Dan S located all four juveniles this a.m.

Watchers included Dan S, Kathy G, Jeanne, Mike and myself. There is an ozone alert in effect from 8:00 am on today.

This morning we saw:

— 1 juvie made a rather weak attempt at a stoop from Acon’s peak on a pigeon. It had the gliding, rapid descent, but the pigeon was already on its way, and the juvie broke off the stoop rather quickly. But more important, it was an attempt on its own. These girls are rather quick at doing their instinctual behaviors.

— Two and/or three juvies chasing each other and playing talon tag overhead. Area covered included the stacks, the parking lot, State St, Bldg 9 and Bldg 10, the Bru and the south parking lot. Flights were long, vigorous, strong and well carried out. Landings looked good also.

In years past we would see the juvies head downtown before settling in on the gorge. It is still early to determine the pattern this year, but when the girls do move out, I predict that we will running high and low to keep up with them.

My watch Monday evening began quietly enough. Mariah was perched on the southeast corner of the Kodak Office building; Kaver was on the playpen rail; Grace was on the east railing of the Philadelphia Tower (a former elevator shaft or fire escape that was added onto the north side of the Kodak Office building); Sacajawea was on a ledge two stories below Grace; Linn and Ananta were near each other on the south and southeast corner of the 17th floor. So they remained until Kaver flew off to hunt at 5:50. Mariah joined him in the air a few minutes later, flying toward the northeast. Ananta flew after her mother, but shortly returned to the 17th floor.

Mariah was “ringing up,” that is, soaring in circles, rising higher and higher in the sky — looking for prey, or Kaver, or both. At 6:05, Ananta flew out around the BeeBee Station smokestacks, around the Kodak tower, then back to 17, next to a loudly kakking Linn. Mariah returned to the tower at the rocket level at the same time.
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In only a little more than an hour we witnessed a day’s worth of flying from the fledglings, who are getting better by literal leaps and bounds. Here’s a sample of the action.

We had a bit of a scare today. It was thought that one of the fledglings had fallen down the smoke stack early that morning.

At noon a group of us, including Shaky, Carrie, Barb, Jim P, Lucy and Larrry O, stood outside the fence surrounding the BeeBee Station. Every now and then we could hear a very faint whiny/kakky sound. But it was almost impossible to tell if it was coming from below ground at the bottom of the middle stack (the same one Rhea Mae had fallen down last year), or whether it was an echo from the fledglings on the tower. The Watchers on duty that morning could only confirm seeing three fledglings during their watches.

I decided to start my next watch at 4:00 p.m. I met Brian H and Dawn at the Kodak Visitor’s lot. Brian happily told me that all four fledglings were safely on the Kodak Tower. I couldn’t believe it! That was wonderful news.

So, did one of the girls go down the center stack? Did she make it out quickly on her own when no one was around? I guess we’ll never know.

The evening watch was glorious. But that’s another story to be told by another Watcher.

We spent the lunch hour watch trying to figure out if one of the fledglings had gone smokestack diving. Read about what we learned.

When I arrived at 8 AM, Jeanne who had been on watch from 5:45 to 8 showed me where the falcons were. Kaver was on the top of the middle stack, Mariah perched and a juvie walking on the 17th floor ledge, and two juvies on Building 10, north of the tower. I was unable to spot any bands on the juvies to identify individuals. Around 8:20, Mariah moved to Building 10.
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When I arrived, two adults were on the stacks and three juvies were on Kodak tower on the 11th floor. One had one window sill to herself and two were together a bit further down on the same window sill. An adult then went onto kodak.A few minutes later, three juvies flew to building 10 which is next to the Kodak tower. One was on the left hand side, one on the peak and the third was on the antenna of that building. Dan S. said one had been fed earlier this morning. He had arrived at 5. Mariah went to the lilies and was looking all around- definitely a hunt mode with Kaver on the center stack catwalk.

About 6:25. there was a pigeon chase with Mariah in hot pursuit. Two juveniles went after Mariah in high hopes of getting food. No luck so they returned to their positions. There was a LOT of kakking going on.
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Sorry for the late posting. The highlight of last night were all 4 fledglings made several flights during this time. At one point they all flew from the stacks onto a ledge of the Kodak building lining up for what became a perfect photo opportunity. For the most part the landings were smooth but they are still learning how to do it softly.

Around 8:30 pm it did get somewhat exciting. Two of the fledglings were sitting on the north stack when a falcon appeared overheard. At first, several watchers commented that it was Mariah, who had left some time before this headed towards the gorge, trying to get the fledglings to fly again. After several drives towards them it became apparent that, first it wasn’t friendly, and second it was smaller than the fledglings. It was determine it was a Kestrel not being very nice to the young falcons. Immediately, Kaver who was watching them from the Kodak building came to the rescue of his offspring. He drove the Kestrel off with an attach of his own and as a last act of defiance the Kestrel trailed Kaver back to the Kodak building.
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I wasn’t the Official Watcher for this time, but since there wasn’t one, here’s what we saw.

There wasn’t very much activity during the hot afternoon. At first we were only able to spot three of the fledglings. All were on the tower, resting. The watchers took turns walking around the tower, trying to spot the missing bird. Finally, after a couple of hours, we found the missing Falcon. It was Linn. She had decided it was a nice time to lay flat on the 16th floor ledge of the Kodak Tower. Now she was awake and it was time to join her sisters.

Linn flew out and landed very nicely next to Ananta and Grace who were on top of the middle smoke stack just east of the tower. Sacajawea was on the tower just above Mariah, and Kaver was sitting up on the playpen railing, near the nest box.
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Here’s an overview of Saturday evening and Sunday morning’s fledging activity, including copious pictures (of course!):