Meet The Peregrine Falcon Chicks!

Update: Baby Girl III did indeed fledge (or fall from the building) last night and is on a nearby building with dad who is taking good care of her.

Update: MassBird has a posting with an email from Tom French from Mass Wildlife that one of the three Peregrine Chicks have fledged and is over on another buidling. Antacids will be a must for the next few weeks.

Allow me to proudly present to you, two of the three female Peregrine Falcon chicks in downtown Worcester. Emily from Fallon was kind enough to allow me to visit her so we could go up to where the nest box was so I could get a close up of the birds I have followed for so long now.

The three chicks finally started to venture out of their nest box yesterday and have been sitting out on the ledge and constantly calling for their parents which is wonderful to hear in contrast with the typical downtown noises I have grown so accustomed to.

The falcon on the right appears to be the most feisty of the three. It spent its entire time I was there, looking at its mom who was perched above them near the Fallon logo. If you enlarge this photo, you can faintly make out this falcon's notch in its bill/beak that is used to sever the spinal cord of its prey to make a clean kill. How cool is that!!!

The falcons have spent the past couple of days figuring out how to use their wings and their feet and it was very entertaining to watch this one try and figure out what to do with its leg as it went to go go lie down to relax. Check out the new shiny band it has on its leg.

The falcons would glimpse at us occasionally which was a thrill. I am sure they were relieved we were not fish and wildlife after the banding experience they had last week. ;o)

But for the most part they just wanted their mom and their lunch.

Standing up this time and looking at mom with pleading eyes hoping that had more of an impact.

Posing for the camera!!

Looking up again and wondering what time lunch will be this afternoon.

Trying to figure out how to perch. The one on the left reminds me of dad and was very laid back in comparison to the one on the right. It is amazing you can already get glimpses of their personality.

A close up of the more laid back one. It is even making a classic dad face!

Check out the leftovers in this picture. I am sure they are saving it for a snack!

The ledge we wish they would go to instead of the green platform they are on. Emily knows this area very well and says is can be slippery which is a source of worry obviously as a high wind could have the potential to knock the peregrine off of the ledge. They are mimicking the parents who do this all the time.

This will give you a better idea of the width of the ledge.

Butt shot to show off the plumage from behind.

The FANTASTIC photos above and below are those of Emily Eaton who was kind enough to allow me to put them on my blog. Check out the gorgeous plumage on this bird already! If you enlarge this photo you can get the numbers on its leg band too.

Wing practice!

I want to thank Emily again for the opportunity to get up there and take pictures. I also want to thank her for all of the hard work she had done tracking these Peregrine Falcons for Fish and Wildlife over the years. It has been wonderful meeting up with her and hearing all of the stories she has behind both the adults and the young (both present and past). A special thanks to Fallon Community Health Care and Mass Fish & Wildlife for the nest box as well. Corporate citizenship at its best if you ask me!!

Take care all

ETA: I hope all of you going to Plum this weekend for the New England Blogging/Twitter/Facebook birding event have a wonderful time. I am unable to make it due to commitments I have made this weekend (atlasing with someone on Saturday and a bird census at Wachusett Meadows on Sunday) so I will be unable to make it. Have fun and I can't wait to see all of the pictures.! A special mention to Christopher and Dawn for all of the hard work they did coordinating it! Oh, and goodluck getting that Missisippi Kite!!!!

Juvie Brown-headed Cowbird-Millbury

Another juvie picture I took this morning before work at the Millbury Bike Path. I am 99% confident this is a Brown-headed Cowbird.

It made no noise as it perched on the branch and I saw no host parents.

Just keeping note of all of the juvies/fledglings I have seen for record.

Green Heron & Wood Ducklings- Millbury

I went over to the Millbury Bike Path for about two hours or so after work and decided to stay in one area which turned out to be well worth it. I was looking at some Mallards sunning themselves on a log when suddenly a bird flew past me an onto the shore near the edge of the river. This Green Heron decided to make a quick stop for dinner and I was thrilled to have caught it.

This was the first time I was able to really observe a Green Heron and they are absolutely fascinating birds to watch while they hunt for food. The bird stalks its prey the way a cat would and then delivers a final blow to the unsuspecting fish and this little heron never missed. It stayed in the area for about 20 minutes until it left via some tall grass and into some trees. I stuck around for a while after that seeing if it would return again and also hoping I could find a mate but no deal.

This same area brought me my first sighting of a mother Wood Duck with her ducklings. So cute!! This time of the year is so much fun for birding because of all of the young I see on an almost daily basis. Who said June birding was boring!

The muskrat who lives around that area was busy too carrying leaves to its den I am assuming.

Speaking of young, here is a recently fledged House Sparrow which is the predominant bird in downtown Worcester.

I don't like these birds in my yard but will watch them when at work when I need to get away to clear my head. I can always guarantee there will be House Sparrows and House Finches whenever I venture outside for coffee.

And a lousy shot of one of the young Peregrines. I had lunch today with the woman who tracks them and we went to the window where the young will start to go to in the next few days. We were hoping today would be the day and we both had our cameras in tow, but the youngins wanted to part of it. You should see all of the skeletal remains and feathers that are out on that ledge though!!! The ledge itself is a lot wider than I first thought and it is covered with good sized rocks which makes the surface great for the young Peregrines when they first start walking. I am hoping they get out there at some point this week and I will be able to get over there for pictures.

Take care everyone.

Sunday Solo & Sore Birding

A disappointing day of birding. Not for species count per say as I had my average 40 species, but my camera did not want to cooperate and the birds did not want to get close up. Not to mention I woke up at 4AM and couldn't go back to bed so I decided to get up and have coffee and listen for which bird would be the first to sing for the day. It was a Northern Cardinal at 4:06AM followed by an American Robin at 4:14AM. Pathetic, I know, but cool at the same time! I also have sore calves from all of that walking on rocks yesterday so I knew right away I wouldn't be hiking and instead have temporarily increased my protein and downed a few Glutamine to help with the soreness.

Anyhow, it was leisurely birding for me which I have a hard time with. Yes I like to take my time and bird, but if I am not seeing anything I find of interest, I tend to pick up the pace to cover more miles which was impossible with my calves that feel like they are bruised. The best picture I got all day was of the Great-blue Heron above and that was taken at 3:30PM today!


I started off in Sutton at the place were the Forbush Bird Club saw the Grasshopper Sparrow and Eastern Meadowlark, but everything was strangely quiet until a Coopers Hawk decided to venture over to a pine tree and that is when all hell broke loose. Suddenly I saw a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds go after it as well as two Barn Swallows. The Coopers went away without breakfast as the outraged songbirds flew after it. Very interesting to watch and two more birds to add to my "birds who stalk hawks list" (so far I only have an American Crow, Blue Jay and a Baltimore Oriole so this almost doubles the list!)

A far away Scarlett Tanager taken at Martha Deerborn this afternoon. One thing I have noticed lately is that birding is getting rather repetitious now because of many of the warblers and shorebirds venturing north. I now see this bird almost everywhere I go.

I decided to check on the Common Ravens to shake things up a little and I believe the lousy photo above is of one of the juvies. I have no proof of this but they were rather loud today and I have noticed that juvies and fledglings are rather loud and that is why I have had such luck in finding them. It's almost as if they have found their voice for the first time and use it every chance they get. All though not pretty, the call of the Common Raven is wonderful on the ears and I stood and listened for a while.

Speaking of voices, one thing I have noticed over the past week or so is that some of the Black-capped Chickadees I have come across sound almost hoarse. Now I know the Black-capped is a lot more hoarse compared to the Carolina, but this is even worse, almost subdued. It is really odd and am wondering if they are recently fledged birds?

The picture above is a perfect example of some of my camera challenges today. Check out this poor Field Sparrow. He looks as if he was up all night at the local pub and is now at the neighborhood diner trying to get down his omelet for energy before his school finals later in the day. Not that I would know anything about that of course. He must have been out with the Song Sparrow I had seen two weeks or so ago.

Another shot of a Field Sparrow at a different location. Much better but not my best that's for sure.

And one of my favorite birds to stalk which is the Red-eyed Vireo. I am drawn to this bird the way a moth is to light. It talks to itself constantly which makes it easy to spot if you just follow your ears and eyes to the right branch. What made this observation interesting is that it was almost behaving like a White-breasted Nuthatch in that it would creep around the branches to trees trying to get some insects I am guessing. Very cool to watch.

I also saw my first Juvie European Starlings of the season. As if we needed anymore that is.

Have a great week everyone. Cross your fingers that the young Peregrine Falcons will be out on the ledge tomorrow and I can show you my first close ups of the three of them!

Saturday Birding-Powerlines & a Love Triangle

I decided to do local birding today and did most of it in the various powerlines that are in Millbury. These are some of my favorite spots to go to but this time I decided to explore areas that I had never seen before. The first thing I realized is there are a lot of powelines in this town which means a lot of land for birds who thrive in that habitat. In fact, I did about 5 miles of hiking through them today and need to go back tomorrow because there is still more that I didn't see! Anyhow, the picture above is of the Eastern Towhee, a familiar bird at almost any powerline you will go to in Massachusetts.

A Gray Catbird on a nest. I like Catbirds, really I do, but I would like to tell them to quiet down on occasion because they are so noisy, they interfere with my hearing other birds. They are funny though and I never realized how well they mimic until I heard one today imitating a Blue Jay today!

We interrupt this informative post for another episode of as the Goose Turns. During out last episode, the Graylag Goose shown above was seen hanging around with a pair of Canada Geese and it appeared as if it was trying to seduce the female which the male Canada Goose did not seem to mind. Weeks went by and Alan and I would see the trio out on occasion but today things got a little more heated and confusing.

Meeting the new goslings in town. I took one look at them and assumed that both parents were in fact Canada Geese, until a woman who lives across the street from Brierly Pond came over to give them their daily dose of bread. She called out to them and suddenly dozens of geese and Mallards came out of the water knowing it was time for lunch. I took pictures of them while she fed them the bread and then she gave me local gossip on what the real deal is between the three. She told me that the Graylag has been in hiding for the past three weeks and last week was the first time it came for bread and with the goose came the goslings!! She thinks the Graylag is female and the mother of these babies!! Is that correct? I have no idea, if you look at the pictures they don't seem to show any signs of being a hybrid, but what the heck do I know (remember I mistook a snow bank for a Great Egret this late winter!). An expert I am not!

I am going to have to take a look at them next week to see what they look like. Right now they look like plain old Canada Geese, but I guess it is subject to change just like our weather.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

While we are on the subject of babies, check out these young Mallards. They too know the sound of this woman's voice and they all came over to gorge on bread.

With mom close by of course.

And just when you thought things couldn't get any more exciting, I proudly present another game of Name that Bird. That's right, the perfect opportunity for those in the blogging community to help me out and shine in the lime light. I was in the woods at Brierly today when suddenly I could hear the call of the Eastern-wood Peewee. It sounded really close so I tried pishing which didn't seem to appeal to him. I then whistled his tune and to my astonishment it worked!!! HA, I thought as I got a look at him and clicked away. He didn't stay there long and as quick as he landed, he flew away. I was disappointed he didn't stay longer but happy for a record shot, that is until I got home. THIS is what I see when I blow up the picture. Hmmmmmm, I think as I open up all four of my various bird guides for identity. I can't see the wing bars on this photo for comparison and the white chest is throwing me off too. I am convinced the Peewee was the bird that landed on the branch because I could hear it do it's Peewee call upon landing but now the photo has me all confused.

And now onto my new bird identity nightmare which are fledglings. Check out this bird all!! It was in the woods with its sibling and totally mesmerized by my pishing! My first guess was Song Sparrow, but it was in a woodland habitat which is making me second guess.

I just hope the poor thing gets feathers on his head quickly as he looks like Frank Purdue!!!! What do you all think? Even google couldn't help me with this one.

While at Brierly I also saw a pair of Ovenbirds frolicking about and chasing after each other in play.

The other one.

My first dragonfly photo. I have no idea what kind it was, but I couldn't help but notice there were tons of them everywhere I went today.

And a heads up to everyone on the Forbush Millbury trip last week. Check out what is NOW in the nest box we went to!! I have no idea what happened to the Eastern Bluebirds but it seems as if they have moved out and the swallows have moved in!

Pappa? standing guard.

More pictures of the young Red-tailed Hawks. I couldn't resist as it was so nice out today and I knew I could get better pictures. Check out those eyes. So cute!

I also noticed they are a lot bigger than I first thought.

A picture of one of the prettiest butterfly's I have ever seen. Blue is one of my favorite colors so I was automatically drawn to it. Check out the orange underneath. So pretty.

And last but not least is a picture of a Ring-billed Gull. I love taking pictures of gulls and can watch them for hours as I find them very entertaining. I went to EMS today to buy some pants and some of the laggards who are not mating this year are still around. Nothing in comparison to the winter obviously which made it picture worthy.

Take care everyone!