NJ / Jersey City - 2008-21

[Alison]

This is really part of the post above, but I couldn't post it there due to extreme "jumping" of the content of the reply box.

The sighting of *V/*5 is especially poignant, since in 2005, when she was born, the New Jersey nest had its share of tragedy. Several days before the eggs were due to hatch, the male was found not far from the nest, with a severed wing. He was rushed to The Raptor Trust, where he received the best of care, and recovered.

Here he is at The Raptor Trust after his recovery:



Meanwhile, the female was on her own with eggs about to hatch. She was provided with supplementary food, and she successfully raised three chicks on her own. One of these chicks is the one now in Connecticut.

The 2005 chicks:

[Alison]

The four chicks are getting bigger:



And some good news from the site: it's great when a juvie from a previous year turns up with a nest.

May 17, 2010: A Jersey City alumnus nesting in Connecticut!
 
In June, 2005, we banded three peregrine chicks at the Jersey City nest site. One of them was a female with color band *V/*5. We recently got a resighting of this bird and learned she is nesting on a cliff in New Haven, Connecticut. The nest is located in East Rock Park , a city park with an interesting rocky ridge that is part of a series of ridges running north-south through the Connecticut Valley Lowlands of Massachusetts and Connecticut. At its peak it is about 550’ above sea level.

A river and reservoir system lie at the base of the cliff where *V/*5 is nesting, so the nesting pair has an excellent territory for roosting, foraging, and breeding: an inaccessible cliff face, extensive open space, nearby bodies of water, and abundant food sources – especially pigeons. Park staff and volunteer Steve Broker are monitoring the nesting peregrines.

*V/*5 has been nesting at this cliff site since 2009. Her mate is not banded. We will provide any more updates on this pair when we receive them from the folks in CT. It’s very exciting to see New Jersey peregrines contributing to the population recovery in natural habitats!

[The Peregrine Chick]

From the site:
May 10, 2010: Nestlings looking good!
 
Biologist Kathy Clark went to the nest yesterday to give the nestlings a health check.
All four of the hatchlings were looking good and healthy. Kathy had help from WCC volunteers Mike and Bonnie, who helped distract the adults long enough to get the young inside. Each chick was given a dose of medicine to prevent Trichomoniasis, the pigeon-borne disease that can kill young peregrines. They will get a second and final dose in two weeks at banding time.

This is interesting, TPC. Do you do that with our peregrine chicks here in Manitoba?

We haven't Kinderchick ... but that may have something to do with the fact that we (if I remember correctly) have only had one suspected trichomoniasis death here ...

[Kinderchick]

From the site:
May 10, 2010: Nestlings looking good!
 
Biologist Kathy Clark went to the nest yesterday to give the nestlings a health check.
All four of the hatchlings were looking good and healthy. Kathy had help from WCC volunteers Mike and Bonnie, who helped distract the adults long enough to get the young inside. Each chick was given a dose of medicine to prevent Trichomoniasis, the pigeon-borne disease that can kill young peregrines. They will get a second and final dose in two weeks at banding time.

This is interesting, TPC. Do you do that with our peregrine chicks here in Manitoba?

[Alison]

From the site:

May 10, 2010: Nestlings looking good!
 
Biologist Kathy Clark went to the nest yesterday to give the nestlings a health check.

All four of the hatchlings were looking good and healthy. Kathy had help from WCC volunteers Mike and Bonnie, who helped distract the adults long enough to get the young inside. Each chick was given a dose of medicine to prevent Trichomoniasis, the pigeon-borne disease that can kill young peregrines. They will get a second and final dose in two weeks at banding time.

All four young were close in size, a good sign and a reflection of their all hatching on the same day one week ago. Often there is one that hatches later and is smaller than the rest.

We were able to verify that the adults are the same two birds that have nested here in recent years. The male is banded with a bicolor band that reads *2/*6 (black over green), banded in 2003 at Riverside Church in New York City. The female wears only a silver band (no color band) and we’ve not been able to read her band to know her origin. There’s no mistaking, however, that she continues to own the sky above Jersey City! She completely mastered the wind as she dove at the intruders to her nest.

Within minutes of the chicks’ return to the nest box, the female was back in the nest brooding her young. During the frequent feedings viewers can see that the four chicks love to eat, and will keep the adults busy hunting pigeons and other birds in the neighborhood.]

The chicks today:



 
The male                                                And the female

[Alison]

From the site, the New Jersey chicks:

 

[Alison]

I haven't been able to see them, since it's dark now in New Jersey, but there are chicks in the nest:

May 4, 2010: Hatching!

We have hatchlings at Jersey City! Early this morning, 6:20 AM, there was one chick getting what may have been its first meal! At that time there were still three eggs that the chick was nestled within. The mom spent most of the morning keeping the eggs and chick warm, and by noon it appeared that all the eggs had hatched. Eggshell remnants can be seen in the nest but are soon removed by the adult and some are eaten to replenish the mother’s calcium. The hatchlings are slightly pink and very small, but do lift themselves up a little to take brief feedings.

It’s an exciting time to see inside the nest. The adults are very careful around the young, both in feeding and brooding them, and the hatchlings are small but they grow fast. Stay tuned with us.

[Alison]

Incubation continues, but it should not be long until the eggs begin to hatch. From the site:

April 30, 2010 - 8:15 p.m.

Thanks to staff in the state Information Technology Office we are again streaming live video - just in time for the hatching which is expected by Monday or Tuesday.

[Alison]

The Jersey City pair have their first egg today!

[Alison]

2010 NESTING SEASON

The cams are now active, and the falcons are visiting:



webcam link: http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/peregrinecam/index.html

[The Peregrine Chick]

When I first started working with peregrines, all the information pointed at mortality among juvenile peregrines being close to 70% (7 out of 10 died) in the first year - that's for wild peregrines regardless of where they nest, buildings or cliff-faces.  Now the numbers are down to about 50% on average.  Now whether that number is because of projects like ours, or more data so more accurate statistics or a combination of both, the point is that even in the wild away from glass buildings, mortality among peregrines is at its greatest among juveniles in the first few months of life.  So yes, it would be wonderful if they didn't fly into buildings, however, we have veterinary and rehabilitation assistance for "our" birds which the cliff peregrines do not have.  Are there more hazards in an urban environment, I think it is probably pretty a 50:50 split, different hazards and benefits.

So yes, the loss of a chick, particularly as a result of a collision with a building/window/whatever, is disheartening and unfair, mortality among young chicks is high everywhere.  Here at least we have the people and services that if there is a problem we have a chance to help them.  Cliff-nesting peregrines rarely get that kind of a second-chance.

[Alison]

This is so very sad. It seems to happen every year at this site. At least the second juvie is at the Raptor Trust, and they are great with peregrines. I hope the third fledgling is okay, but the only falcon I saw there today was a parent:

[allikat]

 
I just wish something could be done to glass on buildings..tint them or something.  Don't really know.
It's so sad..the mortality rate of birds that fly into windows, especially at night when buildings keep their lights on  .
Wish there was something we could do.

[carly]

    Glass buildings should be banned, they are a scourge on all our feathered friends.

[kittenface]

Sad news
The bad news is that two of the young did take off. One was found dead late yesterday (Tuesday), it apparently flew into the glass building one block south of 101 Hudson. The second young was found on the street today, and is going to The Raptor Trust now. Hopefully he will be okay after a couple days rest. We assume the 3rd is still on the roof. "