Unexpected Peregrine

Hello,

We have received an unexpected Peregrine Falcon for release this year. The breeder from whom we normally get birds for release produced no young this year. Our back up source already had his Peregrines committed to a release project in South Dakota. We had given up releasing Peregrine for 2012. On Thursday June 7th, we received a call from Jim Ozier of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.  He had a Peregrine that he wanted to know if we could hack it at our Rock City release site. After talking it over with Andrew Kean and Jeff Raabe of Rock City, we decided that we could take the bird. Jim said that this Peregrine was from a nest in the Dunwoody section of metro Atlanta. The female and mother of the Peregrine is only two years old and is inexperience as a mother. The male, hatched in 2007 on the Sun Trust building in Atlanta, had to incubate the eggs (a task normally handled by the female) and had to hunt for the young once they hatched. The female apparently brooded the young, but when it came time for her to join her mate in providing food for the young, she did not. She only hunted for herself. The pair produced two young, both males, and their father kept them fed the best that he could. Once the youngsters got older, the father simply could not provide enough food. According to Greg Greer, who has participated in Peregrine Falcon release projects in the past, and had been observing the nest at the Manhattan Condos, the young fledged sooner that they should have, probably due to hunger. One of the youngsters flew into traffic and was killed. Greg marked the location of where the second male went, but couldn't find him until the next day. The Peregrine was taken to a rehab center for a few days and Greg delivered him to us on Friday and we have had him in our care. The bird, whom we are temporarily calling "Dunwoody" will be released on Monday, June 18th from our hack site on the other side of Bill Chapin's house at Rock City. Let hope his does well, but at least for now, he has gotten a second chance.

By the way, we are now in our 8th regular season of Rock City Raptors www.seerockcity.com with showtimes Thursday through Sunday 11, 1, and 3 p.m. EDT with an additional show at 4:30 on Saturday. Come on up and see us!

Dale and John

s.o.a.r.south@hotmail.com
visit our website: www.soarsouth.org