I didn't know falcons took prey on the ground. I thought they just struck in mid-air. Still learning.

Didn't Carol see CB going after ducks? Guess they do what they have to....to survive. Was the video bad?

2nd hatch today 8:50am   

NBG Eaglets, Thursday April 28
9:10 a.m.

A preliminary morning report:  the eaglets are doing well.  Wildlife rehabilitator Suzy Doell provided them with a large fish last night — most of it was chopped into smaller pieces, though she also left a large hunk of fish to see how well they’re tearing on their own.  As of this morning:  all fish was eaten!  More reports to come after the daily “morning roundsâ€� with the veterinary team.

WCV report

http://eaglenest.blogs.wm.edu/2011/04/23/rare-4-chick-bald-eagle-nest-in-virginia/ Blog  Wow 4!!

MVK:
The plane was landing and the male and female were fishing. The male got out of the way and the female could not. She was found with the fish next to her.

MVK:
I do not know what is going on with the male eagle, but suspect he'll hang around for a day or two before getting on with his life. He will almost certainly do just fine. Lament and self-pity are fortunately human traits not shared by most animals.

The male eagle will almost certainly find a new mate before the next breeding season. It is not unreasonable to hope that he will bring his new mate back to the same nest for the new season, though only time will tell about that.

Snippets from the chat

So is the fishing grounds next to the airport? Dad got out of the way, mom didn't. Do the planes fly right over the river? Dad may have seen mom get hit. It's just a tragic accident. Things like this actually keep me awake at night, worrying.

They have a hatch or hatches....not sure...eggshells!!

Look how handsome Buddy is! Having some fish!

2 hatched!! I snipped this off the video!

 

I guess the 3rd egg won't hatch..unusual for them.

They're BAAAACK! Momma is stuck inside again!

Hey MAK!  You made the CPF site!

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2011/04/sightings/rochester-falcon-watcher-maks-report/

Now that's a twist!!! 

Check into room 422 at the Hampton Inn and Suites on Bay Street and you get more than the usual view.

“It’s the hawk room,� said front desk clerk Lavernitra Roberson.

A pair of red-tailed hawks built its nest on the ledge just outside the room, hatched its two babies just before St. Patrick’s Day and have been dutifully tending to them since. Guests have been checking in and out of the room the whole time. The hawks don’t seem to mind. Guests have joked they should be charged more for the nature show.

Valet Michael Robinson, who like many of the staffers is thrilled to have the big birds so nearby, checks on the raptors regularly. Judging from what he saw this month, rabbit and squirrel are the hawk’s version of room service. On Friday, it looked like the one young hawk still in the nest had lunched on pigeon.

Red-tailed hawks are common in the Savannah area, said Dot Bambach, an avid birder and member of the Ogeechee Audubon Society. They’re known to nest on tall buildings and feast on the rodents attracted to Dumpsters.

“It’s a hawk that’s adapted well to civilization,� she said.

This particular pair has nearby squares to hunt in, as well as a straight shot across the river to a wooded area of Hutchinson Island.

“It’s a really good spot for them,� said Bambach as she listed all the nearby hunting opportunities.

You don’t have to be a hotel guest to enjoy the hawks. Their nest is visible from the street. Tom Havens, a civil engineer whose office on Factors’ Walk faces the Hampton Inn, noticed it Friday morning as he waited for the light at Abercorn and Bay streets. On the seventh floor building cornice he saw sticks hanging over the ledge. He could see a hawk moving in the nest, too.

For Havens, it’s a new chapter in his urban hawk watching. Last year he found a hawk eating a pigeon on the windshield of his car, which he’d parked in a nearby garage.

“Blood and feathers everywhere, but I was happy to see a wildlife element downtown,� he said.

Juvie ready to fledge

Savannah Now

Nine-year-old Joseph Bettios was watching TV one day in early April when he looked out the window and saw something looking back in at him.
He lives with his family on the fourth floor of an Avenue C apartment building near 32nd Street. There was no fire escape near this particular window, but he heard a scratching noise coming from the window – the scraping of a bird’s talons on the air conditioner.
“At first, I thought it was an owl,� he said during a brief interview. “When we looked it up, we found out that it was a hawk.�
The hawk stared at Joseph, and Joseph, in return, stared at the hawk.
“I called my father and he took pictures,� Joseph said.
“At first, I thought it was an owl.� -- Joseph Bet
The red tail hawk took off a short time later, only to come back.
Again, Joseph, and his two brothers, Christopher and Peter, heard the scraping on the air conditioner.
The hawk stayed around for a long time, too, leaving once more only to return.
“He stayed there about an hour and a half,� Joseph said.
Red tail hawks are not uncommon, according to Bayonne Bird Photographer Marvin Silber, who helped the Community News identify a red tail hawk that had perched in the Bergen Point section of the city a few years ago.
Silber, who had photographed birds throughout the area for decades, said he had seen hawks feeding previously in Stephen Gregg County Park.
Red tailed hawks, he said, sometimes feed along the eastern side of Bayonne, where rodents and other small wildlife make for easy prey.
Silber, an avid photographer of birds, has displayed and published his pictures for years, and has given lectures on birds in the area at the local library. A semi-retired window display person, he frequently visits nature areas throughout the state on his way to and from jobs.
Over the years, he has amassed more than 100,000 slides and an estimated 20,000 prints in his collection.
He has also conducted studies of local bird populations – including birds in Stephen Gregg Park – and he is currently collecting information on the number of species that can be found at the former Military Ocean Terminal site.
Some of the birds he's seen at the MOBTY include a green heron, a blue heron, a black belly plover, a yellow legs, a great egret, a cormorant, and an immature black crown heron - which is on the endangered list in New Jersey. During an interview this week, he recalled seeing a great egret in Stephen Gregg Park when he first started. He knew nothing about birds then, but had taken pictures while overseas.
Joseph said he had never seen a hawk so close up before.
“I’ve seen them flying,� he said. “But not like this.�
Best guess is that the hawk may have been seeking a location for a potential nest.
Joseph, who attends third grade at Dr. W.F. Robinson School in Bayonne, brought the pictures to school as part of a demonstration.
“The other kids were amazed,� he said.



Hudson Reporter

[Contains some disturbing footage]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyqijh2sMao# I didn't watch but I know lots can handle this better than me. Contains some disturbing footage

All decked out in her Thursday best.

[But to make the case such predators as peregrine falcons are responsible for Fifi’s disappearance is simply erroneous.]

Flight Lines: Are your pets at risk with peregrins?

If one is to believe the premise of a recent letter-to-the-editor in the Forum, there is a direct threat to the lives of pets everywhere in the metro area and it’s coming from the sky. Even more alarming, your babies are at risk. Or so the letter claimed.

The author was attempting to paint the Fargo-nesting peregrine falcons as “vicious predators� of all you hold dear. Only problem is, it’s mistaken, unless you are a small bird outside of town.

A person could make a reasonable argument against peregrines being within Fargo city limits given the fact the bird has no natural history here other than during the brief migratory periods of spring and fall. It’s a cliff nesting bird, after all, and there are no natural cliffs in the Red River Valley.

But to make such a case on the basis of threats to leashed pets just doesn’t hold water. Peregrines, you see, are almost exclusively bird-eaters. Usually the only time the birds eat something else – like rodents or fish – is when it’s pirated from other predators. Oh, and peregrines are open-air hunters and are not seen with any regularity within residential areas.

That’s not to say there aren’t natural predators in neighborhoods. There are. But odds are it’s one of the other raptors which have gained a foothold in urban areas.

Every time someone relates seeing a peregrine sitting on their back fence I smile. Then I try to explain the growing number of Cooper’s hawks in town. As recently as 20 years ago, a sighting of a Cooper’s hawk would generate a few excited phone calls to other birdwatchers. It was that uncommon. That is not the case anymore.

Cooper’s hawks are widespread woodland hawks and will potentially nest in any group of trees; they don’t mind residential neighborhoods at all. Today, the birds are found all over town during the nesting season. The diet of Cooper’s hawks is not unlike that of peregrines: Mostly birds, but with a few more small mammals such as rabbits and squirrels. Quite commonly, these birds will sit on fences.

A different falcon which has come to outnumber peregrines in the city is yet another recent addition to the urban raptor roster: the merlin. Like Cooper’s hawks, these medium-size falcons were darned hard to find a few years ago. A person would have been lucky to see one during fall or spring migration but that was about it. In 2005 Fargo’s first merlin nest was recorded. Now there are many in the metro area including West Fargo. That’s in keeping with Cornell University’s All About Birds website which says, “It is becoming a regular breeder in urban areas.� Merlins, like their larger cousins, are bird eaters.

Why these raptors have made the move into populated areas is largely a matter of opinion. Perhaps the best explanation comes from Bismarck birder and N.D. Birding Society’s webmaster, Corey Ellingson. He points to the growing number of bird feeders with accompanying concentrations of songbirds.

More to the point is his take on habitat change, and this is where he nails it in my opinion. Ellingson said, “In Bismarck we’ve seen the expansion of homes into new areas. Now we have woodland habitat where there used to be treeless prairie.�

The fact that homeowners see a fairly large bird sitting on a fence doesn’t mean their pets are threatened. Even a bold swoop doesn’t necessarily equate to a direct risk. More likely, the raptor is simply attempting to frighten dogs away from nest areas.

Despite all the urban legends depicting the slaughter of pets by hawks, eagles, owls, or falcons (such as the one about finding nests filled with collars), I’ve yet to hear a factual account of such events actually occurring.

Facts have a habit of getting in the way of a good story I suppose. It’s so easy to make assumptions about critters like raptors. They look somewhat menacing, they come equipped with hooked beaks and sharp talons, and they can appear seemingly out of nowhere, often when we are outside walking pets. But to make the case such predators as peregrine falcons are responsible for Fifi’s disappearance is simply erroneous. 

West Fargo Pioneer