As Chris Martin at NH Audubon has said, it is only a matter of time before a new female shows up! Sure enough, a new female was seen feasting on a pigeon on Monday morning just before the start of the Blizzard of 2015! The sun was out and the two peregrines were just feet away from each other as she snacked on a freshly caught pigeon.
According to Tom French at MassWildlife, “the historic Lawrence matriarch, V/5, is still at Tufts and not able to fly well at all. There are no clear injuries, but one of her shoulders may have something wrong with it. Mostly, I think she is just old, and I don’t think she is likely to recover enough to be released. I expected that it would only be a matter of days, to a week or so, before a new female showed up. So, you are seeing a new female, and V/5’s potential replacement. Originally, V/5 was not banded, but I was able to catch her by hand when we banded her first chicks. This is all part of the normal process. At our longest running nesting territory at the Custom House in Boston, we are now on our 5thfemale and 3rd male. There are fewer males than females because the second male lived to be 19. The all time lifespan record for a wild Peregrine Falcon is 19 ½.”
The male peregrine continues to hand out on a ledge at the nearby Verizon Cell Tower off of hampshire Street in Lawrence. Looks like he has found a warm air vent of the south side of the building. The perch location provide shelter from cold winds, south side sunshine exposure, suitable elevation, and most likely warm air exhaust from the building! He perches solo and we are not able to know if new female friend may become mating partner as breeding season approaches quickly.
