FALCON FLASH
Dateline: Cleveland, Ohio
May 14, 2012
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For more information on Endangered Species Day visit:
Watch the falcons live at: http://www.falconcam-cmnh.org/news.php
Our thanks to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for sponsoring the FalconCams and for the stills.
Photos are courtesy of Scott Wright, volunteer peregrine nest monitor. They may be used in any non-commercial publication, electronic or print, but please give photo credit.
Her name is....................Uno! And she is definitely numero uno in her parents’ eyes. Uno is being fed extremely well and actually looks as big as (bigger than?) her parents.
One week after banding, Uno is losing her down, exercising her wings and muscles, and walking. She must be thinking of going out walking on the ledge in the following still from the FalconCam.
No wonder she is growing so fast – SW and Boomer are giving her plenty to eat. Notice the full crop and real feathers.
As Uno loses her down, it is replaced by brown juvenile feathers. Here are new wing feathers.
Endangered Species Day is on Friday, May 18, 2012, and we can celebrate with the successful hatching and banding of Uno, a member of a recovered endangered species. It is a good time to remember the people who helped save the species peregrine falcon from extinction and to dedicate ourselves to the future of all species. Thanks to dedicated biologists and citizen volunteers across North America, today we are able to watch peregrine falcon eggs hatch and eyasses grow to be adults --- but this was far from reality 40 years ago.
By 1970, due to the use of the pesticide DDT which caused eggshells to thin and eggs to break, peregrine falcons were going extinct in North America. One of the most important people that helped saved the species peregrine falcon - as well as other species such as the bald eagle - was Rachel Carson, a wildlife biologist and author. In her book, Silent Spring (1963), she warned of the danger of pesticides, especially DDT. This book was a wake-up call that helped lead to the banning of DDT in the U.S. and Canada in the early 1970s. Today, there is a skyscraper named in her honor, the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and peregrine falcons nest on this building. To learn more about Rachel Carson, go to: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=588350&mode=2
Watch the FalconCams closely to monitor big changes at: http://www.falconcam-cmnh.org/news.php Uno will soon be out of her nest walking on the skyscraper ledges, and her parents will be gone much of the time hunting in order to feed their growing youngster.
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