Salt Lake City Falcons

Another Nest Box Downtown

2011-11-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

I found this little tidbit on KSL News. Apparently there is a falcon box installed on The Church of the Madeline's bell tower. You will see the box about 3/4 of the way into this video.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=17925623

Towards the end of the season we saw a juvenile fly off east of Temple Square and wondered where they might be heading. This maybe be a feeding spot, as the church has pigeons as well. I highly doubt the breeding pair would choose that box over the one they've already used in years past but this gives us a place to look when we know they head east.

Nice Weather!

2011-10-24T20:31:00.000-06:00

Hello. I am so dreading winter, how 'bout you? Its been beautiful this week, though, which won't last I know. We are supposed to see snow on Thursday. Bahhh!

I mean't to share a couple photos I took back in September of a couple of the adults hanging out, here they are. At first I thought they might be juveniles but Bob says 'no'. Oh well. The bird in photo 1 is a different bird than the other two. I was able to see both at nearly the same time.

Heading in to September

2011-09-04T14:43:00.002-06:00

Hi Folks,

Wow, heading in to September already and there are still a few spotty sightings of Bobbie, and maybe Charlie, downtown. Bob saw a juvenile last weekend but was unable to spot a band on it so possibly it wasn't one of our young of the year.

Just this past Friday evening I stopped downtown and saw both adults, the male on the north face of Zion's Bank and the female on the north face of Gateway West building which is on the SW corner of Main and S. Temple. She was calling.

It appears the falcon cams have been turned off as well.

So I am sad to say, this may be my last post of 2011. We are putting together an email list for next year's fledge watch team. If you have not been receiving emails but would like to be a part of the fun next year, please send me a note and I will add you to the list. Thanks for all the support, emails, tweets and boots on the ground this year. See you next year!

Steve S. with Bobbie (fledge #4)

Liz

Update from Bob Walters

2011-08-21T13:38:00.000-06:00

I talked to Bob on Thursday evening and he told me he was downtown and had seen a bird on the east side of COB, a juvenile, and it took off flying east of State Street. That is interesting, possibly they are hanging out on the cathedral. He also said he saw the two adults fly in around dark and land on the two bank buildings on either side of Main and South Temple. Here is a follow up note he sent to me
on Friday:

Follow-up report to conversation with Liz on August 18 at 8:16 p.m., or so: angled malar tips suggest that the young-of-the-bird observed on the east rail above the plexiglass on the tall Church Office Building was Charlie.

Later, 8:59 -9:08 p.m., I observed a young-of-the-year bird at roost on the lower right-hand corner of the 6th from the top, fire escape opening on the west side, north face of the tall Church Office Building.
Also, despite repeated calls and messages to return my calls, I've received no word from my contact at the Intermountain Medical Center as to a check/look into the nest box where a few of us have spotted a single adult on the large sign visible on the east face from State Street.

Hummingbirds

2011-08-14T20:27:00.001-06:00

The hummingbirds are coming back to our feeders. The first video is of a Black Chinned hummer. The second is a turf war. These go on all the time. One sits in the trees just across from the feeder and if 'anyone' tries to feed, he runs 'em off.

Notes from Bob

2011-08-08T22:48:00.000-06:00

I received this brief note of updates from Bob Walters today, it appears the kids are hunting:

I was downtown on Saturday evening on August 6. I watched a young-of-the-year bird stoop on a pigeon from the southeast corner of the Key Bank Tower (KBT) to the east of State Street (it missed) and then return toward the KBT and out of view. Later, I noted a bird (impossible to determine if an adult, or young-of-the-year) at roost up against the tinted glass where the glass intersects the main column on the west side on the south face of the COB and Cynthia picked up a bird at roost on the twelfth barred, fire escape opening on the north side of the COB.

Plus ... I visited the IMC on Sat., August 6 and from <19:45 - 19:55 observed and studied an adult tiercel PEFA (Peregrine Falcon) perched on the lower, right-hand corner of the lower, support member of the sign (Intermountain Medical Center). No word, so far from the maintenance fellow who was going to take a look into the nest box.

All for now.

Another Salt Lake Area Falcon Box

2011-08-06T20:47:00.001-06:00

I am very excited to report that I saw a peregrine at another location in the Salt Lake area. A week ago, Bob told me about a falcon box that was installed on the Intermountain Health Care building in Murray, Utah. He said that the guy who installed it has not really been communicative, so Bob stopped to see if there might be youngsters. He was not really expecting that it was used this year. He did see a bird on the east face of the largest building but it was behind the sign and nothing but the face was visible. I stopped last weekend also, to see if I could see anything. Nothing.

But today, I stopped after going to the farmer's market and lo and behold there was a bird sitting on the west side (out of that east sun) right next to the 'M' on the Inter Mountain sign. I was so excited and it looked like a juvenile! I got out my camera, got all focused and realized that I didn't have my memory card inserted - it was at home in my computer. Rats. So I made a trip back there late this afternoon and after hunting a bit, I found this bird and I also got a good shot of the falcon box and the excrement flowing down the sides of the hospital. Its very apparent that birds have been using this area quite a bit, indicating that there were probably chicks. Yay! This bird looks like an adult, darn. I will be stopping back again this week to look some more. In case you are wondering, there are no cameras in this box but who knows, maybe the hospital could be talked into putting them in!

See the excrement on the right side of the windows?

Its very apparent here! And look there is a bird on the ledge/sill!

Wow, it looks like a lot of falcons hang out here!

See her under the 'r'?

I bet its a female.

This is where I saw the bird this morning, but it was in shade, just to the left of the 'M'

Thursday Night Photos

2011-08-05T18:33:00.000-06:00

I went to Temple Square late last night, really too late to catch any flights but I snapped this picture of a bird roosting on the COB at dark. Bob thought he saw a juvenile on the south side roosting, so this may have been Bobbie on the north side.First, though, I want to share a photo 'collage' that SkygirlBlue sent me to compare bird sizes in the box, in hopes that we can conclude that the bird in the box on Wednesday was indeed Charlie. You can see that the bird on the far right is larger than the other two, it's the adult female, the middle phots is the adult male, so we are thinking that the left side is a juvenile male. I asked Bob and he confirmed that the juveniles are full size when they leave the next.

I sure wish I could get a photo with both juvies. According to Bob, the adults don't roost here, this is a juvie hang out.

Sixth window down on the right side of center column.

Bird in the Box

2011-08-03T21:49:00.000-06:00

Today, unexpectedly, a juvenile showed up in the box and I think it was Charlie! What do you think? Sorry, these are from a camera phone and low resolution. Its a juvenile for sure and it sure looks small.Thanks Cynthia for sending them to me!

Testing Results

2011-08-01T22:58:00.001-06:00

Bob called me late this afternoon and said he received the results from USU on Amelia and Sally. He laughed that it would be easier to drop a copy off than to try to find it in his insane email inbox. When he arrived, we reviewed the results and had a brief discussion on the surprising findings that Sally was said to be emaciated. The rehab expert disagreed, saying the bird she handled seemed healthy weight. We also noticed that the report listed both birds as male - that is a little concerning but I suppose it could have been a clerical mistake. Bob concluded in the end that learning to fly in a city is very tough. There are unforgiving surfaces everywhere and he wonders/maybe assumes that Sally may have been the bird that smacked in to the window during that first week. Another question is how long was she stuck on the office building, or was she already sick and fell there, hitting her head.

The watch for Charlie and Bobbie will continue off and on as people have time to come downtown in the evenings. It is probably the best time, since Charlie does not seem to appear until the sun sets. Slowly over the next few weeks, if not earlier, the sightings will be fewer. Another new development is the adults coming back to the nest box and hanging out for long periods of time. I asked Bob about it today and he said it's possibly a 'taking back' of their territory behavior OR the light at the time of year triggers a nesting behavior. Bob joked that if they lay another clutch, he's turning the project over to me - he's too tired!

So here is the summary of the results from the wildlife department:

“There was no sign of infectious disease in either bird. The lab saw evidence that both birds suffered from a huge fall. Bird number 1 had a ruptured crop (see definition at end of post) that led to a bacterial infection as well as a bruised heart. Bird number 2 was extremely emaciated and the crop/intestines were completely empty. The second bird also had a contusion on the top of the head attributed to a large fall.”

The summary from the lab written in the report on each bird was listed as follows:

Bird #1:

Cause of death is bacterial sepsis caused by infection of the crop compounded by infection of subcutaneous tissue secondary to rupture of the crop. Crop infections (ingluviitis) can occur due to ingestion of heavily contaminated ( bacteria) feed or is more commonly secondary to crop stasis in young birds.

Bird #2:

There is no evidence of infectious disease in this animal. The entire GI tract was empty indicating this animal did not feed for at least a few days. Metabolic complications associated with inanition in young birds include hypoglycemia, which may have contributed to a fall in this case, explaining the contusion on the top of the head.

Definition of crop: In a bird's digestive system, the crop is an expanded, muscular pouch near the gullet or throat. It is a part of the digestive tract, essentially an enlarged part of the esophagus. As with most other organisms that have a crop, the crop is used to temporarily store food. Not all birds have a crop. In adult doves and pigeons, the crop can produce crop milk to feed newly hatched birds.Scavenging birds, such as vultures, will gorge themselves when prey is abundant, causing their crop to bulge. They subsequently sit, sleepy or half torpid, to digest their food.Most raptors have one; like falcons, hawks, eagles and vultures (as stated above) but owls do not.

Bobbie and Charlie

2011-07-31T22:23:00.001-06:00

Hurray! I received a call from Bob Walters at 9:41 that he believes both Bobbie and Charlie are 'roosting' on the north side of the Church Office Building, Charlie in the top west breezeway and Bobbie just below. Bob believes it is them because the adults do not tend to overnight in those locations. There was also a sighting of a parent in next box this evening. Bob said he feels much better about things after tonight. I will keep reporting and tweeting as I get updates. There is no news on the outcome of tests on Salley and Amelia yet. I know that is on everyone's mind and as soon as I know anything, I will post it here.

Another Nest Fledging

2011-07-30T15:19:00.000-06:00

You may want to keep an eye on the Great River cams. Their kids are fledging this weekend-ish.

http://www.greatriverenergy.com/aboutus/environmental/birdcam.html
http://falcon.grenergy.com/

Can We Spot Charlie?

2011-07-30T13:52:00.001-06:00

There were several attempts over the last few mornings and evenings to confirm that we still have two juveniles in the Temple Square area. During the day, most of us can confirm that there is a juvenile hanging out on the Zion's Bank building for hours. I was there at lunch both Thursday and Friday and, I think Bobbie, has been the bird I have seen. (see first picture below)

On Thursday and again last evening, quite a few watchers were downtown, specifically watching the north side of the COB in hopes that Charlie would 'put in' for the night there and that we could get confirmation that they are both in the area. Many people believe they saw Bobbie on that building late, around 9pm, and quite a few people texted or twittered that they spotted two, maybe three birds in the box on the cams around the same time. Because Charlie was seen doing his rain dance last week in the box, we might be able to conclude that it was Charlie and the parents in the box last night. But there are no photos or confirmation.

I decided to get up extra early today and go down there and see if I could spot both juvies on the big building at dawn. I arrived in the dark, at 5:20 and just as the dawn was breaking, approx 5:40, I saw a bird on the very top of COB near the security cam on the northeast corner. It was too dark to see if it was adult of juvie. I spotted no others on any of the buildings but it was very dim light. That bird took off around the east side, landing on the southeast corner by the Obs Deck. I made my way over to the fountain and the bird took off going west and was intercepted very quickly by a fast flying falcon who flew with it around the south side of the Key Bank building. I then found one bird on the Key Bank and one on the Zion's Bank plucking feathers. They stayed there for 30 min or so, then I had to run around the north end of JSMB building losing sight of them. I picked up two birds flying over to COB playing in the air then splitting, one landing on each of the SW and SE corners. I now believe, after looking at the photos, that they were the adults. I also spotted a bird on the NW corner of Eagle Gate Tower, very light chested but it sure looks like it has a friend sitting next to it. (see below)

Soon after there was vocalizing coming from the nest area where I observed two birds going in to the nest box, one flew out and then landed on the scroll to the right. I thought it was Charlie because of the black cap but now I see it was adult male with adult female on scroll. About 30 min after that, female flew to SE corner of JSMB then joined male in the box. They went into back corner, vocalizing LOUDLY and stayed in there for 5 min or more. Evenutally, male flew out to land on scroll to right of box and adult female pops up to ledge. They sat that way for 2.5 hours, when I finally left to go home. In the meantime, I saw one juvenile on the Key Bank and it flew over to SW corner of COB. Juvie then flew around to NE corner of COB. I had to move my car, when I came back juvie was gone but parents still in/near box. I called Bob, because it makes me very nervous when they disappear like that when they are up on the COB. I am pretty sure this bird is Bobbie. Bob said he worked out a time to go check the decks with the security team around noon today so that's good.

I don't know what to make of any of this. I guess parents are bonding/mating, not sure. I still can't confirm seeing Charlie. (sorry for the email at 7am saying he was in the box, turned out it was Dad). There is a lot of activity VERY early in the morning if you can roll yourself out of bed its worth the effort.

Probably Bobbie hanging for hours and hours on this ledge Thursday and Friday.

Adult

This has me stumped. Two birds?

Dad hanging in box.

Dad in box, Mom upper right corner (NE corner of JSMB)

Dad

Mom

Mom joins Dad in box.

Dad leaves box.

Mom in box. Dad on scroll.

Juvie for sure, I had eyes on both adults when I took this.

Same juvie but it sure looks light.

More Bad News

2011-07-28T07:53:00.000-06:00

I am really very sad to report that we lost Amelia yesterday morning. Bob released her on the Beehive after her night at the rehabber. She seemed fine. It was then that Bob received the call about Sally, so he picked up Sally and went to his office to arrange testing etc. He returned to the grounds to check up on Amelia before lunchtime and found her hanging on to a window frame on the west side of JSMB. She then flew north around the building and apparently landed in the 'hollow' space between the wings of that building. When Bob got to her, she was lying prone in a puddle, but alive. He took her back to the rehabber, Joanne, on Tuesday where she spent the night. Joanne said she look well at 11pm, but when she checked on her in the early morning she had died. There was nothing apparently wrong but tests are being run on both birds now looking for answers. Bob said the more he thinks about it, the more he thinks Sally should have been able to tough it out on the observation deck for the 24+ hrs because there was shade, etc. So maybe there is something else going on. Both birds were big and healthy looking.

Bob now wants us to focus on the two remaining so the watch team will be back on Temple Square a bit more trying to track down the other two. There was a report last evening from Pomera that a juvenile, they believe to be Bobbie was doing well and was last seen putting in for the night on one of those COB northside breezeways. I will twitter updates throughout the day as I get them.

So sorry for the bad news. Obviously, Bob, the team and all of you readers care deeply about this project. I avoided posting this all day yesterday hoping maybe we would find out the causes so I could relay that info too.

Two Special Volunteers

2011-07-27T08:02:00.001-06:00

This year, we had two new special volunteers who spent countless hours during Hell Week tracking the kids. Both of them sent me tributes to post on this blog - both were obviously touched by the experience.

Ralph lives at the local shelter and we don't know much about him except that he spends a lot of time at the library and somehow stumbled upon our group and started helping. He was dilligent and some days was there as many hours as Bob Walters. As Bob said, 'he saved our bacon more than once'. I had no idea Ralph had email until yesterday - he emailed me just a few minutes before I heard about Sally, telling me all about how he had seen an adult hunting with a juvenile yesterday on his walk to the library. I hated to have to email him back to let him know about Sally. He immediately responded that he wanted to create a tribute for me to post. I think it's beautiful.

John is another volunteer who spent a lot of time with us this year. He works as a volunteer full time downtown and is a special person. He sent me his 'impressions' of the birds a few weeks ago, although it reads a little like poetry to me. I have been waiting for a special time to share it. I think today is the day. Sometimes you have no idea what is inside another person even when they are standing right next to you --

Liz,

Here are my impressions of the four birds.

Amelia – the first to leave the nest and the last to move to the temple. She is the falcon that stayed on to stay on the Church Office building lower building and had a thing for the security camera on the northeast corner of the wall even sitting in the bright sunlight. It all kept us wondering if she world ever fly off of there to the temple.

Charlie – the second to leave the nest and the one who first found a tree (not a place for a falcon to be landing.) He also was the first not to be found for 24 hours, but then we later found out what he was doing, when it came to Saturday afternoon when he came off of the temple and took one of many great flights.

Sally -- was the third to leave the box and also was the one that liked to fly into the construction zone south of temple square and got to go home with Bob from her adventure and the other night was trying to make a landing on the ledge of the Church Office Building and did not make it to the ledge, it being too late in the evening Bob has to take her home for the second night.

Bobbie -- was the last to leave the nest and did so in the most interesting happening she fell out by accident. Bobbie was the one that because of her size, I thought was a male, but surprised me. She along with Sally was the one that liked to fly into the construction zone south of temple square and got to go home with Bob from her adventure.

John

Very Sad News - Update

2011-07-26T10:39:00.002-06:00

Update at 6:00pm 7/26

The obvious question that arises from this sad incident is whether there should be regular checks on the observation deck. Currently, the watch team does not have access to that area unless the building is open. I don't think any of us even thought about the extended time it would be closed due to the Utah state holiday yesterday, Pioneer Day. A lot of buildings in downtown SLC were closed. We were all caught by surprise. I have never heard any of the falcon team members mention that a bird has been rescued from the observation deck in past years. But, the configuration makes it such that the birds can not easily fly out if they do end up landing there, but again, in the past it was not a place they normally landed. The fact that two of them have landed on the decks this year tells us that we need to rethink our strategies.

I would just like to thank the LDS Church and their security team for all they do to accomodate the birds, the volunteers and Bob. They have been extremely generous with installing and hosting of the nestbox cameras, allowing Bob to have access to the beehive roof whenever he needs it, and making calls as soon as they are aware of issues with the birds. There are many rooftops in downtown SLC where the birds could get in trouble and there is never an expectation that we will know if they do. As far as the church office building observation decks, I know Bob will be thinking about solutions for the near and long-term future.

Church security reported an expired falcon on the east observation deck this morning. Banding number indicates Sally. Bob picked het up and is having necropsy done but he suspects it was trapped too long without being noticed in the heat. I am terribly sorry to report this.

Amelia Picked Up for Questioning

2011-07-25T18:55:00.000-06:00

Well, not really, although she is behind bars so to speak. Bob got a call from church security this afternoon that someone found one of the birds near the west entrance of JSMB. Bob picked her up and couldn't see any reason she would be on the ground, but just to be safe he took her to visit a falcon specialist who said Amelia shows signs of having just eaten and it can be common for them to have a difficult time flying in the heat after just eating (I think I got that right). Anyway, Amelia will overnight and if all is well, Bob will release her tomorrow morning. I will keep you updated.

New Heights

2011-07-25T08:00:00.001-06:00

A few of us spent time down at Temple Square last night and we now know the kids are hanging out on the north face of the Church Office Building (COB) and probably sleeping there overnight (see second picture). Tonight there was not much flying until a good wind picked up and then we were treated to a great display very high over the COB. Around and around they went from north to south. Bob is pretty sure we saw all four kids plus one adult. My camera just didnt do a good job of picking up the birds in flight but I added one just so you get an idea. The light was too low by the time they started their aerials. Apparently they put on the same show the night before so if you are downtown looking, late evening, that's the spot. We had best viewing across the street on North Temple.

One kid on each of the top two breezeway shelves.

Quiet Night

2011-07-22T11:49:00.000-06:00

I do not have much to report - I only spent 30 minutes on the grounds. I could not find any birds at first. I walked around the reflecting pond and checked the usual locations. Just before I was to leave, I heard loud sqwauking, and all four juveniles flew from various locations to land over on the Temple where an adult must have made a food drop. They were frantic. The two below are the ones who 'won' and got the food. The other two flew off. I found one on top of the Key Bank building, show below.

Update: I will be spending Sunday evening on the grounds, starting around 7pm. I will have the 2-way radio on ch 11-22 and my cell phone with me. I will receive emails and Tweets on my phone. If you are coming down to watch, look for me near the reflecting pool. I will Tweet if I go down any other times.

Birds Gone Wild on Video!

2011-07-21T21:57:00.000-06:00

Well, I should have know that someone would capture 'the capture', LOL. Here is Bob and Bobbie caught on video on Monday morning. Thank you to whoever got the footage!

Also, here is a great capture of a juvenile going back to the nestbox! This is amazing, he's adorable, sort of hopping and playing with something. Its a long video but a great thunderstorm going on in the background! Nice capture to SkygirlBlue of BCAW.

And while I have your attention, I might as well post all the fledge videos. Below is #1 Amelia, July 6. Then Charlie, Sally and OOPS, Bobbie on July 7.

All Four at Charlie's Cafe

2011-07-20T21:33:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I stopped down at Falcon Central to see what I could see. I heard a juvie vocalizing rather loudly on the JSMB. I sat by the reflecting pool and caught a glimpse of two birds. It sure sounded like more than two so I kept looking and pretty soon I noticed a third one up on the scallop just above. I walked a little closer and then I saw the back end of another bird on the corner. What a surprise to find them all in the same area especially now.

Update from Bob as of tonight, July 20: he saw all four juvies tonight as well. Two flying for sure and the other two sitting.

Can you see all four? There is one cadillac-ed right on the corner, see the wing tips? Click on pic for larger view.

This is the view that told me there was a bird on that corner. He/she is munching on some leftovers.

Pictures by Mike

2011-07-20T08:39:00.000-06:00

Here are some really good photos taken by Mike Shaw. Thanks for sharing.

Juvenile in stoop off observation deck (that's the deck Bob rescued Bobbie from Monday morning)

Blown up, I think this is Sally but some said its Charlie.

My Guess? Amelia, Bobbie, Sally - left to right.

Bobbie the Troublemaker

2011-07-18T21:45:00.000-06:00

A quick update: Bob called me to let me know that Bobbie was found on the observation deck of the big Church Office Building (COB) by security this morning. Apparently, for the last day or so, Bob had only been able to account for three birds. Bob picked up Bobbie, who was unhurt but unable to fly out of the area because it has a tall fence surrounding it that Bobbie could not make the jump over. Bob released Bobbie on the Beehive and later in the day saw Bobbie, or another kid, actually sitting up on that actual fence on the observation deck. So he may be getting another call tonight! (Were there enough Bob(bies)s in that last sentence for ya??)

p.s. I will be falcon watching on Temple Square on Friday evening and Saturday morning. If you are in the area, stop down to hang out with me. My 2-way will be on!

Official 'Watch' Over

2011-07-17T13:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, my son, Doug, accompanied me downtown for our volunteer dinner/social which took place on the dining patio near the birds. Afterwards, he taped me with his Flip camera while we watched flights. A couple things to note: 1) It helps to view this video full screen and at 720p because the birds are flying higher, 2) Be sure to take your motion sickness pills before viewing, 3) I need to go on a major diet or maybe cameras really do add 10 pounds. There is an almost crash at minute 5:40 but the bird does a great job of clinging to a window, and at minute 7-something there is an illegal street crossing that I would appreciate you not reporting to the police {grin}.

So in all, we saw a kid sitting on the Temple, who was either Charlie or Bobbie because its 'cap' was so dark, and a bird sitting on a high skyscraper that everyone was saying was Amelia. Then my son captured at least two kids flying, but one of them was probably Amelia because when I looked, she was gone off the sky scraper after that flight was taped. So, I am pretty sure we saw three kids last night.

The offical 'watch' on these juvies is now over. But anyone who stops by to watch flights should probably send an email to Bob of what they see, but really the kids are doing very well and there is probably no getting hands on them anymore. They have not learned to hunt, that we can tell. My best guess is that they will be hanging around Temple Square for another week, maybe two. I am still working on getting Bob to participate in the Q&A. I may have to make an appointment at his office next week :)

Bob on Local News and Falcon Update

2011-07-14T23:31:00.002-06:00

Bob was interviewed by Fox13 News yesterday. You can find the video here:
http://www.fox13now.com/news/local/kstu-salt-lake-city-falcons-downtown-fledgling-falcons-learn-to-fly-20110713,0,4870506.story

And here is Pomera's report for the day plus a photo of Sally sitting on a scallop and then flying off Tuesday around 1:30:

Greetings -

Lots of shenanigans by the Flying Zambinis tonight. One bird crashed into the window of The Roof. She took some subsequent flights and seems to be okay. Three of the young are accounted for as of quitting time tonight with one MIA, who is likely safe and not too far away.

We may not mount an all day watch on Friday, but will at least check in on the birds morning and evening.

Best -

Pomera

Falcon Update

2011-07-14T11:09:00.000-06:00

Here is Pomera's report from yesterday (my son is visiting this week, so I will not be downtown as much, blog postings will be slower):

Falcon Followers -

Every day is a new adventure with the falcons!

When I arrived downtown this morning at 5:40, I found three of the young birds raiding the pantry at Charlie's Cafe and the other one right above them on the roof. This corner of the JSMB has been designated as such because it's where the parents stock lots of pigeon goodies. Charlie was the first to discover the cache and initially had the place all to himself. The girls have since discovered what a fine dining experience this little corner cafe offers and Charlie is again at the mercy of the hungy sisters.

It's nearly impossible to tell the birds apart at this point. I just refer to them collectively as the Flying Zambinis. There were four birds (three young and one adult) in the air at 6:00 a.m. They put on a marvelous show. Too bad I wasn't awake to enjoy it!

Two birds showed signs of increasing wing strength this morning. One landed on the roof of a lower building, but was able to generate enough "umph" to lift off after she realized she had strayed outside the food drop zone. A second bird landed seven stories up in one of the JSMB window sills. After alternately admiring herself in the glass and snoozing for a couple of hours, she made a shaky takeoff, lost some altitude, but eventually pulled it out.

I just spoke with Bob and learned that all four young birds are accounted for as of 9:00 p.m. Keep your fingers crossed for no late night antics from these characters.

And in the for what it's worth column, I got my pink slip today. It came in the form of a parking ticket with a pink return envelope. Be careful on those meters downtown - parking enforcement agents (formerly called meter maids) rule!

Best -
Pomera

Comparing Markings

2011-07-13T20:30:00.033-06:00

One of the questions that comes up a lot is how we can tell the four juvenile falcons apart when they are flying and up on ledges. Well, we can't all the time and its getting harder now that they are all about adult size. We used to be able to tell Bobbie because she had some down left on her and Charlie because he was flying sooner and he is smaller. But unless they perch together, its really difficult to tell. One way we can tell, if we can get a scope on them, is by their malars, those dark mustaches they all sport. I spent some time blowing up photos from banding and hope it will help ID them, but really they look very similar. Charlie has small little dark 'v's' off his malars towards his beak and his mask is dark. Sally is very light, her mask stops at the corner of her eyes and leaves very light cheeks. I will print these off and show Bob (because the poor guy has no time to get near a computer these days) and see what he things could help us ID the juvies. If anyone has more, clear, photos of Bobbie, please email them to liz@utahrox.com. I could only find two and they aren't very clear. I would also like one of the four in the nest prior to fledging, all lined up in a row.

All Four Juvies from left to right top to bottom: Amelia, Charlie, Sally, Bobby

Amelia banded on July 6 (flednged 7/6/11 at 6:18am)

Charlie banded on July 7 (fledged 7/7/11 5:57am)

Sally banded July 7 (fledged 7/7/11 at 6:15am)

Bobbie banded July 7 (fledged 7/7/11 11:00am)

The Story of Bobbie in the Tree

2011-07-13T10:44:00.002-06:00

There are so many funny stories told while watching the kids, as well as lame wildlife jokes by Bob - I will have to post some of them in the future. I particularly like the story about the badger walking the streets of Salt Lake.

Anyway, this is a story about Bobbie. When I arrived at Falcon Central yesterday at noon, everyone was buzzing about Bobbie having landed in a tree (unusual for a Peregrine and probably not her intended landing spot) and that it was almost dark so there was nothing they could do. They had to leave her in the tree (which hangs very close to a busy street) and hope she would be ok. Bob enlisted the help of a horse and carriage driver (who was staying downtown until midnight) who used to live on a farm and knew how to catch chickens :) and gave her a cardboard box, a towel and some duct tape and asked her if she found the bird to do her best to catch it and call Bob. Well all ended up well, Bobbie was still there at 5:45am when Pomera came down on Tuesday morning. She soon after hopped up the tree and flew off. Disaster averted! Here's a video of John (and Nate his brother) telling the story of Bobbie in the tree. Thanks, John, for letting me tape you :)

Flight Videos

2011-07-12T23:00:00.000-06:00

I am in the process of uploading several videos taken this evening, so check back tonight and tomorrow on my YouTube channel. It was beautiful this evening with the lights and sky. Check out my video channel here www.youtube.com/cardlizzy Tomorrow I will try to add more notes, but for tonight, I am too tired! When I left downtown, two kids were at Charlie's Cafe (a knickname for the corner of the building where they seem to be fed a lot) and one was sitting at the feet of the golden stature on the center spire and the last one was on the north face of the Temple.

There is a juvenile bird who made a good landing on the top right spire basket.

Flying High

2011-07-11T23:38:00.000-06:00

There were so many great flights from the kids today! It was so fun to watch them keep trying. The picture sequences below are so blurry, I was just snapping away hoping my camera could keep up. Well, it helps you get the idea anyway. There was some crazy landings, linke the one on the Angel Moroni's trumpet. I have a couple close up photos at the bottom that came out nice but most of these are just to give you a brief glimpse. No major notes today. All kids accounted for, flying well, and eating. Someone even said they thought there was a mid-air food exchange between adult and juvenile. That's great progress!

Parents flying side by side

Juvie (and all the rest of photos are kids unless noted)

Adult

Questions for Q&A

2011-07-11T22:09:00.000-06:00

I haven't told Bob yet, but I have secret plans to interview him (hopefully one or two on video) and ask all your burning questions, hee hee. So here are the questions I have collected so far (feel free to email or leave more questions in the comments section of this post):

Do babies and parents from prior years return or elsewhere in SLC area?
Do Peregrines migrate? Where/how far? Will these migrate?
Do parents and kids keep flying further and further away from the nest each day?
When will they be gone for good?
How long do parents watch over babies?
Is Bobbie ok? What happened right after falling backwards out of the nest?
Did Sally really hurt her wing?
Where do our falcons go in winter?
How do the volunteers identify them by name when they are perched so high or flying?
Do we know where past babies are from being banded? Any news from afar?
How do they learn to hunt and when?

I will be working on getting these answered on Wednesday when I am off work. Yay!
(Posting pictures in a little while - MANY kid flights this evening!!)

Pomera's Nightly Report

2011-07-10T23:30:00.000-06:00

Wow, things can change fast. Here is Pomera's report of events today:

The day was very slow until about 7:30 p.m. and then all hell broke loose. The birds all started flying at the same time and it was hard to keep track of them.

#2 Charlie is quite proficient and the least of our worries. #1 Amelia was the first to fledge and has been slow to fly, but did quite well today. #3 Sally's footwork has improved greatly and she made some very nice landings today. We were able to keep track of these three birds reasonably well.

#4 Bobbie was another story. She took off to the south down Main Street which is one of the worst places the birds can be. A big thanks to Jon and Susan Everts for tracking Bobbie until she flew into a construction area. From there, Bob donned a hard hat and with the help of Metro Security, was able to locate the bird. Long story longer, he coerced the bird to fly from this dangerous area. Bobbie made her way over to Jon's quadrant and he made a fabulous pick-up.

So to summarize, we left three kids on the temple and Bobbie went home with Bob tonight. Bob and Bobbie - kind of sweet, huh ;-)

Sunday's Photos

2011-07-10T22:05:00.003-06:00

I will be working Monday and Tuesday, but hope to get to the grounds for photos during lunch each day. Sunday was a quiet day. Early in the morning, Bobbie, who had spent the night on the North Visitor Center, took a low flight out over North Temple Street, where a truck honked and she veered off to the side and landed on the grass. She was captured and both Bobbie and Sally were released onto the Beehive around 9am and stayed there until afternoon when Sally flew over to the Temple. Amelia stayed on the Temple all day. Charlie disappeared until about 2pm then reappeared on the Temple. We are not sure where he is hiding out when he flies off. There were several fly-by's by the parents trying to get the big, lazy girls to fly.

Amelia on Temple (photo provided by Robin Galli, Sandy, UT)

Bobbie and Sally released on Beehive.

Bobbie and Sally on Beehive, south face, after being released.

Adult flying over.

Adult flying off Eagle Gate Building.

Adult on Temple w food in beak.

Adult food handoff.

Saturday Activities

2011-07-09T23:55:00.000-06:00

Updates from Friday late day: I don't have all the birds identified in this story but one bird flew into a construction site and Bob got a call that a worker had the bird in a bucket. A bird flew over to the map, which you can see in the video, missed and slid into the gardens. Was retrieved. At another point a woman who is a volunteer for the church kept telling our people that she had a bird on the sidewalk across the street. They kept telling her, no, it couldn't be because they had all kids accounted for, but Steve finally went over just to make sure and sure enough, she had one of the kids. Amazing. Later in the evening, a woman called and said she absolutely new where Charlie was, she had spotted him and an adult on the west side of the Temple. She was right, Charlie was finally found and stayed put all night.

Sally came down one more time and Bob just decided to take her home with him instead of risking putting her back up. So this morning he waited until about 9am to take her back up and when he did, Bobbie, who was still up on the Beehive, flew off to the Temple and remained there the rest of the day. So Charlie and Bobbie are both on the same spire of the Temple, Charlie on the West face and Bobbie on the North.

Amelia had been on the map building all night and all morning until about noon. She followed the shade as it moved along the edge of the building, laying down in the shade, then five minutes later having to get up again and walk 12 inches to the shade and lay down again, until finally she flew back over to her favorite spot sitting under a spotlight. When Sally was released at nine, she immediately flew off southeast, both adults followed her, herding her back west where she smacked into the Zions Bank Building. She ended up on a sill in the shade. She stayed there for about 30 min then flew over towards the nestbox, glanced off onto a sill. Ten minutes later she flew over to the admin bldg and was fed by an adult. That was when we noticed her wing looking funny. She stayed there for a long time, walked the whole perimeter then made a flight again southeast, but looped around to land back on admin bldg just one ledge lower which put her in shade. At this point I left because all kids seemed to be in shade to hang out for the afternoon.

Here are the latest updates on the kids which was sent out my another volunteer, Pomera. I appreciate getting Pomera's updates every evening because I usually have to leave the grounds by 2pm and feel so left out of the evenings activities. Following the updates are many photos from today with captions.

Here's the latest on the falcons as of tonight at 10:00 p.m. The number by their names designates the order in which they fledged:

#1 - Amelia (female) - took her first flight since fledging early morning on July 6th and is currently resting on the temple.

#2 - Charlie (male) - fledged early morning on July 7th. He has literally "found his wings" and has been flying up a storm. At last report, he had made his way up quite high on the Church Office Building where we hope he will settle in for the night. In retrospect, we needn't have been worried about Charlie's well being when he went MIA. He knew where he was and so did his doting parents, but it's tough on the watch team when we don't have them in sight.

#3 - Sally (female) - fledged early morning on July 7th. Has taken the most hits - nothing serious, however. She "crashed" yesterday evening and it was too late to take her back up for another try. So she went home with Bob. Same scenario tonight. This bird's no dummy. I'm thinking she couldn't turn down another night of Walters' hospitality.

#4 - Bobbie (female) - slipped out of the box midday on July 7th. She's doing really well given how young she was when she took her first tumble. She is currently on the roof of the north visitors' center.

Bobbie on North Face JSMB 7:30 am, just in front of that red, white and blue shield on the right side of the spade. When Bob brought Sally up to release her, Bobbie spooked a bit and flew off the curley cue and over to the Temple where she sat around the corner from Charlie for most of the morning.

Amelia on the 'wailing wall' so called because she's been there for days just crying but won't fly.

Volunteers: Nate and Jack starting duty this morning.

Finally, Charlie is found. Isn't he pretty? He sat in this spot all morning on the west side of the Temple.

I believe this is Mom, keeping watch over Charlie, just above him.

Volunteers: Cindy and Pomera keeping track of Charlie.

The guy on the left is Bob Walters, the one who organizes all of us and kept Sally overnight. Volunteer June is seated

All the volunteers meeting up for a break. On the right of this picture just across the street is the brick building Bobbi sat on all day yesterday and where she got picked up by a construction worker after flying into the pit.

This is Sally, who once again is sleeping at Bob's house because she can't stop crashing into buildings. This is just before taking her up to be released this morning at 9:15 am.

This is Sally after being released and immediately flying off Beehive, looping once with adults and crashing into this building and sliding down to this sill at 9:25

Guess who? Sally of course, after glancing off JSMB, she is now sitting on Admin Bldg with what looks like a hurt wing, now at 10:20.

Amelia, who would get up and move to shade every 5 minutes as it moved along this wall. When she got within 10 squares of the street, she got up and flew over to the wall in picture below.

Larger view North, note the map I refer to a lot and this is also the 'wailing wall'. Yes, Amelia is in this photo just at the edge of the shade.

This is the view looking East (I was on 10th fl of JSMB, the Admin Bldg is just across and there is Sally, sitting about 1/3 of the distance over on the edge going south.

Amelia, who finally flew off the wall!

Amelia, back up on the wall, under her favorite lamp. She sat in this spot a lot yesterday too.

Peregrine = Pilgrim = Wanderer

2011-07-08T23:02:00.000-06:00

Well, Charlie the wanderer has been found. Great news! More details tomorrow. In the meantime, I wanted to feature a French blog about Peregrines that belongs to a reader, A. Yassin who left a comment asking me if banding was the same as ringing, their term for IDing the falcons. Please take a stop by his blog, these photos make mine look ridiculous. They are incredible. Peregrine in French is Pelerins. Depending on your browser, there is a translate button at the top of the page that changes it all to English. Amazing. Well done, Yassin!

http://fauconline.blogspot.com/

Still No Sign of Charlie

2011-07-08T15:06:00.001-06:00

The photos below show the three female fledglings resting on different buildings around Temple Square. Charlie is still not accounted for. There was one report from a woman who thought she saw him on the ground/grass this morning near the Temple but we haven't found him. Right before I came home today, about 12:30, Amelia decided to fly off her spot on COB and land on what is known as the Relief Society Building which is a bit lower and just next to it on the west side. She made her way north and gave everyone a scare that she would fly into the street on North Temple Street but after about 45 minutes went back to her original position you see in this photo below. The adults seemed to get active checking on all three babies at that same time and there was a lot of flyovers and calling plus some possible food drops. Bobbi spent too much time ACROSS the street on a building that is very close to construction cadillac-ing. It made everyone very nervous but at the time I left Bobbi had moved back to the North side of that building which at least puts her closer to Temple Square but still makes everyone worry she could fly into the traffic on South Temple Street.

What does 'cadillac-ing' mean? When the falcons are resting on their stomach, their tail feathers look like the rear end of a cadillac, with fenders.

Amelia 'cadillac-ed' on SW corner of COB west wing.

Sally cadillac-ed on south side of Beehive on JSMB.

Adult doing flyover trying to get Sally and Bobbi to move/fly?

Sally vocalizing for food/adult, can hear adult calling.

Bobbi cadillac-ed on SE corner of low building next to Eagle Gate Tower. Lots of construction immediately to the south. Stayed in this position from 8am to 1:30p.

Crazy Day!

2011-07-07T22:54:00.000-06:00

I tried so hard to be on the grounds by 6am so that I wouldn't miss another fledge. I arrived at 6:05 to find out that bird #2 had flown out of box at 5:57. Darn. I had no idea that there would be another one fledging just 15 minutes or so later. Nor were any of us expecting #4 to FALL out of the box at 11am!

Below are pictures of just #2, Charlie, being found, banded and released. My camera battery died around 10, so I missed the next two. I will be back downtown for more monitoring of flights tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Charlie under the tree near the World Map on the COB.

Charlie on his back before being banded. He fought a bit.

Charlie after banding.

Amelia, fledge#1 sat on this scallop from 6am to 2pm screaming for food. She was finally fed about 2:30.

Charlie on roof of JSMB after banding and being released.

Big Oops Video

2011-07-07T12:23:00.002-06:00

Thank you to Mary Ann, SkygirlBlue at Bird Cams of the World for capturing the video of the 4th bird slipping out of the nest box. http://youtu.be/fJopu_elYXs

Here she is, Bobby, resting on the sill on the north side of JSMB, very close to ground level.
She is banded and has been put up on Beehive along with #3, Sally. My SLR camera battery died this morning so all my photos are off my phone, so not the best.

Morning cam photos

2011-07-07T10:05:00.002-06:00

These are not the best but gives a glimpse. Fledgling 3 in last two photos above works map. Amelia on tip of scallop, in first photo screaming for food.

Amelia waiting to be fed.

Sally on Church Office Building (COB)

Sally

2011-07-06T23:10:00.000-06:00

Notes from July 6: If you watch the first flight video closely you will see the first fledge made it to the top of that white building on the first try. That is hard to do, she is very strong flyer for how big she is. She landed on the roof then hopped up to the ledge where she sat for an hour or more, walking east and west then heading south on the ledge. A few Lesser Finches buzzed her head a couple times. As she moved south on the building there was great worry that she would fly off into the traffic on South Temple Street. She did take off headed in that direction, everyone scrambled. She landed on a ledge down by the gardens, but high enough ledge that Bob had to get a maintenance ladder, climb up the 6 feet or so and grab her. She didn't fight. There was a mob of people who wanted to get a view so Bob took her, in the box, over to the JSMB building foyer, closed off the doors and allowed 5 or 6 people at a time to step in, look, and snap a picture before he banded her. Quickly thereafter, security escorted Bob up to the top of the Beehive and put her out on the ledge. Of course immediately she heads south on that ledge, towards traffic. Everyone scrambled over to the street but eventually she ended back over on the North side, facing the gardens and tucked into a curlee cue on the face.

There was one point when a seagull flew through the grounds and got too close to her as she sat on the admin bldg this morning. The father swooped in from the tall Eagle Gate Building and looked to about kill the gull, full attack. The gull high tailed it out of there fast. When I left, the other young were starting to hang out on the nestbox ledge again and female adult was bringing food. We never saw parents feed the first fledge though. I took time to go up to the observation deck with a tour guide and snapped pictures of the whole grounds and caught a shot of the female storing up some pigeons on the ledge outside the nestbox (maybe for easy access during the night). It was a great day. I will be back on the Square EARLY hoping to see the next one fledge in the morning. Shout out to all my friends on BCAW who let me post their videos today and tweeted updates about what was going on in the nest when I couldn't see.

Just 30 min or so after first flight.

Looking North. Nest box is to the bird's left.

The three left behind watching all the activity.

After flying along south along the west side of Admin Bldg, she lands on a sill.

Bob climbs up on a ladder to retrieve her.

Measuring and banding in JSMB vestibule.

Bob takes her up to the top of the Beehive and releases on the North side.

View of nesbox from 36 floors up. Click on any pic to see larger. Note dead pigeons on corner. Adults' food stash.

View of the Beehive on top of JSMB.

Late afternoon hang out. Three left in box.

Full view of west side of grounds. Beehive is on left on top of Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Temple is to the center of picture and a favorite destination of the falcons.

First fledge on left side of the spade shaped scroll, in the curlee cue getting shade. Click on picture to see larger. Bird is in front of red, white and blue shield.

Video of First Flight

2011-07-06T13:42:00.001-06:00

Skygirlblue caught the first flight this morning and posted on YouTube. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6XSahTHjus

John Oligschlaeger provided these pictures of banding which happened around 11:30 after the bird flew off the Admin Bldg and landed on a sill by one of the columns. I will post photos of the capture when I get home.

First Out!!

2011-07-06T07:06:00.001-06:00

Fist bird out 6:18. Sorry for the quality of this mobile photo.

Today's Pictures

2011-07-05T20:12:00.001-06:00

I arrived at Temple Square around 7:15 this morning and left about 1:00 pm. There were some adult flights, with the first being both parents landing close to the nest box. Not sure if the construction that started today made them nervous but there was a phone call from one viewer saying that they felt the kids were more restless or nervous today, but that could be due to 'its time to fledge' jitters. The adults then hung out on the tall Eagle Gate Building for the rest of the morning. There was one flight into the box where an adult landed on a kids head. Not sure what happened there. Almost seemed like a message to the kid to get back in the box a bit, stop messing around. Who knows. I am including the link to the video which comes via skygirlblue on the Bird Cams Around the World website. I will be back down on the grounds early tomorrow, I certainly don't want to miss the first fledge! Gotta be soon! Make sure to follow the Twitter feed for updates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9xLS_Rtifc&feature=player_embedded

Two adults up on scallops.

From Falcon Central

2011-07-04T12:57:00.000-06:00

I spent 5 hours down at Temple Square with not much activity from kids or parents. One meal was brought in before 8am but it was small and only seemed to feed one or two of the young. Note: I was told that the adults beginning withholding food, partly to urge them to leave the nest but mostly to help them shed their baby weight to levels that help with flight. There were enough volunteers that I came home. It likely there will be no fledges today. I will go back in the morning. Watch the cameras early in the morning for possible first fledge. You can click on the pictures to make even larger.

The four Young of the Year

Adults watching nest from high on Eagle Gate Building

So Ready!

2011-07-03T23:03:00.000-06:00

The big guy in the front, the one who's lost all his white, downy feathers, looks ready to go!

HELL WEEK is HERE!

2011-07-03T20:04:00.001-06:00

If you've been watching the cams, it appears that one of the kids is about to fly the nest! All hands on deck. Looking for volunteers this week. Give Bob Walters or me a call: Bob 801-209-5326 or Liz 801-493-5932 and we will explain how you can help.

Updates from my twitter account as well http://twitter.com/LizATtheMorsel all day.

Dinner, Thursday Night plus Wing Flapping

2011-07-01T20:03:00.001-06:00

A couple videos for your enjoyment. Video 1 is dinner arriving. Video 2 one kid practicing take off. Video 3 more wing flapping. Launch day is closing in!

Juvenile Delinquents

2011-06-30T08:26:00.003-06:00

Well, I was tied up with visitors and haven't peeked in on the nest in several days. Wow, the 'kids' have grown! If you are lucky enough to open the cameras to feeding time, you'll hear a horrendous noise that I can only describe as a mob of juvies pushing their way to front of a street fight. Wow, when blood is in the air they are not nice.

Things are heating up in Salt Lake City with a high of 93 yesterday - today we have a respite with a high in the mid 70's, ahhh. The weekend's expected high's back in the mid 90's will make for very toasty days down at Temple Square for the rescue team. If all goes as it should, and if 2009's experience is any indication, starting Sunday morning some of us 'towel' people will be spending time hanging out waiting for the first kid to jump.

I received a nice email from a reader today and it reminded me that I should probably talk a little bit about what it's like being a volunteer and what will happen during HELL WEEK. He was worried about what will happen when the kids fledge, will they learn to fly ok, etc. I worried about that too in 2009 as a first time volunteer and was very happy to find out that they are well adapted to leave the nest and the parents are great teachers. Actually, there are some stressful days prior to the first leap, of watching them practice flapping wings, hopping up and down, wondering when exactly they will jump. I don't know if this is true of most fledging of Peregrines but both of the chicks fledged in the early morning in 2009, one day apart. Once one decides to go, its pretty hard to be left behind in the nest. Why are we calling it HELL WEEK? Because keeping up with two juvies was worrisome and FOUR is gonna be insane!

More on first days of flight in my next post. Leaving you with a night image of the kids waiting for dinner.

Dinner, Saturday Night

2011-06-19T21:22:00.001-06:00

Dinner arrives at about the 50 sec mark. Sorry this is so long.

From the Ground

2011-06-17T13:02:00.001-06:00

I am working downtown today so thought I would test blogging from my phone. Here is a picture of the nest box from below.

Colorful Birds

2011-06-16T22:46:00.000-06:00

I thought I would share a couple of photos from a few years ago. I am not usually a birder; they almost have to land on my head for me to notice but sometimes I luck out. I saw the Western Tanager along the Fifth Water Trail to the hot springs back in 2008. Just a flash of orange and yellow, but we followed and waited and were rewarded with a good view. Only a week later, as we were hiking back down the Mt. Olympus Trail, a Lazuli Bunting landed just in front of us.

Hot Day

2011-06-15T21:10:00.000-06:00

It was a very warm day today as you will see from this video. If any readers are interested in participating as a member of the 2011 Salt Lake City Peregrine Falcon Watchpost/Rescue Team during what we lovingly call HELL WEEK, you can call Bob Walters (801) 209-5326 or contact me for more information. It looks like the first fledge will be close to July 4. Really, having extra sets of eyes and binoculars down at Temple Square during the first week is very helpful. Any spare time you can drop down to help out is welcome. Bring water, towel, sunscreen, snack, camera, walking shoes, hat and maybe a walkie talkie.

Video

2011-06-14T08:30:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple videos from June 5 of the tercel preening and then dinner arriving. You can really see the difference in size of the adults in the second video.

Gasp!

2011-06-11T07:35:00.000-06:00

I opened camera 2 this morning and about had a heart attack.

I hurried to turn on camera 1 praying nothing had gone wrong :(

I don't think I remember the chicks moving to the center of the box like this until they were actually up and flapping wings in 2008. Wow, they've grown a lot over the past 5 days I've been away from the blog.

Lunchtime

2011-06-03T13:57:00.000-06:00

I caught some video of lunch arriving.

Blog Changes

2011-06-02T17:47:00.000-06:00

Ahh, feels good to freshen up the blog and the new updates available through Blogger are great. I've added several Peregrine nest cams from around the country in the side bar ~ organizing them with Salt Lake first and then according to when the chicks should be taking their first flights. As the nests become empty I will rotate the empty nests to the bottom. So check back often! Lots going on even while we are waiting for SLC to fledge..

The first picture shows both adults. My guess is female on rock, closest to the chicks. Dinner tonight was something large and furry. See second picture. Any guesses? Mom was gone for 10 min or more. I watched so patiently with my camera aimed at the screen. Sure enough, I looked away for two seconds and here she came, so the image is blurred.

Boise Falcon Blog

2011-06-01T14:41:00.000-06:00

While searching the internet for information on exactly how long it will be before our FOUR take their first flights, I stumbled on a great blog Flight of the Peregrine Falcon that follows the nesting pair in Boise, Idaho (wow look at that cool building they nest on). I was so excited to find this blog! It has all sorts of great reference information. Thanks to Robin and Bob Young for featuring my blog on their blog!

So according to many sources including Robin and Bob's blog, first flights should happen around July 12 - July 16. Also known as HELL week, ha ha. More about that in my next post.

Four Feeding

2011-05-31T11:07:00.000-06:00

The fourth egg hatched overnight sometime. There are now four distinct heads in the photos below.

Its going to be a busy summer!

Then There Were Three!

2011-05-30T13:06:00.000-06:00

Welcome to beautiful Utah, where winter has lasted forever! Seriously, snow at the end of May? This was the view from my backyard this morning. This cold makes me worry for the new hatchlings. 2008 brought disaster to the nest when all the eyases died. The temps went from 95 to 30 degrees in a 24 hr period, and although Bob Walters didn't feel that was the cause, it still makes me worry.

Great news! Three of the eggs hatched this weekend ~ Saturday morning around 9:30, Sunday morning and another Sunday afternoon. I no longer see a 4th egg. Sorry for the poor captures. Still haven't found a program to get good pics from the video stream.

I see three heads in this shot!

Eggs Should Hatch this Week!

2011-05-22T16:12:00.000-06:00

Sorry this took so long to post. Here's the latest.

April 27, 2011 update:

There are now four eggs in the nest, which is a normal clutch size. The two parents are sharing the care and incubation responsibilities.Watching Camera 2 will give you a better chance of seeing the parents and the four eggs.

We expect the eggs to hatch between May 24 and May 26 but, as always, there are no guarantees.

First reported appearance:

Egg no. 1: April 19
Egg no. 2: April 22
Egg no. 3: April 24
Egg no. 4: April 27

Egg #1

2011-04-20T10:07:00.000-06:00

Egg #1 was layed last evening between 6:30 and 7:00. Its a little worrisome to me that when I checked this morning the egg was being ignored :(

Anyone know of a free screen capture program? For now this is what I can grab with my phone.

Welcome to 2011 Nest Season!

2011-04-11T11:22:00.000-06:00

The cams are up and running in the old nest box! There have been sightings of both adults so fingers crossed we will have younguns this year!

http://wildlife.utah.gov/peregrine/

Happy watching!

No Show

2010-08-02T07:22:00.001-06:00

I guess I should have posted this in June. We are disappointed to report that the pair did not use the new nest box and have apparently not nested anywhere else in the immediate area. I did spot two adults on a skyscraper across from the area in May but they didn't nest. Here's hoping for next year.

2010 Nesting Season

2010-01-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers! It's a little early to start watching our nesting pair but I wanted to share some news I received from Bob Walters. Not so good news but hopefully they can work through it.

Unfortunately, according to Dee Hunsaker on April 15, the LDS Church is going to begin a major project to replace the existing window washing system on the JSMB. From start-up through July 15, workers will be all over the Building. As a result, Dee, Jesse Baer, Richard Sawatzki and I began and continue to have discussions concerning what we can do to "get ahead of a train wreck" and encourage the famous peregrine pair to nest elsewhere in the vicinity.

1. Dee and I agreed that we should first discourage nesting by our birds on the JSMB: to allow the birds to begin the nesting effort, knowing that oncoming disturbance will undoubtedly cause failure, is the wrong direction to go. So on Wednesday, January 13, Dee and JSMB workers installed a piece of plywood which covers the nest box opening. Hopefully, the peregrine adults will not attempt to nest somewhere just outside the "closed-off" box, or elsewhere on the JSMB*

2. Dee, Jesse, Richard and I have also agreed that we should attempt to establish alternate nest sites (build and install an alternative nest box, or boxes elsewhere on Temple Square). Jesse informed me yesterday that he will soon initiate the effort to receive the go-ahead to mount a nest box, or boxes on:

1. the Administration Building, due east of the JSMB,

2. the flat roof that extends to the west from the tall Church Office Building,
north and east of the JSMB,

3. other locations on buildings on Temple Square as well - but let's face it, it will be difficult to find a spot as appealing as the urban cliff (the JSMB) where our birds have recently been "at home" from 2004, 2006-2009 and successfully fledged out young in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009. I'm hesitant to consider where we might mount boxes south of South Temple Street given the continuing, large-scale construction south of the JSMB.

So, you're up to speed. Cross your fingers relative to Jesse's request to move forward with the plan. I'm certain that you agree that it's just great that we enjoy the continuing support of Jesse Baer, Dee Hunsaker, Richard Sawatzki and untold, behind the scenes LDS Church falcon lovers! Thank you, thank you , thank you!

I'll soon begin to construct new nest boxes ... don't let that interfere with
e-mails, calls, etc. if you have questions, suggestions, etc. Thanks to all!

* as you may recall, in the early 1980's, a peregrine pair attempted to use one of the "ovals" as a nest site and rather predictably failed to hatch out young from a clutch of eggs resting upon a thin mat of pigeon guano.

Fading Light

2009-08-14T08:30:00.000-06:00

About a month ago, Early and Lexi were chasing each other and Early made an error and flew right into one of the windows of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It scared everyone and it was loud. He fell into the scallops below the window but was up and flying shortly and seem to recover just fine. Several evenings over the next few weeks, the watchers said you could see the 'smudge' from where he hit the window just as the sun set and the light hit that pane of glass. I wasn't there to see it but last night I spent one last evening to hang out and hope for a glimpse of the kids and adults on Temple Square. It was cloudy but with some breaks of sun. I waited for that magic hour to see if I could get a shot of the smudge as the sun set. Nope. Couldn't catch a thing - from outside.

So I decided to go up to that floor of the building and get some photos of the grounds to show you; give you a flavor of the gardens, fountains and buildings. I walked to the observation area and took a couple photos. I then tried to figure out where that pane of glass might be with Early's smudge. Forgive me please, I couldn't resist. I entered an area that was off limits to the public. Really just a conference room. And there it was. What was to be my last photo of this season and a fitting goodbye to Early and Lexi.

Early's Smudge

Come dance with the west wind,
And touch all the mountain tops,
Sail o'er the canyons, and up to the stars,
And reach for the heavens,
and hope for the future,
And all that we can be, not what we are.
— John Denver

Northeast view from JSMB (really I am just above and right of the nest box). Both Early and Lexi made their first flight out of the nest box down to the gardens just below.

Some Final Thoughts

Bob Walters (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources) and I sat together last night watching one last time in hopes of seeing Early and Lexi. Around 9:00 we saw an adult fly off the COB going south. It then returned and seem to 'put in' for the night on the west shoulder. Soon after, Bob spotted another adult on the north face of the building up next to one of the copper window frames. No kids sighted anywhere. As the sky darkened we chatted about this season of watching the young-of-the-year. I was a little sad actually. I've enjoyed the time sitting in the beautiful gardens feeling the warm breezes and watching the skies for flights. I told Bob I was feeling sad it was over.

Bob responded that he is just grateful this year turned out so well. Some years he's seen birds break a wing or a neck flying into a building. There have been years that eggs didn't hatch or the horrible disaster of 2008 when all the eyases died a few days after hatching. We should be very happy with this year's outcome - it is, afterall, the best we can hope for he said. "It's really not our show - it's theirs."

'See' you all next Spring.

Updates

2009-08-12T15:01:00.000-06:00

August 5 - I received this note:

I went down to the square last night, around 8:55PM

We observed an adult on the office building, south eastern-most corner on the low shoulder, which seems to be a typical roost for the mother falcon. She disappeared shortly thereafter.

We walked into the square from the east, and then observed an adult falcon in the Low corner, south facing west side shoulder of the office building, which is where the adult tercel has been seen many times at dusk.

We then circled around the office building to north temple, and walked east on the north side of the road, and did observe the two kids sitting in the breezeways on the north face of the office building, both on the west side of the north face, one at 4 slots down, the other at 13 slots down, both in exactly the same spot (lower left hand corner of the slot).

We did not see any flying or crying, but saw at least 3 of the birds on the office building at one time.

Robert

Then this note from Bob Walters:

I found both adults on the evening of Friday, August 7 on the "shoulder" of the eastface of the tall COB and a short time later one of the pair on the "shoulder" on thesoutheast corner of the tall COB ... but no young-of-the-year.

August 11
Karl Wall reported that he searched in the usual places in the downtown area today(<4:26>Note: I will be spending Thursday night at the Temple grounds. If I don't see anything, I will write my final post on Friday and share some observations from the year of being a Towel person watching the falcons.

July 31

2009-08-04T08:13:00.000-06:00

When I leave for work each morning, I am weighted down with not only my purse and my gym bag, I now drag along clothes and my camera bag so that I can stay after work and watch the falcons. Its ridiculous how much stuff I carry around. So on Friday I had no plan to stay after work and left my camera behind to lighten my load. Big mistake. As I was driving home, I spotted a falcon on the ledge of the Utah One building right where that leftover meal from earlier in the week was still sitting.

My curiosity got the better of me, so I parked and walked over the the Walker building and took the elevator up to my perch on the 9th floor to get a better look. Sure enough, there was an adult picking at the carcass and just as I pulled out my binoculars the carcass fell off the ledge. It fell about 15 stories and landed on the sidewalk just missing a woman walking in her cute summer outfit and her high heels. Wow, I wished I had my camera. She stopped about 10 feet a way, looked at the dead bird, looked up in the sky, then looked at the bird again, then walked by. Woo wee. I raced down to the sidewalk and across the street to take a look. A headless, bodyless, pigeon as best I could tell. Kind of smelled bad too. I went back to my car, got a plastic bag, and picked up the remains and threw it in the nearest trash can (at the Carl's Jr.) Fun times in the life of a falcon 'watcher'.

July30

2009-08-02T09:23:00.000-06:00

Tonight I drove back south the few blocks to the One Utah Center building. I was sure I had seen adults on the building earlier in the day when I drove to work. There was a music fest going on at Gallivan Plaza. Rather loud and metallic. But I spotted both parents perched on the two skyscrapers in the right of this photo. Dad on the far blue building, Mom on the near tan building.

I rode the elevator up in the building just across. I was able to get just to the 9th floor but got a fairly good shot of this bird which I believe is the adult female.

Cropped a little closer. I also spotted another adult just one skyscraper south.

Fairly sure this is the adult male. You can click on any of these photos to get a larger image.

Another shot of the female. Quite fluffy.

I then drove up closer to where the kids were. Susan said they were putting on a great show on the north side of the church office building (28 story). Lexi is perched on the very top corner under the lamp. Early under.

Cropped a little closer.

In this shot, Early is perched on the crack just below Lexi.

Starting with this image, I am uploading the full size photos. When you click on these you should get a really large image and more detail.

Susan said Early was trying repeatedly to get Lexi to fly with him. He made several great flights around and around the building, coming back to land just below Lexi.

Lexi, then moved over a bit but didn't fly. Early keeps up the pestering.

And then Lexi joins in.

Be sure to click on the photos.

A very fast stoop. Then the light got too dim. Be back Monday.

July 29 - Is Lexi Really a Female?

2009-07-30T12:59:00.000-06:00

Before I post any pictures from my visit on the 28th, here are a couple more shots from a week ago. Here is Lexi sitting atop the building on the southwest corner of Main and South Temple.

As I was going back through my photos, I found this one. I believe this is Early (top), Lexi and then an adult in the distance. This was just before the food handoff. I could be wrong - possibly a pigeon in the distance?

On Tuesday night, 28th, I arrived about 5:30 pm and was unable to spot any of the falcons. Lunchtime of the same day, same thing - no sightings. Bob arrived about 5:45 and said he spotted Lexi up on the Temple but he was tucked back. Bob left for a meeting but before he could get off the Temple grounds, Lexi took off heading south and then west. Within a few minutes Lexi was back with Early. Lately, Early seems to be nowhere and then suddenly appears after Lexi flies off. We have no clue where Early is hanging out during the day but seems to return to the home grounds at dinnertime. We also had not been seeing parents together. Mostly we had been seeing the adult male coming in to drop off food.

After Bob left, Karl arrived to help watch. He told that the parents had been spotted Monday night sitting on a building that is a few blocks south of the Temple grounds, called One Utah Center. There was confirmation that while they were spotted there, the two kids were flying around near the Church Office Building. I determined to visit One Utah Center soon so I could try to get some photos of the adults. Karl also said that kids could be seen flying south, maybe to that building, then returning very soon after (also on Monday night).

A few other watchers arrived and very soon after there was a fly in by both adults, a meal handoff and a lot of sqwauking (presumably because Lexi didn't want to share her meal with Early and was warning him off). There has been growning suspicion that Lexi, who was thought to be a female while she was still in the nest, (then was identified as a male upon tagging) is actually a female after all. I was told that she/he is displaying plumage that is more identifiable as a female, like the dark bars showing in the second picture below.

Here are some shots of Lexi in the spot where she ate her meal.

This is Lexi, I believe, just about 9:15 when I was getting ready to leave for the night. Early was not seen much during that hour or so while Lexi was eating. Parents disappeared too. As I was driving off, Karl radioed that the two kids were put on a spectacular flying show just over their heads. Sorry I missed it.

July 30, last night, I headed down to park closer to One Utah Center in hopes of seeing the parents and maybe kids flying around their new spot. I parked my car 2 blocks away and walked over, finding an office building across from One Utah, then took the elevator as high as I could get (10th floor). I had seen something along a ledge that I thought might be one of the kids resting. As I got closer and zoomed in, it appeared to be something dead, I pressume a pigeon, and maybe its a meal that was left there for later?

Sorry, kind of gross. Looks like intestines hanging down.

I have a whole string of flying pictures that I will post later today. They are from a last week but they are so great, I just have to put more of them up. I am on duty tonight as well, so there should be more pictures tomorrow.

2009-07-22T10:35:00.000-06:00

Last night I spent a few hours at Falcon Central. The photo above is for those of you who have never been to Temple Square (the grounds where the headquarters (COB), Tabernacle, Temple, Joseph Smith Memorial Building (JSMB) and Conference Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) is located. Its a huge area with business skyscrapers to the south and homes and apartments to the north. This view may give you a bit of an idea of height and buildings where the falcons are nesting and flying. The building on the left is the JSMB and looking south you can see the Zions Bank building just behind it and to the right is the Key Bank building. You can also see a large oval reflecting pool at the bottom of the picture. The Temple, where the kids have spent much time, is just to the right in this photo.

(Note: you can click on any picture to enlarge it)

I found June sitting in a shady spot on the grass and she said that she hadn't seen much of the birds since she arrived. It seemed odd not to find any of them on the JSMB or Temple. I walked down to the south end of the reflecting pool to see if I could see them on the south side of the Temple or on the skyscrapers. Sure enough I saw Lexi atop the Key Bank building and soon after Early flew by. The two of them took to the skies just above the Key Bank and flew large circles together over and over and over.

They were putting on such a great show and I was able to get fairly clear pictures. Which means, I am going to post ALOT of photos today. Who knows how many more opportunities I will get since they seem to be straying a little bit farther from their normal hangouts.

Here's a closeup of the photo above. In most photos you can see a darker and lighter bird. Lexi is darker than Early. So in this photo, Lexi on the left, Early on the right.

The show finally ended with Lexi landing on the Key Bank and Early on the Zions Bank buildings.

Sometime around 7pm, a parent flew into view because Early left Zions Bank and flew over to the COB to accept a dinner handoff (we believe). He screamed and sqwauked as he flew there which seems to happen whenever a parent is in sight. They still depend on the parents for food. He took the meal back to the Zions Bank building and soon after Lexi joined him. This photo combined with the photo of the buildings in the distance gives you an idea of how far they were from us.

Here's a closer view. They just finished eating. They sat up there for another hour before making way over to the Temple.

Lexi on left, Early on right - Lexi with the darker cap.

2009-07-20T07:24:00.000-06:00

Thursday, July 16
Its been very hot this past week and the watch group has taken to coming to the grounds early in the morning or after 6pm to avoid some of the heat. But even at 6pm it feels like a furnace. The high on Thursday was 96 and the temp was expected to mount to 99 Friday and 104 Saturday. With these hot temps, falcon flights are lower especially in the mid day. I arrived on Thursday night to loud sqwauking that could be heard clear across the grounds to State Street. Both kids were hanging out on the east side of the Temple calling for dinner, avoiding the sun. Parents were no where to be seen.

A few short flights over to the JSMB and a few high fliers to the COB but it was fairly quiet. Dad landed on the SE corner of the COB about 7pm and then stayed there until I could no longer see because of dark, around 9:45p. Mom appeared with dinner and attempted a hand off to Early, but he dropped the prey (which later we confirmed flew away!).

Here is Early sitting in the sun hoping for dinner.

Lexi made a great landing on this Temple 'pineapple' where he stayed for a good 30 minutes.

After the failed attempt at the prey handoff, the kids found another carcass, we assume was from a meal the day before, and spent time sharing that. They stay on the Administration building until about 9:30, when they finally moved over to the JSMB to most likely stay the night.

Friday, July 17
Our group of watchers is dwindling more and more each day. I haven't been there much since Thursday. I attended a Tabernacle Choir concert on Friday night which took me to the grounds around 6:30. There were some flights but the best show was after the concert. We were walking on North Temple, just north of the grounds where the kids mostly fly. It was close to 9:30p and Early and Lexi were swooping just above the heads of the crowd exiting the concert. I saw them playing a great game of tag, looking very agile.

Monday, July 20
I took some time to walk over to the grounds at lunch and saw one of the kids sitting on the JSMB. I am assuming it was Lexi and Early was off somewhere. No sign of him on the grounds. Lexi seems to have recovered somewhat from his encounter with the antenna but still seems to stick close to 'home'. I will try to spend time tomorrow night and report in on Wednesday.

July 15

2009-07-15T21:48:00.000-06:00

I have been gone a whole week and worried that all the Falcons would have left the area. I dropped by Falcon Central about 1:30 and found no watchers and no falcons. I felt very sad. Like I missed the show.

I stopped again after work and heard the familiar screeching of Early and Lexi from the Temple. Sure enough they were both sitting on the center granite tower, I am sure demanding their dinner. I saw no parents around. I called Bob Walters on his phone. I was going to report what I was seeing because I was under the impression that no watchers were coming anymore. But Bob and June were on the grounds and when I caught up with them they related a story of a possible injury to Lexi on Monday night. Apparently Lexi tried to land on the antenna on the to9p of the church office building and apparently bumped it or fell off. But there was much worry over the last two days that Lexi was injured. Up to that point there was a lot of soaring high over the buildings, playing together. But after Monday night it seemed that both were sticking close to the JSMB and Temple buildings.

As we watched tonight, though, both birds took off from the Temple and again began soaring high, both landing up on the observation deck of the COB. Apparntly Lexi is feeling better. When I left, Early had flown east and Lexi still sat atop the COB. I will be back tomorrow night for a full njight of watching. Hoping to have pictures for you then.

July 7

2009-07-10T08:40:00.000-06:00

Life is interupting my visits to Falcon Central. But I did make it there on Tuesday evening. There was much excitement as Early and Lexi made a grand effort to fly to the top of the 28 story Church Office Building (COB) about 8 pm. When I arrived both kids were making small flights from the JSMB to the Temple. It was very hot still, probably 90 degrees, kids were in the shade but were vocalizing, calling for dinner, as they hadn't eaten anything all day, according to Bob Walters.

The parents perched themselves on the two south corners of the COB and stayed there. The kids were getting nowhere with their requests for food. It seemed to us humans, that the parents were trying to get them to fly up to the top of the building. Why else would they sit up there for so long and let the kids suffer!

(Click picture to enlarge. Here is Early on the rail after he made his landing)

Well if that was the intent it worked. Both Early and Lexi began high soaring flights together over the area of the gardens with each circle getting higher and higher. We were amazed to watch as Early made it to the top and landed on the rail. I thought Bob Walters was going to cry. He was so proud. Lexi on the other hand didn't make it though he made a gallant effort, just touching the top level and then sort of dropping off, he flew back down to the JSMB and sat rather dejected while the Mom, Dad and brother sat up at the top of the COB. But alas, Early didn't get dinner up there and both parents left almost immediately and flew to the Temple. Poor Early. He then gave up and did a racing descent that had us all hold our breath and landed rather hard on the Temple. Dinner was soon delivered to Early and Lexi flew over immediately/frantically to share in the meal.

After eating they flew a bit and landed on the JSMB where it seemed they would spend the night.

Note: I will be enjoying some time with my daughter, who is visiting from Chicago, over the next few days and won't be posting. But I understand that the kids will still be around for another week or more, so I will try to add some notes as I can get updates from the rest of the watchers. I will be back on watch next Tuesday.

Monday, July 6

2009-07-07T06:59:00.000-06:00

I stopped by this morning just before work. Burt was positioned by the fountain and said there hadn't been much activity. He did say that Early had taken a seven minute flight the previous day, circling the area between the Temple and the Conference Center. After talking with Burt for a few minutes, I walked west to snap some pictures of one of the kids goofing around on the JSMB. I have heard that the watchers are now able to distinquish Early from Lexi by their 'moustache' (the patches of dark under their eyes) - Lexi's are larger than the Early's.

Based on that, this must be Early.

Wow, I was there just at the right time. As Early takes off for the Temple.

Just as he made his way around the west side and came to land on the North side, his brother flew in and they landed together. I know this is not very clear but that is both Early and Lexy landing on the North side of the Northeast spire.

Independence Day

2009-07-05T09:09:00.001-06:00

This morning I talked my husband into joining me for a brief hour. We arrived around 8am. Several watchers were already in place. Both kids were hanging out in the shade on the north side of JSMB. Dad was stationed on the opposite corner. About 8:30 he decided the kids needed to get moving so he took some swoops back and forth in front of them. It didn't work. They were still there when we left at 9am to go to the Downtown Farmers Market.

My husband's camera did a great job of getting in close. I think I spy a little bit of white fluff on the left bird, so it may be Lexi with Early on the right.

Yours truly and my rescued greyhound, Story, peeking out.

This is June on duty. She's a wonderful lady. She and I are going to spend some time hiking in Corner Canyon to take bird surveys this summer.

Mom watching from The Temple. I came back later in the day and spent my evening on watch. The kids had been flying higher than ever during the day. When I arrived at 6:30p one of them was on top of the Zions Bank skyscraper. Mom delivered dinner up there which was greeted with much vocalization on the part of the kid. I was also told that one of the kids had tried to fly up to the top of the Eagle Gate Tower but didn't quite make it, flying into the glass and dropping down to a ledge. There may have been some bent wing feathers but both juveniles flew back to the JSMB and took flights to The Temple and back. When I left at 9:45 both parents had moved up to the top of the 28 story office building to keep watch for the night. The two kids were on the roof of the west wing of JSMB.

Day Five - July 3, 2009

2009-07-03T18:46:00.000-06:00

Remember you can click on any image to enlarge.

Today was a fantastic flying day. I had the day off from work, so I decided I would get up very early and try to beat Bob down to Falcon Central. I walked in about 6:50 am and was the first watcher on the square. Both 'kids' were sitting on the roof of the east wing of the JSMB under beautiful blue skies. We had a nice breeze as well. Perfect for flying.

I started looking around for Ma and Pa. I found Mom over on the corner of the Eagle Gate Tower. Perfect position and high enough to keep a eye on the two kids on the roof. She's on the very back right corner.

Here's a bit closer of a shot.

And here from another angle.

Bob and Susan arrived about 7:15. Soon after Lexi flew over to the Temple. As far as we know, that was the first flight either of the kids had made (and stuck a landing) at the Temple. According to my photo time stamps, Lexi sat over on the Temple for about an hour.

I waited and waited right under the building, hoping I could catch Lexi as he flew back to the JSMB, which we all were pretty sure he would do. It took an hour but I caught him just perfectly.

Here's Mom who flew over to keep watch.

I took a walk to get something to drink and a snack, around 10:30. On my walk back all the radios started sqwauking with news that Early was flying north past the tall office building. I watched as he flew large rings around the building, gaining altitude on each pass and then he landed on the northwest corner of the 28 story building. THAT'S HIGH! He only stayed a few minutes and then flew down and east beginning to cross out of the comfort zone of the parents. One of them followed him across State Street, over the Eagle Gate apartments and then guided him back to safe territory where he landed on the east wing of the JSMB. Here he sits with Dad watching dutifully. Dad on the left, Early on the right.

Around noon, Lexi took off and began flying over the to 2-story Administration building. This caused a lot of distress; both parents became very vocal and seemingly upset about where she was headed. They circled the area, vocalizing and swooping. Eventually, Lexi returned and settled on the west wing of JSMB.

At 2pm I gave up the ghost and went home. Enough excitement for me for one day. I don't know how Bob stays day after day, sun up to sun down.

Day Four - Evening Flights

2009-07-02T22:00:00.000-06:00

When I arrived back to Falcon Central after work, it was raining pretty steadily. Three of the falcons were visible on the north corners of the JSMB. If you click on this picture it will enlarge for you and you should see Early on the top left corner, then a youngster, probably Lexi, on the bottom left corner of the right building wing. Then an adult above Lexi. Mom brought some dinner to Lexi and the two of them sat on that sharp scallop where Lexi is sitting in this picture.

There have been some thunderous rainstorms for the past two evenings. Early is seen here looking a bit wet.

Because of the rain, there wasn't much flying. The kids flew between wings of the building a bit and parents could be seen on various parts of the temple. Here, is one on Moroni's trumpet.

Day Four - Morning Flight Training

2009-07-02T18:00:00.000-06:00

Note: You can click on photos to get enlarged pictures.

Early Bird on July 2, 2009 about 8:20 am

I stopped by Falcon Central at 8:15 just to catch up a bit before work. Of course, Bob Walters was already at his post. Bob reported fairly little activity but that both Early and Lexi had moved to the north side of the west wing of the JSMB. His radio sqwauked just as I start to walk over to catch a glimpse myself. Susan reported that both Early and Lexi had just taken small flights towards the Temple building and then back again to sit in their spots on the JSMB. Shortly after, one of the parents flew to land just below Early, perching on the scroll work.

Here is the adult sitting on the scroll work.

Zoomed in just a bit more. Adult, probably Dad, sitting just below Early giving encouragement.

Another shot of Early Bird after returning from his short flight.

Here's the other adult, probably Mom, perched on a spire on top of the Temple building.

And here is Lexi, practicing footwork on a scallop edge of the building.

One final picture of Early dancing around on the corner.

Early and Lexi Leave the Nest

2009-07-02T00:00:00.000-06:00

Lexi sitting near Beehive at top of Joseph Smith Memorial Building

First, let me state, I am not a scientist. I won't be using many scientific terms when describing my time helping out with, what Bob Walter's calls, Falcon Central. I am also not a 'birder'. But I do love the outdoors and nature and the falcons on Temple Square in Salt Lake City have caught my attention and devotion. I've spent countless hours watching the camera that is focused on the nest box waiting for eggs to hatch.

Well, that they did, back around May 18 and this past Monday morning the first one jumped out of the box and took its first flight, panicing Bob and a handful of other faithful watchers who do this act every year.

This blog is mean't to fill a void that Bob can't keep up with at this point. Updating the viewing public. Those of you who faithfully (addictively?) watch those falcon cams from your office and home each day and now are looking at a blank screen and feeling awfully lonely can catch up here on the latest news. As best I can I will update you on what I know each day and maybe provide a picture or two. I work in a building just a block away from Falcon Central and have the opportunity to go by at lunch each day and after work to get the day's low down on the falcon fledglings, Early and Lexi.

First let me give you some links to local TV video of the first day and first flights. Then I will tell you of my first stint as a watcher.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=6997911
http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-falcon-takes-flight,0,4915326.story

And the Salt Lake Tribune Story
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12717742?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

Wednesday July 1, 5:45

I reported for duty just as Bob was taking Lexi, the second fledgling (male) up to the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (JSMB) to re-release him. This is the routine. The fledglings attempt to fly to various perches around Temple Square, which is about a four block area, but sometimes they miss their landing and fly/fall to the ground. Then Bob or one of the volunteers throws a towel over them, gathers them up and Bob takes them up to the top of the JSMB to let them have another chance. This will go on for the next 10 days or so. Maybe less, since both Early and Lexi are seeming to get the hang of flight fairly quickly. More on that in Thursday's update.

Lexi at 7pm July 1, 2009 - Just after Bob put him back at top of building.

Bob posts people at all four corners of the building plus a few extra in dangerous spots, like the driveway leading to the underground parking just adjacent to the JSMB. There is also much construction just south of the building and various skyscrapers with lots of glass that could cause problems for the new fliers.

Early sitting in 'garland' July 1, 2009, 7pm

Bob has building security escort him up from the top floor through a door and up a steel ladder where they pop out onto a section of the famous Beehive where he will open the box and coax the bird out. After Lexi was released at approximately 6:15pm, he hopped down to a perch just left and below the Beehive. The picture is blurry but gives you an idea of where Lexi perched and remained perched through a thunderstorm that sent most of us watchers running for cover at about 9pm. At 9:15 I gave it up and went home. Early had spent most of the evening hiding out in a cement 'garland' on the northwest corner of the JSMB.

Early on July 1, 2009