We are very happy to announce that Lyn has had a hatch of at least 2 chicks and banding day is set for June 2nd in the mechanical area at 2:00 PM. Stay tuned for banding information and photos.
checking on Yellow Pages site and found the male incubating and Lyn on the top peak of the building. They have 3 eggs. We were able to get a shot of the males band and can confirm it is George from North Grand Isle bridge New York who first showed up here in 2015.
On Friday July 22nd Mark went out to help the bee keepers by watching out for and protecting them from Linn and her wrath while they tended the bee boxes on the 12th floor. Linn did make er presents known and gave her usual verbal and stoop warning but was far less aggressive now that Piper is flighted. She flew off to the north side of the building and left them alone while they worked. Not long after George flew in with food and Piper joined him in the sky yelling to be fed. Mark got to see a mid air transfer of the food package from George to Piper and saw the 2 fly around to the North side of the building. When the work was done and they were back on the ground Mark looked for the peregrines but no one was in site. I was so hot and he expected they were all hunkered down on the ledges someplace in the shade.
SPOT CHECK YELLOW PAGES: Sally and I decided to do a spot check night last night! First up, Piper!! She’s looking great! She treated us to lots of great flights around the building.. She was hungry!! Mom Linn was above her at first, then did some lovely flights herself, teaching Piper the way! Then she dropped in with a package which Piper promptly grabbed and mantled. Linn left her to it. Dad George came in and hung out on the west side. Linn finally went down and grabbed a bite for herself lol. All good here.
Bruce checked on Piper last night and saw her make a couple flights including a short glide. She tried to go down to a lower ledge with Linn but missed the landing. She finally landed on the roof top area above the nest level as high as you can go with the exception of the peak. Getting better every day but still needs practice on the landings.
Without all the strong wind that we had over the last couple days Piper is gaining and keeping altitude no problem. She made several good flights last evening and at 6:30 She flew off the lower level around the building chasing Linn who had food and landed on the 10th floor west side gaining 9 floors heigt. When Linn flew off with the food to the east she followed her and landed on the east side 11th floor. Linn then flew off again heading west and landing on the building we call the Kitchen about a block from the nest where she likes to prep food. A few seconds later Piper flew off the east side ,hooked around to the west, gained roof top altitude, found Linn and landed beside her on the kitchen and Linn fed her there. After she had her fill they both stayed there until 9:00 and then we watched Linn fly off and back to the same spot a few times with some of the leftover food in her talons trying to get Piper to fly back home with her but Piper was happy to stay where she was. Linn gave up and settled down with Piper on the Kitchen to watch over her for the night and by 9:30 we packed up and headed home. It was a good day I know now that Piper is capable of gaining and keeping altitude and she has proven twice now that she can get off the ground on her own should she make a mistake and come down and has no problem making multiple flights so we are moving on to daily spot checks. I have posted a couple pictures of the Kitchen you can just make out 2 black bumps on the top of the glass that is Linn and Piper. Sorry only had my phone camera
Cathy Kerr and I looked at the pictures she took last evening and she thought she saw a 54 but on my screen I could only make out a 4. I like to make sure I have a complete readable band number before I confirm and ID but Kathy Majich reported she could also see a 54 and I was sure I saw a W on the band so that would mean it is still George from the North Grand Isle bridge in NY that was previously ID’d here.
Thanks Cathy and Kathy!
Piper had a couple flights again today. Bruce saw her take flight and do several great circles around the parking lot gaining lots of altitude however Lyn flew low off to the south east and Piper followed losing her gained altitude. When Lyn flew back to the building Piper followed but now being low she tried hard to gain height again and made to to about the 8th floor where she hit a window hard enough for Bruce to hear the impact. Piper tried to recover but landed on the ground at the front of the building. Bruce headed over to her and slowly approached her hoping to catch her up but again she evaded her rescuer. She flew off and landed on the same lower level as she always does this time on the north west side. She was fed by Lyn at about 8:30 in the morning and stayed there all day. When Mark and I arrived we watched her preen. Stretch her wings and flap so there appears to be no injury to her from the window bump other than possibly her confidante. Cathy joined us to close the night shift and Piper was fed by Lyn again at 7:45 PM and an hour later was down for the night. While Piper was being fed Cathy was able to get a photo of Dad and we can now confirm he is indeed banded although the light was very low, he was to high up on the building and the band numbers are not clear enough to read. We will bring our spotting scope tomorrow and hopefully he gives us a chance to see his band. I have lightened the photos but still can’t read the band but dad sure is a hansom lad. 3rd pic is Lyn.
We now think Piper is a female since we have seen several feedings with Lyn and her together and she is at least as tall as Lyn.
When Mark and I arrived Piper was still where we left her last night on the lower ledge. Bruce told us she did take a flight but bumped the glass at the 121th floor lever and landed back on the lower level. He said that Lyn feed her there. Bruce headed home and Mark an I set up to watch Piper hoping she would stay put until the wind calmed down as it was outrageously blowing from the west. Piper later made sever good flights getting lift from the wind that was crazy strong too strong for an inexperienced uncoordinated fledgling. Although she got enough lift to reach the top of the nest building and the 12th floor ledge she was not able to coordinate the landing and she came to ground. Mark and I tried to catch her up she flew off again and successfully landed on the lower lever ledge again above the garbage bins. At 7:00 PM Lyn brought in food and flew above her to prep it and that got her going again. She flew off the lower ledge out over the parking lot but again the wind was too strong and she landed on a low building across the street from the south end of the parking lot. It was not long before the small birds nesting in the trees at the front of that building started to dive on her with a very upset mocking bird who waked her in the head several times. Cathy arrived to join us on the watch just in time to see Both Lyn and dad diving on the mocking bird and Lyn landed on the roof with Piper to protect her from the mocking bird and now a Robin who were not happy about having a falcon above their nest. Lyn flew back and forth from the nest building and Piper several times showing her how to get home ,but Piper was not ready to go. Lyn finally grabbed her food stash and fed her there. When the feeding was done Lyn flew off to land on a light post in the Yellow Pages parking lot to watch Piper and not long after Piper did take flight. Piper flew back to the nest building but again did no get enough altitude and hit the glass on the east side of the building and landed again on the lower ledge this time on the west side of the building same level as she has been on for the last 3 days. Bruce planned to arrive fore the morning watch at 6:00 AM and since I now know for cretin she is able to get off the ground if she comes down and she has been fed at lest twice today she would be ok there for the night so we packed up and headed home with Lyn watching her from the light post.
Cathy’s photos from July 10th and 11th.
Bruce and I arrived for the morning watch and saw Dad sitting on the light pole in front of the shipping dock across from the ledge we left Piper on last night. As soon as we stepped out of the car dad took off followed by Piper who was to our surprise on the ground at the base of the light.
Piper flew around the parking lot and back to the building and landed on the same level and ledge we had left him on last night. I was a good flight but he just could not get any altitude.
Bruce and I set ourselves up one of us sitting on the north east side and one on the south west so if he took another flight we could see where he landed. Later in the morning Bruce saw Lyn fly over the Mastermind store on Milner with food and land on the roof and could no longer see Piper. I was in a position to see the back side if that building and spotted Piper there being stooped bu little birds. He sat there for only a minute and flew farther into the centre of the roof out of my sight line but not far enough for Bruce to see hi, I moved to a better position so see as much of the west side of the Mastermind building as I could sitting under the open top door of the dumpster since that was the only place with some shade thank goodness the dumpster was empty.
After a few minutes Lyn flew back to the North side of the Nest building with the food. Bruce still had not seen Piper and decided to leave his spot go to the south end of the parking lot wher he could see the back side of Mastermind since I had the west end in sight so if he trys to fly back to Mom and the food we could see him coming and spot where he lands. About half way across the lot Bruce looked back at the Yellow Pages building and sent me a text “ come out from under your shade and look behind you on the lower ledge. Well there was Piper sitting exactly where he had been on the ledge above the dumpsters. He must have flown back when we were changing positions and missed the flight. The ledge is so deep that if a fledgling sits up close the the windows you cant see it from ground.
We spent the balance of the morning and the early afternoon watching him there until mark joined us for the afternoon and evening to close shift later joined by Sally and Cathy who stayed with us until close. Again Piper stayed on the ledge tucked up close the the windows on the ledge above the Dumpsters until dark and we packed up for the night.
I at least know he can get off the ground on his own however he is far from being a great flyer and needs to gain a lot more altitude, hopefully he will get it together in the next couple days.
I will post some of Cathy’s photos tomorrow.
