Two falcons shot in Oakland, state game wardens looking for suspects

[Annette]

8/22/2011 update on Haya & Marina (Hiko's mate & offspring):

Peregrine falcon update: This past week was a very big week for both Haya and Marina. We are very happy to report that after spending two weeks in a large outdoor aviary, Marina's flight improved to the point where she could be transferred to a falconer. The falconer will continue her rehabilitation and will work with her to help rebuild her strength and flight abilities.

Hospital staff radiographed Haya again last week and we are pleased to see that the infection in her wing had healed. Her wing wrap was removed and she was finally able to stretch both her wings in a small aviary. After one week, hospital staff took her to our large aviary to see if she could fly. After looking around for several minutes, Haya cautiously flew across the length of the aviary! It has been almost two and a half months since she was last able to fly. We put her back in her small aviary so she can continue to stretch without overworking her newly-healed wing. Though both birds made great leaps forward in their rehabilitation, they still have a long way to go. We are all hopeful for their recovery and we thank everyone for your continued support.

Here is a wonderful blog by the falconer taking care of Marina:

http://stewartfalcon.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/marina/

That are really very good news! 

[Kris G.]

Good news!   

http://walnutcreek.patch.com/articles/rescued-falcon-to-be-released-today

[Donna]

Good news!   

http://walnutcreek.patch.com/articles/rescued-falcon-to-be-released-today

Awesome news!!    Thanks

[Kris G.]

I just read an update from the falconer who was working with Marina, Haya's daughter, who wasn't releaseable and was put into a raptor breeding facility.

http://stewartfalcon.wordpress.com/2012/

[Dumpsterkitty]

I just read an update from the falconer who was working with Marina, Haya's daughter, who wasn't releaseable and was put into a raptor breeding facility.

http://stewartfalcon.wordpress.com/2012/

Glenn Stewart is also the director of SCPBRG, the UC Santa Cruz group currently running the research behind San Francisco & San Jose cams. He was also deeply involved in the original peregrine recovery effort. Marina's father, Hiko, was hatched at the San Jose nest.

[AlisonL]

Such wonderful news about Haya's release! I hope she will always fly in safe skies from now on, and will have a long and successful life.

New updates from the Yahoo group:

Monday after release:

It went well! She flew to a pole and parked for three hours to preen and look around in the sunshine. Finally, she launched into flight and went--possibly a mile--to land on the top of a high voltage tower. She really looked great and I have high hopes for her. She knows what it takes to make it out there and has made a good recovery. I was glad to be able to witness the release today. And yes, she is wearing my bands so we have a chance of getting long-term info on her. In the short term, Jim, who handled her for the past year, put a transmitter on her (the same one she has been wearing during falconry conditioning) so we will get about ten days information... if Jim can continue to find her and if the radio stays on and keeps working. --glenn@scpbrg

Tuesday afternoon:

She is doing great. After spending the night on a high voltage tower, she is tearing up downtown Richmond in pursuit of pigeons. More later on the Stewartfalcon.Wordpress blog. --glenn@scpbrg

[Kris G.]

Such wonderful news about Haya's release! I hope she will always fly in safe skies from now on, and will have a long and successful life.

New updates from the Yahoo group:

Monday after release:

It went well! She flew to a pole and parked for three hours to preen and look around in the sunshine. Finally, she launched into flight and went--possibly a mile--to land on the top of a high voltage tower. She really looked great and I have high hopes for her. She knows what it takes to make it out there and has made a good recovery. I was glad to be able to witness the release today. And yes, she is wearing my bands so we have a chance of getting long-term info on her. In the short term, Jim, who handled her for the past year, put a transmitter on her (the same one she has been wearing during falconry conditioning) so we will get about ten days information... if Jim can continue to find her and if the radio stays on and keeps working. --glenn@scpbrg

Tuesday afternoon:

She is doing great. After spending the night on a high voltage tower, she is tearing up downtown Richmond in pursuit of pigeons. More later on the Stewartfalcon.Wordpress blog. --glenn@scpbrg

Thanks for the post-release follow up!  Glad things went well!

[Donna]

After spending the night on a high voltage tower

I just don't like these words!

[MAK]

After spending the night on a high voltage tower

I just don't like these words!

Me neither! 

[AlisonL]

A new update on Haya today:

This is a picture of Haya perched a few miles from her release site in Richmond with a partially eaten meal firmly grasped in one foot. Less than 48 hours back in the wild, she has fed herself. There is really not a lot more to say. Haya is all the way back after a very tough year and a half during which she was shot, treated for injuries, flown in falconry for conditioning, and now released. She is back to who and what she is. We don’t get to witness a lot of these. Time to celebrate!

Photo at the link; she looks great!

http://stewartfalcon.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/haya/

[MAK]

Awesome comeback! 

[Kris G.]

Wonderful-couldn't ask for a better ending!

[Donna]

So happy for her but can't help but think of S2 seeing this. She could have been released soon also. Great for Haya! Just goes to show what some great TLC can do. 

[Donna]

We are rarely able to glimpse into the life of a wild bird. At the nest site, we see the interchange between adults and the rearing of young. But where are they when they are not at the nest? This week, Jim and the Canyoneers are following every move of the newly liberated Haya’s life.

Yesterday’s big news was the capture of a pigeon. While it is the most fundamental aspect of a peregrine’s life, it re-assured us that she is able to out maneuver a pigeon, snatch it from the air, and feed herself. This is good information. Not just because it makes us feel good, but because we now know for certain that our methods work. The days, weeks, and months of medical care worked. The follow-up care of eleven months of falconry care and conditioning worked.

(By comparison, our treatment regime for Marina also worked. She looked quite good and releasable in a flight aviary but falconry training showed that she would slowly starve if released to the wild. Our methods saved her from that slow death. Another important point that we should emphasize here is that even though Haya spent a year and a half in captivity and was trained to the glove, she never became “tame.� She is every bit as wild today as she was in the spring of 2011.)

Today, Haya returned to the food she cached yesterday to eat again in the morning and then perched in one spot for no less than eight hours. There is nothing wrong with her. She is certainly able to fly. But she was released in “high� condition and is now maintaining that weight by eating, resting, and enjoying the view from high places for the first time in a long while. She is also building muscle. Trained to falconry, Haya was in good condition when she was released. But a falconry bird is not nearly the athlete that a wild peregrine falcon is. Haya is becoming a strong, wild falcon again. Today, “being a wild falcon� for Haya meant: eating some left-overs, Perching for 8 hours to digest two days worth of pigeon gorge, making a brief soaring flight, and then settling back down on a perch.

For now, downtown Richmond has a peregrine falcon.

   

[Kris G.]

I'm so glad she continues to do well!  I also thought of S2 when I read this story's happy ending but, sadly, it just wasn't meant to be for her.