PA / Harrisburg - Rachel Carson Building - 2008-21

[Cooper]

Atlanta Georgia birds have 3 eggs in the shrubbery too! Of course it's warm enough to have shrubbery in Georgia!

Edited to add:
Oops, just looked and I think there's four now!

[The Peregrine Chick]

Nuts, this is a month before our birds will get down to business and 6-8 weeks before the Alberta birds if both groups hold to their usual timelines!

[Linder]

2013 NESTING SEASON

3/13/2013  ::  First Egg!
Late last night or early this morning, the female laid the first egg in the scrape! The egg was laid five days later than last year. The first and second egg should get only occasional incubation time. When the third egg arrives incubation time should increase. The full clutch will be warmed continuously until hatching begins.

The name Niecey for the female was given as she is the niece of Mom who was the resident at this site and died in 2010. This name is used on the Bird Cams Around the World site and they may have given her the name. She is banded as previously posted in 2012 but no name was mentioned.

[Linder]

News from the site:

6/22/2012  ::  Fledgling Update
The fledglings have been sighted at various locations away from the nest ledge and occasionally visit the ledge briefly. They seem to have no interest in returning to the ledge. It is likely that the adult male is still flying with them and giving them advance hunting lessons. By the end of June, they should set out on their first long journey.

[susha]

Thanks for the update Linder!  Hope this bodes well for next year

[Linder]

News from the site:

6/13/2012  ::  News from the Nest Ledge!
The new adult female falcon has been in the scrape with the male apparently pair-bonding.  She is a large falcon from the PA/NJ Turnpike Delaware River Bridge in Bucks County, PA, and was banded on May 21, 2009, by the PA Game Commission.
 
6/7/2012  ::  Female Falcon Update
This afternoon, an adult female peregrine was observed on the ledge. The female is banded. Based upon her alphanumeric band codes, she is from the PA/NJ Turnpike Delaware River Bridge in Bucks County, PA. She was banded on May 21, 2009, by the PA Game Commission.  Both fledges are doing well, and improving their hunting skills.

[SusanE]

The two boys are flying well but continue to return to the ledge, so they continue to be seen on camera occasionally.

The new female has been visiting the ledge more and more the last couple of days, and does not appear to be interfering with the juveniles.  She has been identified as a 2009 hatch from the PA/NJ Turnpike Bridge, making her the niece of Harrisburg's "Mom." 

[RCF]

Thanks for the update Linder, thumbs up for these two. 

[Linder]

News from the site:

6/4/2012  ::  Fledgling Update
Both of the fledglings have been observed in flight, at times with the adult male, getting advance lessons. They are being fed at the ledge occasionally. They have reached to the point now where they are capable of receiving in-flight food exchanges. They're developing their skills rapidly.  There have been no reported sightings of any other adult peregrine appearing at or near the ledge.

It is good to hear that the female that was hanging around and interfering with the fledglings has disappeared. Much safer for Red and Blue. Once the boys have left the ledge for good maybe she will return.

[Linder]

Red took his first short flight around 7:25AM Monday, around to aberdeen side, clung to the side of the Carson bldg, flew off towards Market, circled around and back to the ledge.

Today Red left the ledge had a few problems trying to land on various buildings and finally ended up in a tree and then finally grounded on the sidewalk. He was rescued and returned to the ledge.

[Linder]

Blue Boy has fledged. His first attempt was pretty sloppy and he bounced off a few buildings and ended up on the roof of an auditorium. He was rescued and checked over and put on the roof of the Rachel Carson Bldg. He flew from the roof and ended up on 333 a bldg which is across from the nest ledge. So all is well with him.  Red Boy has not gone yet but he may do so later.  There is also news that an u/k female has been in the area and at the nest ledge.

[RCF]

Here's a link to pics of the rescued chick.
http://www.peregrinefalcon-bcaw.net/viewtopic.php?p=191574#p191574

[Linder]

News from the site re accidental fledge:

5/25/2012  ::  Update From the Ledge
Yesterday, just after 6AM, the red-banded eyas was swept off the ledge by a gust of wind as he flapped his wings. He was rescued from a nearby ally and returned to the ledge. At this age the eyases aren't quite ready to fly but they have the ability to make clumsy, relatively light landings. Volunteers are watching the young birds all day long from this point until they fledge and successfully return to the ledge. The adult male is doing a great job providing for the eyases on his own as there is still no sign of the adult female.  The eyases are very mobile on the ledge now and are sometimes completely out of camera view. They're spending time on a small ledge opposite the radius column behind the scrape.

[SusanE]

Thank you for that opinion, TPC.  Agreed that it would be perfect if NG would/could have been found to discover the cause of her condition.  There are several locals who searched several days for hours at a time in alleys and on top of garage roofs with binoculars, even asking building maintenance to check roof tops.  Nothing.  Unfortunately. 

[The Peregrine Chick]

Had a look at NG's video and given how much she was labouring my initial thought was that it must be something not infectious or rather transmittable (bacterial, viral, fungal or whatever) because for an adult to be in that kind of distress, I would have expected that the chicks wouldn't have lasted that long had they been similarly infected. I didn't see anything that looked like frounce, but of course there wasn't much chance to see anything.  It did look like water blood on her breast feathers, which could have meant she was in a fight and what we watched in the video was a wet bird with blood on her breast trying to expell a pellet (that open-close mouth behaviour is reminiscent of the process of expelling a pellet.  If she'd been injured on the breast, it could have been painful or less than efficient and hence it looked more laboured.  Or I thought it might have been a reaction to something she ate, that her body was trying to fight it and that is "blood" on her breast might not have been blood but rather vomit so to speak.  Or perhaps something she ate was sharp enough to pierce her esophagus or crop or something similar preventing her from being able to expell anything.  That would definitely be a problem for a raptor.

I don't know, and I haven't heard anything not already posted here, so that was just my impression when I watched the video.  I do hope they find NG - alive so perhaps she can be helped, dead if she can't, because this behaviour would be something I would want to know the answer to, in case it is something being used in the environment or just an accident or if it is an infection/parasite/fungus of some sort.

Just my two cents.