San Francisco Peregrines

[Paul Hamilton]

The two males have both fledged, and the fledged "up" as they say in San Francisco.  Hajari (Swahili for flight) did a long, boomerang flight and is on a different level of the PG&E building. Phoenix, the other male, made it across the street to 201 Mission.  Here is a highly-zoomed video showing him far away, being fed.  

Meanwhile, the female, Ayah (Hebrew for falcon) is practicing her flapping. The Canyoneers (fledge watchers) all hope she will be in no hurry.

http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/nestcamSF.htm

Paul

[Paul Hamilton]

Phoenix took off at twilight and wound up sleeping on top of the PG&E building.  As of this morning, Fledge Watch says:

Good morning - we have disposition for all three young, and are currently
viewing the adults wheeling around, probably looking for breakfast.

Ayah - in bay 6 PGE building, still pre-fledge.

Phoenix - flew this morning from his night roost on 201 Mission. He can
currently be located on the topmost window ledge in bay 7 of the PGE building

Hajari - this just in, from Mary Malec - who has a visual on Hajari. He is still
near his last known coordinates on the PGE building north side nesr Main St~Fledge Watch~

Paul

[Paul Hamilton]

Here are some great pictures from yesterday by Glenn Nevill.  zi particularly like the first one of one of the fledge watchers showing the falcons to a passerby Enjoy!

http://raptor-gallery.com/2011_05_17/index.htm

Paul

[MAK]

Fantabulous pics! Thanks for sharing. 

[Paul Hamilton]

Glenn Stewart of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group wrote a note on his reactions to the recent loss of one of the San Francisco fledgelings:

We have suffered a loss and it is hard. No rationalizing will make us feel
better. We watch these youngsters hatch and grow, and so quickly leave the nest.
And some do not make it. In past years, I have wondered out loud if it is right
to put these images of naked nature on line so that folks have the opportunity
to fall in love with these animals before something bad happens. I invite
criticism by remarking that this is not the Disney Channel or that we need to
focus on the population and not on the individual birds (even though both are
true). But just the same, we have suffered a loss and it is very emotional. I
have wept over these birds even though cold reasoning informs me that many
fledglings just don't make it. David kindly pointed out that many others do make
it and pointed to his experience viewing other eyries this year. Indeed, I still
have more baby peregrines to band this season and will do so on Tuesday and
Friday of this week. I am lucky, very lucky, to see and touch many peregrines.
Like David remarked earlier, each one I encounter is a new thrill for me even
though there have been many, and each loss is deeply felt.... It is devastating,
maddening, frustrating, and a feeling of helplessness to recover one of these
creatures as Teague and Ann did last night, so I am mostly sorry for them--sorry
for them and sorry for all who participated in fledge watch and who watched this
saga unfold online. For most, Ayah and her family are the only peregrines that
will be encountered this year and I want for that encounter to be a happy one.
But am I sorry that I put the images on line? Not one bit. Sorry for the
sadness, yes, but not sorry that people have connected with these birds as is
evident by the outpouring today. I am not sorry that people have encountered
wild nature and seen it in both tender and cruel moments. It takes luck and
strength to survive, and what happened last night was just pure bad luck. We are
protected from most of what nature dishes out by the walls that surround us.
Last night as I drove into the City to retrieve Ayah's remains I had a clue as
to what happened--gusting wind moved my speeding car on the freeway. I speculate
that an otherwise routine flight ended in disaster when high wind turned into
wind sheer at the corner of the PG&E building--pure bad luck for a young bird
just learning to fly. It is tough to make it through year one as a raptor. One
thing can go right and so many things can go very wrong. The strong and the
lucky are the ones that end up on an eyrie ledge, face into the wind. And their
annual production of young--their courtship, 33 days of meditative attention to
their eggs, and 60 or more days of care and feeding of their young--is a hedge
against the spring when they are no longer at that eyrie. So they each get this
chance. They push their way out of an eggshell and struggle to hold their head
up in a cold world. They grow and they fly. With strength, determination, and a
measure of luck, they are out there each day, face into the wind. --glenn@scpbrg

Paul

[margaret]

Beautiful sentiments expressed by Glenn; words that speak for every peregrine falcon watcher  across the world.  Ties in so well with what Ei said yesterday.  And thank you, Paul, for posting these moving thoughts.
Timely and well said.  Thank you.

[Donna]

Wow, that weighed heavy on my heart. Very well spoken and touching. Bless that little fledgling. Thank you Paul for posting.

[MAK]

    They fly in and steal our hearts, sometimes they break our hearts and sometimes they rescue our hearts!    Thank you for sharing!

[Paul Hamilton]

   They fly in and steal our hearts, sometimes they break our hearts and sometimes they rescue our hearts!    Thank you for sharing!

Here is one from yesterday to rescue our hearts:

Just before the start of the 5:30 gathering at Main and Mission, one juv flew
off the top of PG&E and circled back, landing on top of the second column from
the left on the south side. He didn't stay long and flew east.

Shortly after that, we saw one on the window sill on the second column from the
right, south side. It sat there for an hour while nothing much happened and
people gathered. We had that one in the scope to show people but it didn't show
us enough to get an ID, other than juv.

Then the action started: two adults, food, two juvs. One adult landed on the
east side, about 8 windows down from the top, several bays over from the left.
White pigeon feathers floated over us. A juv flew in, a second juv flew in, an
adult flew out, the pigeon fell, both juvs flew when there was nothing on the
ledge to eat.

Then all the action was over the middle of Mission between Steuart and the
Embarcadero. An adult and both juvs, a food exchange, attempted landings, stuck
landing, adults being bounced off ledges by enthusiastic juvs, and more flying
and talon tag in the air. We were still on Main and Mission at that time and
the action would move out of our view on both sides of the street.

It was getting cold so we started down Mission to our clubhouse, stopping to
watch a wailing baby get handfed on a window ledge---the juv that had just done
an in-air food exchange was now being fed morsels and wailing like a baby!
It's hard to grow up and it seems equally hard for these parents to let their
babies grow up.

Dan and Lil (housekeeping aside!) have been such excellent parents. More food
coming in than the babies can eat. Feathers beds for sleeping eyases. Watchful
Mom on the nest ledge. Watchful Dad on 199 Fremont for 36 hours. Gulls and
redtails and crows banished from the airspace.

Many of us had a difficult time losing George and Gracie. Some of us still
mistakenly call Dan 'George'. We call the juvs by the names of juvs-past when
we're tired and the action is frantic. But we've come to really love and
respect the ways of Dan and Lil and can even sometimes see the advantages of
plucking in the nest when all you can see on camera is the eye of the eyas
peering out from a shifting mound of feather bed.

Stay tuned for more.

Fledge party to come -- tentatively, like last year, sometime in the summer.


Paul

[Dumpsterkitty]

Glenn Nevill took these photos while Glenn Stewart was cleaning the PG&E ledge & changing out the gravel.  I don't know which on is which, but both Dapper Dan and Diamond Lil were there defending the nest...

http://raptor-gallery.com/2011_12_13/

[Donna]

Fantastic shots!! Thanks Ei. Beauty guards her nest from above but she needs to drop down from time to time! 

[MAK]

 Fantastic pics! Thanks! 

[Paul Hamilton]

http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/nestcamSF_large.htm

First egg of the 2012 season, from Diamond Lil and Dapper Dan.

Paul

[carly]

Woohooo ...thanks for the heads up!  I think they were first last year too?

And so it begins.... 

[Paul Hamilton]

Mary Malek from the San  Francisco Fledge Watch group reports a great Mother's Day save  by Diamond Lil.  A few days ago, Perry was the first to fledge.  He flew well but laned less so, earning him a return to the PG&E building via Animal Control.  This was today's adventure.  This story reminds me of an incident with Mariah and Isaura, many years ago:

About two hours after Perry flew to the pyramid at 123, he was flap-hopping
across the west face of the pyramid.

Each face of the pyramid has horizontal parallel ridges that he could grip while
he flapped, or he could flap-fly if by letting go.

The faces of the pyramids are connected by a smooth sheet metal ridge. At the
bottom of the pyramid is a gutter (the gutter that Sutro used when he
circumnavigated the roofline when he fledged to that same building)

Perry caught some wind and was moving to the south on his west face of the
pyramid. Then a gust of wind moved him to the north face. He caught another
gust that dropped him on the smooth connecting ridge where he started to slide
down, partially sideways and partially backwards in a slow but uncontrolled
slide over the edge of the roof.

Lil came flying in and body-checked him, bouncing him back up into the gutter.

Probably he would have been able to fly but it would have been awkward to start
a flight from a backwards-sideways position.

It was amazing to see how aware Lil was of Perry's danger, to see her fly in
fast enough to stop his slide with a body-check. She sat with him for a few
seconds and flew off.

Good mom Lil. Happy Mother's Day.

Paul