Two rare falcon chicks die in Richmond
A long, hard breeding season for Ozzie and Harriet, Richmond’s rare falcon pair, has come to a sad end.
Biologists who checked the peregrine falcons’ Riverfront Plaza nest Wednesday found one of the pair’s two chicks dead and the other missing.
The 2-week-old chicks apparently died, at least in part, from Tuesday’s mid-90s heat, said Sergio Harding, a biologist with the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
One of the parents probably removed the second body, Harding said. But the deaths are puzzling.
“I know we’ve had some hot summers before” when chicks survived, Harding said.
The deaths marked the second nest failure in one season — a first for the falcon pair, which have nested downtown since 2003.
“I’m at the point where I just don’t know what to expect from these birds anymore,” Harding said.
The crow-sized falcons, which have a loyal following, moved to a new nest this spring, a 22nd-story spot on Dominion Virginia Power’s building at Seventh and East Cary streets. They produced five eggs, their most ever, but none hatched.
Ozzie and Harriet then moved back to their longtime nest on a 21st-story walkway at Riverfront Plaza by the James River. Harriet laid four more eggs there.
Chicks in two of those eggs made cracks but couldn’t get out. On a Web camera, Harding could see Harriet picking at the eggs.
“It appeared she was trying to help the chicks hatch,” Harding said. Adding to the mystery, he said, “This is behavior we don’t typically see with peregrines.”
The other two eggs hatched. On Tuesday afternoon, however, Harding could see one of the chicks wobbling, struggling to sit upright in the heat.
Harding and biologist Ernie Aschenbach checked the nest Wednesday morning. They found one chick’s body on a ledge about 100 feet from the nest, but they couldn’t find the other body.
Gee, how sad!! Chicks have survived worse heat!
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Pouring
One still out
Voyager dry
probably Baron still out in the downpour! 
