Positive Identification

Female peregrine, Blue, identified at Green Tree (photo by Shannon Thompson)

Exciting news at Green Tree!  Thanks to Shannon Thompson we now know the identity of the female peregrine at the water tower.

Shannon made it her goal this spring to read the female’s bands.  It was a challenge!  After months of frustration she finally saw “Black/Green 74/AE” last Sunday and sent the numbers to Pennsylvania’s Peregrine Coordinator, Art McMorris, who tells us …

This is a bird we’ve met before.  She hatched and fledged at the Cathedral of Learning in 2011, a daughter of Dorothy and E2.  Back then she was nicknamed “Blue” because of the blue tape on her USFW band.

Blue barely left home, choosing to nest only 5.25 miles from her birthplace. Her mate is unbanded so we’ll never know where he came from but we do know he was born in 2012 because of his juvenile plumage.

Blue was not one of the stars of the 2011 brood.  She kept a low profile while Henry (“Red”) and his sister Yellow stole the show.  Henry is now famous in Shaker Heights, Ohio and Yellow died in a window kill.  Blue is making up for lost time by twice halting work at the water tower.

Blue and her mate raised a ruckus when major maintenance began this spring so work was halted to allow them to nest.  The nest was unsuccessful and the nesting season was over so the Game Commission told the water company they could resume work in July.  When they did, workers heard young peregrines calling from an unseen location on the tower.  Work halted again.  Now, three weeks later, no young peregrines have been seen at all and we’re beginning to wonder.  Time will tell. (Later: see the comments for an update.)

Meanwhile I’m glad Blue finally allowed Shannon to read her bands.  It’s great to know that another of Dorothy and E2’s kids is doing well.

A very positive identification.  🙂

(photo by Shannon Thompson)

4 thoughts on “Positive Identification

  1. What wonderful news! So glad she’s getting her time in the headlines and that it’s positive. Kudos to Shannon for not giving up.

  2. This news just in from Art McMorris, 8/7/2013, 7:18pm,
    Dear all,
    Thanks to you all for monitoring the Greentree Water Tower so diligently since the workmen reported that they heard young in the nest when they resumed maintenance work on July 19.

    Looking at everything that you’ve seen and heard and reported to me in the almost 3 weeks since that time, I’ve come to the same conclusion that I think all of you have come to: that there are not any chicks in the nest after all. I think that the workmen heard the adults kakking in the nest area, and thought they were hearing chicks. They said they couldn’t see young in the nest; they only thought they heard them. And I think the workmen observed the adults perching on the water tower, and maybe bringing in prey, and thought they were tending young, but they were only perching and feeding themselves. None of you have reported anything that sounds like good evidence of the adults tending young. Also, if there were chicks vocal enough to be heard on July 19, they would certainly have been seen, and probably would have fledged, by now.

    Therefore, I’ve given the water company the go-ahead to resume work on the water tower. I’ve also given them my thanks for their cooperation. They’ve been very cooperative, and the workmen are to be commended for being attentive and responsible and doing their best to do the right thing.

    Thanks again to all of you for monitoring the birds at the water tower so diligently throughout the season, and especially during the last 3 weeks, when Mary Jo, Shannon and Vicki were there daily.

    Best regards,

    Art

  3. Blue! So good to hear that one of our surviving fledglings besides Henry are accounted for now, especially so close to home

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