A bit of mystery and intrigue surrounds the nesting of two adult peregrine falcons on Duluth’s Greysolon Plaza Hotel, said Julie O’Connor of Peregrine Watch, a part of Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth.
Last week, O’Connor was able to read the band on the adult female’s leg at the nest site. O’Connor was surprised to learn that the female is not Amy, the adult that had been on the nesting site the past few years. It’s a different adult female that had nested on the Blatnik Bridge in 2006, 2007 and 2008. She was originally banded in McRae, Ontario, in 2004, O’Connor said.
The male at the Greysolon site, unbanded, is presumed to be the same male that was there with Amy last year, O’Connor said. Nobody knows what happened to Amy. She could have died, or she could have been driven off or killed by the new female.
Meanwhile, the two chicks that hatched either May 19 or 20 are doing fine, O’Connor said.
“Their muscle tone is developing,” she said. “They are becoming more able to be left alone for periods of time. The female will gradually increase her range away from them.”
Two eggs remain unhatched in the nest, O’Connor said, and probably will not hatch. It could be that the eggs got too cold, or they may not have been successfully fertilized, O’Connor said.
reminds me of Kaver
Duluth News Tribune
