Dear All,
I got my fledgling fix here in Richmond, VA. My pictures are coming. Here is the article from the Richmond Times Dispatch. It is only available the day of publication (I think). My pictures will come soon.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/FALC20_20090819-210606/287081/Here is the text:
By Rex Springston
Published: August 20, 2009
SLIDESHOW: Young falcons take flight
Falcon flight. Watch young Peregrines learning to fly in downtown Richmond. Keyword: slideshow
Richmond, we have liftoff.
Three young peregrine falcons successfully took wing in downtown Richmond Tuesday and again yesterday.
Volunteers and state game officials watched to make sure the birds didn't plummet into traffic or get into some other kind of trouble.
The only bird that had a problem was a female that tried a couple of times to latch on to windows. The bird would slide away, exhausted but OK.
"She's got a perception issue," said Stephen Living, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "Falcons didn't evolve with glass."
As he spoke, the bird rested on a ledge under a parking-deck window just east of Kanawha Plaza at Eighth and Canal streets.
The falcons had spent nearly three weeks in a pen adjoining their nest on a 21st-story walkway at Riverfront Plaza, 901 E. Byrd St. The pen kept them from jumping too soon or being blown off.
A game department biologist opened the pen Tuesday morning. All three birds eventually took flight and stayed close to their parents downtown.
"All three are fat and happy and being fed by their parents," said Ray Fernald, manager of nongame programs for the game department.
Peregrine falcons are crow-sized predators that can dive at 200 mph to catch a bird to eat. There are only about 20 peregrine nests in Virginia. A pair has nested downtown since 2003.
Almost as interesting as the falcons yesterday were the volunteers, who kept binoculars and spotting scopes trained on the youngsters and their parents as the birds soared across the sky or perched on Riverfront Plaza and nearby buildings.
One of the volunteers, kindergarten teacher Bonnie Talluto, 65, drove seven hours from her home outside New York City.
The opening of the pen meant Talluto was almost assured of seeing the majestic birds take wing. "This is a sure thing," she said.
Barbara Slatcher, a Hanover County wildlife-rehabilitation expert, said thousands of people around the world have been watching the Richmond falcons on a webcam that the game department set up.
Slatcher said other webcams soon will take her interest far beyond Richmond. "Australia will start to hatch in a little while."
Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or
rspringston@timesdispatch.com .
