Food...Jemison took first fledge...YAY. Thanks Carol and Dan. 9:38 Oh boy, here we go!

Callidora with a nice grip on her morsel
Takes it in corner to eat...(IN PRIVATE)

5:18am
4:56am J out already, Beauty left to get breakfast
5 :24am she's back with food
Callidora making a racket, as usual
She finally comes off the nest but not sure if she got any.
5:33am both on nest

J on nest

There they are

Post deliveries have been disrupted in a Devon seaside town after attacks by seagulls.

About 20 seagulls have been swooping on people, including postal workers, in Berry Drive, Paignton.

Now the Royal Mail has warned residents it will not be able to deliver post if its workers feel threatened.

The seagulls have been causing problems for the past two weeks as they defend their chicks which have dropped to the ground from nests on the roofs.

The Royal Mail said it was "committed" to delivering to people's addresses, "but occasionally might not be able to due to the attacks".

A spokesperson said: "There have been recent incidents where our staff have been attacked by up to 20 seagulls making it difficult to access all addresses in the street.

"We continue to make every effort to get mail to customers."

It said if a delivery was not possible, it would attempt to deliver at the "next possible opportunity".

Mother-of-two Vicki Sheehy, who lives in Berry Drive, said just going outside her house was dangerous.

"It's like in the film, The Birds," she said.

"You have to pick your moments, to make sure the coast is clear.

"We use a golfing umbrella as protection because they can be quite vicious."

Nesting seagulls have caused problems in past years.

"I feel most sorry for the children round here because they can't go out and play," said Mrs Sheehy, 48.

"You see them running back into the houses because the seagulls will not let up.

"Last night we did not get to sleep until four o'clock because of the noise. The slightest movement outside sets them off."

Problem seagulls can be culled, said the RSPB, but only with a licence from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

RSPB spokesman Tony Whitehead said: "We commiserate with people, but the problem will not last.

"Once the chicks have fledged they will go away."

LEAVENWORTH — A colorful and noisy assortment of birds flitted through the early-morning sky over Eagle Creek on Thursday.

Western wood-pewees, Brewer’s blackbirds, Say’s Phoebes and swallows.

What wasn’t taking to the skies, though, were the two juvenile barn owls huddled in the Hafermanns’ dog carrier.

“I want to just sneak up and look at them, but I don’t want to disturb them,� Shannon Hafermann said quietly, as she and her family waited for the owls to emerge.

After nearly an hour, though, the birds refused to budge. So the family walked back to their nearby home in the wooded canyon north of Leavenworth.

The Hafermanns knew little about barn owls when they answered a call for help earlier this spring from Debra Burnett, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator from Manson who was caring for 28 baby barn owls. The owls were all founds in haystacks in the Quincy and Moses Lake area by truck drivers transporting the hay.

Burnett appealed to the public to help pay for the birds’ care, and to find homes for the birds to be released once they fledged. She was looking for rural homes or farms to place owls, since they need a steady diet of mice and other small rodents to survive.

So far, four of the birds have gone to a farm in the Othello area and a few have been released in Manson. Others are slated for release this month in Dryden, Plain and Quincy.

Shannon Hafermann said she cut out a newspaper article on Burnett’s appeal, and talked with her family. At their rural home, they enjoy watching birds. For the last five years, they have set up a video camera near a tree swallow nest in their yard and watched live feeds of the birds and their babies on their television.

“When we heard about the owls we thought it was something we could do,� she said.

So Shannon; her husband, Maury; and children, Halla and Luke, started researching online and contacting bird experts to find out more about the owls. They ordered an owl box kit and built it themselves.

“At first we worried that they would eat small birds,� Shannon said. “But we talked to a biologist and learned that they really like mice.�

On Wednesday, a pair of owls estimated to be about 4 1/2 months old arrived at their new home in a large dog carrier. The birds spent the night in a grassy field outside their home, with the opening of the carrier facing the bird box the Hafermanns had nailed to a large tree.

Thinking the birds would like to get out early, the family was up and out the door by 6:30 a.m. Their neighbor, Wenatchee Valley College professor Derek Sheffield, joined them as they trekked through the field to the carrier.

Shannon Hafermann opened the carrier and the family leaned in for a closer look. The birds, with their unique heart-shaped faces, were huddled in the back.

“I’m glad I’m not small and furry,� Sheffield joked.

Seven-year-old Luke had already named the male bird Storming Rapid. Halla named the female Sweet Pea.

After watching the birds closely for several minutes, they left the birds to watch from a short distance away. As they waited, they noted all the birds flying and singing overhead.

“This is a great area for birds,� Sheffield said. “It’s a transition zone between the woods and the creek.�

He pointed out warblers, flycatchers and blackbirds. Halla, who has been studying birds, pointed out a goldfinch and a barn swallow. A wild turkey gobbled in the distance.

There is no guarantee that the barn owls will stick around. But the Hafermanns hope they like the grassy field, with its abundance of mice and voles, and the newly built owl box.

By late morning, the owls had emerged from the box. Shannon Hafermann found the male perched nearby in a chokecherry tree.

“I think that’s the best-case scenario, that they are out of the kennel but they haven’t just high-tailed it out of the area,� she said.

     
Latest osprey blog

26 June 2010
What a difference a week makes- lets all hope we don’t have a repeat of last weekends awful circumstances!
We are all overjoyed at our female ospreys recovery but still concerned and monitoring her weakened state- she still has a lot of weight and ground to make up. We are cautiously optimistic though, and of course relieved beyond measure that the chicks have not suffered through this due to dad's dillegence. Emma

 

 Hide and Seek on a Whole New Level!!
June 22, 2010 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:

I arrived at 6:00pm this evening to take the closing shift for Mark as he headed off to a CPF event at another nest site.  As is protocol, he updated me on the activity level on the ledge.  “All calm and quiet here.â€�, he said.  “Well behaved little bunch this afternoon.â€�  …yeah, well behaved right up to the very moment that Mark pulled out of the driveway..

The next two and a half hours began with what is best described as “Blam!! Pow!! Zowey!!.â€�  I looked up at the nest ledge and began counting heads.  One, two, wait no, three…  …no two, one, three…?  They kept bopping up and down like little jumping beans!  I had three for sure and went looking for a fourth.  As I approached MEC 2, off of the roof comes number four.  Oh how I wish you could have seen this landing!  This little juvenile male landed on the retaining wall of the roof of MEC 1, the nest building, and had such a head of steam going that when he landed, the inertia pitched him face forward right onto the roof.  And here he was thinking he was sooo cool!!  It turns out that this little one was Wade and he made a flight out from the roof and landed on the nest box without a hitch.

It was 6:21pm when the adult female arrived with food to a chorus of screams from an over-zealous spoiled group of brats!  This adult female has, and I can’t stress this enough, consistently brought in food between 6:00pm and 6:30pm every single day.  Maybe peregrines can tell time!

After supper was playtime.  Dominating the most raucous activity was the tag team of Craig and Wade.  These two…  …they held races down the ledge, tag on the nest box, sister pouncing and sumo wrestling to round it all out.  Full of beans doesn’t cover it!!  By 7:00pm, Wade had made another flight to MEC 2 which he attempted to tease Craig into trying.  Joe and Xuan on the other hand, decided that napping was more important.  During all of this “gooferyâ€� , the adult resident pair circled the building performing all sorts of aerial acrobatics showing the juveniles just how its done.  With all three juveniles ( except for Wade ) back at the nest box, our young adventurer makes another flight to the nest building roof.  All birds are now settled in…   â€¦just as Mark returns from his presentation.

“So, all looks quiet here.  How have they been?  Give me a brief.â€�  I just stood there, hair a mess and clothes askew with a stunned look on my face.  There is nothing “briefâ€�  about the last two hours.  My answer to him, a single word…   â€¦exhausting!

At last look, as I made my way back to my car, the juvenile Wade was making a last flight out to the condos north of the nest building.  An incredible feat as this is a long flight for a young fledgling.  A few minutes to catch his breath and he was airbourne again and headed right into the ledge on the north side of the nest building.  This story ends with Wade running down the ledge “whee, whee, whee all the way homeâ€� to bed.

9:40, J still out
At 9:42, Jemison had enough outside and joined sister in the nest.

Bonnie, that was FABULOUS!! Thanks so much, I enjoyed it. Yay for the little girl, glad she's OK and was released. 

[SEE....watchers are the BEST!]

FOR the last 15 years they have fallen victim to thieves who raid their nest for their valuable offspring.
But the pair of peregrine falcons who nest annually in a Pentland Hills quarry are at last proud parents after a group of 20 residents took part in a round-the-clock surveillance scheme to protect their young.

The group of local nature enthusiasts completed rolling shifts in the remote spot, keeping an eye on the four newly hatched chicks night and day for a month.

They had previously been stolen by thieves shortly after hatching before they had fledged and were able to fly away from any danger.

With falcon chicks able to fetch up to £20,000 on the black market trade in the endangered species, the volunteers knew the poachers were likely to try to return this year. But thanks to the surveillance operation, the last of the chicks fledged on Monday and finally ended the falcons' long wait to build a family.

The scheme was set up by PC Charles Everitt, a wildlife crimes officer with Lothian and Borders Police, who is the investigative support officer with the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit.

PC Everitt sought out local volunteers through the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and also received help from staff at the Pentland Hills Ranger Service.

He said: "For 15 years these thefts had taken place, always after the chicks had hatched. We had tried various tactics to protect them and nothing had worked. So this year we decided to give the chicks the best chance possible and put a 'peregrine watch' in place.

"Without a doubt someone would have tried to steal the chicks again this year. I'm sure that thieves might have went up there and saw the nest was being watched and given up."

PC Everitt said the scheme would be repeated next year to protect the birds' next generation of young.

The peregrine falcons only produced three eggs this year, but a fourth was added after a suspected bird smuggler was stopped earlier this year with 14 eggs in suitcase at an English airport.

The eggs were distributed to falcon nests across the UK, including to the pair in the Pentland Hills, and the orphaned bird is now being cared for alongside its adopted siblings.

Across Britain, there are approximately 1,200 pairs of peregrine falcons, of which nearly two-thirds nest in Scotland. They are the fastest living creature on earth, diving to catch their prey of small birds at speeds up to 200mph.

Detective Inspector Brian Stuart, head of the National Wildlife Crime Unit, said: "We are delighted by the success of this scheme, which was badly needed, and the commitment of the community volunteers involved."

An RSPB Scotland spokeswoman said: "The peregrine falcon population suffered severe declines in the 1950s and 60s when pesticides, such as DDT, entered the food chain, killing many adult birds.

"Since the banning of these substances this spectacular species has been slowly recovering but unfortunately still faces threats from persecution, egg theft and illegal falconry."

SEE....watchers are the BEST!

1 peregrine falcon fledgling from Reading nest still alive
A diseased female is euthanized, while the lone surviving raptor, a male, is doing well.

Three of this year's four peregrine falcon fledglings in Reading have died, less than two months after they hatched.

A female bird which had been suffering from a deadly parasitic disease was euthanized Wednesday morning, after the infection had eaten through its digestive organs.

"It was not going to survive," said Peggy Hentz, owner of Red Creek Wildlife Center near Schuylkill Haven, Schuykill County.

She was treating the bird for trichomoniasis, which forms a growth that invades the digestive system.

Hentz decided that euthanization was the best course of action.

"What we ended up doing was saving it from further suffering," she said.

A male bird, the fourth to be located after its siblings fledged June 9, was found dead in its parents' nest in center city Reading on Monday.

F. Arthur McMorris, the peregrine falcon coordinator with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said it is unknown whether that bird ever left the nest.

No one had checked the nest since May 21, when the new birds were banded, so as not to disturb the family.

Personnel from the Game Commission brought the bird's body to Red Creek, where Hentz said she was not able to determine its cause of death.

"It had decomposed so thoroughly that there was no way that we could determine the immediate cause," she said.

Hentz said it appeared that this bird died before the other ones had even gotten sick.

Another female bird had been found dead Sunday at the rehabilitation center where it was being treated. It had also suffered from trichomoniasis.

The only survivor is a male bird that remains at Red Creek after sustaining a head injury when hit by a car. It is flying in an outdoor pen at the center, exercising and eating well.

Hentz said it will be returned to its parents' nest.

"The good news is we did save one," she said.


The lone surviving peregrine falcon fledgling from a center city Reading nest in a cage at the Red Creek Wildlife Center near Schuylkill Haven.

Will Jemison come back in for the night...
Stay tuned..

In for the nite maybe

Nope, one last time