De Mortel Falcons 2018

[Kris G.]

Sad news...

Post on BCAW says that they believe VV has been killed in a battle.  The body is being retrieved, to identify if it is female... VV was unbanded.

Cam link: http://vwggemertslechtvalk.nl

[carly]

There were still 2 'other'  females battling an hour ago and one of them is also unbanded as well so it could be VV.  Chad was giving me a play by play on FB and the one the box now is speckly like VV..can't see her legs though.  I'm home now and can see their cam.

Edit to add:  I just blew up the photo of the dead female and i may see an orange band which is consistent with what Ingrid said one of the intruders had on her leg so we'll see.

[Kris G.]

There were still 2 'other'  females battling an hour ago and one of them is also unbanded as well so it could be VV.  Chad was giving me a play by play on FB and the one the box now is speckly like VV..can't see her legs though.  I'm home now and can see their cam.

Edit to add:  I just blew up the photo of the dead female and i may see an orange band which is consistent with what Ingrid said one of the intruders had on her leg so we'll see.

Thanks for the update. Sad that one died but, hopefully, it’s not VV.

[carly]

Yeah I"m not sure but now Chad is showing me more video and one of the two battling still after this body was found is also banded.  Seems they are all 3 speckly.  Gees...I hope no more deaths.  The fighting seems to have ended only because it got too dark so this may continue tomorrow.

[AlisonL]

The loss of Miep

From Martin Vink this evening, a very sad update.  

Fight settled?

Martin Vink, Vogelwerkgroep Gemert | Monday, March 12, 2018

In the past two days, an invasion of strange falcons around the De Mortel tower has been observed. These intruders attempt to dislodge or even kill the current male and female. What has happened so far?

The current female V and the male M are already well advanced in their courtship; many copulations have been observed and the female is almost ready to begin laying eggs. She was more and more often seen in the nest box for a longer period of time. However, on Sunday 11 March, several peregrine falcons appeared on the battlefield and late in the afternoon Karin Groen-Dam filmed an attack/battle between two peregrine falcons. For the images, see this link:

http://youtu.be/oPX60CMYarM.

As can be seen on these images, both peregrine falcons were locked together and both fell down at the back of the tower.

From this moment on, the current female V, as far as my information goes, was no longer observed in and around the nest box. Given the strength of the attack, it is plausible that the peregrine falcon who was attacked was almost immediately killed by the intruder.

Peregrine falcons are true birds of impact; they surprise their prey by attacking them with great force. During the impact, there is so much energy transfer that it breaks the spine and the prey becomes defenseless.

They frequently attack by biting the prey/competitor in the neck, causing the neck vertebrae to break and death to occur.

But was the peregrine falcon who was attacked the current female V?

Today a strange banded female was seen several times in and around the nest box. This female has a silver-gray leg ring and a colored orange leg ring with possibly the combination YC.

Orange leg rings were used for Dutch birds until 2014. Since 2014, we use gray with three letter combinations. On the roof camera the ring code YC was clearly visible with some certainty. With this shot we also looked from above on the fourth ring for a dead/wounded peregrine falcon. As we already expected, we found a dead peregrine falcon. After zooming in, the falcon appeared to have no bands; could it be the current female V?

In order not to disturb the falcons, tonight, I carefully went up to the fourth ring after 20:00 and removed the dead falcon. The female falcon whom I found had a lot of injuries to her neck, indicating the completion of the lethal attack by the intruder. My suspicion that this is the current female V, I can confirm with some certainty despite the injuries and affected plumage.

Given the position of the attack and the location, it is plausible that the falcon who was attacked in the film is the same falcon.

What now?

As previous territorial battles in the breeding season have shown, a small chance remains that a brood can still be raised. The male M will then have to enter into a pair bond with a new female, which in view of the number of peregrine falcons around the tower and the corresponding disruptions, is still possible in the coming weeks. It is even possible that the current male M himself will also be chased/killed because a strange unbanded male has also been observed.

[MAK]

 

[carly]

Guess I was seeing things.  I was hoping it wasn't her    How sad.  This site has turned into a nightmare.

[Donna]

I think they should just take this nest down, it's now cursed and causes too many concerns! It all started with Ma & Pa. How sad for V! At least she didn't suffer. These falcons sure are brutal!!! I stopped watching most cams because of the battles reoccurring! Just can't watch.

[Kris G.]

Poor VV..fly free!    From BCAW

 

[Carol P.]

 

[Kris G.]

Dutch Eagle Fan has posted on BCAW that “the banded female is 7/C, a granddaughter of Pa and Ma. She hatched in 2014 on a similar communication tower in Ittervoort. Her father is R/4, born in 2006 at De Mortel.�

[Donna]

Dutch Eagle Fan has posted on BCAW that “the banded female is 7/C, a granddaughter of Pa and Ma. She hatched in 2014 on a similar communication tower in Ittervoort. Her father is R/4, born in 2006 at De Mortel.�

Don't the plots always thicken??? 

[Kris G.]

Dutch Eagle Fan has posted on BCAW that “the banded female is 7/C, a granddaughter of Pa and Ma. She hatched in 2014 on a similar communication tower in Ittervoort. Her father is R/4, born in 2006 at De Mortel.�

Don't the plots always thicken??? 

                   

[carly]

Just saw on Facebook that apparently she's getting the life dive bombed out of her by another female today.

[Kris G.]

Just saw on Facebook that apparently she's getting the life dive bombed out of her by another female today.

It never ends there...sad.