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VA / Cobb Island - 2009-14

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The Peregrine Chick:
2014 NESTING SEASON

In case folks missed this last year ...

Turnover at Cobb Island Peregrine Nest
Virginia Commonwealth University blog / 23 May 2013

The breeding female at the peregrine falcon nest on Cobb Island, Va., died in early April. Falcon fans watched the nest webcam in dismay as the female, known by the public as Renetta, died in her attempt to lay her first egg of the season. Researchers from the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB), a partnership between the College of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University, recovered the bird for a necropsy in hopes of determining why this occurred.

Rich Sim, D.V.M., of The Wildlife Center of Virginia determined the falcon died from a prolapsed uterus but the underlying reason for the condition was undetermined. Additional testing by the veterinary lab at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study was inconclusive.

Within a day of Renetta’s death, two new females battled for access to the male and the Cobb territory. A few days later a female bonded with the resident male and they laid their first egg on April 25. A second egg was laid on Sunday. The nest can be viewed online with a webcam.

CCB monitors the falcons at Cobb Island along with the other 20 breeding pairs in Virginia. Cobb Island was the site of the first peregrine release, or hacking, in Virginia (a controlled release of falcons from an artificial eyrie). The current nest on Cobb is on the original hack tower structure built in 1978.

Renetta was hatched in 2006 on the peregrine tower located on Gull Marsh six miles northwest of the Cobb Island tower. She arrived at the nest in 2010 after the resident falcon pair was displaced by a barn owl. Renetta and her mate, Mitchell, produced nine young in the three years they bred together at Cobb.

The webcam on Cobb Island is provided through a partnership between the Center for Conservation Biology and the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER. YouTube videos were prepared by our volunteers at Bird Cameras Around the World. The peregrine falcon monitoring project is funded by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Center for Conservation Biology.

Ellie:
Just checked this site and still only see eggs.  The James River Bridge site has two (that I can see) little fluff balls cuddling their unhatched sibbling.  Richmond site still has eggs.

The Peregrine Chick:
Tom Cade was an ornithology professor who also founded The Peregrine Fund at Cornell University in 1970 to breed the falcons in captivity and release them to the wild. In 1974 a second breeding operation was begun in Fort Collins, Colorado, managed by Bill Burnham, who went on to become president of The Peregrine Fund for 23 years. Both operations relocated to Boise, Idaho after the World Center for Birds of Prey was established in 1984. The Peregrine Fund bred and released more than 4,000 falcons from 1974 to 1997. 

skygirlblue:
2011 NESTING SEASON

The BCAW Forum named this pair (with the unofficial blessings of the biologist)  This is the second year for this pair.  It is thought that the previous falcon pair are nesting at one of the other boxes scattered through this chain of small islands.

Mitchell, Named after Mitchell Byrd, who oversaw efforts to bring falcons back to VA in the 70's and 80's.  Band # X/37 and federal ID 2206-81686...fledged from the Elkins Marsh Shack Tower (VA) in 2008

Renetta, named after Renetta Cade.  Renetta and her husband Tom stayed at Cobb for several months during the first falcon hack.  She was born in 2006 at the Gull Marsh Nest (VA).  Band # 27/V

The above nests are just miles from the Cobb Island nest.

Both of these falcons are likely to be descendants of the original hacked falcons.

Alison:
Thank you, Ellie and Kinderchick!

Mom today with her four beautiful little chicks: it must be hot there, since they are all trying to stay cool with their beaks open.

 

 

 

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