News: Peregrines

[The Peregrine Chick]

If these chicks are being raised from birth in captivity, then can they only be used for falconry purposes, since they will have been imprinted?

Yes they will imprint and yes, at this stage they are falconry birds.  But being a falconry bird would preclude these birds from one day taking off from their falconer and reverting to a wild life.  Whether or not they are successful as a "wild" bird would depend on the bird. 

Also, the article says that they are a cross between a white Gyr Falcon & a Peregrine Falcon. Is it typical for different species of falcons to cross breed? Or would the mother have been artificially inseminated?

The article doesn't say but I am assuming they are man-made through AI, most hybrids are these days.   Hybridization is relatively new and at first it was an unanticipated accident between a peregrine and a saker owned by a falconer (http://www.pauldfrost.co.uk/hybridf.html).  Gyr x Peregrine crosses are popular - big bird and fast.  Other popular falcon species to cross are Lanners and Sakers along with the Gyrs and Peregrines. (check out Wikipedia for good information on these species if you want more details)

And if so, why would a scientist who's interested in the restoration of the peregrine falcon population support cross breeding?  

The article didn't say he was a scientist, rather that he is a biology teacher and a falconer who worked on the recovery project.  That a falconer worked on the recovery project isn't usual, remember most of the techniques used to reintroduce birds are modified from falconry techniques.  And his interest in hybrid birds is as a falconer not related to his work with the recovery project.  This biology students get to see bird development up close (just like on a webcam) and they he presumably will train the chicks and either keep them to hunt with or sell them to another falconer or maybe a birds-of-prey show.

Just in addition:  In Europe, hybrid birds can't be released into the wild (http://www.birdlife.org/eu/pdfs/Nature_Directives_material/BHDTF_Position_Hybrid_Falcons-2008_04_23.pdf).  Same here in Canada I believe and I assume the same in the USA.  Reason being they are reproductively viable, they can breed unlike other hybrids like mules, which could/can pose a problem for the species they are breeding "other" genes into.  And though they can't be released, they do escape.  We had two male Gyr-Peregrine hybrids escape from a falconer in Saskatchewan the year before last (I think) - one was found dead a couple of months later but don't know about the other one.  The one who died was a fledgling just like our birds so his death was not unnatural and had he survived he would have been just like any other wild bird but a little confused genetically.

[Kinderchick]

Interesting article. But I have a few questions, TPC... If these chicks are being raised from birth in captivity, then can they only be used for falconry purposes, since they will have been imprinted? Also, the article says that they are a cross between a white Gyr Falcon & a Peregrine Falcon. Is it typical for different species of falcons to cross breed? Or would the mother have been artificially inseminated? And if so, why would a scientist who's interested in the restoration of the peregrine falcon population support cross breeding?

[RCF]

Stillwater, MN Area High School Science Department Hatches Baby Falcons

Pictures & more article here:  http://patch.com/A-34fs

[The Peregrine Chick]

Tracking falcons' comeback along the Mississippi
WJAL

http://www.wral.com/tracking-falcons-comeback-along-the-mississippi/12304235/

[The Peregrine Chick]

Science Codex - 25 March 2013
The genomes of peregrine and saker falcons throw lights on evolution of a predatory lifestyle

http://www.sciencecodex.com/the_genomes_of_peregrine_and_saker_falcons_throw_lights_on_evolution_of_a_predatory_lifestyle-109160

interesting ...

[The Peregrine Chick]

Hmmm, just looking at these new rules the following comes to mind ...

• up to two peregrine falcons per selected falconer - okay need a permit to be "selected", and up to two might help ensure that a nest isn't completely emptied
• nestling or juvenile wild peregrines - nestlings is easy, but what qualifies a juvenile peregrine?  If based on plumage, by May many (if not most) young peregrines look like adults so juveniles could mean fledglings of the year in this case or 1+ year old birds that look like juveniles, but that would require trapping which needs experience
• open seasons from 2013-15 - choosing an only three year period could give enough data on how it impacts wild populations
• May 1 to Aug 31 - would mean most birds would have to be from within the state as most (but not all) young of the year from elsewhere haven't started migration yet though they can wander a long way in the lead up to migration

Will be interesting to see if they report the results of these rules as well as announcing the start of them.

Nice find RCF!

[RCF]

March 20, 2013
Idaho sets rules for falconers to take wild peregrines

Idaho will allow up to two peregrine falcons a year to be taken from the wild by selected falconers under rules adopted by the state Fish and Game Commission Tuesday. Rules allow the take of nestling or juvenile wild peregrine falcons during open seasons from 2013 through 2015. The capture season runs May 1-Aug. 31.

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2013/mar/20/idaho-sets-rules-falconers-take-wild-peregrines/

[RCF]

The male has already accepted a new female, who is unbanded and they have been observed bonding.  The male is a Canadian bird from the Niagara Falls site, his name is Yankee (black/black 42/Y).

Yankee was one of four chicks hatched at a nest site in the Niagara Gorge in 2008 to an unbanded male and an unidentified female.

Photo of Yankee with article
http://flic.kr/p/bo7h8f


Photo courtesy of Sage

[RCF]

The nest is 13-story-high on the MacKay Heating Plant tower at the UB campus.

 
                                                                                      Looking out from inside.

[The Peregrine Chick]

As well, I don't understand the assertion that "this type of behaviour is unprecedented" among peregrine falcons. Is this not the typical behaviour of a female peregrine falcon protecting her offspring?  

There is aggressive defense and there is aggressive offense.  I don't know much about BB but it could be that she was the latter and not the former.  Do we know how high her nestsite was above street level?  T-Rex was a very aggressive bird but he didn't go after pedestrians - he did go after folks on rooftops but fortunately the site had few visitors to the roof.  At the Radisson when there was a lot less equipment on the roof (so early 1990s), the adults used to hit everyone who visited and hotel staff wore hardhats when they had to visit.  Nesting 30 storeys about the ground our early Radisson pairs weren't aggressive toward pedestrians, though they did take potshots when workers came out on nearby buildings.  If BB's nestsite were higher, it might be that she would have concentrated her "attention" only on the rooftops, but attacking folks at street level is dangerous not only for the pedestrians but also for her - not just pedestrians down at that level, collisions with vehicles would pose a definite risk to her health and by association the health of her chicks.  

It would be a tough call to have to make and all I can say is that we haven't had to do something similar yet in Manitoba. Though Jules is coming close and we are having to get very creative ...

[Kinderchick]

That does seem a bit extreme, as RCF says.  To my understanding, BB was only "aggressive" while attempting to protect her newly hatched chicks. The university supported the installation of a nest-box and it seems that BB has been nesting there with Yankee for a few years now. As well, I don't understand the assertion that "this type of behaviour is unprecedented" among peregrine falcons. Is this not the typical behaviour of a female peregrine falcon protecting her offspring?

[RCF]

 AGGRESSIVE PEREGRINE FALCON     This seems a little extreme in my opinion. 

BUFFALO, NY~2013 (U. of B. & Central Terminal)

State wildlife officials have safely captured BB, a female peregrine falcon that had been nesting in MacKay Tower on the South Campus.

http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/featured-stories.host.html/content/shared/university/news/ub-reporter-articles/stories/2013/falcon_relocation.detail.html

Discussion from Bird Cams around the World 

http://www.peregrinefalcon-bcaw.net/viewtopic.php?f=351&t=1390&start=0

http://www.peregrinefalcon-bcaw.net/viewtopic.php?p=228147#p228147

[Kinderchick]

Thanks for the information, bcbird & TPC. Interesting... Hopefully, if he/she returns to the newsroom ledge, someone will get a photo of a band, if there is one.

[The Peregrine Chick]

The type in BC is nonmigratory and apparently a bit different in appearance and size from those in most of the rest of Canada. 


From Wickipedia: 
Falco peregrinus pealei, described by Ridgway in 1873, is also known as Peale's Falcon, and includes rudolfi.[36] It is found in the Pacific Northwest of North America, northwards from the Puget Sound along the British Columbia coast (including the Queen Charlotte Islands), along the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the far eastern Bering Sea coast of Russia,[36] and may also occur on the Kuril Islands and the coasts of Kamchatka. It is non-migratory. It is the largest subspecies, and it looks like an oversized and darker tundrius or like a strongly barred and large anatum. The bill is very wide.[37] Juveniles occasionally have pale crowns. Males weigh 700 to 1,000 grams (1.5–2.2 lb), while females weigh 1,000 to 1,500 grams (2.2–3.3 lb).[26]

Given the geographic location (BC) it is easy to assume that it is a Peale's but the only way to tell for sure is genetic.  Size and plumage are the next best ways to make an educated guess - pealei are larger and often darker than anatum.  And there are anatum birds from the BC interior observed on Christmas bird counts (Dec & Jan) in southern BC, and very often urban areas along the coast where there is prey.  In this case, given how white this bird's breast is, it could very well be one of these anatum birds.  Without a scale, no way to tell if this peregrine is larger than an anatum.  In fact, this bird could just as easily be a pre-Princess Manitoba anatum bird, in fact with a couple fewer speckles on his/her breast, this bird looks alot like Trey and T-Rex. 

Really wish the photographer had managed to get a photo of a band!!

[bcbird]

The type in BC is nonmigratory and apparently a bit different in appearance and size from those in most of the rest of Canada. 


From Wickipedia: 
Falco peregrinus pealei, described by Ridgway in 1873, is also known as Peale's Falcon, and includes rudolfi.[36] It is found in the Pacific Northwest of North America, northwards from the Puget Sound along the British Columbia coast (including the Queen Charlotte Islands), along the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the far eastern Bering Sea coast of Russia,[36] and may also occur on the Kuril Islands and the coasts of Kamchatka. It is non-migratory. It is the largest subspecies, and it looks like an oversized and darker tundrius or like a strongly barred and large anatum. The bill is very wide.[37] Juveniles occasionally have pale crowns. Males weigh 700 to 1,000 grams (1.5–2.2 lb), while females weigh 1,000 to 1,500 grams (2.2–3.3 lb).[26]