State Capitol - 2014 / 19K & Alley

[The Peregrine Chick]

Lewis is really a perfect looking bird.  

He is and he looks more like his grandfather Trey with that white breast, most of Princess' kids have more speckles that come up higher.  I admit to liking the white breasts more than the speckles.  Looking at the birds mentioned in the article RCF found, I'm going to have to see if I can track down some photos of the other three if they too have whiter breasts. (thanks RCF)

[The Peregrine Chick]

Lewis (10/R) has travelled a long way from Lincoln, Nebraska to The Woodlands, Texas -- about 849 miles. I wonder if he is spending the winter there.

If he is like most of his cousins, he will continue south into Mexico either following the coastline or by hopping across the Gulf then start to work his way back north to Texas again in mid to late January.

[irenekl]

Lewis is really a perfect looking bird. 

[Alison]

Lewis (10/R) has travelled a long way from Lincoln, Nebraska to The Woodlands, Texas -- about 849 miles. I wonder if he is spending the winter there.



Lewis is a handsome tiercel. I think he looks like his Dad, with his solid dark hood:



Lewis and his brother at banding:

[RCF]

A Nebraska Peregrine Falcon appears in Texas

This individual Peregrine Falcon hatched in 2012 at the Nebraska Capitol building.  We banded the bird, along with his brother.

 Article and photo at this link.

http://neblandvm.outdoornebraska.gov/2014/12/nebraska-peregrine-falcon-appears-texas/

[Kinderchick]

Wonderful news that 19K was rescued & released unharmed.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Peregrine Falcon after hours rescue

Joel Jorgensen rescued 19K who was trapped on the 14th Floor observation deck on the Capitol Building on Friday.  19K was unharmed. 

Article with photos at this link.
http://neblandvm.outdoornebraska.gov/2014/09/hours-peregrine-rescue/

Well done Joel!  19/K and Alley have been a great pair over the years, hate to break up a winning team before their time!

[RCF]

Peregrine Falcon after hours rescue

Joel Jorgensen rescued 19K who was trapped on the 14th Floor observation deck on the Capitol Building on Friday.  19K was unharmed. 

Article with photos at this link.
http://neblandvm.outdoornebraska.gov/2014/09/hours-peregrine-rescue/

[The Peregrine Chick]

As for Alley and 19/K being back in the nestbox, that isn't particularly unusual.  After their chicks have fledged and are on their own, the resident pair renew their pair bonds by going through what looks like courtship behaviour - bowing and food exchanges even scraping in the box.  Looking at when they lost their chicks and the age of their chicks, I would suspect that their hormones are now at post-fledging, chicks-are-on-their-own levels which could be why they are back at the box this early renewing their partnership.

[The Peregrine Chick]

The standard in the US is for the coloured band to go on the left leg, we haven't always been so consistent - sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose.  Alley is one of "those" - black band on right leg.  Makes it easy to tell her from 19/K who's coloured band is on his left leg.

And yes, Alley's band is A over a sideways Y - that is partly how she got her name - her band number and that her favourite roost spot after fledging was only properly from a particularly nasty back lane or, drum roll please, alley.  Not all of the names I give the peregrines involve hours of sober reflection and research, some just happen.

[Alison]

It was very sad to lose the Lincoln chicks in such a terrible storm. In fact, Alley and 19/K lost three chicks this year; one of the first two chicks who hatched lived only a short time.

The same storm also took the lives of the two chicks at the University nest in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was very sad to lose these chicks, too, since this was only the second time chicks had hatched in the area in the past 50-60 years.

Alley and 19/K were not seen at the nest for some time, but recently both have been spending time at the nest once again.

I would like to confirm that this is Alley; certainly looks like her to me, but she is listed as having a black band on the left leg, while this bird has a black band on the right leg.



A closer look at the band; since Alley is ten years old, the band is worn and scratched, but I think I can see A/*Y. What do you think, TPC?

[The Peregrine Chick]

I wonder if Alley & 19K will be able to have another clutch this year? Or is it too late in the season?

Not too late in the season chronologically, but biologically too late for them.  The chicks were almost banding age so 1/2 way between eggs laid and chicks being independent, that's a lot of resources expended by the adults to get them this far and they are hormonally set up for teenage chicks, not the start of the breeding cycle.  If the eggs had been lost up to perhaps half-way through incubation the pair could re-nest but then it would depend on the birds themselves.

[Kinderchick]

I wonder if Alley & 19K will be able to have another clutch this year? Or is it too late in the season?

[Moonstar]

Just so sad.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Storms Claim Capitol Peregrine Falcon Chicks
Posted by: Jerry Kane June 4, 2014   in NGPC News

LINCOLN – The severe weather that wreaked havoc across much of Nebraska on the evening and night of June 3 also appears to have claimed the two peregrine falcon chicks atop the Nebraska Capitol building.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission provides live streaming video of the nest box, and many falcon watchers awoke to find it empty early June 4. Game and Parks and Capitol staff, along with personnel from Fontenelle Forest’s Raptor Recovery, found the bodies of both chicks early June 4. One chick was discovered on the second floor roof and the other was found on the ground; both appear to have died instantly.

“Based on the evidence, it appears the chicks were simply blown out of the nest box by the severe weather,” said Joel Jorgensen, Game and Parks’ nongame bird program manager. “This is obviously an unfortunate and sad outcome, and we are disappointed.”

News media reports state that winds in Lincoln exceeded 70 miles per hour during the storms.