PA / Harrisburg - Rachel Carson Building - 2008-21

[Alison]

The first egg hatched yesterday: there are five eggs in the nest.

4/29/2010  ::   First Egg Hatched!

Around 2:45 p.m. today, the first Peregrine Falcon nestling, called an eyas, hatched out of its egg. The young falcon used an egg tooth on its beak to break through the shell. Keep watching the PA Falcon Cam to see when the next egg hatches.

[Alison]

According to the site, the third egg was laid early this morning.

I can't clearly see three eggs in the pics I saved:

 

[Alison]

The first egg was laid on March 20, and the second egg on March 23:

 

[Alison]

I think it's getting close to egg-laying time here too. Mom was in the nest box for a while, while Lil Dad was on the point:

 

[Alison]

Great pics of Lil Dad, Bev! He was there this afternoon for a couple of short visits:

[bev.]

I have some nice shots of Little dad and mom from today. these are thumbprints so click on picture

They were both in the scrape today

 

 

[Alison]

I'm so glad Lil Dad is back. The news on the site was updated yesterday:

2/4/2010  ::   Male Peregrine- Still No Sighting

This female has been in this situation before. The original male was injured six years ago and could not be returned to the wild. She spent a lot of time away from her usual perches and spent more time at places where he had habitually perched. Then, she was gone from the area for longer periods of time. A little more than six weeks after the original male was injured she pair bonded with the current male. We know that there are many ranging individual peregrines out there looking for nesting territories. These wandering peregrines will opportunistically displace breeding adults.

And later:

2/4/2010  ::   Male Peregrine Returns!

At 1:25 PM today, February 4, 2010 the Rachel Carson male peregrine was spotted on the southeast corner of the ledge. This ends his long absence from the ledge and renews expectations for another successful nesting season.

About the original male; after rehab for his injury, he ended up at ZooAmerica in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Some of the people who had watched him over the years went to see him there, and found that he had a large enclosure which he shared with another male peregrine who coincidentally had been born on the same bridge. He looked in good condition.

A year or two ago, there was apparently a hole in the fence of the enclosure, and the Harrisburg male left. I can only hope he was able to fly well enough to hunt and survive in the wild.

[carly]

little dad was spotted by Reenie today from the ground  and as we were watching the cam there he appeared on the point as they swung the cam around

I saw that bev, it's great news! 

[bev.]

little dad was spotted by Reenie today from the ground  and as we were watching the cam there he appeared on the point as they swung the cam around

[bev.]

rosek did see little dad a few weeks ago and then not since. He may just be where no one can see him.

[carly]

I saw the talk on BCAW about dad being MIA.  It's been a particularily rough year for Tiercels, I sure hope he turns up okay. 

[Alison]

2010 NESTING SEASON

A rare update on this site:

1/27/2010  ::   Adult Male Sightings

Typically this pair of peregrines can be found spending much of their time together this time of year. The female has been seen frequently at the ledge, the male has not been spotted for some time. This male does tend to wander for long periods of time and possibly at great distances. If he is not with this female the first week in February we can speculate that something may have happened to him. In any case, web cam viewers are urged to email via the Contact DEP link to report peregrine sightings at the ledge. The male is one third smaller than the female and has been known to perch on top of one of the camera housings to the left of the orange column on the wide camera view of the ledge.

It is very unusual not to see the male here -- I only hope he is okay. Neither Lil Dad nor Mom migrates at this nest site.

[Alison]

I wonder how that female with the damaged beak made out, hopefully since we haven't heard anything she's managed to survive and maybe it has somehow grown back if that is possible?  Or she will just learn to adjust to it. 

There has been no news on Yellow Girl. I very much hope that she has been able to survive, but that beak injury was extremely serious. I have seen many types of beak injury; sometimes they do regrow -- it just depends on the extent of the damage to the underlying vascular bed and bone. I had a rescued bird with no more than one-third of an upper beak, which was jagged and oozing a black tarry substance (not blood). All that could be done was to give antibiotics to guard against infection, and painkillers. Over a period of time, he was able to grow about three-quarters of an upper beak. He was able to eat, preen and climb normally. We never knew what had caused this -- the vet thought it was a tumour.

[carly]

I wonder how that female with the damaged beak made out, hopefully since we haven't heard anything she's managed to survive and maybe it has somehow grown back if that is possible?  Or she will just learn to adjust to it. 

[Alison]

Someone at the nest today:

 

 
                                                                                     I know this is Lil Dad, because he is the one who likes to sit on the lamp