[mou] A confusion of Peregrines

[Laura Erickson]

On a day with extremely gusty winds and four just barely or not quite 
fledged baby peregrines perched on a tall building, there are bound to be 
mishaps.  I "helped" one situation when I came upon a young female (#78) on 
the roof of the casino parking lot--she sat on a concrete piling for a 
while, but as more and more cars passed just a few feet from her, she got 
restless and tried to fly off--only to drop to the pavement.  She waddled, 
wings waving, toward the First Street exit and a lot of holiday 
traffic.  So my husband Russ, Jeanne Tonkin, and I headed her off at the 
pass--I tossed a towel over her and scooped her up in my arms.

I called Dave Evans, who has been watching these babies far longer than I, 
to find out what I should do.  He gave me the number of the hotel manager, 
who could let me up on the roof where the nest box was, but there was just 
a recorded message with no backup number to call, so I did what I thought 
was the next best thing and got her up on the roof of the Norshor Theater 
(next door to the hotel).  She seemed fine when we left, but I guess her 
parents didn't want to feed her there, and tried to encourage her to fly 
back to the nest box before she has the flight power to gain altitude.  So 
down she fell again, this time to the street below.  Some people called me, 
but I referred them to Dave.  Tonight she's at his place--he'll bring her 
to the hotel roof tomorrow when he finally gets the manager.

Photos today turned out really well, despite my leaving my adaptor at home 
and so having to handhold the camera against the scope, and also despite my 
having only the 40x rather than the 30x eyepiece (the lower power is more 
forgiving), and also despite the fact that my camera battery was almost 
dead, and died after I took the last photo--We couldn't take any of us 
trying to help her.  But ironically the one day I'd just gone up there to 
check on the babies, not for photos, turns out to be the day when I got the 
best photos of all.

<http://www.birderblog.com/bird/Species/Hawks/PeregrineFalcon/PEFADuluthNestGallery.html>




Laura Erickson
Duluth, MN


www.birderblog.com

There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of 
birds.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of 
nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

                                 --Rachel Carson