Confirmation on Dart!

Last Wednesday, there was an unexpected visit to the ledge by Dart!   He was very cooperative and sat on the ledgecam platform so that his identity could be confirmed via leg band codes:


We were definitely glad to know he is alive and well.  Hoshi also has been seen on the ledge several times since fledging.  As recently as Monday there was yet another sighting of a juvenile on the ledge, although there was no confirmation of which young falcon it was.

Durand and Spark have been fairly active at the nest ledge also--checking in, scraping in the nest box and generally just being present.  These behaviors serve to continue their bond to each other and the territory.  Here they were recently:

Blaze remains in rehab.  She is doing quite well and has recovered from the keel issue and is now fully capable of flight.  At least on paper, she is ready to be released.  But timing is everything in these cases and unfortunately, timing is not good for Blaze.  The quandary is, when she was grounded and taken in for evaluation, she had not yet learned to hunt on her own.   She has been gone from the territory for an extended length of time during a key period in the nesting cycle (when the juveniles become independent of the adults) that there is a definite concern with releasing her back in the downtown area.  As mentioned above, Durand and Spark have shifted gears from raising youngsters to bonding with each other and the site so they probably would no longer provide food for Blaze.  In fact, there is the possibility that they might even consider her an intruder into the territory and could be aggressive towards her, were she to be released back in Columbus, especially at or near the nest site. 

So, for now she remains in limbo while we evaluate all the options for release.  We'll continue to post here as the outcome is determined.