News: Peregrines

[birdcamfan]

I've seen lots of stuff come out of gulls but it wasn't vomit. Truly a weird defense mechanism but I guess quite effective.

[Kinderchick]

Well, now I've just about heard everything!

[The Peregrine Chick]

This is from last year but it is priceless ....

Hurt Guernsey peregrine falcon was struck by gull vomit
6 July 2010

The falcon was taken to the Hawk Conservancy in Andover to be treated A peregrine falcon found injured in Guernsey and nursed back to health in Hampshire was probably left unable to fly after a seagull vomited over it.

The female bird was found hopping in the road in early June with its wings coated in an unknown substance.  Conservationists initially thought it had been caught in a glue trap but tests showed the oily substance was "partially digested fish matter".

The falcon was released into the wild again last week.

It was flown in a private plane from Guernsey for treatment at the Hawk Conservancy Trust's specialist bird of prey hospital in Andover, and back again.  Scientists analysed a sample of the bird's feathers and found that the substance coating them was a natural ester-based oil - which includes vegetable, seed and fish matter - with a high presence of sand and soil.

Ashley Smith, chief executive officer of the Hawk Conservancy Trust, said: "The results have presented a totally different scenario to the one first imagined when she was found.  We now believe that the peregrine may have preyed upon seabirds, possibly a gull, which has used its primary defence mechanism of projectile vomiting to escape her. The partially-digested fish matter would have coated her feathers and she would then have tried to clean herself by dust bathing. This would explain the high presence of sand and soil in the sample, which had encrusted her feathers and prevented her from flying."

Paul Betchley, falconer with the trust who released the bird into the wild last week, said: "It was an amazing moment. We opened the door to the carrying-box and she hopped out, got her bearings and then took to the skies.

"Let's hope she's learned her lesson and will avoid gulls in future."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10526278

[carly]

And they dare to criticize other cultures about living in the dark ages...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in this case.   

[Kinderchick]

Very, very sad & also causes me to feel angry when hearing of this.

[Cooper]

Just came across this news report of a female peregrine shot in Lincoln. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-12682039

[sami]

Sounds like the justices don't put much importance on endangered species.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Rare birds’ egg thief has jail sentence slashed

A FORMER Special Forces soldier from Towcester, who sparked a terrorist alert trying to smuggle £70,000 of rare birds’ eggs out of the UK, has had his sentence almost halved by judges at The Court of Appeal.

Jeffrey Lendrum, aged 48, was caught by police at Birmingham Airport with 14 eggs strapped to his chest, about to board a flight to Dubai, when a cleaner in the Emirates business class lounge grew suspicious over him repeatedly visiting the showers. The falcon eggs, bound for the black market, had been placed in socks before being taped to his body in May last year.

At yesterday’s appeal hearing, Sir Christopher Holland said Lendrum, who once served in the Rhodesian SAS, pilfered the extremely rare eggs from nests in the Welsh mountains, hoping to trade them at lucrative overseas markets in the Middle East.

He had climbed into tree tops to bag the eggs, before abseiling down with his catch, the court heard. When caught by police at the airport, he was trying to examine the condition of the 14 eggs, fearing they may have perished. The appeal judge said the eggs were “happily still in good order” when recovered and 11 later hatched, with the chicks released into the wild.

Lendrum, of York Close, Towcester, who also has an Irish passport, tried to talk his way out of trouble by telling counter-terrorism police they were chicken eggs which he had brought from Waitrose, but he eventually came clean.

He was jailed for 30 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court in August after admitting trying to evade UK customs controls and theft.  But he challenged his sentence, which Sir Christopher, sitting with Lord Justice Moore-Bick and Mrs Justice Cox, agreed was “excessive”, slashing it to 18 months.

There are only 1,400 breeding pairs of peregrine falcons in the UK with the birds regarded as an endangered species.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/rare_birds_egg_thief_has_jail_sentence_slashed_1_2370428

[The Peregrine Chick]

Endangered Peregrine Falcon Shot and Killed Near New Albany (11 Jan 2011)

Peregrine Falcon (not the bird shot)

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is seeking information involving the shooting and subsequent death of a 16 year old Peregrine Falcon. The bird was bred in captivity, tagged and released to the wild along with 15 other falcons near Evansville in 1994. Why someone would target this bird remains unclear, but migratory bird biologist John Castrale says it could have easily been a mistake.

“There are a number of birds that can be confused with Peregrines, especially Cooper’s Hawks, so my guess is someone was just taking a pop shot at a bird of prey,” said Castrale.  “I don’t think they probably knew it was a Peregrine Falcon”.

In 1989 Indiana saw its first pair of nesting Peregrines in more than five decades. Two years later the Peregrine Falcon Reintroduction Program was started and since, their population in Indiana has risen to 130. The Peregrine Falcon is no longer a federally endangered species but remains on the state endangered species list and intentionally killing or disturbing ones nest could result in serious charges says DNR lieutenant Mark Farmer.

“If someone was apprehended or if enough proper cause was developed where we could file charges then those penalties could be pretty severe,” Farmer said.

Officials say the chances of finding the culprit are slim. Anyone with information on the shooting should call 800- TIP- IDNR or go to TIP.IN.gov

http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/endangered-peregrine-falcon-shot-killed-albany/#


New Albany is just across the river from Lexington, Kentucky.  

As the story mentionned there were 14 birds hack released in 1994 in Evansville.  The article does not identify who the bird is, if it is an Indiana breeding bird or even what gender the bird was.  Now unless I have mis-read something, this looks to be math ...

reported as deceased prior to 2010:
  PF Flyer (f) - died in 2001 due to a collision with a vehicle in Evansville, Indiana
  River Ace (m) - died in 2002 in Cleves, Ohio

no reports since fledging from Evansville in 1994:
  Dedalus (m), Merlin (m), Pajaro Bonita (f), Ranger (m), Rapptor (f), Speedy Gonzalez (m),
  Stealth (m), Thunder (f), Yeager (m)

observed/identified post-fledging prior to 2000:
  Echo (f) - seen in Michigan in 1995, then in Ohio in 1999
  Phoenix (f) - failed nesting in Evansville, Indiana in 1995
  Skyrunner (m) - seen in Evansville, Indiana in 1994

observed/identified post-fledging after 2000:
  Freedom - nesting in Fort Wayne Indiana with Roosevelt since 1995  

If anyone sees any updates in the news, please copy and post here - Thanks!

[Alison]

Where are they now?

Injured falcon to become education bird

In the news: In late January a young peregrine falcon -- not often seen here -- was recovering after nearly dying from major injuries. No one can say exactly how it got hurt, though wildlife experts said it might have crashed into a car or other object in a high-speed dive.  Peregrine falcons, endangered for years by the pesticide DDT, once had few nests east of the Mississippi but now migrate through the state on their way to South America.

Dr. Mark Gendzier, a veterinarian from St. Johns Veterinary Clinic, placed pins in the radius of the bird's left wing and repaired the tibiotarsus in its right leg.  The bird was released to wildlife rehabilitator Melanie Stage of H.A.W.K.E., a nonprofit that cares for injured local wildlife.  Stage did not expect the bird to recover enough to be released into the wild.

What the bird's doing now: Stage said it took six months for the bird, whose name is now Kenya, to totally heal from its injuries. Stage can't tell yet whether the young bird is male or female.  The pins were removed from its wing and physical therapy helped get its leg working again.

"The leg had to be fused in a comfortable position because it was too bad to be fixed," she said. Stage said the bird can't fly any more but is in training to be an education bird.

"It wouldn't survive in the wild but it's doing great in captivity," she said. She said the bird, which gets regular meals of quail, can now sit on a glove or a perch and will soon be making the rounds.



http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-12-18/where-are-they-now

[The Peregrine Chick]

Olympic sailing team recruit a peregrine falcon



The British Olympic sailing team have recruited a new teammate who they believe will help them secure gold… a peregrine falcon called Felix. Team bosses decided to bring in the bird in a bid to keep away noisy seagulls which disrupt the athlete's sleep and training.  Seagulls squawking is said to have become a huge problem at the 2012 Olympic Games sailing venue in Dorset where the team train. Squad members are constantly having their routines disturbed by the squawking waking them up at 5am. Enter Felix, who now patrols the sky a couple of mornings per week… and had unsurprisingly put the the seagulls off the area.

Link to story (with photos): NewsLite - Olympic Sailing Team Recruit a Peregrine

[The Peregrine Chick]

Moscow, Russia

Woman detained after falcons found in luggage

Customs officials seized eight rare falcons at the Moscow airport after a woman tried to smuggle the wrapped, boxed birds out of the country, the International Fund for Animal Welfare reported.

The gyrfalcons were found in two cartons being loaded into the hold of a plane bound for Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, the group said. The woman who checked the cartons as her luggage was detained and released pending a court appearance.

“At least 100 wild gyrfalcons are smuggled out of Russia each year, primarily driven by demand from the growing popularity of falconry in the Middle East,” said IFAW’s Russia director, Masha Vorontsova, in a statement.

The fast and powerful predator is the world's largest falcon. It breeds in arctic and subarctic regions and preys primarily on large birds, according to the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology.

They can command as much as $50,000 on the black market. Officials believe the birds seized at Sheremetyevo International Airport were captured in Russia’s Far East and transported through two security checkpoints and a customs inspection before being detected.

The birds are expected to survive and will reside at IFAW’s raptor rehabilitation center until they are ready to be released into the wild, likely sometime next month.

The gyrfalcon is listed in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red Book of endangered species and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species’ Appendix I. The latter designation, says IFAW, makes any commercial trade involving the birds illegal.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/22/report-woman-detained-after-falcons-found-in-luggage/?hpt=Sbin


The eight gyrfalcons were swaddled in pillow cases and other cloth when customs officials discovered them at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport.

[carly]

A Fishy Peregrine
WQED / 27 Sept 2010

As we all know, peregrine falcons eat only birds and they catch them in the air.  Or do they?

Last Wednesday I received an email from Dan Yagusic, an excellent birder who watches the peregrines on the Allegheny River bridges.  (He’s the one who first found Mary Cleo (Dori) at the 62nd Street Bridge.  She now lives at Gulf Tower.)

Here’s what Dan saw at dusk on Tuesday, September 21:

Last evening at dusk I was passing Washington Landing’s Marina (Allegheny River) at a no wake speed in our boat. In the near darkness I spotted a large bird flying fast downriver.  All of a sudden, directly across from me about five Mallards took flight squawking very loudly as they went. This bird (unidentified as of yet) started making repeated swooping turns down to the water, but appeared to be chasing nothing at all!  I grabbed my binoculars at this point and lo and behold to my utter amazement it was a Peregrine Falcon!!  I continued watching as this Peregrine made at least 20 passes over the water, each time rising 30 feet or so in the air before dropping down and dipping it’s talons into the water as if to make a splash.  Running through my mind were the likes of “What the heck is this bird doing?” and “Just what is making him/her do this?”  After who knows how many trips down to the water the Peregrine came up with a FISH in it’s talons. It proceeded to fly directly to the nearest tower where it immediately started eating its catch. Perhaps you or others know of this behavior in Peregrines, but in my limited experience I have never seen a Peregrine even attempt a shot at fishing.  That sure did make my evening, let me tell you!   Variety can be the spice of life, even for Peregrines???     — Dan Yagusic

Amazing!

I did some research and found two (only two!) references that said peregrines occasionally eat fish though one said they took them from ospreys.  So what was going on here?  Dr. Tony Bledsoe of the University of Pittsburgh’s Biological Sciences Department explained that our mid-latitude peregrines focus on birds but that peregrines occur nearly worldwide and are quite cosmopolitan.  Right now peregrines from Canada and the Arctic are migrating south through Pittsburgh.  Those birds travel to South America and have skills and tastes that our local birds never had to cultivate.  If they know how to fish and the ducks aren’t cooperating, why not?  Even so, it’s very unusual!

source: http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2010/09/27/a-fishy-peregrine/

[The Peregrine Chick]

Peregrine falcons return to a greener London
by Yuki Takayama, The Asahi Shimbun

A peregrine falcon with a wingspan of almost a meter wheels above the Houses of Parliament and alights on the Victoria Tower, gripping a pigeon in its talons.  It is 5 a.m. in early July, and high above Westminster, the falcon begins tearing into its freshly killed breakfast. White feathers ripped from its prey flutter and dance in the breeze around the tower.

This magnificent bird was once endangered in Britain.  Peregrine falcons used to inhabit cliffs and rocky outcrops around the southeast of England, but they were targeted for extermination during World War II in an effort to prevent attacks on carrier pigeons used by the military. After the war, the use of the agricultural chemical DDT and other factors caused a collapse of the population of these birds of prey.

About 10 years ago, however, peregrine falcons began to appear in the center of London. The city's high buildings offer them prime vantage points from which to look for prey. At the Houses of Parliament, to which the birds returned in March 2009, a square plywood tray measuring 50 by 50 centimeters was affixed about halfway up the 100-meter-tall Victoria Tower to help the birds nest. David Morrison, 50, who has been involved in falcon conservation efforts in London for nearly 10 years, says 18 falcon chicks were born this year and that numbers are increasing annually. Currently, 24 peregrine falcon pairs have been identified in the central part of London.

This is just the beginning of a neat story about "greening" cities - well worth the read: The Asahi Shimbun - Peregrine falcons return to a greener London

[Eye-spy]

Former special forces soldier jailed in UK for stealing rare falcon eggs for rich Arab buyer

A former special forces soldier was jailed Thursday for attempting to sneak out of Britain with a stash of 14 rare peregrine falcon eggs hidden in socks strapped to his body.  Jeffrey Lendrum, 48, was trying to get to Dubai, where falconry is a national sport and such eggs can fetch 5,000 pounds ($11,000) each on the black market. He was caught when a cleaner spotted him behaving suspiciously in a business class lounge at Birmingham International Airport on May 3.  Lendrum originally told police he was carrying store-bought chicken eggs, which he said he used to treat a bad back, but he pleaded guilty Thursday at Warwick Crown Court in western England, standing with his arms crossed and his head bowed for nearly the entire hearing.

Prized in falconry for their phenomenal speed — they are thought to reach up to 200 miles (320 kilometres) per hour when they dive — the birds are a protected species under British law, which bars their export.  

Judge Christopher Hodson said Lendrum's crime hurt not only the local area "but in some measure to the planet and its future" and sentenced him to 30 months in jail.  Lendrum, an Irish citizen, has previous convictions for stealing rare eggs in Canada and Zimbabwe. A former member of the special forces of Rhodesia, as Zimbabwe was known before its independence, he has apparently put his military training to use — at various points either rappelling down a cliff or lowering himself from a helicopter to reach particularly remote nests.  

Guy Shorrock, with The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said he believed Lendrum had been stealing eggs for years.  "It's clearly very lucrative," he said. "He has a very good buyer in the Middle East for these birds and he probably receives tens of thousands of pounds (dollars) for his trouble."  Retired police officer Andy McWilliam, who worked on the case for the National Wildlife Crime Unit, said he was hoping to meet Lendrum behind bars to learn more about his tactics.

As for the eggs themselves, quick-thinking police made sure they were kept warm. Eleven out of the 14 have hatched, and most of the falcon chicks have since been returned to wild.