Rfalconcam Forum

Peregrine falcon flies again after Sutton crash landing


Fallon, the wayward peregrine falcon, is flying high again after recovering from minor injuries sustained in a crash-landing.

The juvenile bird of prey featured in the Sutton Guardian in July after taking a wrong turn and plummeting into a multi-storey car park.

He was rescued by staff at Cheam Wildlife Care, in Frederick Avenue, and put in the care of licensed raptor specialists.

Paul Morin, founder of the sanctuary, said Fallon was now ready to terrorise other birds again after being released back into the wild last week.

A return to the wild: Rescued falcon set free at Ottumwa Generating Station


By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer

CHILLICOTHE — Two women behind the Ottumwa Generating Station were letting a killer go free.

Wildlife rehab specialist Kay Neumann spent more than a month with an immature peregrine falcon that had been rescued by Alliant employees.

“She was mostly dehydrated and hungry,” said Neumann, who specializes in working with birds of prey, or “raptors.”

These birds are instinctive hunters, killing and eating full-grown pigeons or quail. But the last time this peregrine baby was handled by humans, she screamed like she was the one being murdered.

And if those assisting with the Ottumwa Generating Station banding program back in June needed a reminder that these birds-of-prey are not pets, one of the chicks slashed part-way through a worker’s thick leather glove.

So when they found a drenched, shivering and grounded chick after a storm, the falcon’s actions — or lack of actions — let employees know something was very wrong.

They called Judi Johnson, the Ottumwa Generating Station employee who has taken the lead in watching out for the raptors.

“She let us walk right up to her, pick her up and hold her like a baby,” said Judi Johnson.

The bird was still too young to fly, and the mother peregrine falcon had three other young birds to care for.

The best theory now, Johnson said, is that the baby bird might have gotten knocked out of the nesting box, located 300 feet up the face of the Ottumwa Generating Station smokestack.

How could a two pound bird survive a 300 foot fall?

“Well, she may have flown a little bit,” guessed Johnson. “But she wouldn’t have survived the night if we hadn’t found her.”

Neumann agreed, both that the bird was in trouble, and that the immature bird’s wings could have functioned as a type of parachute during the fall.

But without being able to fly back to the nest to Mama, and without the ability to hunt, Neumann had to keep the falcon longer than usual at SOAR (Saving Our Avian Resources), the nonprofit organization in Carroll County.

After the bird was in Intensive Care, she was moved to the flight pen, where she began to learn how to fly. The pen also allows birds to practice hunting and gain strength before being released.

Neumann said this is the longest she’s ever kept a bird away from its mother and then attempted reintroduction.

“This is a first,” said Johnson before the bird’s arrival. “I hope for success. It’s been over a month. She could be accepted — or she could be rejected.”

But if that was the case, the extra time spent in rehab taught the bird both to fly and to find food.

But it was still a worry to let this “strange” bird loose at OGS. Would the other hunters recognize the long-lost family member?

When the baby was released, she began flying and calling out. At first, the response was not welcoming: An adult peregrine dove down to chase the “newcomer.”

But after a tense few minutes, Neumann said, the pair went toward the nest. The adult allowed the bird to enter the box, and then went about its business.

“I was so afraid the mother [falcon] would kill her,” Johnson admitted after the release.

Neumann said the release appeared successful, and believed the returned bird would thrive.

Reporter Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com. Information about the rescue of eagles, hawks and other birds of prey in Iowa can be found at www.soarraptors.org.

Camera catches egg thief red-handed


The hand of a thief pictured by a remote camera taking a stone-curlew egg from a nest on Salisbury Plain, July 2009

RSPB

The hand of a thief pictured by a remote camera taking a stone-curlew egg from a nest on Salisbury Plain, July 2009

    * Photos More pictures

A bird snatcher has been caught red-handed trying to swipe rare eggs from a nest monitored by the RSPB.

Pictures of a hand taking a stone-curlew egg were discovered when workers from the RSPB viewed the images from a camera set to monitor a nest on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

The same hand was then snapped moments later replacing the egg before someone returns about 12 hours later and moves the camera to point away from the nest.

The camera was turned off altogether four days later.

It is thought the eggs were taken as there was no evidence in the nest of them hatching.

The images were taken sometime in the middle of July and a £1,000 reward has now been offered for information leading to the conviction of those involved.

Andrew Taylor, one of the RSPB's field workers, said: "We went to retrieve the camera and images once we thought the young birds had hatched and left the nest.

"But when we loaded them on to our computers we could not believe what we were seeing - a human hand lifting the eggs.

"Fearing the worst, we went back to the site to investigate further.

"The nest, just a shallow depression in the ground, had no sign of any eggshell remnants, a sad indication that the eggs might have been taken rather than hatched.

"While viewing one of the adults later, we saw the bird scraping the ground to create another nest, again, a reliable indication of nest failure.

"Although we cannot be absolutely sure, this all points almost undoubtedly towards the eggs being stolen."

Stone-curlew are a nationally rare species and the RSPB with support from Natural England has spent more than 20 years working with farmers and land owners, including the Ministry of Defence, to reverse the historical decline of the bird of the Wessex chalk downland.

Ian West, head of investigations for RSPB, said: "Egg collectors still pose a threat to our scarcest species.

"In this case, all the evidence points towards the eggs being taken which, if so, is a tragedy for the birds and for this wonderful species.

"It continues to sadden me that despite egg collecting being a crime, and despite increased fines and the threat of custodial sentences, there is still a sad minority of individuals out there intent on pursuing this cruel obsession with the eggs of our wild birds."

Anyone with information about the theft can call the RSPB's investigations team in confidence on 01767 68055

What scumbags, It's so sad  :( poor birds.