Report from Ursula and David Goodine:

Hello Tom and everyone,

Many thanks to Robert Carlson for the stunning photos and report about the male Peregrine Falcon, Black 6/ Green 4.  The altercation between the two males that was witnessed today, was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Nature in action, and will surely not be easily forgotten!

If anyone is interested, here is a little history that we would like to share about 6*/4*.  Tom, you may recall that Dave and I have “known” this Peregrine since 2001, when we witnessed him and his other siblings fledge from the then “New Hampshire Building” in Manchester.  He was the runt of the brood, and took a lot of time taking that first leap.  In fact, we knick-named him “Crash”, as he seemed to have a tough time with his landings after fledging.  He finally got it right, and he and his siblings liked to roost on the letters on top of the building.  Of course, the building was later sold and the name was changed to the Brady Sullivan Tower.

It was in 2002 that Joe Hogan first discovered a pair of Peregrines in Lawrence, and followed their activities that eventually led to their nesting in that city, beginning in 2003.  We subsequently confirmed the male’s band, as you mentioned in your note, and have been monitoring him ever since then.  We named his mate “Victoria”, as her bands were Black V/ Green 5, and they dominated the territory until her death in 2015, at the age of 14.  By our calculations, the pair raised 32 chicks over the 12 years they reigned.  She was replaced by the presumably current unbanded female.

Even though Crash was grounded by the new aggressive male, he did manage to fly off, and it is our hope that he is still alive, and can protect his dominion.  But as you said, time will tell who will prevail.  Chris Martin of New Hampshire Audubon, who banded Crash in 2001, once wrote an article about this runt and named it, “Don’t Count the Little Guy Out”.  Chris depicted this Peregrine as the least likely to survive his siblings, but wrote that this was not the case.  It turned out that 6/4 out lived all three of his siblings.  At the ripe age of 17, please don’t count the “little old guy” out!

Again, thanks to Robert Carlson for reporting the incident, and to Tom for passing on this very important information.

All the best,  Ursula & Dave Goodine