On Friday May 14th, the Ohio Division of Wildlife will place identifying leg bands on the Terminal Tower falcon eyasses.
The eyasses are growing at an incredible rate. Mr. Scott Wright, volunteer peregrine falcon nest monitor, reports that SW has been covering the young to keep them warm - but that is not an easy task!
“This is a time of extraordinary growth for the chicks. They have voracious appetites. As an example, when we were raising young Bald Eagles at the Museum’s Perkins Wildlife Center, we would typically offer the chicks 10% of their body weight in food at each feeding and feed them on average 5 times per day. In the first two weeks of their life the chicks would have a net daily weight gain of 20%, doubling their weight every 5 days! That extraordinary increase in size diminishes after 2-3 weeks. A similar growth rate is seen in Peregrine Falcons”.
Be sure to monitor the FalconCams carefully and you will soon notice the eyasses beginning to move around the nest. At first, they "walk" on their tarsi (heel bones). Later on, they will begin to walk on their toes, as adult birds do.
Mr. Harvey Webster, director of wildlife resources with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, tells us: “A useful feature found in many species of birds (for when your eyes are bigger than your stomach) is a crop – a thin walled sac off the esophagus. Even after the stomach is filled during a meal, the bird can continue to eat. The extra food is stored in the crop. Then as the food in the stomach is digested, the food in the crop is moved to the stomach. This is particularly apparent in the downy young Peregrines. After a feeding by the parents the crops of the chicks will bulge outward just above their chests”………….
Send your ideas for names as soon as possible to raptors@hvc.rr.com (name suggestions will be sent to the Ohio Division of Wildlife on Thursday morning). Keep in mind when thinking of names that these fluffy little ones will soon grow to be fierce predators, the fastest creatures on earth. Also, keep in mind that we will not know their sex until after they are examined on banding day.
Our thanks to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for sponsoring the FalconCams.
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.
