Monday, July 12, 2010

Another New Female!

Interesting news - another adult female showed up yesterday and was observed in the nestbox! This falcon is banded but the color combination of the leg bands and codes have not been obtained yet. We'll continue to keep watch and hopefully this peregrine will stand in front of the ledge camera where we'll be able to get details on her markers.

This makes the 2nd new falcon to come into the Columbus territory in a week. As I have stated in the past, there are any number of "floaters" out there - unmated peregrines that are traveling about looking for the chance to establish a territory. Sometimes it takes many months to get a new mate in a territory (like Trooper), other times it takes much, much less. Of course, there's no guarantee that this female will stay...even though she has already been observed interacting with Trooper only time will tell if she remains here in Columbus to become our next nesting female. What might make her leave? She could have a territory of her own already somewhere else and is simply passing through. Or there could be yet another female that comes in and challenges her. Regardless, web viewers will no doubt have a lot to watch for in the coming months making the Columbus FalconCam one of the best "reality shows" around.

Spirit is assumed to be doing well. There have been no actual sightings of her but vocalizations heard via the audio on the live streaming over the weekend indicate she was buzzing the nest ledge. She no doubt is well on her way to mastering flight and likely is even pursuing prey on her own by now. Even with an adult female around, Trooper will still keep watch and provide food if needed.