Friday, June 24, 2016

Spotted: Juvenile Falcon Enjoying a Tasty Treat

Special guest blog update from intern Madyson Epperson:
Since our last update, it has been fairly calm at the nest ledge. All is presumed to be well! The FalconCams have been relatively quiet, as have been the reports and sightings of the falcons. However a sighting was reported earlier this week and along with it a few photos. A juvenile falcon is seen here on the LeVeque Tower having a pigeon for an early morning breakfast! You can tell it is a juvenile due to the vertical streaking on its chest and overall brown coloration of the head and body. A big thank you to Mike Horn for sharing these photos with us!

While preparing this blog post yesterday morning, we received a report that one of the juveniles was possibly grounded near State & High Streets and might not have been able to get back up in the air. Donna and I loaded the rescue equipment into the van and made a trip downtown to check everything out! Upon investigation, the falcon was nowhere to be found, although several people working in the area had seen it on the sidewalk. 
After we got back to the office, Donna received an email from a concerned citizen who was generous enough to send some photos from earlier in the morning when the falcon was first seen, confirming it was in fact, one of the juvenile falcons.  In the photos the falcon looked healthy and did not seem to be injured.   It is our hope that it had been only temporarily grounded while possibly chasing its prey and that it was then able to get back up in the air! 
If you are downtown hoping to see the peregrines, it is often easier to locate them by listening for the screeching of the juveniles while watching the sky for mock chases and fights between the young and adults!