Hi, Falcon friends. San Jose had scheduled their fledge watch at City Hall, where the nest box is located, starting Friday, May 16. However, this was one day too late for one juvenile falcon! On Thursday, May 15, I was observing the web cam while working at my office up in Reno, and saw one male, Blaze, sitting beside one of his two sisters, Beatrix, on a low ledge near their nest box. Beatrix turned slightly, and **POOF ** Blaze was knocked off into space 18 floors up. I called our chief forum moderator and fledge watch coordinator in San Jose, Jody, and she answered her cell phone saying "I knew it was trouble when I saw it was you calling." We are dear friends, so I just howled at that!
But I informed her of what I had seen, and of course she had momentarily walked away from her computer and not seen it happen.
She immediately got on the phone, email and Skype and mobilized the BOGs (Boots on the Ground) in the area, called our biologist expert Glenn Stewart from the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, and everyone headed for downtown. It turned out someone inside the San Jose City Hall building had seen the little falcon glide down and land on the ground. He called Animal Control, and they came and cordoned off the area. Our BOGs arrived, Blaze was contained in an appropriate box, and Glenn arrived later (two hour drive from Santa Cruz). On examination, Blaze was not the least bit injured, so he was given an elevator ride with Glenn up to the roof of City Hall and released.
I arrived in San Jose the following afternoon with my sister, bringing lots of chocolate, and we stayed for four days of fledge watch. We were privileged to see three of the four juveniles fly, attempt to land, moth on the sides of buildings, fly again, find a better landing place, and twice land on the ground. We had our organized fledge watchers in place around the building, everyone on walkie talkies, and everything went just fine. Two more times juvies were taken to the roof top for release, and thank the good Lord, no one has been injured so far. The fourth juvie fledged the day after we had to leave, so we missed that one, but had lots of opportunity to see the other three flying fairly well.
I forgot to tell you all four names: the males are Bolt and Blaze; the females are Halo and Beatrix. The schoolchildren of San Jose are invited by the Mayor's office each year to submit names, along with essays, songs, and/or videos. Then the camera operators and moderators narrow down the choices and create a poll on the forum for all forum members to vote. There are links to the kids' submissions too, so we can see them all online.
http://sanjoseperegrines.editme.com/2014-Names This site indicates all of the submissions, but the poll is closed, so you can't vote. But if you click on each suggested name, you will see the child's essay, drawing, song or video. They are delightful!
It is always heartening to me to realize there are dedicated falcon watcher volunteers who come together each year, each in their own role, to support the local falcons. You all know this dedication in Rochester, as I see the same thing in the members' discussions there.
I am thrilled to see the four eyasses on the Rochester falcon cam, and will be following them closely. The San Jose falcons are flying so much they are rarely seen on our falcon cams now; I am in withdrawal already. Of course we share in mourning for the lost San Francisco fledgling Eliza
. But we are watching their two remaining fledglings Lotta and Tera, wishing all falcon fledglings fair winds and blue skies.
See you on the forum!
Debbie
