.com/imprints/

Alcoa Anglesea: 3 eggs!

Yesss!! The cams are open for season 2008!
Sheila already laid 3 eggs.
The first one on August 29, the second on August 31 and the third on September 2.
Perhaps a fourth one? We will see.



She is a week behind compared to the schedule of last year. She laid her eggs in 2007 on August 21, 23, 25 and 28. After all the month of August has been one of the coldest in years. But the breeding season will not differ much, the amount of daylight is one of the most important factors after all.



So the season in Alcoa has begun. We will all watch daily, in spite of the fact that incubating eggs is like watching paint dry......
Watch the cam here:

http://www.alcoa.com/australia/en/info_page/falcon_webcam.asp



And a short update about the 2007 Season:

The Alcoa falcons

This nestiste is on the Alcoa plant in Anglesea near Melbourne in Victoria. The risiding peregrines are Sheila and Havoc.





Alcoa Anglesea has been home to a pair of Peregrine Falcons since 1991. This webcam is showing images from a special nest box that environmental staff at the site built and installed in 2004 on the site’s water tower. The height and aspect of this structure mimics
the preferred natural nesting environment of this species. Normally Peregrines can be found nesting on sheer cliff faces.





The most serious threats facing Peregrines in Victoria are illegal persecution and the continuing loss and disturbance of suitable nest sites. Only 3% of Peregrine nests found in Victoria are on man made structures, so Alcoa Anglesea is pleased to be able to provide a safe and secure site for this pair of Peregrine Falcons.





Alcoa has an ongoing interest and involvement with Peregrine Falcons in Victoria, with both the Anglesea and Point Henry sites working alongside the Victorian Peregrine Project (VPP) to assist with research and conservation of the species. This work is part of the environmental management work underway at each Alcoa site
to reduce our environmental footprint and promote conservation.





Last season Sheila laid her first egg on august 25 and had completed her clutch of 4 by August 28. On October 1 the first eyas hatched, and on october 3 the second one emerged. But the other 2 eggs did not hatch. So just 2 beautiful eyases. They grew up without any problems.
On October 25 both little ones were banded and named. Weighing in at a very healthy 905g was the young falcon, Dash, with all the characteristics to be as formidable as her mother.More reserved and weighing in at 590g was the little tiercel, Concorde.





Concorde fledged on November 10 and his sis followed a day later.
Both were well and accounted for when the cams closed.

Indianapolis update

Edna, Fly free... soar high little one

Most important news is that Magee is doing fine after a crash.
A lot has happenend since the 4 youngsters fledged. On the 4th of July Magee got himself seriously wounded and was taken into rehab with a broken wing.
The next day Edna *P/*W landed on other side of interstate and as she was taking flight, she was hit by a Semi and knocked to the side of the roadway. She died instantly. So very sad!

It turned out that Magee had a simple fracture of his wing. There was good bone supporting the fractured bone and the wing healed without surgery.


Magee: getting stronger every day

By july 22nd the ulna was pretty well healed. His wing was no longer bound and he could move it freely with no problem - not ready for flight just yet but moving towards that goal. On August 13 Magee was given into the care of a wellknown falconer, mr Mark Booth, http://www.takeflight.org/
He is the one who will teach Magee to fly and how to catch prey. Magee turned out to be an aggresive falcon, which is good of course He probabaly was the lastborn and had to fight for food. A quality which will come in very handy later on in his life. He is doing great!

Read all about his recovery here:

http://blogs.indystar.com/falconblog/archives/2008/08/