Rhea Mae and her offspring

As told before Rhea Mae, eyas of Mariah and Kaver of Rochester 2006 has fledged her first offsping.
Together with her mate, the resident tiercel Tiago of the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto she raised her first eyases.





It is unique to be able to watch offspring become a parent herself. Rhea Mae flew into Toronto last year in August and took over the nestsite and the Sheraton. When members of the Canadian Peregrine indentified her by her bandnumber we where all excited.











Daughter of Mariah and Kaver of Rochester had made it. She survived the first difficult year and had found herself a territory and partner. Tiago started courtship, but Rhea Mae played hard to get. This spring she did went into courtship and laid 4 eggs. By 1May 12 all eggs hatched. But sadly one eyas died 3 days later.
The other 3 where fed by both Rhea Mae and Tiago and grew into healthy chicklets.
By May 24 the first eyase started to explore the surroundings and left the nest.





Jun 3 was bandingday. The 3 eyases wher ereal celebs. The Honorable Donna Cansfield, Minister Of Natural Resources, was the Guest of Honour! It turned out that there where 2 girls and 1 guy











Unity Male 24 days of age and sporting a blue and red "taped" band

Belle Female 24 days of age, wearing a red and yellow "taped" band

Lilly Female 24 days of age, wearing a white and blue "taped" band

As always, Rhea Mae and Tiago were very much on patrol and did a great job of defending their nest ledge. Stooping and swooping that kept everybody on his toes until returning the young ones to the adults. On last check, all is well. The young falcons settled down near the nest tray and were fast asleep.








The adults were spotted at various posts on nearby buildings, ready to come to the assistance of the young, should the "predators" return.





Belle appears to be a bit of a "Prima Donna" preening constantly and always preferrs to sit on the lip of the nest tray.
Unity enjoys stamping his feet and Lily, she sits back, flips her head upside down and watches the others doing silly things.
It's amazing to observe them exploring the large nest ledge. Every feather, fluff and bits of previous meals are picked up with their beaks, examined and then dropped only to be picked up by one of the other two chicks and re examined. Rhea Mae is always seen in the area.











Belle was the first to fledge on June 15. Lilly followed the next day. Little Lilly crash landed on top of a bus on June 18. She was rescued by members of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. Fortunately she did not have any injuries, and was put back that same evening on the ledge. Unity was still unfledged. He waited until June 20, but it did not turned out the way it should. Completely exhausted she stranded on a bench and was rescued. Later on she was examined but there where no signs of trauma. After a long rest in a dark cool room she was brought back to the ledge in the evening.





Belle is a very skilled flyer and with her encouragementt the other 2 tried again and with succes. The 3 fledglinngs are doing great. They return to the ledge every once in a while.The 3 youngsters are putting on quite some airshows over Toronto. Chasing and screaming up a storm. It is very good to know they are doing so well!!













All photo's are sourtesy of Linda Woods.

http://peregrine-foundation.ca/tops/torontos.html

Rochester

Seneca by Jim Pisello



Seneca by Jim Pisello



Diamante by Jim Pisello



Seneca by Marcia



Seneca and Diamante by Marcia



Seneca and Diamante by Marcia



Seneca by Marcia



Seneca by Marcia.

Some wonderful pics by Jim Pisello and Marcia of the past days. All of the fledglings are being accounted by the watchers on pretty much a daily basis. By now there's no doubt that all are proficient fliers. They've all begun making their first dives and stoops, sometimes getting very close to their targets. It won't be long before someone reports seeing the first successful hunt from one of this year's wonderful brood.

Wonderful pics of Jim Pisello of the Rochester youngsters in the Gorge. Read the reports of Jim Pisello and enjoy his amazing pictures on Peregrinations:


http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/07/shunning-gorge-fledglings-keep-flying.html


Read the fledge watch reports on Imprints:

http://rfalconcam.com/imprints/

Preening and grooming

One thing the peregrine falcon does a lot is preening. Many hours each day is spent on the care of feathers, beak, cere and feet. Sometimes it seems like pure vanity, but it is in fact a necessity. Without well preened feathers the peregrine could become soaking wet when it rains, become ill and die. Or feathers that are not well groomed will cause drag when flying.
And when preening they remove parasites from their feathers and skin. Preening eachother helps strengthen realtionships.
So they do spent a lot of time every day on preening their feathers.

When preening birds run their beaks through their feathers or scratching their heads with a toe. Some birds have a special comb-like structure on one toe for this purpose. Feathers have parallel barbs attached to the feather shaft, and many barbules like tiny hooks that latch the barbs together. When barbules detach, a split appears in the vane of the feather. Birds preen to realign the barbs and barbules: during preening, a bird carefully nibbles its way from the base of the feather toward the tip, reattaching the barbules and mending splits.
Birds often preen as well after they’ve been bathing or when the weather is wet, times when feathers need grooming. As well, in hatchlings or molting birds, new feathers (pinfeathers) are wrapped in a tough sheath that must be removed by preening so the feather can open. These activities are not random—a bird works through its feathers methodically, preening them all.
We have seen in the past breeding season, how the eyases where nibbling away the blue-ish shafts in which their feathers where growing.

They are not just nibbling and reattaching the barbs. They do use a very special homemade feather and skincare oil at the same time. This oil is made in the uropygial gland or preen gland which is situated right above the tailfeathers.


Uropygial Gland

The uropygial gland is a bilobed holocrinc gland. It is the principle cutaneous gland of birds. It is present in most species of bird. It is absent in other species, including the ostrich, emu, cassowary, bustard, frogmouth, many pigeons, many woodpeckers and certain species of psittacines.





The uropygial gland, lies on the mid-line dorsally on the trunk in the rump area above the levator muscles of the pygostyle. There are no feathers normally on the skin over the gland. There is, however, a tuft of down feathers at the tip of the papilla in most species, and this is called the uropygial wick. In many species of bird including teh peregrine falcon, the tail usually flexes laterally each time the bird reaches around to contact the gland and the wick.

The gland secretion is complex and consists of a combination of extruded cells, ester waxes, fatty acids, fat and sudanophilic secretory granules. The secretionoil is spread over the feathers during the act of preening. Waterproofing is considered to be one function of the secretion (although it is not necessary for it), and another function is the suppression of the growth of organisms on the skin. The secretion helps keep the feathers, beak, and scales supple.

Vitamine D and UV light

The secretion from the uropygial gland also contains vitamin D precursors that are also spread over the feathers by preening. With exposure to the ultraviolet portion of sunlight, the secretions are converted to an active form, vitamin D3, which is then ingested with subsequent preening.
New research shows that the bird eye sees light in the ultraviolet range, and the secretion from the uropygial gland may also play a role in the identification of the sex of a bird, and may be involved with individual identification of birds, as well.
In primates, the lens acts as a yellow filter which cuts off light of wavelengths below 400nm and therefore renders ultraviolet radiation invisible. However in diurnal birds, the cornea and lens are optically clear and appear to transmit wavelengths down to about 350nm, thus rendering near ultraviolet radiation visible. The lens only absorbs those ultraviolet wavelengths that are not physiologically destructive.





So when watching our beloved Peregrine falcons preening remember how special it is what is happening. Not just being beautiful, and beautiful they are, but taking very good care of feathers, and skin and getting enough vitamine D.

Derby Cathedral Peregrine project

XCell Black Dog

Rochester

Diamante


SusanB





Zephyr and Seneca


SusanB


SusanB


Seneca


Seneca and SusanB


Seneca


SusanB


SusanB


SusanB




Wonderful pics of Jim Pisello of the Rochester youngsters is the Gorge. Read the reports of Jim Pisello and enjoy his amazing pictures on Peregrinations:


http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/07/shunning-gorge-fledglings-keep-flying.html


Read the fledge watch reports on Imprints:

http://rfalconcam.com/imprints/

Derby Cathedral Peregrine project

Well here comes the sun. Finally. And with it our youngsters! They where enjoying perching high up in front of the pudcam. They look like confident, well trained young falcons, well fed as well.









They have completely adapated to the peregrine way of life: a little perching, a lot of preening, much dozing off and exquisite haute pigeon cuisine. And they like it lot, who wouldn't










Read all about the Derby Peregrines on the Derby Blog:
http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/

Nijmegen

New Yersy update

The one fledgling that is left at the New Yersy Nestsite is doing great! She fledged on June 12 and 3 weeks later she has been watched by falcon watcher Kay Gunn.
She reports:

We watched during that horrible early May weekend when first one eyases was temporarily removed from the nestbox, and then 2 of the 3 remaining died. But life must go on, and it did for the remaining 2 young girls. It was delightful watching them grow. When they discovered the ramp and started to leave the nestbox, it was a little hard for we webcam watchers because they were out of our view, but we knew it meant they were growing up.

It's been 3 weeks now since the 2 girls took their first flight. I did not see them fledge, but was there watching that morning. One young girl was clearly visible on a rooftop, and both parents were nearby watching. I've visited her almost every day since then, always hoping by some miracle I would see her sister.

Unfortunately, we know her sister did not make it, but the remaining fledgling has thrived. I’ve watched as the dedicated parents have diligently been guiding her in flight and teaching her hunting skills. Just a few days ago, I saw the fledgling and male having a meal as the mom looked on (see links below). The fledgling is beautiful and strong. So strong, in fact, that I don’t think we will see her much longer around 101 Hudson. That is a sign of success for this girl. Let’s all hope that we hear of her raising her own chicks in a few years.