Peregrine on nest perch
March 9, 2014 in In the Nest Box
Peregrine Falcon female resting on perch at nest box in beautiful light minutes before sunset!
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Peregrine female at nest box
February 25, 2014 in In the Nest Box
The female peregrine is being seen with increasing frequency at, or very near, the nest box located in the Clock Tower. Most likely, we are about 3.5 weeks away from the laying of the first egg. Time will tell if this happens in the clock Tower as in 2012, or over the river in the 250 Canal St. building complex! Stay tuned!
Peregrine at nest box
February 3, 2014 in In the Nest Box
The Peregrines are now being seen with a bit greater regularity as we approach the start of breeding season. The female has been seen around the nest box and perched in many of the normal locations around the Ayer Mill complex. Copulation activities are but weeks away!
Peregrine male chick fledges: June 3!
June 3, 2012 in In the Nest Box
And then there was one! The male fledged on Sunday morning and left the female chick in the nest box on her own. New Balance staffers report that the male was located at street level behind the super tight security gates on the New Balance property. Calls were placed to a nearby volunteer who helped secure the male and return him in the company of NB security staff to the nest box. Meanwhile the female was fed during the day and started to spend more time flapping her own wings perparing to fledge herself!
Peregrine limbo dance!
June 1, 2012 in In the Nest Box
This was an amazing Friday afternoon sequence. The weather was cloudy and cool. The male chick was endlessy flapping and you could just feel that he was so close to fledging, but not just yet! The female was waiting and watching patiently. The female adult returns to the nest box with prey and they all enjoy a snack. the female then proceeds to perform a limbo dance on the perch pole. She put on quite a show with the complete attention of the chicks!
More photos (18) posted online: http://www.pbase.com/birdshots/image/143834838
Peregrine stories keep rolling in from blog readers:
Peregrine falcon chickens make an appearance in Racine
Peregrine falcons nest on a rooftop in Elizabeth
VIDEO: Macomb County Welcomes Peregrine Falcon Chicks Webber and Otis
Baby falcon chicks under I-5 Ship Canal Bridge
GF peregrine falcons apparently add to brood
Banding of falcon chicks helps track movements, keep tabs on dwindling population
The peregrines‘ banding: A story of growth and loss
Canton Club crowd views falcon banding
Preparing to fledge!
May 29, 2012 in Chicks Only, In the Nest Box
Peregrine male chick is ready to go and preparing to fledge later this week! He has been flapping regularly each day and itching to fledge. The female is taking her time and is clearly on a different schedule!
Peregrines in the news:
Westar to band falcon chicks May 30
Falcon Chicks Banded And Checked
New hatch for Kansas City’s skyscraper-dwelling peregrine falcons …
Peregrines feasting on a Blue Jay!
May 25, 2012 in In the Nest Box
Adult peregrine brings a Blue jay back to the nest box to feed the chicks!
More photos of this scene posted at: http://www.pbase.com/birdshots/image/143865053
More news stories:
4 peregrine falcons hatch at Wood Co. Courthouse …
Peregrine Falcon Chicks Banded at Brady-Sullivan Tower | New …Hampshire
Peregrine falcons keeping a low profile
Two falcon eggs hatch in downtown Salt Lake City (video)
Baby falcons banded in AC casino penthouse
A third falcon chick arrives in downtown SLC
Baby Falcons Tagged at We Energies in Port
Peregrine eyases are somewhat helpless!
May 17, 2012 in Chicks Only, In the Nest Box
The chicks continue to huddle and the unhatched pair of eggs remain on the nest box. Our friends at the Raptor Resource Center explain about falcon chick growth patterns: eyases are somewhat helpless! One parent (often the female but sometimes the male) stays with the chicks while the other finds food for the brood. Eyases eat an incredible amount of food – but then, they double their weight in only six days and at three weeks will be ten times birth size. Newly hatched chicks are wet and covered with white down. But by three weeks of age, brownish juvenile feathers can be seen poking through the white fuzz. By five or six weeks of age, the white fuzz has been completely replaced by brown feathers. The eyases can be observed jumping around and testing their wings, getting ready to fly.
Link to online article about Manchester NH peregrines: http://www.nhaudubon.org/peregrine-falcon-chicks-banded-at-brady-sullivan-tower
Link to article in Machester Union Leader: “Prime Time for Peregrines” by Mark Hayward, Union Leader, May 11
Peregrine chick banding day!
May 17, 2012 in Chicks Only, In the Nest Box
As part of an on-going project to monitor the Massachusetts peregrine falcon population, new peregrine chicks are banded each year at their nest-sites. Biologists rely on the banding program to study the success of restoration programs and to better understand the birds’ habitat preferences and survival rates. The bands also help biologists determine how far young birds will travel to establish their own territories and track causes of death, according to an item in MassWildlife’s May newsletter.
After the pesticide DDT ravaged the country’s falcon population during the first half of the 20th century, restoration efforts have brought the species back from the brink of extinction. Peregrines were taken off the federal Endangered Species list in 1999, but the bird still listed as endangered in Massachusetts. In the MassWildlife newsletter, French said there were 25 nesting falcon pairs in the state in 2011.
Photos of banding day posted online: http://www.pbase.com/birdshots/image/143902235 Click “next” in upper right to advance frames!
Articles posted online:
Chick banding in Manchester NH: http://www.nhaudubon.org/peregrine-falcon-chicks-banded-at-brady-sullivan-tower
Chick banding in Springfield, MA: MassWildlife officials band brood of Peregrine Falcon chicks at
You Tube video of Lowell banding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNa4uOeM-e0&list=PLB19630DCD62E4B76&index=3&feature=plpp_video
Baby Falcons are known as eyasses!
May 13, 2012 in Chicks Only, In the Nest Box
A bit of background on falcon chicks! According to the Raptor Resource project in Iowa, baby falcons are called eyasses. They are covered by white down when they are born, which is replaced by feathers in three to five weeks. Although they have a high mortality rate, Peregrines have been known to live as long as 15 years. They usually begin breeding at about two years old!
