The fledglings packed plenty of flying into a little more than an hour. Plus, I got to see Seneca out of the playpen for the first time! Here are dozens (!) of pictures and a report of all the action:
http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/06/morning-fun-for-fledglings.html

Jim

I see that Lisa has posted about Seneca’s first flight.  This is such awesome news!  🙂

Jeanne called me a little after 8:00 a.m. to tell me that Seneca had fledged earlier this morning.  Yay!  I told her I’d be out as soon as possible, since the morning crew had to leave and no one was scheduled after they left.

When I arrived at Watcher’s HQ, Linda was just setting up her chair.  I gave her the good news and we started our Watch.  Seneca was still on the column between the “K” and the “O” on the 20th floor.  There was another fledgling on the east side of the 16th floor and Kaver was on the southeast corner, 18th floor.  Seneca kept running, and hopping and flapping her wings, trying to get Kaver’s attention. No others were in sight.

For the first hour it was fairly quiet.  Both Mariah and Kaver took turns flying around the tower, coaxing their young into flight.  There were a couple of takers.  We had 3 in the air at once, with Seneca watching.  It was getting warm so they all settled down.

Kaver brought in food.  That woke up some of them.  Mariah took off from the tower and attempted to take the food from Kaver.  Kaver had other ideas.  He kept the food and landed on the southeast corner of the 17th floor.  After about a minute of preparation, I saw one of the fledglings come around the tower, walk up to Kaver and snatch the prey.  This is why Mariah wants the food.  She has better control of which fledglings receive the food.  Kaver just gives it over to whichever one takes it.  LOL

Again it was quiet.  Quest had appeared just below Seneca on the 19th floor, southwest corner.  That’s all it took to get Seneca flapping again.  As we watched, Seneca took off and headed towards the High Falls Smoke Stack.  She was coming in too low, so she turned and headed back to the tower.  Seneca attempted to land on top of the peaked metal roof, east of the playpen.  We watched as she clung to the edge and flapped, trying to pull herself up to the peak.  No such luck.  She let go, slid down the metal roof, spread her wings and took flight, again heading for the stacks.  Still low, she turned and headed back to the tower, missed a landing on 17 and flew around to the north side of the tower, where we couldn’t see her land. 

I saw Quest take off and fly around to the northside in search of her sister.  By the time I arrived at the north side, I spotted Seneca sitting up on the 19th floor.  Quest was on the 18th floor, top of the Philadelphia Tower.  They were very close to each other.

It always amazes me when the fledglings seem to support each other.  Linda left and I had to leave at 10:30 a.m.  No other Watchers had shown up, so I walked around the tower on my way.  Kaver was on the lilies, Mariah was on the southwest corner of the 16th floor.  Seneca had made her way to the 19th floor, northwest ledge.  She was now just above Quest, who was snoozing on the philadelphia tower just below her.  There was one fledgling on the 16th floor, westside.  I couldn’t find #4 & #5, but I was sure they were up there snoozing in any shade they couldn find on the tower.

I was very pleased by Seneca’s flight.  I guess waiting longer and taking the time to strengthen her flight muscles was a good thing.  The last of our eyases have fledged.  Let the fun begin!  😉

Carol P.

Good Morning All:

I start this morning report with “Breaking News!”

Seneca has fledged!!!

Yes, I repeat, Seneca has finally fledged. She was perched between the K and the O of the KODAK sign when I arrived.

Signing off,

Lisa McK.

The Falcon Flyer

Lucy and I arrived to headquarters at about the same time to find David watching.  For most of the evening we saw all 5 juveniles and Mom and Dad. Dan and Shaky and Carrie joined in the watch. And later Joyce came!

We had a great view of everyone and the juvies were lined up on the 15th 16th and 17th floor  all on the Southeast side most of the night. About every 20 minutes through the evening we were treated to some flying .

We saw Mariah fly in beautiful circles  catching all of the good drafts  She stayed close to the tower showing her offspring how it is done.  She landed in many different places, but seemed to always have an eye on Seneca who has still decided to go no farther than the floodlights in the play pen.

Master of the skies, Zephyr (z-man) flew off and buzzed his dad off of the camera and then buzzed his mom off of the lilies! Do you think he may have been hungry?

Everyone ( including SB) took turns flying around in the traditional circles that   we have grown to cherish.

Zephyr even flew with Kaver, as if to imitate his moves. Quest attempted a flight to the stack but was too low and turned around ,landing back on the 17th level to join a sibling.

Mariah and Kaver gave us a skilled aerial show, effortlessly floating above us in graceful circles. A few attempts at a stoop were made but nothing too serious..  all the while the kakking of the children was profound. There was a lot of noise all night  everyone seemed to want their parents attention. It was a very cooperative watch…I never lost sight of anyone.  This clutch seems very obliging!

I am finally able to report about yesterdays watch. There were some technical difficulties that prevented me from posting last night.

I was greeted with the sound of kakking from multiple fledglings when I arrived at 7:30 a.m. I immediately saw Kaver flying with prey trailing behind him, while Quest was chasing him. Soon they were joined by Zephyr. A food transfer was attempted but Zephyr missed and the prey fell to the ground. Dan retrieved the prey from the ground, which turned out to be a pair of wings connected by bare bones, no meat at all on this specimen.

The early morning watchers, Larry, Jeanne and Dan reported that earlier there was a game of talon tag between Zephyr and Susan B., with both fledglings flying almost to the smokestack and back to the tower.

At 7:40 a.m. Mariah and Kaver were both on the southeast corners of the 16th and 17th floors respectively. Seneca was still in the playpen. Diamante was on building 10, just north of Kodak tower. Quest joined her brother on building 10. Then Zephyr flys around building 9, just south of Kodak tower. He and Mariah engage in a game of chase, until Zephyr calls “time out” and rests for a minute on the northeast corner of the 18th floor. Then he is off again, this time Quest and Mariah join him in a game of talon tag.

After the game had ended and all falcons had returned to the tower and/or surrounding buildings, Mariah and Kaver stoop towards building 9, south of Kodak tower, going after the pigeons that unwisely decided to nest on building 9. Zephyr also comes off the tower and follows Kaver’s lead. Kaver lands on the lilies at the top of the tower and Zephyr continues to circle the tower eventually landing on the playpen railing for a minute.

Quest decides to fly from the tower to the High Falls Smokestack and Zephyr joins her. Mariah starts flying around the tower with food she had stashed on the tower, trying to encourage the others, Susan B. and Seneca to fly. Zephyr follows his mother and lands on the 19th floor south side of the tower. Quest also leaves the smokestack and flies to the “O” of the Kodak sign. Mariah takes the food to the playpen for Seneca.

Well all of the above happened in the first half hour, it was a “wild and crazy” morning. At 8:00 all the watchers had left and I was alone for a short time until Carol P. arrived. Kaver was on the lilies, Mariah above the nest near the southeast rocket; Seneca was still in the playpen. Quest leaves the letter ‘O’ and knocks Kaver off the lilies. Susan B. is seen running around the 19th floor ledge to the north side of the building. Shortly after that Mariah and Susan B. are flying around the building and Susan B. lands on the 16th floor on the south side.

Diamante wakes up from his nap and circles around the tower before landing on the 18th floor east side and disappearing into the railing. Suddenly Mariah flies low over our heads and is joined by Kaver as they soar around the tower. Kakking is heard from the fledglings, but no one joins Mariah or Kaver.

Around 8:30 there was a familiar foul smell, no not the sewer, but a skunk! I did not see the little varmint but I certain could smell him. Not much happened for the next 3.5 hours. Some flights by Mariah and Kaver. There were 2 fledglings on the cupola, Quest and Diamante. Seneca was still in the playpen. Susan B. was camped out on the 16th floor. I eventually found out that Zephyr was in the playpen with Seneca. It was obviously time for a mid-morning nap for everyone.

Around 1:00 Diamante decides to start flying an attempt to land on the lilies, but he is hit by an updraft and floated above the lilies. Next he tried to land on the metal flag at the top of the building. Again the updrafts prevented him from landing. At 1:30 Susan B. was exploring her new hang out, the 16th floor. She ambulated along the south side ledge to the southwest corner. After a half hour on the southwest corner, she walked back to the southeast corner, all the while remaining on the ledge of the 16th floor.

Carol P. and Susan C. joined me for the afternoon watch. Around 2:30 we all hear kakking coming from the tower. Carol yells, “their off.” We watch as Mariah soars around the tower, going higher and higher. Then she circles around to the south and approaching fast, lands on the arch ledge above the nest box. Soon afterwards Kaver returns to the tower.

At 3:15 Kaver takes off and flies around the tower trying to entice Quest to fly. She takes the bait and follows Kaver toward the gorge. Once over the apartment building she circles back to the tower and lands on the east side of the 20th floor. A short time later Quest flies around to the west side of the tower and tries to land on the peak. The updrafts make her unsteady so she leaves and starts flying around the tower. Her brothers who have been MIA all afternoon are intrigued by their sister’s flight and they both escape from the playpen to join Quest in a game of talon tag. After a while Quest tires and lands on the railing at the 20th floor, south side, yet Diamante and Zephyr continue the game of talon tag. After a couple minutes more of talon tag and watching the boys invert themselves to go talon to talon. Both boys fly over to the smokestack. Around 3:40 one of the boys returned to the north side of the tower.

I spent the last hour just observing and not taking notes. When I left at 5:00, Quest was on the 19th floor railing, one of the boys was on the smokestack, the other was on the north side. Susan B. was still camped out on the 16th floor and Seneca was still in the playpen.

Lisa McK.

In a welcome change from my experience yesterday, there was an abundance of flying to be seen this morning. I’ve written about it and posted pictures for you to enjoy at Peregrinations:
http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/06/mischief-and-mistakes.html

Jim

I finally had some time to download my pictures and a video snippet from today’s Watch.  My report is written up on this Kodak Gallery Album.  I hope this works.  It’s the first time I’ve tried to do my report this way.

Enjoy!

Carol P.

First the Kodak Gallery Album.  No sign on necessary for either.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=171aim5l.4egj94p9&x=0&y=-eknxao&localeid=en_US

or tiny url

http://tinyurl.com/6as5p2

and now for the video.  A game of talon tag anyone!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=171aim5l.21h9oqul&x=0&y=-l5g2en&localeid=en_US

or tiny url

http://tinyurl.com/66q4hh

Carol P.

It was a pretty quiet and predictable watch.

Quest flew from the Kodak building  to the smokestack . It was the first time I have seen a juvenile fly this year. Great flight  and good landing! I liked that!

Seneca did spend the whole evening in the playpen, Mariah watched over her early in the evening as Seneca ate her meal. 

We had a bit of action when Susan B flew and tagged Mariah, hoping for a meal . SB landed on the level with the scallops ( I never know what level number they are!)  and remained there for the rest of my watch. It was good to see her back in action!

Diamonte flew over to the stack to be with his sister. They stayed there most all of the night.

Kaver stayed on the Rocket ship level, supervising all of the action.

Everyone stayed in place, except Mariah e=who seemed to flit around to check on everyone.

There was no feeding action from my view until later when Mariah tried to stoop a Mourning Dove, right by us on the kodak building veranda. She missed, but the dove hid under the railing by the building all night. As it got dark one of the birds from the stack flew over to the tower. 

A short time later we saw Mariah chase the other off of the stac and on to the tower. it was really amazing to see her actually corral a juvenile to the tower. Soon after, Kaver left the tower ~so as to say , his work was done for the night and Mariah had things under control, and he flew to the south  his favorite hunting ground.

We saw everyone but Zephyr.  I wouldn’t worry about him , though, he has shown himself to be a successful fledgling.

Liza O

Not much activity to report from me, I’m afraid… I did catch a few shots of the fledglings though, including a few flight shots.  You can see themhere:
http://marchlords.com/birdblog/2008/06/fledglings-spend-day-slacking.html

Jim

8:00
Arrive to find Dan S on watch. He reported 3 juvies on the stack earlier. He showed me Quest on 17 and 1 juvie on 16, both on the SE corners.

8:10 – 8:30
Took a walk around the neighborhood. I found 2 juvies on 16 and 17 SE corner, one on 19 NE, Kaver on the landing pad NW. No sighting on the stack, Bldg 9 or 10.

8:50
1 juvie arrives from the east to the 19th floor east-side. Then it goes north around the Kodak bldg and fliews west. I lost sight of it over Bldg 9.

9:00
1 juvie spotted on the south face of 20, sitting on a rail.

9:10
Quest (on 17) and Susan B (on 16) are spreading their wings to full length in the sun.

9:15
A short flight for Quest to 19 NE. She disappears up there.

9:20 – 9:30
Based on the following activity, I had Susan B on 16, Seneca in the playper, Diamante on 20 south, Quest on 17. I had 2 falcons fly in and out. All flew less Seneca and Susan B. I had M&K in the air with 2 juvies over State St and around the tower. 2 juvies were in talon tag. The parents were encouraging the juvies to fly. One juvie was on 19 SE. The parents buzzed it several times.

9:32
Zephyr and Mariah were chasing around the 10th floor and over Bldg 9.

9:35 M&K were working on Susan B (16 SE) by flying loops near her and over State St. 1 juvie flew to the stack (?Zephyr). Then M&K were over the river where they flew loops together.

9:38
Susan B is on 16 SE. Seneca is in the playpen. 1 juvie (?Zephyr) is on the stack. So this means that I had Zephyr, Diamante and Quest flying together.

9:50
Zephyr walked to the far side of the stack. I can’t see him now.

9:52
Starting a walk up Morrie Silver Way.

9:55
Saw one adult on the lilies.

10:05
Finished my walk aournd the neighboorhood.

10:10
1 juvie male flies into 17 SE

10:55
The male on SE 17 goes to the northside.

11:09
M&K are cirlcing. 1 juvie is in the air. It went to the north side. Mariah went to the scrape. One is on the SE floodlight. 1 is on 16 NR. Kaver is on the lilies.

11:40 Kaver is gone.

11:45 Kaver brings food to 17SE directly above Susan B on 16SE. She is crying out. Kaver is cleaning. Mariah is still at the scrape. Kaver brings the food to Susan B and drops it off. Seneca is still on the SE floodlight.

2:10
There is now a strong wind out of the east. Strong enough to blow my chair over.

2:15
1 juvie on the east playpen railing (not Seneca). 1 juvie on the 18th floor south side railing. 1 juvie on the SE corner of the playpen. 1 juvie on the SE floodlight. 1 juvie on the 20th NE pyramid on the 20th.

2:25
1 male juvie lands on the lilies. Then goes to launch pad – northside with both some nice flying and a nice landing.

2:30
Susan B is still on 16th NE.
Seneca is in the playpen.
1 juvie on the east launchpad.
1 juvie by the SE rocket.
Kaver on the lilies.

2:47
Zephyr and Diamante play talon tag from the tower to the stack.

2:55
Kaver takes off over the river. 1 juvie from the stack follows and chases with loops, dives and climbs. The adult goes further out over the river. The juvie comes back. I lost both behnd bldgs. Susan B and Seneca are both still in the same place.

3:10
3 juvies sighted with one each on 16, 17 and the floodlight, all on the SE.

3:30
The 17SE juvie flies loops around the tower and goes to the stack. Nice landing. Strong flight.