Author Topic: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Terminator & Bear  (Read 10413 times)

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Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #14 on: July 29, 2008, 11:27 »
It's also sad to me that he was named, for a great reason, after someone who just passed away and didn't get to see his namesake.  I kinda hope they give the same name to a male next year. 

That's happened to us as well.  There is one bird out there that I don't want to know if she has died because she was named in memory of a young woman who worked with eagles and wolves.  So long as I don't get a notice, I'm willing to believe she's out there somewhere doing what nice peregrines do ...

Offline Liz

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #13 on: July 28, 2008, 19:49 »
hmm -- interesting thought. 

It's also sad to me that he was named, for a great reason, after someone who just passed away and didn't get to see his namesake.  I kinda hope they give the same name to a male next year. 

Offline bcbird

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #12 on: July 28, 2008, 19:13 »
 
It was interesting that peregrines were unlikely to nest anywhere near Grand Falls, except that they had that tall water tower.  Sort of ironic that another manmade structure (electric wire) was responsible for Ozzie's death.

Offline Liz

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #11 on: July 28, 2008, 18:57 »
Fallon said ... “People like to put human emotions on things,” she said. “But in the bird world, they were successful. They got that chick to fly.”
Sure sounds familiar doesn't it??  ::)

Yeah, sounds just like us.  Poor Ozzie.  As you can tell, I start at the bottom when I read so when I posted that it was exciting for Grand Forks to have their first birth, I hadn't got to this yet. 

sigh   :(

Offline Liz

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Banding Update
« Reply #10 on: July 28, 2008, 18:29 »
Thanks for that, TPC.  'Despite Terminator’s reputation as a “little witch,” ... Terminator earned her name after she gave a bit of a fight during her banding and naming process,' -- LOL! 

Their first hatch -- how exciting for Grand Forks!!!!!!


Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #9 on: July 28, 2008, 17:04 »
Fallon said she doesn’t expect Ozzie’s death to affect Bear’s and Terminator’s decision to return to Grand Forks next year. “People like to put human emotions on things,” she said. “But in the bird world, they were successful. They got that chick to fly.”

It appears this biologist is looking at the positive in this story, despite the sad  news.  It can't be easy, though.

Sure sounds familiar doesn't it??  ::)

Offline bcbird

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #8 on: July 28, 2008, 15:07 »
Fallon said she doesn’t expect Ozzie’s death to affect Bear’s and Terminator’s decision to return to Grand Forks next year. “People like to put human emotions on things,” she said. “But in the bird world, they were successful. They got that chick to fly.”

It appears this biologist is looking at the positive in this story, despite the sad  news.  It can't be easy, though.

Offline Pchemist

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2008, 13:50 »
This is so sad.  It's awful to realize the first-year mortality rate is so high!  Must make working on these projects really difficult, and the success stories all the more sweet.

Offline carly

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2008, 13:04 »
Oh no  :'( :'(.  I was just looking at your link too, poor little guy. :'( :'(

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2008, 10:57 »
Here is the link to the Grand Forks Project's Photo Album

Some great photos of the location, T2 and Bear and of course Ozzie.  Also photos from the banding.

Thank you Dave for the great photos!
« Last Edit: July 28, 2008, 11:05 by The Peregrine Chick »

Offline Loriann

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2008, 10:45 »
and? and?

geeeeeeeeeeeeeee...   :o

From the Peregrine Chick:  Sorry, was at work and got interrupted mid-click ...
« Last Edit: July 28, 2008, 10:56 by The Peregrine Chick »

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Smiley Tower - 2008 / Banding Update
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2008, 10:44 »
Here's a still active link of the banding - with a photo of Ozzie ...

http://www.grandforks.com/articles/?page=view_article&id=80670&property_id=40

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Smiley Tower - 2008 / Ozzie Dies
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2008, 10:41 »
On July 17th it was reported that Ozzie, T2's and Bear's lone chick from this year died after hitting a powerline not far from the nestsite on the Smiley Tower in Grand Forks.

Here's the text of the report in the Grand Forks Herald (I hope to have permission to post the article permanently on the website)

“Ozzie,” the peregrine falcon that hatched earlier this year on top of Grand Forks’ Smiley water tower died Wednesday after flying into an electric wire, a local birder said.  Birder Betsy Batstone-Cunningham witnessed the falcon’s fatal flight.

“It’s a sad loss,” she said. “It’s sad that it had to be Ozzie, our first peregrine, our first baby.” She was at the base of the tower Wednesday, hoping to photograph the 40-day-old fledgling as he took brief flights aided by parents Bear and Terminator. Many area birders did the same this past week because Ozzie had reached an age when young peregrine falcons learn to fly.

Ozzie was the sole offspring of Bear, a three-year-old falcon hatched in Fargo who has been hanging out at the Smiley tower for the past two years, and Terminator, a two-year-old falcon hatched in Brandon, Man., that came to the tower this year.  The couple had four eggs but only Ozzie hatched.
Locals named him after James W. “Ozzie” Osmundson, who painted the wink on the smiling face tower. Osmundson died in May.

Jackie Fallon, a researcher with the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center said the mortality rate for birds of prey like Ozzie is about 50 percent to 70 percent in the first year. It’s a very “dangerous time” for the fledglings, she said, because they don’t yet have full control of their flight.

“It’s like giving a 16-year-old kid a driver’s license and a Porsche,” she said. “They have great speed but they don’t know how to control something like that.” High winds, she said, can cause the birds to fly into things.  That’s cold comfort to Batstone-Cunningham, who was one of the first people who noticed peregrine falcons were at the Smiley tower.

“I was very upset and emotional,” she said. “(Bear and Terminator) came down and they didn’t swoop at me. They called out for him, one of them, I don’t know which one.”

Fallon said she doesn’t expect Ozzie’s death to affect Bear’s and Terminator’s decision to return to Grand Forks next year. “People like to put human emotions on things,” she said. “But in the bird world, they were successful. They got that chick to fly.”

Peregrine falcon couples, she said, can be more bonded to a good nesting site than to each other.
Ozzie’s body will go to the Raptor Center, where researchers will confirm it’s really him by checking the band that they placed on one of his legs when he was 21 days old on June 27.  Fallon said the center might keep the body or donate it to universities or museums, usually for mounting and display.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2008, 10:55 by The Peregrine Chick »

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Smiley Tower - 2008 / Terminator & Bear
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2008, 21:34 »
Here's an update from the Grand Forks Project:

Well, it's been quite a day for peregrine watchers in Grand Forks. There is one chick at the Smiley water tower.  It's a male, and he has been named Ozzie in honor of the person who painted the wink on the smiley face. Thanks to all who sent in suggestions for names. There were some excellent ones and we'll hold onto them in hopes they will be needed next year.  Ozzie appears to be a strong, healthy chick. He will take his first flight in two weeks, about July 10. That will be a critically important day for him and we hope it goes well.

I will be receiving photos from them for our gallery shortly.  Will post here when I receive them.

The Peregrine Chick