Monthly Archives: April 2008

Peyton Place in Norfolk

Birds of Prey, Nesting & Courtship, Travel

Bald Eagle pair from Norfolk Botanical Garden (click here to see the Eagle Cam)If you think the Pittsburgh peregrines’ life is a soap opera, they’re not the only ones.

My mother keeps me informed about a pair of bald eagles with their own Peyton Place at Norfolk Botanical Garden in Virginia. Their nest has an Eagle Cam so people can watch the drama — and there’s been plenty of it.

This pair has nested at the Garden for seven years, but this year after the female had laid two eggs a 4-year-old female intruder arrived, chased away the resident female and made herself charming to the resident male. The eggs got too cold to be viable and had to be removed from the nest. After a brief fling, the intruder left and the original pair reunited.

It looked like life was back to normal when the original female laid two more eggs, but those eggs bit the dust too. Something scary made her jump around in the nest at night and she stepped on them. Oh no! They cracked! She ate them the next day.

She laid one more egg (her third try this year) and has been incubating it since March 22.

So you see, life can be complicated even if you’re an eagle.

Read more and watch the videos at:

 

(snapshot from the Norfolk Botanical Garden eaglecam)

UPDATE, late May 2008:  The single egg hatched but in mid-May the eaglecam showed that the lone eaglet had a growth on his beak.  Every day the growth got larger.  By May 22, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries decided the bird needed to be examined.  When they pulled the eaglet from the nest, they discovered the growth had started to deform his beak.  He was sent to the Wildlife Center of Virginia for treatment and possible surgery.

Tests showed the eaglet has avian pox, a common bird disease (no danger to people).  He has been getting excellent treatment – even an MRI! – and receiving a regimen of drugs to help him get better.  Meanwhile the growth has shrunk considerably, making future surgery a safer option though his recovery has no guarantee.  He sure is one high-tech eagle!

Back at Norfolk Botanical Garden, his parents consider the year a loss.  They continue to stay at the Garden and will undoubtedly try again next year.

Pitt Peregrine Alumni

Peregrines

Stammy, son of Dorothy and Erie, in Youngstown, Ohio (photo by Chad and Chris Saladin)Erie, the original male peregrine at University of Pittsburgh, is gone but not forgotten. He lives on in the falcons he fathered – Pitt peregrine alumni who now live elsewhere.

This beautiful picture is Erie’s son Stammy. Born on the Cathedral of Learning in 2003, he’s nested in Youngstown, Ohio since 2005. In Pennsylvania we don’t name peregrines when they’re banded, so he wasn’t known as Stammy until he got to Youngstown where he was named for the building he calls home.

Thanks to this photo from Chad & Chris Saladin, we’re able to read Stammy’s bands and learn two things: where this bird was born and that he’s alive and well.

Photos like this – in which we can read the bands – are how we keep track of peregrines. Based on bird band reports we know Erie & Dorothy’s children and grandchildren range from Pittsburgh to Michigan. The ones who’ve established homes are:

  • Louie: born in 2002, nests at the Gulf Tower in Pittsburgh.
  • Stammy (pictured): born in 2003, nests in Youngstown, Ohio.
  • Hathor: born in 2003, nests in Mt. Clemens, Michigan.
  • Belle: born in 2003, nests in the bell tower at University of Toledo, Ohio.
  • Maddy: born in 2004, nests on the I-480 bridge near Cleveland, Ohio.

Quite a growing alumni organization!

Great birds in Henderson

Travel

American Avocet, Henderson NV Bird Preserve (photo by Laurie Patterson)This weekend I’m going to see this bird, an American avocet in breeding plumage, at the closest thing to birding heaven just outside Las Vegas.

Henderson Bird Preserve in Henderson, Nevada is a water treatment plant that’s beautifully laid out with natural vegetation, lots of water and good nesting habitat.  The City of Henderson intentionally made it a bird preserve 10 years ago.  It’s the third largest body of water in southern Nevada and the birds love it.  

Lots of birders visit it too.  That’s where I met Laurie Patterson who took this photo.  As we sat next to one of the ponds this avocet walked by us.  Yes, at the bird preserve they can come this close.

Almost all my Nevada life birds were found at Henderson.  The preserve is open 6:00am to 3:00pm so it’s best to come early.  After Henderson, I visit Red Rock Canyon or Corn Creek but the bird preserve is my first love.

There’s some mighty good birding in southern Nevada. 

Junk Birds in Las Vegas?

Travel
Great-tailed grackle (photo by Chuck Tague)
Great-tailed grackle (photo by Chuck Tague)

UPDATE: June 7, 2018

This 10-year-old article has generated a lot of interest in Las Vegas, Nevada. Originally written in April 2008, the article used birding slag from a decade ago. The slang is no longer used, for good reason. Birds are not junk.

The text below was written on April 10, 2008 and revised on June 7, 2018. Comments made prior to June 7, 2018 are referring to the original text.

Every year in April I attend the PBS Technology Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  To me it it’s a bit odd that a public broadcasting meeting is held in a casino in Las Vegas but it’s planned to coincide with the National Association of Broadcasters convention which is always held in Las Vegas in April.

So here I am.  For several days we sit in the dark watching Powerpoint.  I must say that my favorite presentations are the HD TV segments from nature shows.  Even so, when I’m in the meetings I just want to see birds.  When the Powerpoint ends I step outside.

The birds in the parking lot are so common and prolific that my heart does not go pitta-pat when I see them.  They are good to see, but they are ordinary.  (A decade+ ago, birders jokingly called ordinary birds “junk birds.”  No, they are not junk.)

The great-tailed grackles are the ones who stand out.  They are incredibly common and incredibly loud.  This is part of courtship.  The males chase the females and each other.  They swagger down the sidewalk.  They perch up high and shout (click here on the Song and Calls link!)  They expand their throat feathers and tails and point their bills at the sky.  They have bill-pointing contests to see whose bill is tallest.  They are so … Las Vegas.

They are also expanding their range.  The photo above was taken by Chuck Tague in Belize.  He’s also seen them in Arizona and I hear you can find them in Iowa now.

Maybe they’re following the casinos.   😉

 

p.s. My favorite place for birding near Las Vegas is Henderson Bird Preserve.  Click here for a list of birding hotspots near Las Vegas.

(photo by Chuck Tague)

 

What a good dad!

Nesting & Courtship, Peregrines

Dorothy touches E2's beak as she arrives to take over incubation.

E2, the new male peregrine at University of Pittsburgh, is a very attentive father. He’s participating a lot in the boring but vital job of incubation, and he proves again and again that he’s a good provider by bringing Dorothy food.

Last week I saw him do both on the National Aviary’s webcam.

In this snapshot, E2 is sitting on the eggs when Dorothy arrives. She bows and touches his beak to let him know she’s ready to resume incubation.

Here’s a slideshow of this activity.

Red-tails Close to Home

Birds of Prey
Red-tailed hawk takes off (photo by Bill Barron)
Red-tailed hawk taking off (photo by Bill Barron)

This picture from Bill Barron and news from Boston’s Fenway Park got me thinking about hawks who live near people.

Bill captured this photo of a red-tailed hawk at the moment it took off from his chimney.  Obviously the bird is comfortable where there are lots of people — a comfort level that’s a relatively new phenomenon.

Years ago people persecuted and killed hawks, believing they attacked farm animals, but since 1937 a series of laws have made this illegal.  There are still some evil-minded people who rationalize that they’re above the law and shoot hawks, but this is rare and not often found in cities.

Since red-tails are rather safe in cities, they now take advantage of the food in our vicinity (mice, rats, squirrels, chipmunks) and benefit from being near a top-level predator (us) who keeps the other predators at bay.

Which brings me to the Fenway Park incident on 3 April 2008.

Red-tailed hawks have been hanging out at Fenway for a couple of years.  This spring a female tried yet again to build a nest near the press box.  She was fine with people near her until she laid an egg.  As soon as she became a mother her protective instincts kicked in.  “Don’t get near my nest!”

Unfortunately a middle school girl got too close during a tour and the hawk told her to back off in the only way she knew how — she swooped down and used her talons.  It was a huge misunderstanding.  The hawk didn’t realize that people couldn’t honor her nesting boundaries at a place like Fenway and the people didn’t understand that the hawk’s boundaries had suddenly expanded because of the nest.

The girl sustained a scratch and was fine.  Meanwhile the hawk’s egg had already rolled out of the nest and was no longer viable.  Wildlife officials removed the nest, as they’ve done every spring for the past few years (this hawk is a slow learner), and the red-tails moved on to a better nest site.

Now for those of who you are thinking, “Oh my!  Hawks really are dangerous!” I want to point out that red-tailed hawks are extremely common in North America — there are about 1 million red-tails in the U.S. — and that on the entire continent this is a stand-alone misunderstanding with one bird.  It’s not a pattern, it does not happen every day, and that’s why it’s news.  99% of the time hawks are smart enough not to nest too close to people and people don’t approach nesting hawks.   Everyone involved in this incident has learned something — and so have you.

A little bit of common sense is all we need to get by.

 

(photo by Bill Barron)

Who is he? New male peregrine at Univ of Pittsburgh

Peregrines
Who is he? Male peregrine, nicknamed E2, at Univ of Pittsburgh
Who is he? Male peregrine, nicknamed E2, at Univ of Pittsburgh

2 April 2008

On February 17th I was startled by a photo from the University of Pittsburgh falconcam.  In it the leg bands on the male peregrine were not the same color as those on Erie, the resident male since 2002.   If this was indeed true it meant that Erie was gone, replaced by another male peregrine.  

I should have been clued in to the difference in behavior that began in November 2007, but I was too new to peregrines and the birds were both banded so I started there. (Click here to jump to the behavioral clues.)

Rather than jump to a conclusion without more evidence I decided to investigate, comparing new webcam photos to prior years and searching for evidence of band colors.  Band numbers are impossible to read on the webcam because over-the-web images are such low resolution.

Over a period of 6 weeks I examined more than 4,500 photos.  Eventually I couldn’t ignore what I was seeing.  This is indeed a new male.  Since we don’t know his name yet, my friend Karen and I have nicknamed him Erie2 or “E2” for short.

Here’s how I decided this bird isn’t Erie.

Erie vs E2 comparison of bands, male peregrines at Univ of Pittsburgh
Erie vs E2 comparison of bands, male peregrines at Univ of Pittsburgh

Way back in 2002 we identified Erie by a digital photo which clearly showed his band numbers. Shown at left are Erie’s leg bands:  his right leg pink, his left leg black/red T*/W. 

At right for comparison is the February 17th photo of E2’s bands:  his right leg is silver, his left leg black/green. 

Could these be Dorothy’s bands?  No, her right leg is pink – not silver – though her left leg is black/green.   Besides, the original photo had both birds in it and after looking at thousands of photos I can tell who is who.  And further, neither bird ever shows black/red bands so neither of them is Erie.

Erie vs E2 comparison with Dorothy, Peregrines at Univ of Pittsburgh
Erie vs E2 comparison with Dorothy, Peregrines at Univ of Pittsburgh

I also compared their physical appearance.  Erie always had a marked color contrast between his back and tail. 

Here are two courtship photos with the males in similar poses.  On the left Erie (pale back with dark wing tips and tail) is leaving the nest last year after bowing to Dorothy.  This was 6 days after he won the territory battle.  On the right E2 is leaving the nest this spring.  E2 is uniformly gray with much less contrast.

Erie vs E2 on nest, Peregrines at Univ of Pittsburgh
Erie vs E2 on nest, Peregrines at Univ of Pittsburgh

The difference in appearance is also noticeable when the males incubate the eggs.

Again, Erie is on the left in a 2005 photo showing a strong color contrast between back and tail.  E2 on the right has much less contrast.

When did E2 arrive?  Was there a fight?

Karen and I and Dr. Tony Bledsoe have compared our observations.  As far as we can tell there was no fight because Erie disappeared before E2 arrived.  We think Erie disappeared in October.  There was a long period when we saw only Dorothy at Pitt.  Then in mid-to-late November we saw several things that we now realize meant a new peregrine was taking over:  

  • Dorothy and E2 did lots of courtship flying in late November and early December, something that never happened at that time of year between Dorothy and Erie.  January was Erie’s normal time for courtship.
  • In November, December and January, E2 repeatedly attacked the red-tailed hawks at Central Catholic.  Erie never cared about those red-tails unless they came to campus.
  • E2 doesn’t perch in Erie’s favorite places on the 32nd and 28th floors.  This is a minor point but it adds up.

Though my friend Karen and I grieved a bit for Erie, life goes on. 

Dorothy is happy with E2.  They have 4 eggs to incubate and he’s helping with incubation more than Erie did in recent years.  So who are we to complain? 

Now if we could just read his bands!

To read my latest blogs about peregrines, click here.

Watch the Pitt peregrines live at their nest on the National Aviary’s falconcam.