They have left! All three juveniles have finally left the nestbox. Very early this morning, even before 6 the one juv that had spent the night in the nestbox flew off. Probably to join his brothers who were calling him to join them in the air. To play talon tag and chase eachother. For the 3 juvs the fun is really starting now. They can do at last what they were born for: to fly. To get stronger, to built up there flightmuscles. To learn how to fly, how to slip the bonds of the earth. How to chase the winds, how to climb the clouds.
In the upcoming weeks they will learn all the skills they need to know to be able to manage on their own. It are wonderful weeks of play, of talontag, chasing eachother, tumbling and turning, to tease pasing birds, to scare the hell out of small preybirds. It is exciting to watch them, and formost to listen to heir extatic laughter when they are having fun. The parents will always be near, and protect and guide them. They will be fed by them for many more weeks. They are stil dependant on them. And have to learn a lot.
For our 3 juvs, life has only just begun. The time in the nestbox is just a matter of growing until they can finally stretch their wings.
Of course I will keep on autocapturing the cam images, so if one lands on the nestledge I will have him! And I will tell you more about their weeks of training ahead.
Remember those 4 beautiful ladies of Rochester 2007. Like every year the Rochester youngsters have that extra bit of charme. In 2007 there were 4 female juvs: Linn, Grace, Sacajawae and Ananta.
At december 31, 2007 members from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation were able to positive indentifie a juvenile peregrine falcon in Ontario, Cananda.
This is what Mark Nash said:
Hello All, We have finally been able to get a positive identification on one of the two Pefa’s that have been calling this neck of the woods home for the past months. On Dec. 31st/2007, one of the CPF volunteers - Bruce Massey’s efforts paid off, and he was able to positively confirm the band number of the Pefa now calling the Bell building at Pharmacy and Eglinton her turf. This is the same building that we used for this past summers hack of four orphaned peregrine chicks that came to us from Quebec.
It is confirmed that we have a juvenile female - 91 over V - holding (and protecting) this territory, and its Linn from Rochester 2007!! She still [has] her red tape over the Silver USFW band.
Linn has been exhibiting very territorial behavior – (as she has been observed defending the Bell building on three different occasions over the past two weeks) while chasing off the local red-tails as they fly over and around of the Bell building.
She can be seen regularly roosting on the Bell building, - next to the hack box, and seems to be calling the building her own – (at least for the time being). She is no longer is being observed on the Water storage tank at Warden and Eglinton, as we pass both these places daily as we go into the CPF head office.
Sadly, we have not seen the adult male that was hanging around with her when she was roosting on the Water storage tank.
Sincerely,
Mark Nash
Director
The Canadian Peregrine Foundation
Linn disappeared some time later. But she is back! She molted into a beautiful adult Peregrine falcon. And she has a mate! Such wonderful news!
Mark Nash:
Over the past four plus weeks, we have been getting regular sightings of a pair of peregrines that have been hanging around the Bell hack site at Pharmacy & Eglinton. Both birds (a male and female) have been observed coming in and out of the hack box, as well as roosting, sleeping and feeding regularly on various elevations on the Bell building. This morning we were able to confirm Bruce Massey’s observation of the female’s band number that he [observed] this past weekend (November 8th & 9th 2008) - Black 91 over Green V. She has been identified as Linn from Rochester – produced at the Kodak nest site in 2007!! Her male friend also [wears] a Black over Green colour marker band (but we have nohttp://rfalconcam.com/imprints/t been able to get his numbers yet). BUT his USFWS band appears to be a purple/mauve colour. While it may be a coloured tape, it does not appear to be case. We will continue to monitor the site in the hopes that we might get an ID on this guy.
This really is exciting news. It so great when eyases we all saw hatch and grow into juveniles show up as adults a year later. And become parents in their third spring. Like Rhea Mae from Rochester 2006 become a mom in 2008.
We do hope Linn and her mate will continue to stay together and we can watch them go into courtship next spring!
I just want to remind you of this smashing and moving video by Lou Capuano of the Rochester 2007 season. Just sit back and let the music and the images take you back..... (And Linn is the one with the red legband.)
It looks like Quest has established a regular cycle of activity for herself. All of the November data thus far places her near Monomoy Island during the day, and at Nickerson State Park in the evening and at night. It seems the pineland in the park is providing a sheltered spot where she can rest. And of course, she’s likely taking advantage of the bird buffet at Monomoy during the day.
It’s shaping up to be a good life for Quest. She doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to leave the Cape, so this might be the pattern we can expect from her throughout the winter. Quest might have other plans though, so keep checking back every few days to catch up on her latest movements!
It seems like things are coming to end for us watchers. Only 2 juvs spent the night in de box, the third one has a nice place outside. In the early morning, one of th etwo jumped up the roof and was gone as well. One stayed behind, but left as wel after a while.
When the box was empty and I clicked the images real fast I noticed the enormous amount of big black flies in the box. It seemed as if the the ground was alive, it moved! I saw flies sticking to the walls, leaving,it must be one big buzzz. One can only notice when watching all the images in a movie.
Anyway in the evening only one returned to spent the night. I think our 2 boys have started their life and are doing what they are born for: fly!
What a wonderful day this has been. The 3 juvs were very active and were flying around and playing. They flew up the roof of the box, and off angain, on again, all three of them, and out of view. Reappearing on the other side. They were having a lot of fun and so did we watching them!
It is very obvious now that little Stan fell out of the box by accident more than a week ago. After he has been back he has not left again. He is now showing totally normal behaviour, branching with his brothers. He is a little survivor this one, struggling himself back alive and kicking.
The 3 brothers seem ready to leave, all grown. The primaries are fully grown, that is very well visible on the pics. The tailfeathers need a few cm, but they can fly in spite of that. Won't be long now.
This blog is all about Peregrine Falcons and part of my website: www.falcoperegrinus.nl. At the start of the new breeding season 2009 I will observe several nests all around the world just like last year.
And I will write about the peregrines, their eyases who will turn into strong juveniles. Join me in a new adventure!
I want to thank Chris & Chad Saladin for their amazing pictures of the peregrine falcons of Ohio. I feel very honoured you gave me permission to use this wonderful collection for my Blog and Website. You guys are the best! Thanks so much!
" We need another, and a wiser, perhaps a more mystical, concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion.
* We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man.
* In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.
* They are not brethren. They are not underlings. They are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”
