A PEREGRINE falcon chick – the only one born at Lincoln Cathedral this year – has finally fledged and left the nest.

But the four-and-a-half-month-old bird of prey almost didn't make it after tumbling hundreds of feet from one of the building's towers on her maiden flight.

RSPB officer Kathryn Leigh, who was keeping an eye on the family of peregrines, said young Hertica (named after the Latin for nettle) was lucky to have escaped injury when she fell into the enclosed Nettle Yard.

"She was trying to be an overachiever and fly at only 42 days old," she said.

"She fell down and couldn't get out again – but her parents were dropping food down to her.

"After four days we went in and helped her back up the tower.

"Since then, it has been a joy to see her finding both her feet and her flying wings."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/content/webcams/peregrine_falcon_webcam.shtml Webcam

[MAKfalcon (MAK):]

MAKfalcon (MAK): Team Peregrine has ended the day with a Juvenile female PEREGRINE FALCON! Final Count-1O3

Link:
http://twitter.com/MAKfalcon/statuses/24233030054

CONGRATS Team Peregrine for a long day and a job well done!! Nice goin, 103 and a ju-vie  YAY!!  Thanks guys, ya done good! 

Researchers have observed that male bowerbirds create a staged scene, only visible from the point of view of their female audience, by placing pebbles, bones, and shells around their courts in such a way that objects (or a bowerbird male) appear larger or smaller than they really are, as shown in this still image from a video of the behavior.

Bowerbird males are well known for making elaborate constructions, lavished with decorative objects, to impress and attract their mates. Now, researchers reporting online on September 9 in Current Biology, have identified a completely new dimension to these showy structures in great bowerbirds. The birds create a staged scene, only visible from the point of view of their female audience, by placing pebbles, bones, and shells around their courts in a very special way that can make objects (or a bowerbird male) appear larger or smaller than they really are.
"Great bowerbirds are the first known animals besides humans who create a scene with altered visual perspective for viewing by other individuals," said John Endler of Deakin University in Australia. (He says the same principle is commonly used to make structures or scenes of buildings, gardens, or amusement parks appear larger than they are; bowerbirds appear to use it for the reverse effect, to make a scene appear smaller than it is.)

The effect only works from one viewing angle. Great bowerbirds ensure that females will see their courts from one particular spot by constructing an avenue -- two rows of tightly packed sticks with a stick floor -- that opens onto a court. That court is essentially a stage where the male displays for females.

Endler noticed something that had apparently been missed before, in part, he suspects, because no one had considered the females' viewpoint before. The great bowerbirds line their courts with objects whose absolute size increases with distance from the avenue entrance and the female viewers.

That makes the sizes of things appear to be more regular, a feature that might be aesthetically appealing to the birds and might also help the males to stand out. But there might be another advantage. Assuming the birds see things essentially the same way we do, that forced perspective could lead females to "perceive the court as smaller than it is and therefore perhaps perceive the male as larger than he is," Endler suggested.

Experimental manipulation of the courts by the researchers showed how important that geometrical pattern must be to the males. "When we reversed the gradient -- putting smaller objects further away and larger objects closer to the avenue- the birds put the gradient back in three days."

Endler said it isn't yet completely clear why the males do this. Other aspects of bower decoration have been shown to influence mating success, and it is possible that the quality of the forced perspective may be yet another way that females pick a winner. The researchers are now conducting experiments using motion-activated video cameras to test whether the size gradients are related to mating success.

It's also not clear how mentally challenging it really is for the birds to manage this feat. The males might get things placed just right through trial and error. But they may actually have a direct sense of perspective and "know" to put small objects close and larger objects further away, Endler says. That's something else the researchers intend to tease out through further investigation.

And that brings Endler to one last big question, whose answer is problematic even when one is talking about humans: Is it art?

For Endler, the answer is yes. "Visual art can be defined as the creation of an external visual pattern by one individual in order to influence the behavior of others, and an artistic sense is the ability to create art," he says. "Influencing behavior can range from attraction to and voluntary viewing of the art by others to viewers mating with the artist; this is what bowerbirds do. Our definition equates art with conventional signals that are not part of the artist's body. In this sense, bowerbirds are artists and their viewers judge the art, implying an aesthetic sense in birds."

We lost contact with everything at Times Square at 10 AM. We're looking into it

 

Oh, Paul!  That really is the coolest bird job ever!!!
If only I was 30 years younger!
Oh well, it's at least worth a couple of good daydreams!! 

Thanks for the heads-up! 

Anne in Toronto

Your never too old to fly with birds!

Eggs in incubator after confiscated

 I'm so glad he got CAUGHT!

[94 thousand raptors and other birds that pass over the ridge along Lake Superior each fall.]

A special ceremony today officially opened a new observation platform at the Hawk Ridge Nature Preserve in Duluth.  The new platform will provide great views of migratory birds as they make their way south over the next several weeks.  Major funding fo the viewing platform was provided by the Minnesota Power Foundation.  Hawk Ridge Director, Janelle Long, says the platform helps to safely keep people off the road and provides visitors with a great vantage point for watching the average 94 thousand raptors and other birds that pass over the ridge along Lake Superior each fall. 

La Junta, Colo. —

Mississippi kites are common in southeastern Colorado, despite reports last year contending that Lamar was the western limit of the small raptor's range in the state.

Considered beautiful birds, adults are light grey on the head, body, and inner wings, and darker gray on the tail and outer wings. Males tend to be somewhat lighter than females on their heads and necks. They are extremely graceful in flight and can be seen in the skies above La Junta on most days. They tend to soar in groups rather than as singles.

Mississippi kites are primarily bug-eaters, which they take on the wing. They are a friend to farmers, eating grasshoppers, cicadas, and similar crop-damaging pests. kites will take larger prey, such as smaller birds, with reports of kites taking rabbits as well. This writer recalls watching a kite pluck a small songbird out of mid-air in front of the police department, at roof-top height. The kite streaked in, struck the songbird leaving a puff of feathers, and disappeared into the trees. This behavior seems to be more prevalent later in the nesting season. Conjecture has it that the adults are driven to find larger portions of protein for rapidly growing nestlings. Males and females share in raising the young. Less than half the mated kite pairs will successfully raise their young. The eggs and young are considered delicacies by raccoons, owls, and other predators.

The kite's range has expanded over the last several decades. They now go as far north as the southern New England states, and well into Colorado. It is not uncommon to find them nesting in urban areas. They migrate to southern South America during winter in the northern hemisphere. They are not an endangered species, but the birds, their nests - empty or not - and their eggs and young are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

A reader took this picture of a young Mississippi kite recently. It was on the same branch all day and another brought it food every 15 to 20 minutes, the reader said.

A wealthy suburb of Calgary is without mail service, after a hawk repeatedly dive-bombed its letter carrier, even breaking a helmet she wore to protect herself.

Residents of over 150 homes will have to pick up their mail at a local depot until the hawk makes its annual migration to Argentina.

The attacks began in June, but the carrier continued delivering the mail, eventually donning a bicycle helmet. The hawk swooped with so much force, it broke the helmet.

“Obviously it would have caused major injury if she hadn’t been wearing it,� said Teresa Williams, a spokeswoman for Canada Post.

The letter carrier did not sustain any injuries. “I don’t believe it has sunk its talons into her skin,� Ms. Williams said. “Just the emotional trauma.�

Neighbours believe the ornery bird, a Swainson’s hawk with two fledglings, has singled out the carrier as a threat to its young.

“It doesn’t bother anybody else in the neighbourhood. Only the letter carrier,� said Kathryn Chan, whose property line almost touches the tree.

A provincial fish and wildlife officer who came to review the situation suggested the hawk likely recognized the carrier’s face, and residents think her atypical movements might also play a part.

“She’s sort of moving fast and darting from home to home,� Ms. Chan speculated.

Area residents are able to go about their business, gardening and walking their dogs.

Ms. Williams said most people wrongly believe aggressive dogs pose the only serious danger to postal workers.

“When you’re standing outside on a beautiful day like this thinking, ‘Oh man I’d love to be a letter carrier,’ remember: Even on a beautiful day it can be hazardous,� Ms. Williams advised.

Birds are a common problem. Just last month, mail delivery was suspended to residents on four blocks in Moose Jaw, Sask., after hawks persisted in daily aerial attacks, prompting a government spokesman to suggest residents protect themselves with umbrellas.

Some residents are angry that Canada Post has suspended delivery for much of the neighbourhood when the hawk is only targeting one part of it.

But Canada Post says it has to put the safety of its employees first. Removing the birds is out of the question, Ms. Williams said.

“We have to let nature take its course. Hawks are a protected species, so we can’t move the nest. We can’t just shoo them away. They have a right to be there.�

That might mean waiting a few more weeks until the birds leave their nests. “They’ve got to teach their young to fly, and once they’re strong enough they will leave and head south,� Ms. Williams said.

[JC]

JC

30 Whoo hoo Have a great one!

[Debbie]

Debbie 

Archer at nest 7:07
Beauty follows
He's doing his..well..usual
"Is she with me guys?"
Not yet Archer
"Why do I continue this charade?"
"YO...did you see me like Bowing?" "I'm so going for breakfast!"
"I'LL HAVE CROW!"
"All that man wants to do is bow bow bow, it's the same thing day after day!"

As New York prepares to observe the ninth anniversary of September 11, state leaders have a message for the world: Life is returning in a very robust way to ground zero. While much of the world's news media focused on the issue of a mosque near ground zero, a week ago construction cranes hoisted 16 of 400 oak trees onto what will become the plaza of the 9/11 Memorial. Around the 17-acre site, 2,000 hard hats are bent over tasks such as riveting and pouring concrete. One of the giant new towers, which will be 106 stories high, is up to the 36th floor. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that publisher Conde Nast will soon sign on the dotted line to lease 1 million square feet of space there for its magazine empire.

“So, yes, there is life at ground zero,� said New York Gov. David Paterson on Sept. 7, at a press conference to talk about the progress at the site.

On Saturday, as has been the practice every year since the towers were destroyed by Islamist extremists, the city will observe moments of silence at the exact times the twin towers were hit by the commandeered jets, and then again at the time each fell. Victims' names will be read by relatives and people involved in the construction of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Vice President Joe Biden, among others, will deliver a reading.

“We look forward to showing him the site,� says Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “How we came out of 9/11 can be something that all Americans can be proud of.�
Influx into area

Officials are also pleased that after the attacks, the exodus of people from lower Manhattan not only stopped but reversed itself. Today, some 60,000 people live south of Chambers Street, double the number from 9/11, says Sheldon Silver, state Assembly speaker, who represents the area.

From a leasing standpoint, 250 firms have moved downtown since 9/11.

Larry Silverstein, site developer, says Towers 1 and 4 will be ready for tenants in 2013. At the same time, bids are being let to build Towers 2 and 3.

The construction almost did not happen because of disputes between Mr. Silverstein and a host of other parties, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Today, officials joke about the vitriol.

“I am a child of Italian immigrants, and Italians measure the amount of love they have by the amount of time they spend arguing with each other,� says Anthony Coscia, chairman of the Port Authority. “By that measure, Larry and I are very much in love with each other.�

Now that the squabbling is over, officials say the biggest push is to get the 9/11 Memorial ready for next year's 10th anniversary of the attacks.

“There is concrete evidence of the priority,� says Joe Daniels, president of the 9/11 Memorial.

Workers have finished pouring the concrete forming two giant pools that sit in the former twin towers’ footprints. Sixty-five percent of the granite that will line those pools, which will be part of the largest manmade waterfalls in America, has been hung. And three of the large artifacts – symbols from the attack nine years ago – have been brought to the site of the 9/11 Museum.
Creating a green space

Officials are particularly proud of the ongoing installation of the oak trees on what will be the plaza sited above the museum. They were hand-selected from New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania – the areas directly affected by 9/11.

“For several years they have been residing in a tree nursery in New Jersey and provided with the highest level of care by a team of arborists who are truly dedicated to the project,� says Mr. Daniels.

New trees will be installed each month until all 400 are planted. They will create the green space that will welcome an estimated 5 million visitors to the site each year, Daniels says.

“The plaza will be unlike any other site in New York,� he says. “In essence, it is a giant green roof over the museum’s exhibits below.�

Workers are also racing to finish the museum itself, which will open in 2012. One wing will contain historical exhibitions that will preserve the history of 9/11 by telling the first-person experiences, as well as providing a group narrative of what happened that day.

The museum's second wing is dedicated to the 2,982 victims of both the 9/11 attack and the 1993 bombing of the buildings. Photos will line the walls from floor to ceiling. Families have provided mementos and individual profiles.

“The museum will be the spiritual and emotional heart of the site,� says Mayor Bloomberg.

You falcon watchers are always so serious. You need to learn to relax unwind and have some fun once in awhile.



ack ack 

Do the birrd!!

 Friday, September 10th, 2010 | Posted by Longboat Key News


The osprey is one of the largest birds of prey in North America and eats fish almost exclusively. It is one of the most widespread birds in the world, found on all continents except Antarctica
Peregrine falcons are the fastest flying birds in the world—they are able to dive at 200 miles per hour.

One morning on Beer Can Island I mistook a peregrine falcon, which is rare there, for an osprey, which is common on Longboat Key. Confusion turned to good fortune some minutes later when I was afforded a welcome side-by-side comparison of both raptors, showing both birds’ outstanding characteristics.

Mistaken identity
High in a tree was what I believed to be Beer Can’s resident immature osprey that I called ‘Bobby McGee’ after the old Janis Joplin song. This was where the osprey hung out or ate a fish it had just caught. As I looked at this bird of prey, there were indications that it wasn’t an osprey.

Despite the cautionary lights going on in my head I made excuses. Maybe the ruffled breast speckled with dark lines was a sign of the bird maturing. After all I’d not seen it for nearly a week. Were the yellow feet with the tiny black toes that of an osprey? The beak seemed a little small and blue/gray. That wasn’t osprey-like. The wings and sides seemed unfamiliarly dark. Maybe it was the effects of shadowed light? How did I make the mistake? I was looking at what I knew to be there and not seeing what was there.

My wife and I walked several feet to a nearby lagoon to watch a hunting great blue heron, a yellow-crowned night heron beneath some mangroves and a feeding roseate spoonbill. When the spoonbill flew, something still nagged at me about the “osprey.� My wife and I both turned to watch it. Then it dawned on me. We were looking at a peregrine falcon! Peregrines are rare here. In the two previous winters here I’d not seen one on Beer Can. I’d seen numbers of peregrines in flight where shape, silhouette and flying style are what is visible. But I’d never seen one posing.

Grim business
Right in front of me, in a dramatic setting, the bird once used by knights and ladies for hawking during the era of chivalry was now posing. The peregrine falcon can plunge dive at 200 mph, taking prey in mid air. It has a specially notched beak to break the necks of prey birds. This bird is avian royalty. The realization that I was looking at my first perching peregrine left me flush with excitement.

The peregrine looked more gray than brown; it appeared sleek with its pointed wings flat on its sides. The body was almost gray, and an eye was large and black. It took me a while to recognize that the falcon’s facial “mustache� was vertical. The osprey’s is horizontal. Those large black eyes seemed hidden by the peregrines dark colored head and facial “mustache.�

The picture that peregrine presented spelled grim business. I tried to imagine how an unfortunate bird would see the peregrine suddenly racing toward it in the morning sky. By the time this aerial assassin was seen, it might be too late. Chilling. Indeed a life history of the peregrine has a 1930 account by an observer who was watching a flock of pectoral sandpipers in a marsh when a peregrine flew into them continuing on. The peregrine had apparently killed one, but it happened so quickly that the observer, about 30 yards away, hadn’t realized what happened until the raptor returned for its victim.

Warm chocolate
Just then another raptor flew in from across the lagoon. A brown and white form came above me, turned making a curve and landed high in an Australian pine tree on the side of the lagoon, bending the branch on which it landed. It was ‘Bobby McGee,’ a real osprey. White head, chocolate brown body, larger and bulkier than the peregrine, with a cruelly hooked bill and the horizontal “mustache.� Somehow the osprey’s chocolate color exuded warmth and was reassuring in comparison with the grim gray of the fearfully fast peregrine.

The osprey, known as the fish hawk, plunges into water feet first to take a fish. If the osprey is successful, the fish will be carried off headfirst. Bobby however was “empty-taloned� and just resting. Peregrine and osprey were 65 yards apart not looking at each other. They were however affording me a live lesson in comparative raptor identification. The only thing I couldn’t see was the color of the osprey’s feet, which were obscured by a branch.

Soon the peregrine was rested, its neck was stretched out and its eyes were interested in something toward the Longboat Pass Bridge. It stayed that way for a while then leaped slightly downward, its curved wings flapping hard, and flew like a tapered bullet toward the bridge and out of sight. What luck! A rare bird here had given me a long, long look. The bird for which I’d mistaken it had come and although far apart, both put on a side-by-side comparison of field marks.

A year later while walking over the Longboat Pass Bridge, I saw a raptor flying off Beer Can Island. My first thought was that it was an osprey. Then I noted the pointed wings, grayish hue and wondered if I wasn’t a peregrine. I couldn’t get binoculars on the bird, as it quickly disappeared and perhaps avoided making the same mistake twice.