Manitoba Peregrines > U of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta

Radisson in San Antonio

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The Peregrine Chick:

--- Quote from: carly on January 27, 2018, 15:41 ---Wow...now we know where Radisson hides out in the Winter.  Amazing!! We know she is safe  :)  Thank you for sharing this Alison!

--- End quote ---

Well we think that it is Radisson - Bev is checking her photos, I'm checking mine (gods, 2006 was a long time ago) and I'm hoping to get a couple of other photos from the folks down south just to compare.  Bands get very beat up over the years so an R might actually be a B or vice versa.  Really would like to have one of our photos beside one of their photos to know for sure.  Y'all should know this about me by now  ;D

As for San Antonio it is likely not where she overwintered.  We have found that our Mexico over-wintering peregrines tend to start working their way out of Mexico back to Texas in January before making the push home in about March.  We know for sure that Vesper did the same thing for a couple of years as did Rosser and of course Beatrix.  Don't take those examples as examples of what happens to peregrines when they go through Texas though, most of our peregrines appear to overwinter in Mexico so they all go through Texas.  We also know that C/P and A/1 in the 1990s, E/U, 3/C, Andamooka, La Peregrina and Bogart in the 2000s used this route to/from Mexico.

And I should mention that it looks like the companion with the bird who might be Radisson  ;) ;D looks to have a black/red band so who knows it may be a family reunion of sorts ... again, waiting to see if we can get a look at a better photo to be sure.

Will of course post any new information!!

bev.:
I am going to go and look up my pictures and bands .  I have watched her from  when she first came to Edmonton. I would know instantly if I was there.

so will send Tracy my pictures and picutre of band

i hope she does not stay there. certainly looks like the band but will try and get my pcitures

carly:
Wow...now we know where Radisson hides out in the Winter.  Amazing!! We know she is safe  :)  Thank you for sharing this Alison!

Alison:
San Antonio, Texas peregrines continued

There are many great photos by Marvin Pfeiffer which accompany the article:

 

 



As can be seen in the last photo, there are two peregrines at the site, and they appear to be a pair.

Alison:
Canadian peregrine wintering in San Antonio, Texas

I think I may have just come across Radisson at her winter home. TPC and Bev, please see what you think. The bird's bands are black/black *R/7, and that matches Radisson's band numbers. There is another bird with the same black/black band number, from Red Sucker Cove, Marathon, Ontario, but that band is on the bird's right leg.

Wintering peregrine falcons seen soaring above downtown high rises

An avid bird watcher, Lance Alderidge has a great view from his third-story downtown office, often spotting hawks and vultures swooping in the air.

In early January, he was talking on the phone at the Bexar County Courthouse when a blur flashed past his window. He grabbed his binoculars and zoomed in on what looked like birds of prey chasing a pigeon.

Two days later, he spied the same birds flying up to the circular neon light tower on top of the Drury Plaza Hotel. He confirmed the pair were peregrine falcons, alpha predators of the bird world.

Since the first sighting, the court coordinator for the 175th district court has watched the pair dive-bomb a black vulture and heard their sharp kak-kak-kak call echo above the roof tops. Some of his co-workers have joined his searches as he logs sightings to plot their flight patterns.

“It was great to see these things,” Alderidge, 36, said, “showing their true nature and dominating the sky.”

Bird experts said the pair are making an extended stay in the Alamo City during their migration South. According to The Nature Conservancy, the peregrine falcon was listed as endangered in 1970 because of pesticides and DDT poisoning. Their numbers across the nation have increased with the help of state and federal Fish & Wildlife Services, research and restoration groups.

Tourists have posted sightings online of the bird soaring near downtown high rises and recorded sightings of falcons over South Presa Street going as far back as at least 1984. The fastest flying bird in the world also has been observed in other Texas cities, such as Houston, where office workers have watched falcons rise above skyscrapers for years.

Alderidge alerted fellow bird enthusiast John Economidy, a San Antonio attorney, who has followed peregrine falcons at the Corpus Christi Hawkwatch for close to 30 years. He began locating the pair at the Drury, located at 105 S. St. Mary’s St., and at other buildings, including the Tower Life Building and the Frost Bank tower.

Economidy said he’s seen the duo slip into a power dive, called a stoop, to capture pigeons in a blast of feathers and then swoop back to their perch with their prey.

“It’s a pretty exciting sight to see,” Economidy said. “They are marvelous to watch.”

Photographers have noticed a black band on one of the falcons’ left leg. Economidy said the ring indicates the bird was banded in the nest as a chick and is from the Falco peregrinus anatum species.

John Karger, founder of Last Chance Forever, said he’s seen falcons wintering in San Antonio for the last decade. Karger said the nonprofit group provides a rehabilitation service for birds of prey and cares for three to four peregrine falcons a year.

He said three different falcon species live around the city: the peregrine falcon, the American Kestrel and the Merlin, nicknamed the pigeon hawk.

“They live at the top of the ladder with us,” Karger said. “So, having them here is an incredible thing to have because it says that our air, food, and water quality is pretty good. They come because there’s a food source here and the food source isn’t harmful to them.”

Lynn Cuny, founder of Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation, said seeing falcons in populated areas isn’t rare, but nature in place of buildings is better.

“The fact that they’ve made this adaptation speaks to their resilience, intelligence and ability to keep doing what they must do to keep their species alive,” she said. “Any wild animal that is making it in our midst is a positive force of nature and we should be thrilled that they’re there.”

The Drury’s general manager, Mark Vilagi, said he’s seen everything from bats to hawks swooping along roof tops and the Tower of the Americas during his 30 years working downtown.

“Hearing about the falcons isn’t much of a surprise, because things just happen down here,” he said, standing on the 24th floor beneath the banner of what was once the Alamo National Bank.

Vilagi said for decades, locals looked skyward to the neon tower’s circular bands, which changed colors depending on the forecast issued by the National Weather Service.

These days, residents and visitors alike are still looking up at the tower, but now they’re searching for a flash of grey and white, trying to get a glimpse of downtown San Antonio’s real snow birds.

http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Wintering-peregrine-falcons-seen-soaring-above-12523187.php#photo-14937648

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