Scott Wright, volunteer peregrine falcon nest monitor for 14 years at this site reports: "Among the young falcons, competition for food can be just like with any children, with pushing and shoving to get to the parent with food. I have seen one young falcon take the food right out of another's beak if they did not get it down fast enough, or the piece of food placed into the open beak was too big for the chick to eat.”
Mr. Wright describes what he calls, “The Web of Life”:
“I was wondering how to explain just how birds of prey have eggs and hatch them and about how they assure an increase in food supply to feed the ever demanding and yelling and screaming chicks all day long (except when they are sleeping) around the time of hatching.
Well, today I was watching the spring song birds (passerines) move atop the trees in my North Olmsted, Ohio back yard. As I was watching, a small green caterpillar lowered its tiny body down from the trees - best to move away from the predators in the trees to the relative safety of the ground! It started me thinking of the small birds above in the tree tops, making a stop-over in my yard after a several hundred mile flight the night before, rushing on (and they were all gone in a few hours) to the shores of Lake Erie and across this (in some spots 50 miles) "great lake" (but, hey, some of the birds in the trees above me were in the Yucatan Peninsula a few short months ago).
This wave of migrants northward bound to the Boreal Forests of Canada and above stop in places to rest and are less aware of the predators along the way north. Their arrival is timed in an ancient dance of survival. The northern forests depend upon them for the removal of insect species (like the spruce budworm) and other insects that can cause harm to a forest - the passerines are nature's insect control. The Peregrine Falcons and all other birds of prey time the development of young for an increased food supply that spring brings.
I have seen many birds that nest in and around Public Square in Cleveland do intense aerial maneuvers to escape Peregrines, even when they are not hunting. The pigeons dive for cover when a Peregrine takes to the wing or even is flying high above.
The increased flow of birds past the nest in the month of May (some species do not push past Cleveland until the last week of May) increase the likelihood of the falcon parents not having to work as hard to bring in the catch. One year the male falcon was hunting at night and was leaving many uneaten Black-billed and Yellow-billed cuckoos for the kids all over the nest ledge, and cuckoos are a species that only migrate when it is dark!
So just as the young emerge from the shell, the food supply increases and the parents do not have to forage as far to provide food and can be at the ready to defend the young. One year I saw a male falcon dive off the nest to return in under 20 seconds with a still live bird. It was a migrant flying past, unaware that his migration ended in Cleveland, providing the food and energy for another generation of Peregrine Falcons.”
The family waits for lunch……
In the following picture, notice the "crop" on the chick’s neck, which is full of food.
“Male falcons will sometimes arrive at the nest with live food, but I have only seen this a few times in my years of monitoring. Most times the impact will stun the food and the talons hold the food until the food becomes food. Most times the male will have killed the prey, clipped the wings, taken off the head, and sent the feathers flying in the wind as he cleans the meal before he feeds his mate and chicks. Many times you cannot even tell what the food was before it was the meal. I have seen the following (not in any order, but by how my mind recalls them) brought into the nestbox: Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow, Red Eyed Vireo, Night Hawk, Black and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yellow Warbler, Woodcock, Coot, unknown large Sandpiper, Cedar Waxwing, House Sparrow, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, unknown Seagull, Red- winged Blackbird, Grackle, Pie-billed Grebe, Robin, unknown Thrush, Song Sparrow, Blue Jay, Flicker, Grey Catbird, Goldfinch..... Many times all you can say is that they brought a LBB to the nest (little Brown Bird) or LGB (little grey bird).
What do peregrines eat? Anything that flies that is smaller than them."
Don't worry if the chicks are alone in the nest. Now that they are several weeks old, they are much better at keeping their body temperature regulated, and the parents are always nearby watching over the family.
Flap, flap……
And Buckeye delivers…..
Mark your calendar - the chicks will be banded on May 12.
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.
