It’s now been three days since Comet fledged and there is little new to report. In fact Comet didn’t fly at all yesterday and seemed quite content to stay put on a high window ledge on the east face of the Adirondack Bank building. Since his “inadvertent” fledgling on Monday, he flew only once and that was on Tuesday. We were pleased to see two food drops to Comet take place Wednesday morning. As far as anyone knew, Comet hadn’t been fed since early Monday morning. Meanwhile in and around the nestbox, Skye, the second chick to hatch, was actively pumping her wings and trotting around the east and west verandas – and even traveling beyond them along the narrow ledge that runs beneath the windows. Orion has been happy enough to flap her wings inside the box and remain in the place where most meals are served. She had a few scuffles with her sister on Wednesday, but by that evening they were sleeping on top of each other as is often their habit. Though no new fledge took place today, the Fledge Watch volunteers were treated to some nice aerial acrobatics by Astrid and Ares. The most impressive was a barrel role executed by Astrid. She did this in order to slow her decent to the ledge where Comet was perched. Also, an unusual amount of low level pigeon chasing took place today. Primarily Astrid was seen in hot pursuit of low flying pigeons within the air space of the Downtown “canyon”. Though most of these witnessed chases were unsuccessful, at least one was successful and she was seen flying back her prize.
What happens next with the Utica Peregrines? Will Comet begin flying again before Skye fledges? Only time will tell. If you’re able to get Downtown, come find out for yourself.
Thank you Matt for the great updates. And those pictures are gorgeous. I was able to stop by yesterday on my lunch hour (not much happening) and after work (a lot happening!!!) It was so interesting to watch I wish I could have stayed there until dark. Thank you to Deb and Linda for all the information and “falcon facts”!! We are so lucky to have these beautiful creatures in our city.
Thanks for the update. It seems Comet ‘inadvertently fledged, but make a nice recovery. Great photographs too, wow … I love the top photo of Comet, he’s such a handsome boy.
I was wondering if your falcons have been banded. We have a nest box in our city on top of a university building and each spring when the chicks are still fairly young they are banded, blood drawn, checked for parasites and officially named on record. This is done with the help of both the university and the DNR. Do you do this? I was wondering because I haven’t noticed any bands on your falcons but thought maybe I just missed them. If they haven’t been you might want to consider it for next year.
You are all doing a wonderful job and the pictures are just fantastic. Thank you for helping these birds come back from the edge of extinction.