Male MIA??

Well, these birds have a way of always keeping us guessing!  As I mentioned in the last post, Durand has been the only one of the pair incubating recently.  As the week wore on there have been no sightings of the male, which is pretty unusual since he had been dutifully sharing in incubation up until last weekend.

We try and keep an open mind and realize that there is a whole lot of the downtown area that we can't see via the cameras and in many cases just because we don't see a falcon via the cams doesn't mean it isn't around.  However, late today I received a report of a peregrine hitting a window of a nearby building downtown.  The observer thought the strike occurred on this past Monday and reported that, after hitting the window, the falcon glided away.  There have been no sightings of the male via the camera since late last weekend.  So, the plot thickens.

The best case scenarios are either that the bird that hit the window was not one of the resident falcons and the male is just choosing to stay out of view of the cameras.  Or it was the resident male and he recovered from the strike and is just choosing to stay out of view of the cameras.

The worse case scenario is that the bird that hit the window was the resident male and even though he was observed gliding away, he later succumbed to the injury.  Unfortunately, without proof of his demise by having any physical remains this is just speculation.

I certainly don't want to jump to conclusions but as the days go by without seeing him suspicion definitely rises.  We continue to monitor the situation and updates will be posted as information is available.  One thing for sure, as I mentioned in this recent interview with NPR, whatever is happening at the nest--whether good, bad or indifferent--it's always interesting and gives us the opportunity to observe and learn what and how things happen in nature.