What a difference a week makes! The chicks are getting real feathers, exercising and thinking about flying. Believe it or not, they will be as big as their parents and will take their first real flights in just a few weeks.
SW and Buckeye's bands tell us the following information: SW was hatched and fledged from the 37th floor of the Gulf Tower building in Pittsburgh, PA. Pennsylvania does not believe in naming wild creatures, so she goes by her band letters, SW. You can do some research about Buckeye's life history at the Midwest Peregrine Falcon Restoration Project, sponsored by the University of Minnesota. Try clicking: http://134.84.58.87/peregrine/ or go to the website at: http://www.midwestperegrine.umn.edu/ and click on the Searchable Database link in the list on the left side of their home page. You can then search on Buckeye's band numbers, which are R/K. After you find out where Buckeye was hatched, look at a map of North America and see if you can you figure out how far SW and Buckeye had to fly to meet each other in Cleveland, Ohio.
To watch the falcons live go to: http://www.falconcam-cmnh.org/news.php Our thanks to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for sponsoring the FalconCams and for the FalconCam stills.
The ledge-walking photo is courtesy of falcon fan Jennifer. The other 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.
The biggest change is the appearance of the chicks, as they lose their down and it is replaced by brown juvenile feathers.
They are leaving their nestbox and walking around the skyscraper ledges, affectionately called “ledge-walking” by falcon fans. The parents are always close by to watch over their chicks.
Remember, the falcons' nestbox is 13 stories up on their skyscraper, but don't worry, they won't fall off. Falcons are cliff-dwellers and are adapted to high places, so the chicks know how to avoid falling over the edge. The following picture shows 3 of last year’s chicks on different ledges. They were just learning to fly.
Last week, each chick received his or her own band numbers.