Thanks! I really enjoyed comparing this area to the Lake Winnipesaukee area in New Hampshire, where we go every summer.  I love the North Woods, whereever they are, but the Lake Superior area just blew me away.  I had no idea that there were big cliffs in Minnasota, and the waterfalls were astounding.  And, of course, the loon.

Paul

I'm not a breeder, but have trained several birds.

I agree with nycbird.  Perlie is just being a bird.  And Donna, I think you are also right that your friend has not interacted enough with him.  

With birds, you basically get what you give.  If your only interaction is to periodically reach into his cage and kidnap his kid for a while, he's going to regard you as a threat, not a flock member.  Reaching into the cage is just going to reinforce hostility - Perlie learns that the threatening hand goes away once sufficiently bitten. I would work with the birds outside the cage, where there are no territory issues.  

I think they all need a lot more out of cage time.  If they are unclipped, it's best to have window shades partially drawn so that they can learn about windows instead of smashing into them.

Good Bird e-magizine is a good source of training info.  Rewarding good behavior with treats quickly builds friendship.  Parrots are always learning -- that can be a problem, because hostile behavior is one of the things they can learn.

Paul

I think June did great!  He tries to be funny (which does and does not always translate well) but she handled it great! 

I agree.  She gave a great interview in the face of a lot of rude attempts at cheap laughs.  June's a class act, and a real pro. Lonsberry is not.

Paul

she is on now

June Summers of GVAS will be calling into the Lonsberry show on WHAM at 11:45 to talk about the Rochester falcons. You can listen online.

http://www.iheart.com/#/live/1505/

I'm in thanks!

11:45 Or there about!   

All I got was some talk about painkiller abuse.

Paul

I have a Canadian Peregrine foundation videotape, Life on the Ledge, filmed in July of 1998.  It follows the Etobicoke nest, with a young Windwhistler and his siblings, one of whom, Angel, also went on to a long and remarkable career as a territorial falcon. At one point the camera centers on Windwhistler and Angel as the narrator explains that most juvenile peregrines do not survive their first year.  

Life on the Ledge is from a time when urban peregrines were a new development, and has the best footage I've seen of the behavior of juveniles.  It's a shame that it is no longer available.  I really should burn a DVD from my copy.  Maybe CPF could raise some money by reissuing it on DVD (or even Blu-Ray, if they have a good master copy).

I'd been wondering what became of Windwhistler and Mandy.  It turns out that, as is typical of peregrines, they were hiding in plain sight.

Paul

[aul]

Thanks, MAK!  These pictures really capture the personality of the Sharpie.

aul

I have to say this...."Where's the P"!! 

My bird, Fidget, made off with it and dropped it on the floor.  Happens to most stuff around here.

Paul

If I ever form a band or launch a new company, Entirely Purple Squirrel is the best name I can imagine.

Paul

Thanks, MAK!  These pictures really capture the personality of the Sharpie.

Paul

http://cuteoverload.com/2012/02/09/a-head-with-feet-thats-it/

Nothing but the essentials.

Paul

Thanks! That was quite an experience.

Paul

This week, I'm in the high desert, far from home.  The work is exhausting and stressful, but, after work, I get to stay on the top floor of a fifteen story building with a Peregrine Falcon in residence.  It's a good feeling to drift off to sleep, knowing that a peregrine is guarding your territory, possibly right outside your room.
 
This morning, I had breakfast with her.  She was only a few feet away, separated by a window and a little concrete.  Feathers rained down like theatrical snow. with the distant Badlands as a backdrop. Afterward, she dove off the building, plunging down half way to the ground to build speed, then spreading her wings to soar into the distance.

An hour later, when I left the building, the falcon had returned and become a protective gargoyle on the roof.  I watched for about fifteen minutes as she preened.  I wished her blue skies and good hunting until we meet again.

Paul

The 2005 banding in Rochester was on June 2.  Sabrina's banding was on June 1, 2006.  I don't know whether Rochester has ever had a June 6 banding. It's sad when any of these guys meets an untimely end, but there just seem to be too many differences in  band code and banding day for it to have been Sabrina.

Paul

Thanks!  There is something wonderfully relaxing aabout watching large birds going about their lives.  Really good video quality, too.

Paul

Back in the summer of 1970, I was with the University of Miami Research Vessel Gerda when we anchored right off Little San Salvador Island in the Bahamas.  We had good charts, a depth sounder, and a Decca navigator (limited coverage, but nearly as good as GPS), but the captain still chose to put research divers into the water to lead him through the coral heads.  Sure, one could easily see the bottom from the bridge, but the clarity of the water made it difficult to judge whether what you were seeing was ten feet down or a hundred feet down. I was one of the research divers, and it was a revelation to me how many uncharted rocks I had to guide the ship around. What appeared fairly flat and harmless from the surface was actually a labyrinth. From underwater, it was cliffs and steep, winding canyons, and my memory is one of leading the ship through a very narrow canyon.  If the situation off  Giglio Island is at all similar, I can imagine the captain, having made close passes there without incident in the past, concluding that it was safe to do it again.

We had a far better captain, and things turned out well.  Once we had anchored Gerda in a safe area inside the reefs, we embarked upon a "Guns of Navarone" operation involving us making a landing on shore via Zodiac inflatable boat, and scaling the cliffs with fifty pound geophone cables.  We drove in geophones all over the cliff and ran a cable to the ship.  This meant that we could map the structure of the ocean bottom using explosives set off by another ship.  The original plan had been for the divers to swim out cables to floating hydrophones and do the experiment in the open ocean, but we didn't get good enough reception from the hydrophones.

After we had emplaced the geophones, we were out of a job until it was time to sail out through the reefs again. We spent the next several days snorkling around the island, exploring, and fishing.   The cook was delighted to get fresh Mahi-Mahi, so every night, we swam home to a great dinner as a reward.

Paul