State Capitol - 2015 / 19K & Alley

[RCF]

Alley just fed her little one and it was stuffed full.    

 

[burdi]

I'm very thankful State Patrol saw how Alley was trapped, and that Joel was able to rescue her.

Thank you for keeping us updated Alison.

[Alison]

Pics from the live cam a few minutes ago:

 

When posting the blog article, I changed the spelling of Alley's name from "Ally" to "Alley".

[Alison]

From Joel Jorgensen on the blog today:

Another after hours rescue

First off, there is the need to acknowledge it is all but certain only one egg out of the original four is going to hatch this year.  This outcome is a little bit of a surprise, but it does mean the parents can direct all their attention on the single eyas.  Let’s hope for good things.  The youngster is still only a few days old so it certainly needs a lot of care and attention from its parents.  If one of the parents got in a jam, or worse, and was unable to devote its time and energy to the young chick, there could be unfortunate consequences.  That was my concern when I received a call from the State Patrol at the Capitol around 6 p.m. that a Peregrine Falcon was trapped on the 14th floor observation deck.

I was headed back to Lincoln after being out of the office all day when I received the call.  Thus, it took me about 45 minutes to get to the Capitol.  Since the Peregrine Falcon was first observed late in the day, I had no idea how long the bird had been trapped.  Also, since I was away from my computer all day, I was unaware whether the absence of one of the adults was noted by Peregrine webcam watchers.   I also did not know whether it was the male or female Peregrine Falcon that was trapped.  Once I arrived and the State Patrolman escorted me to the 14th floor, the situation became clear.



With a towel and a pair of gloves, I quickly apprehended the prisoner.  It was the female, Alley (A/Y), and this was a concern to me since female Peregrine Falcons spend most of their time tending to the young chicks while the male Peregrine Falcon of a pair hunts and brings food.  Alley was spry and after making sure she hadn’t suffered any injuries, we quickly headed to the 18th floor for a release back to freedom.



Peregrine Falcons will occasionally get trapped on the Capitol.  You may remember last September the male, 19/K, also got himself trapped on the 14th floor observation deck and required an after hours rescue.  Why does this happen?  Well, how a bird initially gets into a space he or she can’t get out of is not clear.  Why a Peregrine Falcon can’t get out is readily apparent.  A simple way to think about this is that Peregrine Falcons are built like a fighter jet, not a helicopter.  Thus, if they happen to fall into some sort of space that is essentially a “crevice,” they are unable to escape by flying vertically. They are unable to fly straight up from a resting position and instead need space to fly horizontally.

Unlike last fall’s rescue, this event occurred at a critical time.  Fortunately, all signs suggest that there will be no long term negative consequences to Alley or the eyas.  It appears that Alley was only trapped for a short period.  Also, weather conditions were favorable, temperatures were around 70, and winds were relatively calm.   If this event happened during a period of inclement weather and the female was unable to protect and warm the eyas, it could have been bad.  Fortunately, bad luck did not find the birds this time around, let’s hope that continues.

Photos are from the blog.

http://neblandvm.outdoornebraska.gov/2015/05/another-after-hours-rescue/

I hope Alley is none the worse for her experience, and that the little chick is okay.

[RCF]

Caught a feed this evening

 

Baby has a full crop

[Kinderchick]

First hatch here this afternoon...

Just in time for Mother's Day!

[RCF]

Finally got to see the baby.  

 

[RCF]

First hatch here this afternoon. I haven't seen the baby yet but can see the broken egg shell. 

[The Peregrine Chick]

I was checking out the Nebraska site and couldn't easily get on with my usual link to the cam so as I was surfing around the Nebraska government site I found this link which was new to me, but likely not for those of you who watch this site much more regularly than I do.

http://neblandvm.outdoornebraska.gov/2015/03/peregrine-webcam-click/  

It shows both cams at once which I quite like and if you click on the bottom right corner (there is an arrow icon there) on either of the images it makes them full screen.

By size it looks to me like 19K incubating the eggs at the moment - it is pouring rain there and he is tucked down tight and flat on the eggs.

[Kinderchick]

For those who may be having trouble accessing this webcam, I think the site has been hacked...

Grrr!!! Same thing happened at the Charles Sturt University website "down under" last year.

[The Peregrine Chick]

For those who may be having trouble accessing this webcam, I think the site has been hacked.  If you check the comments below, they are weird poker etc sites and if you try to click on the link to the blog or the webcam, the URL that comes up I believe is not valid.

I would suggest that folks not try too hard to dig around on this site, rather wait a bit and keep an eye on the comment section at the bottom of the main page - when that is cleaned up the rest should be up and operating as well.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Fingers crossed for perfect weather from hatch to a month after fledging for these two - they (and their chicks) deserve it after the last couple of years.

[Kinderchick]

4 eggs! Thanks great news!

[RCF]

Four eggs

[RCF]

Three eggs