Other Peregrine Projects > USA Peregrines
AZ / Phoenix - 2016-17
The Peregrine Chick:
I look forward to hearing more about the parents - Dad in particular. In our experience with pairs who have lost chicks/nests is that their pair bond remains intact, sometimes becomes even stronger and we don't notice any change in their behaviours after the loss - by that it looks like the behaviour of adults whose chicks have fledged with a few extra visits to check out the lost nest in the first few days after the loss. They don't abandon the site, the don't in general leave any earlier than usual and their interactions with one another appear as per other year's after the chicks are fending for themselves.
This year's chick was older so Dad certainly couldn't remove him from the nestbox which our birds have done. His behaviour after the chick died - trying to protect the chick is as I would have expected, they are devoted parents as we all know and they don't give up on their chicks easily. But because I don't know about this male's individual behaviours (where he likes to rosy, how often he was in the nest, etc) nor do I know anything that might have happened to him when the chick first fell or when the chick was returned or when it was retrieved from the box after it died. And in the absence of being injured during one of these events I would expect Dad to shift into independent chick mode within a few days and return to a routine similar to what we see when the adults return in the spring and before they get down to serious courtship. The wild card for me is the high temperatures and if he (and/or she to be fair) have been impacted by the temperatures as well. Without a chick to protect they could have left for a cooler location and returned later. Or if they had cooler places or water nearby they could have spent more time there but with a chick they weren't leaving until there was no point in staying. Not only am I glad we don't have those kinds of temperatures here but also that our Manitoba birds insist on nesting virtually on the doorstep of rivers!
Thank you Burdi for keeping a close eye on this site - difficult as it has been in recent days. I look forward to hearing more and learning more about the challenges faced by peregrines in much hotter and drier climates than ours.
burdi:
I contacted AZGFD not long before they closed on June 8, and I’m very thankful the cam was turned to face the nest shortly after my call.
Unfortunately, there still hasn’t been a confirmed sighting of the male parent. I’m sorry I can’t go into what was said right now, but might add a bit another day.
After all that AZGFD has done to provide a quality viewing experience for us, and all they have done to help the poor chick, I can understand the great loss they are feeling at this time - along with so many of us.
burdi:
--- Quote from: Alison on June 09, 2016, 11:51 ---
--- Quote from: burdi on June 05, 2016, 22:06 ---
I've tried to understand why they left the camera facing outwards, but still haven't come up with a good enough reason.
--- End quote ---
Burdi, I don't know whether you have had a chance to check, but today the webcam is showing the view of the nest box again. The nest box is empty at the moment, but I will check from time to time in case either parent shows up for a visit.
--- End quote ---
Alison, thank you for your reply, and I hope that you will be able to spot a parent. Unfortunately, I think that opportunity would have been better within the first day or two after the chick was removed. It might help if the nest view was wider - but not too far away (or we won’t be able to identify the parents), though I haven’t even heard the sound of a falcon in the last two days.
Alison:
--- Quote from: mspeach on June 09, 2016, 11:13 ---How terrible this all has been. Phoenix was so happy to have their first cam, and it was very popular.
I was out of town last week and missed everything until it was over.
I was at Liberty Wildlife volunteering on Monday and talked to a friend who is with AZFGD.
She did not know anything official, but her opinion was that due to the spike in heat there were many early fledges here. We had 80 intakes on Saturday and 70 on Sunday, bird orphans and injuries.
(last year we had around 7,000 intakes).
Anyhow, devastated about Rocky!!! So sad.
--- End quote ---
It was so very sad to lose this beautiful and courageous little chick, mspeach.
Thank you for the information about there being many early fledges due to the heat. What a huge number of admissions to rehab in only two days.
GCG:
:'(
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