After spending several weeks teetering on the edge of their 12th story ledge with wings flapping, Mr. Wright believes that all 4 chicks have taken their first flight. He watched them recently as they were just beginning to fly, and reports:
“B-00 only made very small flights and has not left the ledge area, the two females (K-81 and K-80) had already made the cargo netting on the 15th floor. Saw B-00 make two very short flights.”
Our thanks to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for sponsoring the FalconCams.
The photos are courtesy of Scott Wright, volunteer peregrine nest monitor. They may be used by children for school and/or personal projects, but please give Mr. Wright photo credit. All others must contact Mr. Wright directly for permission to use his photos.
At first, the flights are short distances, from one ledge to another. Then the fledglings will fly from one roof to another roof, and, as their flying skills improve, they will fly from building to building over the city. Here is a male who made a short flight up to a speaker.
The fledglings may return to the nest box from time to time, but they will soon abandon that site. However, SW and Buckeye will continue to feed the chicks for the next month or so. As the fledglings’ flying skills improve, their parents will teach them to hunt.
Here we see Buckeye (left) watching over one of his daughters, after she had flown up to a roof several floors above the nestsite.
An interesting mystery this year is whether K-29 is male or female. When he was banded, it was thought he was female, but Mr. Wright now believes he is a male because of his small size. Because he is banded, if he is found nesting in the future, we will find out for sure whether he is the mom or the dad!
Fog rolled in as 2 male fledglings looked out over the city.
