Bird News - July

Here are this month's online bird news links ....

Pairs:
Falcon rescued from yard crane
Peregrine falcon dies in accident
Be very afraid pigeons ...
Indianapolis falcon killed by semi
Young peregrine falcon killed by truck
Downtown falcon chicks' deaths linked to bacteria
Peregrines return to one of country's busiest climbing crags
Rescued chicks fly into the wild
Peregrine falcons make their home in grounds of Kingswood College
Peregrine chicks fledge
Exciting days as young prepare to leave nest
Falcon family settles in at Statehouse
Orphaned peregrines fledge successfully with foster family
Mixed review for NC's 2008 peregrines
Peregrine falcon chicks take to the air at Piece Hall
On the comeback trail
Popular peregrines move into new pad in Chesapeake

Sightings:
Predator breaks up skimmer nesting site
Magdalena students witness falcon release
Peregrine project at Rock City

Threats:
Barn Owl Bill falcon confiscated
Economy, fuel costs have many in area's sport industry foundering
- scroll down the page to "Peregrine Falcon"
NH reviewing endangered species list
Assessing the risks to wildlife
Worst killing spree for birds of prey
Rare falcon among eight dead at Jallo Park fowl run
Government to sell large percentage of endangered falcons to Arabia- these are saker falcons but a definite threat

Protection:
Falcon stunt banned by legislation
Good News
In a flap
Kelso man sentenced to community service for killing protected falcon
Bird management projects
Hunting & fishing news
- read down about half-way
Meet Shahid Khan, the official friend of falcons

Birds at Work & in Science:
Peregrine falcons return to valley shore
British woodland birds in tail-spin of decline

General Interest:
Daniel's so happy to help Chichester's peregrines
Raves: a downtown office worker sees fancy of birds' flight
Risky laundry-basket nest put kestrel clan through the wringer
Falcon missing after being released in show display
What are bird nests doing on the back of freeway signs?
- Kestrel Nesting Box
Falcon traced after gull attack

Black Friday by Ballywing

The 6th of June, 2008…
We never will forget that date.

Cold and fierce, the rain poured down,
Word spread quickly 'round the town.

Our falcon chicks were in distress,
As water rose around Princess.

Phanatics gathered online to wait,
Hoping and praying it wasn't too late.

While words of worry and anguish flew,
Across the forum, everyone knew….
Some special souls were doing their best,
To save those babes from their watery nest.

Alas despite the valiant try,
The falcon chicks would never fly.

The dark skies cleared on Black Friday…
But tears still flowed for Princess and Trey.

A bond was formed through shared regret,
Online with folks who'd never met…..
But shared a day of tragedy,
And mourned the fate of T.L.C.

As days go by the pain grows less,
And hope replaces our distress.

Our falcon couple are safe and sound…
Still at the Radisson, hanging around.

On the forum phanatics have chats
'bout all things 'falcon' and squirrels and cats.

And should this year bring us no more eggs,
'09 will see Peregrines back in the 'Peg!
The Radisson Penthouse nest they'll pick,
For the Falcon Phanatics and the Peregrine Chick!

…..Rest in peace TLC…….

Peregrine Poetry

On the Falcon Cam Forum, it became apparent early on, and more so after Black Friday, that the members on the Forum have a talent with the written (or in this case, typed) word. And so we held our first, and hopefully not last (given the quality of the submissions) peregrine poetry contest. The submissions were voted on by the members of the Forum and last night voting ended and Ballywing (not her real name of course) won with her poem "Black Friday".

Congratulations Ballywing!

Just a note for those who have not been joining us on the Forum, TLC stands for "The Lost Chicks".

Mrs A

I had a very nice phone message from one of the peregrines' fans today. We'll call her Mrs. A. She was sorry that Trey and Princess hadn't decided to foster the two captive-bred chicks we brought in, but she was glad that we had tried and that both of the adults were still at the Hotel. Mrs A. was concerned however, that the Project, which she knows is small, would have expended all of its financial resources on the effort and she asked me to tell her how much it cost and she would take up a collection at her bridge group, all of whom are also fans. It was an exceedingly generous offer and I told her so when I called her back. I explained that had we managed to get Trey and Princess to "adopt" the chicks, yes, we would have severely depleted our bank account but that it would have been worth every penny. She still wanted to make a donation to help defray our costs so at her insistence I explained that our failed experiment had only cost us about $600.00 rather than the $2,600.00 it could have cost us if the chicks had been adopted. We were able to give Trey and Princess the option which was important from the Project's perspective, so six hundred or twenty-six hundred, it was worth every penny.

Mrs. A. doesn't own a computer and has only watched the webcam a couple of times with her 12-year-old grandson. She did watch the rescue online however and her grandson showed her "The Parent Trap" blog entries on Friday. When we spoke over the phone, she asked me if people could send donations by computer and I assured her that they could send them electronically or in the mail. When I asked her if I could "blog" about our conversation, she said it was fine so long as I included the links to the Project's Donation (online & mail-in) Page and Online Store. Thanks Mrs. A.!

One Month Later

Hard to believe that one month ago that many of us were glued to computer monitors, peering out office windows, or in my case, watching from the street below, as Kyle Schmidt rapelled down the side of the Hotel in an attempt to rescue the Radisson chicks. Black Friday. Since then, two more Manitoba-hatched peregrines have been found to be nesting outside the province, bringing our total to four Manitoba Ladies nesting elsewhere this year. While Alley and her mate 19/K decided not to renest after their nest in Lincoln, Nebraska was lost, T2 the Terminator and Bear in Grand Forks, North Dakota produced one chick, as did Radisson and her mate on the U of Alberta campus in Edmonton. Donna in Saskatoon was on six eggs (a record we think) but I haven't had any updates recently so I don't know how many have hatched. Back here in Manitoba, Holly and Zeus in Brandon managed to keep their three chicks safe from wind, rain, hail, snow and tornadoes and the whole family looked great when we banded them a couple of weeks ago. And while our attempt to entice Princess and Trey to foster two captive-bred chicks over the last week wasn't successful, having Manitoba's other peregrine pair raising three young and four Manitoba birds nesting elsewhere is exciting but also hugely important to the Project and the species. The biologic/reproductive success of a bird, or a pair, is a determined by whether or not, their offspring successfully raise offspring of their own. So Trey and Princess (and Holly/Zeus, T-Rex/Madame or Maud/Pop) are considered biologically successful only when they have grandkids. Watching Princess steadfastly remain on her dying chicks up until the moment Kyle arrived confirmed for many of the peregrines' fans of their worth as parents. It's nice in the face of this year's losses to have it recognized biologically as well.

Left You All Hanging ...

I apologize for the delay in posting the conclusion to "The Parent Trap", I would never have started it had I known that I would leave you all hanging half-way through the tale, particularly not this tale.

There were some problems with the databases for the blog and perhaps the Forum that needed to be resolved as quickly as possible before anything else got "lost". Doesn't seem like we lost anything on the Forum, but a few blog entries were lost and I was unable to post until it was resolved. Looks like all has now been resolved, but I will be keeping an eye on the situation just in case.

Tracy
The Peregrine Chick

The Parent Trap - The End

The last question to answer is why not tell everyone what we were attempting? Following the death of the Radisson Chicks a month ago, it became apparent that the chance that Trey and Princess might again have chicks to raise this year could be very emotional for many of the peregrines' fans. And since we couldn't be sure if it would work, I decided to wait and see what happened before making any announcements. I know that you all would have loved to watch the chicks online, even for only a little while, but sometimes the recovery work outweighs our mandate to provide species-at-risk education. I hope that the blog entries, the answers on the Forum (I know you have some), the photos to be posted in the gallery and the videos I hope to have available soon, will help to compensate for not being there over the last week.


Lots of folks made our attempt to foster chicks with Trey and Princess possible and deserve to have their contributions acknowledged publicly.

Upsandowns Birds / Phil & Helen Trefry - thank you for sending us "our" chicks and for answering all my questions about the finer points of the care and maintenance of peregrine chicks.

Manitoba Conservation / Jim Duncan, Ken Green, Pat Ledieu, Ken DeSmet - for all your help with the permits, both coming and going.

Alberta Fish and Wildlife / Kathy Konrad - thanks for working so hard to enable two chicks to go home.

Radisson Hotel - for everyone who held a door, held the elevator and always found a way to help, regardless of the time of day, or night. You have been the peregrines most gracious hosts and their greatest supporters!

CBC Manitoba / Leona, Karl, Firoze & Mike - for reconnecting the webcam and setting up a new webcam page just in case our plan worked.

Larry Melnyk, The Camera Guy - for coming to reconnect the webcam - yet again!!

Dennis Swayze, Photos by Dennis - for hanging out keeping me company on the roof and for all the fantastic photos!

Dr. Bob Jones - for being my sounding board for yet another year.

The Parent Trap - The Farewell

With a last meal at 7 am, the chicks were bundled up in their nice, clean pet carrier (remember the projectile poop?) and their travel documentation checked and double-checked. I drove to the Airport and dropped the chicks off at the same place I picked them up just seven days ago. Seems longer and shorter than that. I'd grown quite fond of the chicks and while some of that was due to lack of sleep, some of it is because even in just seven days, the chicks had grown so much and were just beginning to act like falcons. Had Trey and Princess adopted these two, we would have been banding them early next week and they would have been flying by this time next month. So much hope on such fragile wings.



Got a call from Phil at Upsandowns Birds to say that "our" chicks had arrived safely and would shortly be placed with adults to continue their development. He promised to take photos of them as they got older and to let us know what happens to them.

The Parent Trap - Day 8

Staying at the Hotel was great, wonderful sleep number beds and it really did only take 10 minutes to get to/from the roof rather than a 45 minutes. The weather had turned surprisingly cold however, with the north wind blowing a great deal harder on the thirtieth floor than at street level and that meant that it was whipping around the nestbox. The chicks had tucked themselves up in the corner and had no real interest in "untucking" themselves for their meal. So the chicks came and joined me in my room until their next mealtime. When 4 am arrived, it didn't take long on the roof to know that it was still too cold for the chicks to go back in the box so back we went to my room and we all went back to sleep. The rest of the day wasn't much better and the forecast for the evening was for even cooler weather. (I found out that Phil at Upsandowns Birds where our chicks came from had also had to bring in their younger chicks when their temps dipped below 10 degrees as well!). Since neither Trey nor Princess had expressed any interested in the chicks, it was time to make plans for their flight home. So I packed up the chicks and my toothbrush and headed Home. First on the agenda was to arrange for an export permit from Manitoba and an import permit for Alberta. Next the chicks had a visit to a local vet to get a veterinary certificate for their return trip. Finally, an airline ticket. I started the process at 9 am and finally had everything in place by 5:10 pm. A long, hectic day with much accomplished but also a sad day in that the chicks' visit is definitely over now.

The Parent Trap - Day 7

Canada Day started out with me on the roof of the Radisson feeding the chicks in the nestbox by flashlight. The stars were bright overhead and it was warm and very pleasant. However it was midnight. Got home, made sure everything was in place for the next feeding and headed for bed. Couple of hours later, I'm back in my car, then back on the roof with my flashlight. At midnight the chicks were happy to see me, this time around I was obviously disturbing pleasant dreams (do you think peregrines dream of updrafts and tailwinds?), or at least I was until I pulled out the forceps and snack container. Twenty minutes later, the chicks were ready to resume their napping and I was driving home to my pillow. While sitting all alone at a red light I decided that tonight I book a room at the Radisson, believing that a walk down the hall and up the stairs would mean more sleep than driving to/from the Hotel four times a night.



By noon, the thrill of sleep deprivation for a good cause was beginning to wane. Particularly since the good cause, the adoption of our chicks by Trey and Princess, appeared not to be coming to pass. And it wasn't that they weren't there, Trey hung out on the ledge through the noon and 4 pm feedings and didn't so much as fly by to investigate. It seems that they know that they don't have the energy to take on a new family. Good to know that they know what is best for themselves, but it was worth the try if it meant keeping the pair strong and in control of the Radisson site. This site is our longest, continuously occupied and most successful (ie, more offspring successfully raising offspring of their own) than any of our other nestsites. And though I had hoped to be able to announce that the fireworks on Canada Day were really because we had peregrine chicks on the Radisson again, Trey and Princess are still at the Hotel and are spending the "extra" time replenishing their reserves after a long, hard spring. With luck they will both be back next spring, well-rested and ready to try again ... hopefully in the nestbox!