MN / Elk River - 2008-22

[Moonstar]

RCF thanks for the you tube videos. 

[Liz]

I'm sad to hear about the babe that accidentally got turfed out of the box, but glad the other three are doing well. 

I look forward to another summer watching this nestbox! 

[RCF]

This is from the Raptor Resource Project on FB.
They named the chicks Meeker, Bullet and Andee. Some will be able to see this, not sure if it is public.  You may have to scroll to see the photo, plus they said there would be more photos when avalable.   

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Raptor-Resource-Project/103786266324668?fref=photo

Gary Kleis, operations supervisor at GRE, with Meeker, a falcon he named for one of Great River Energy's plants. Gary can add falcon handler to his resume. We banded one male (Meeker) and two females (Bullet and Andee). I'll have more photos later today!

[RCF]

Videos of the retrieval and return of the Elk River Chicks.  The one woman said two girls and a boy.

http://youtu.be/kfxMgr_OKmk

http://youtu.be/aFLhHYHTdJA

[RCF]

It was Mary-Ellen with the kids. Here they are returned home.

 

[2kawaii]

Tuned in around 10.  Find parent watching the chicks at the front of the box.  One of the chick complains "I could really use a snack right now" and got the others going for a while.  Parent picks at leftovers in the box but there isn't much to work with to feed them.  The chick settle back down for a nap and at around 20  after  parent flies off  on alert, and you can hear them yak-yaking in the background. We get a view of two ladies in helmets being moved over to the box in a lift,by a third guy operating the lift.   Everyone is wearing safetly helments.  One lady is in charge of the camera taking pics of the chicks.  The second lady has a tupperbox and carefully loads the chicks into it, covers them up with the tupperlid and off they go from our view screen.   She mentions that she thinks two of the chicks might be girls.

With the chicks gone, one of the parents (I think the same one who was in the box)  comes to land on the back perch by the box.  They sit there making a strange "sighing"/meow like noise.  It sounds like he/she is depressed Believe the people doing the banding are just below the box somewhere because adult bird keeps looking down.  

At about 11 parent flies off.  By around 11:05 the chicks are safely returned to the box.

[RCF]

Chicks being taken for banding. I think I heard them say all three are female.  

 

[sparkster]

The three chicks are scheduled to be banded on Friday at 10:00 a.m.

[Kinderchick]

... We suspect this action was in possible defense of an owl. Mary Ellen knocked one of the eyasses out of the nest box during this activity..."

Aw... this is too bad. Glad to hear the other 3 are okay, though.

[Baffled]

Yes, Sawatzke is sometimes a bit awkward/clumsy in the nest.

Here's some more information about the lost chick, from the Great River Energy site:

We’re happy to announce that four eyasses hatched this past weekend. Sadly, one of the eyasses was found dead outside/below the nest box. We reviewed the birdcam footage and discovered that early on May 18 Mary Ellen was on alert and quickly left, and returned to, the nest box three times. We suspect this action was in possible defense of an owl. Mary Ellen knocked one of the eyasses out of the nest box during this activity. The three remaining eyasses are safe inside the nest box.

[sparkster]

Sawatzke brought the meal, then dropped it down from his feet as he sat on the perch.  

Yesterday was not Sawatzke's day. I caught the beginning of a feeding before 8:00 a.m. and saw him dragging a robin around the back of the nest a couple of times. On the last round, the robin's foot knocked the smallest chick onto its back. Good grief!

[Baffled]

The chicks get their third feed in under two hours!

Sawatzke brought the meal, then dropped it down from his feet as he sat on the perch.  Mary Ellen flew off to collect and butcher the dead bird (it was reddish--Cardinal? Robin?), while Sawatzke spent some time with the chicks. All three chicks feeding eagerly.

ETA: later at 1:40pmCDT, another Cardinal appeared as a snack. Sawatzke is getting a chance to be with the chicks while Mary Ellen butchers the meal. These chicks are getting lots of food today!

[RCF]

Morning feed..... Mary-Ellen gave one chick a leg which he/she eventually spit out.  All three were sitting up and begging for breakfast.

 

 

[The Peregrine Chick]

Like the dots!  Good idea! 

[sparkster]

There was just another feeding but I could not see the little one in the middle being fed. It appeared that its head was stuck down between the other two, who were eating. S/he seemed to be chirping a lot, though. Oh. Someone just came with more food, but the little one in the middle still didn't get anything. Only one had a little food and then mom/dad took off with the meal.

I hope the little one gets its head up next time and gets fed.