I would just like to thank everyone for their supportive comments and emails. As a result of some of the emails, I have been searching the Flickr index for NYC raptors.
The results have been astounding. It seems New Yorkers are paying attention. Here's one regarding the rescue of a fledgling from the 55 Water St. nest.
And here's one from this past August of an injured adult near Rockefeller Center. Possibly the result of a territorial battle.
This is one is from Chicago.
And from San Jose.
Where there is a "peregrine rescue group" on standby during fledging.
Seems most North American cities have nesting peregrines (and raptors for that matter) and the mortality rate for fledglings in these urban environments is exceedingly high. It therefore becomes incumbent upon us to assist these birds as best we can with the tools at our disposal. This methodology should also be applied to kestrels, merlins, redtailed hawks and owls. Hopefully by next year's fledging season we can organize amongst ourselves to have most of the riskiest nests covered during this critical time!
4 comments:
Excellent rescue, James! Well done! It is indeed why we watch. Many urban peregrine nests have devoted watchers with organized fledge-watch programs...there always seems to be at least one in every brood that finds itself in a precarious position. The Rochester NY group is having their organization & training session tonight. I'll send you a link to their program materials once it's published.
Eileen in NY
Thanks for the feedback Eileen...I would love to hear more about the efforts to assist the Rochester peregrines as they fledge. The problem here in NYC is that there are about 12-20 producing redtailed hawk nests, about 12 peregrine nests and about 100 kestrel nests. The scale of organizing this whole effort is enormous!
Nice save. How about posting an email on ebirdsnyc (or whatever that yahoo service is) with the numbers of the people to contact when an injured raptor is seen and or picked up?
Hi again, James. It took longer for the fledge watch brochure to be published than I had anticipated ...they announced the impending move of the nestbox at the fledge watch meeting (that's another discussion for another day)...then they started flying! So far, so good with the fledglings!
The brochure can be found at http://rfalconcam.com/imprints/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/fledge-watch-brochure-2008.pdf or http://tinyurl.com/4eu5h6
While organizing a fledge watch in NYC would certainly be daunting, a brochure with instructions and key phone numbers could be distributed among the birding community and perhaps lessen the chaos you've seen this year at some sites.
Eileen in NY
Post a Comment