2 on the Wing!

Two of the falcons took their first flights today!  One at about 7:30 am and the second about 4:30 pm.  One fan watching in Buffalo, NY witnessed both fledges and reported in each case the falcon took off from the ledge under its own power in a purposeful manner.  Those types of fledges are much preferred over accidental!

Here is a video of the first fledge from this morning. The first bird leaving the ledge when the video begins is the adult male. The take-off of the nestling-turned-fledgling is near the end of the video at 3:11. A straight and strong flight off of the ledge is clearly visible.

Just before 6 pm this evening I received a call from Holly Zachariah, a reporter with the Columbus Dispatch, about a falcon she found sitting on her car:

The falcon appears just fine, albeit perhaps somewhat confused seeing new surroundings other than the nest ledge for the first time. Before we could even respond, the young peregrine flew out of sight near the Trinity Church at Broad and 3rd.  Holly was extremely helpful in reporting this to me and keeping an eye on the falcon until it left the scene on its own.  Had it been a rescue situation, her willingness to keep tabs on the bird until we got there would have been key. Unless we hear otherwise, we'll assume this bird is doing just fine as it figures out how to navigate downtown.

Typically, males fledge first so perhaps these two flyers today were males.  Since females are larger than the males they normally stick around on the ledge a few days longer than their male nest mates.  Depending on the sex of the remaining nestlings we could see one or more fledge tomorrow or not until next week some time.  Here is one of the remaining chicks lounging on the ledge earlier today:

And from yesterday, here is one of the last looks of all 4 fledglings on the ledge at the same time: