Rfalconcam Forum

The issue: Peregrine falcons nesting high above downtown
Our view: Birth, banding of chicks are irresistible signs of spring

 

There are news editors among us who, good-hearted as they are in every other way, do not care for animal stories.

Nevertheless, the 2011 installment of the perennial story of the peregrine falcons in downtown Canton made The Rep’s front page Thursday. We’re glad.

The birth of falcon chicks — four of them this time — on building ledges has been an irresistible sign of spring’s arrival in Canton most years since 1997.

The banding of the chicks in this precarious environment by employees of the Ohio Division of Wildlife has become a spectator sport. Guests on the 14th floor of the Chase Tower on Wednesday for this year’s drama included students who were thrilled to tackle such an assignment for their science class.

A Rep photographer captured the children taking their own photos of the banding — photos that will forever remind them that they saw something special on a beautiful spring day in downtown Canton in 2011.

Meanwhile — Maverick, Mystic, take good care of your quadruplets. We’re as proud as you are to welcome Canton’s newest residents.

CantonRep

Very sad news from Canton, Ohio; it seems that we may have lost another of the great tiercels. A peregrine has been found dead in Canton, and it is believed that this is Maverick, the long-time resident male at the Canton nest. Banded black/green R/R, Maverick was the son of the great Bandit of the Rhodes Tower in Columbus, Ohio, and his mate Katie. After the death of his mate Priscilla in 2009, Maverick raised their chicks alone. In 2010, he found a new mate, Mystic, a 2008 daughter of Hillary and Titan at the Hilliard Road Bridge nest in the Cleveland area. Maverick is also the father of Matrix, the resident male at the Columbus nest in 2011.

Maverick is on the right in the photo below.



Peregrine falcon found dead in downtown Canton

CANTON — A dead peregrine falcon was found downtown on Wednesday afternoon. And it may be the carcass of Maverick, the father of falcon chicks in the city since 2003.

“I believe ... that may be Maverick,” said Damon Greer, a state wildlife official, referring to the falcon’s bands and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources database. “That’s not good news, but he probably would (have ended up) being replaced by another adult male ...

“They usually don’t die unless one of the other falcons kills him,” said Greer, assistant wildlife management supervisor with the Division of Wildlife, part of the ODNR. “That’s sort of the way the falcon game works, unfortunately. Maverick was getting pretty old, and I kind of expected that it wouldn’t be too long before he was replaced.”

Since 2003, falcon chicks have been hatching downtown each spring.

A Repository photographer spotted the dead peregrine falcon around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday while returning from an assignment.

The raptor was found along the side of the street near the sidewalk in the Fourth Street and Court Avenue SW area.

The Repository notified the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Greer said he would be researching the band information to determine the raptor’s origin.

According to the ODNR, peregrine falcons generally keep the same mate from year to year. However, if a member of the pair dies, the surviving falcon will accept a replacement mate as soon as a week after its mate died.

Maverick was born in 2000 in Columbus. Peregrine falcons may live to be 12 to 15 years old.

Maverick has two aluminum bands — one from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and another from the ODNR — for tracking and identification purposes.

In May, four falcon chicks hatched in a nest on a ledge on the 14th floor of Chase Tower at the Canton Club at Market Avenue and Tuscarawas Street.

Maverick and Mystic were the parents. Priscilla, who previously had mated with Maverick, died in 2009.

State wildlife officials banded the four peregrine chicks — three females and one male — as part of the Peregrine Falcon Management Program.

http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x1569737054/Peregrine-falcon-found-dead-in-downtown-Canton (http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x1569737054/Peregrine-falcon-found-dead-in-downtown-Canton)

I didn't know Maverick, but it's so sad when we lose one who's been around for so long.  He lives on in his many eyases...

Very sad, another loss!  :heart:

Awww poor little guy!  :crying:

 :(

Fly free, Maverick!.  You gave us many babies!
Fly on in peace!

Very sadly, it has now been confirmed that Maverick is the peregrine who was found. He was a wonderful mate and provider, and a great father to all his chicks. He leaves behind a very impressive legacy, and he will always be remembered.

Dead falcon is Maverick

ODNR confirms identity of dead falcon

CANTON —   A state wildlife official has confirmed that Maverick is the dead peregrine falcon that was found in downtown Canton.

Maverick, who has fathered falcon chicks since 2003 on a ledge at Chase Tower in downtown Canton, was discovered earlier this week along the side of the road.

After The Repository notified the Ohio Department of Natural Resources about the dead bird on Wednesday, Damon Greer, assistant wildlife management supervisor with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said the falcon appeared to be Maverick.

Greer said later that the information on the two aluminum bands attached to the falcon matched with Maverick.

“It looks like he’s got some head trauma from probably running into a building,” he said. “And he’s also been run over.”

“... From my estimation, what I would guess probably happened is he probably got in a fight with another bird ... and then he probably hit a building.”

 Peregrine falcons were removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 and were downgraded to threatened on the Ohio endangered species list in 2008.

The ODNR tracks about 18 peregrine falcon nests in the state.

http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x1819712849/Dead-falcon-is-Maverick?img=2 (http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x1819712849/Dead-falcon-is-Maverick?img=2)

Mystic and Maurice in Canton lost one of their fledglings to a window strike yesterday.  I had to share the beautiful tribute to "Ice" that was written by Matrix:

Thoughts on Ice...
To have felt the wind beneath him and to have it lift him up to the bottom of the clouds, to have chased his brothers and his mother...to have seen the world below from his peregrine's eyes...seeing in a way we humans dream about...Ice did this! He lived! And he died by it. Trying to not be sad, and instead to think of the others that never made it as far as he did...We know they all can't make it, that is the law...and we enjoyed the sights of an exuberant youngster, learning the ways, that was cut short, as so many before him were. Lets celebrate the fact that he got to be what he was meant to be, for however brief time he was his own master of the air.....

The dad, Mo, was injured slightly in what was thought to be a territorial battle on May 25th, just before the kids fledged.  After a week, he was released back to his site but, being very protective of the fledglings, Mystic did not welcome Mo back.  Since then, she has been feeding, teaching the fledglings all by herself and was doing a wonderful job of it.  I'm so sorry this had to happen when things were going so well.  Fly free, young Ice.  :sorrow:

I was reading all about them on C & C's page. I'm surprised Mystic didn't let MO back in. She went after him a few times and he was seen peeking in on the wing. Felt bad for him and the poor little one that died!! Fly free!  Falcons sure do surprise us every day. I don't think anyone really knew their behavior and new books need to be written! I believe they feel!

When he first came back, he stole some cached food which Mystic was upset about plus the kids had just fledged.  It was felt that Mystic thought Mo might harm them-treating him like an intruder even though he was only gone a week. It will be interesting to see if she accepts him after the kids are gone. Always learning something new...

Sorry to report, but more difficult news about the Canton site. DOW's Laurie passed along this e-mail from another DOW officer who picked up Sketch Sunday night after he was found dead by the Canton PD. This is all we know so far, so here's a copy of the message to Laurie:

"Canton PD called Sunday around 7 PM stating a falcon had died.

I picked up the falcon and will bring it to the D 3 office on Monday and drop off some other paperwork.

The band #'s are: Purple 1126-14261 37 R"

Sketch was the first to fledge, and Ice was the second. Now there are only two juvies left. Unfortunately, even after they make it past fledging there are so many other dangers out there, and as they start to chase and hunt they enter another risky stage.

RIP Sketch (and again, sorry Canton friends and all fellow peregrine fans)!

 :( So sad!

This is so sad to hear. Poor Mystic was doing such a great job with the fledglings by herself without Mo. Fly free, young Sketch.  :sorrow:

(This should be merged with the subject-Welcome to city's newest residents in Canton)

Wasn't sure where to put this but when C & C have news, which is a lot lately, it's about other nests too, so I figured I'd give them their own thread, like the Canada falcons!  :wave: Yeah-No?

OK with me. I just thought that with talk about Mystic, Mo, loss of Ice being on the Canton thread, it would show some continuity of the subject if this was included on there. No problem.

This latest topic is enough "Canton Only" to be merged into the existing Canton topic.

Noticing nuances: contemplating how PFs recognize their mates

A couple albums ago during a discussion about Mo and his progression from his injury and in re-bonding with Mystic, a question was posed as to whether or not Mo’s stained feathers on his wing may have had something to do with Mystic’s rejection of him post-release. Although we’re not aware of any specific research about this possibility, we’d like to address this query in terms of what we’ve observed and understand about a peregrine’s recognition of one another.

We’ve seen peregrines posture and vocalize in response to an intruding peregrine that we spot only because we see the peregrine looking up and the intruder is high enough to be a speck in the sky to us. Just as we as human observers notice patterns and colors for bird identification yet can learn to pay attention to subtleties of flight (including: the “Beethoven’s 5th” flap, flap, glide pattern of redtailed hawks; the “on a mission” direct line flight of merlins; the “fingers” noticeable at the ends of an eagle’s wing tips as the eagle soars; the “V”-shaped/dihedral pattern and tilting in the wind flight of turkey vultures; the faster flaps of accipitors like cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned hawks; and the cupped winged soaring of red-shouldered hawks, etc…) peregrines are thought to be tuned into subtle nuances of their mate so that they can recognize them in flight at a distance. We have to believe that their detection skills are so much more refined than those of the best of human observers, in addition to having exceedingly better eyesight than us. So, whereas we can learn to tell one raptor from another by their flight, it seems that peregrines can recognize individual peregrines by their subtle differences in flight.

Further, we have learned to recognize intruders even when their markings are similar and the leg bands either can’t be seen or the bird is un-banded because an intruding peregrine shows different patterns than resident birds. The standard perches chosen may be different and/or a new bird acts unfamiliar with the set-up of the site or surroundings and may try to perch where there is an inadequate ledge for perching. Again, if we can notice such differences one can only imagine how obvious it is to a peregrine who gauges so much about his or her survival and reproduction on the recognition of a mate versus a threat to the territory.

We did have an interesting experience at the Tower East site in 2010 that we posted about back then on CMNH. The resident female at the time (Diana) went to a rooftop and bathed out of view of the resident male (Stator). When she flew back toward the nest building all wet Stator began to attack her, first in the air and then by buzzing her as she was perched. She reacted and vocalized, but Diana had to endure his aggression for several passes before it seemed to “click” to Stator that it was her. We’re including some shots of this sequence in the album—you can see that Diana looked markedly different when wet (much darker with feathers sleeked to her body). Yet it didn’t take her drying off for Stator to start to recognize her. We assumed that there was some other recognizable feature and/or their verbal or nonverbal communication with one another. Diana did vocalize as Stator dove at her, and research indicates that other species of birds recognize one another through their individualized “voice” even when they seem to making the same sound.

Another experience that seems related is represented by several years ago when we attended a banding in Toledo where Stryker was the resident female. Stryker had a distinguishing mark over her right eye where a battle wound healed, but left a pigment-less white patch of feathers over her eye. From what we heard, Stryker got into the battle, but retained her site and the same mate (Angus), from that point on being easily identified by observers by the white streak over her eye. There were no reports of any alterations of the relationship among the pair, so there was no indication that the physical change impacted their interactions (although it’s not clear how closely monitored this pair was and we were too distant for regular trips to that site).

Once again, we welcome any data or research that adds to this discussion, but based on what we have seen and know to be true we believe that peregrines use a variety of factors to determine the identity of another peregrine including, but not limited to: flight style, markings, habits/patterns of perching and posturing, and vocalizations and/or “voice” fluctuations. We would suspect that even if Mystic were initially thrown off by Mo’s stained wing she would recognize him in other ways (much as Stator did with Diana even before she dried off from her bath, or as Angus seemed to recognize Stryker following her feather variation above her eye).


In a comment on FB they mentioned DC swooping on Beauty:  Chad Steele Dot Ca And Stator appear to have something in common! Males don't physically tackle females.. like females will males, but they swoop and harrass them...Dot Ca shows us that!!

 :good post: :thanx:

Interesting.  Like with dogs, they go on sight besides smell.  I had an Old English Sheepdog clipped down and the neighbor dog always loved playing with her.  The cat liked her.  The cat ran and hid when we first came home and the neighbor's dog growled at her until they got close to each other.  A neighbor up the street here raised cockatiels and they definitely knew if a person was "their person" or someone they knew.  I agree on the peregrines as far as vocalizations also.  Interesting Shaky!

You referred to Donna as Shaky. You made her dream come true.

 :bow:  LOL Shaky the 1st!

             :2funny:

 :spit:

 :banghead:  Hi Donna  :wave:

That would be "Shaky2 LOL  Hi Nora!!  ;)

Many many years ago, my mentor in Siamese Breeding had CFA's Best Siamese, who was in considerable demand as a stud.  One nice lady, who was interested in starting a new line of Himalayan cats, asked to breed her Persian girl to him.  That was OK, but Frodo stood back and clearly said, "Mom, I can't do this".  The solution was to clip the girl down, whereupon he finally consented to do the deed...
Carol
now in WV

Good one, Carol!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.743821212310320.1073741977.590679534291156&type=1 (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.743821212310320.1073741977.590679534291156&type=1)

Pray for Prey: Ethical challenges when watching predator birds   BY C & C

*Warning: this album contains descriptions and photos that may be disturbing to some, entailing a pigeon wounded during peregrine cooperative hunting.

Dead falcon is Maverick

(http://i63.tinypic.com/4qsb2r.jpg)  Maverick on Right

By Ed Balint

Posted Jan. 5, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 5, 2012 at 5:21 AM

CANTON
A state wildlife official has confirmed that Maverick is the dead peregrine falcon that was found in downtown Canton.
Maverick, who has fathered falcon chicks since 2003 on a ledge at Chase Tower in downtown Canton, was discovered earlier this week along the side of the road.
After The Repository notified the Ohio Department of Natural Resources about the dead bird on Wednesday, Damon Greer, assistant wildlife management supervisor with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said the falcon appeared to be Maverick.
Greer said later that the information on the two aluminum bands attached to the falcon matched with Maverick.
“It looks like he’s got some head trauma from probably running into a building,” he said. “And he’s also been run over.”
“... From my estimation, what I would guess probably happened is he probably got in a fight with another bird ... and then he probably hit a building.”
Peregrine falcons were removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 and were downgraded to threatened on the Ohio endangered species list in 2008.
The ODNR tracks about 18 peregrine falcon nests in the state.

So sad, poor guy!! :(

Maverick passed away 4 years ago, in 2012. Mystic and Maurice (Mo) were the resident Falcons last year.

Cam link:

https://cantonfalcon.click2stream.com/