West Seattle eyasses banded

Today, Wednesday May 14, 2008, with the indispensable help of a Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) crew, Mark Gleason and yours truly 'descended' upon the peregrines in the nest box beneath the West Seattle high-rise.

This past winter, FRG volunteers have kept an eye on 'our' local peregrine population, and we noticed some changes. In West Seattle the female disappeared (for unknown reasons), while in Ballard the male disappeared. The Ballard female (double-banded) then showed up in West Seattle, and has now produced her first set of offspring in this site.

In the 2006 and 2007 seasons, the West Seattle pair chose not to use the nest box placed for their use beneath the bridge. Instead the female laid her eggs on top of piles of feathers and bones, left over from meals, in the bridge expansion joint.

The Ballard female, who nested in the box beneath the Ballard Bridge during the 2006 and 2007 seasons (raising a single chick each season), opted to use the nest box at West Seattle. The box and its contents are easier to observe from the bridge control tower than the expansion joint, making planning for banding activities simpler. Our thanks go to SDOT Mary Brown and Ed Morteson for helping schedule the banding.

The only way to access the nest site is by blocking off one of the lanes of traffic on the bridge and removing a man hole cover at the top of a ladder leading to a maintenance catwalk. The nest box was placed next to this cat walk many years ago, when peregrines started wintering in the area, and we suspected they might try and nest here.

In this picture the SDOT crew has removed the man hole cover out of the roadway, exposing the ladder leading to the cat walk.
We found four healthy-looking eyasses in the box, and two attentive adults who flew around and vocalized to show their displeasure at our unannounced visit.
The four young were banded with USFWS bands and VID bands and returned to the nest box
Even before Mark and I could retreat up the ladder, the female was back at the nest box, checking out her young (below).

The final image of the female shows the value of outfitting the birds with the VID band, in addition to the USFWS band. In real life the code (vertical 07 over vertical P) is easy to read, making identification possible without having to re-capture the bird.

In this case, it made it possible for us to track her from her old nest site to her new nest site, and document her third breeding season, as her most productive season to date.

Brief visits at three urban eyries

June 5, 2007.

I had some brief time slots in between appointments today, all near peregrine eyries in Seattle, so I decided to use my breaks wisely.

At the Eastside nest I spotted the adult male sitting on a pillar. No sign of the female. However, four minutes later she flew out of the nest site. She landed near the male and feaked (wiped her bill, indicative of recently having eating). It is difficult to see into this nest, and young are not visible until they are a couple of weeks old. So we have to go by adult behavior until the young can be seen.

The past few weeks the adults' behavior switched from incubating to feeding young. Last week both adults stayed off the nest for prolonged periods, indicating they either failed or the young were about two weeks old. At that age they can regulate their own body temparature and don't need constant brooding from the adults.

The adult female coming out of the nest site and feaking strongly indicates she had been feeding young. I looked up at the nest site with my scope and lucked out. One down-covered young stretched both its wings above its back (only the wings were visible). The edges of the wings showed about one inch of growing flight feathers, indicating about 3 weeks of age. At the same time another young backed up to the edge of the nest (there is a ridge that screens the young from view) and defecated. This leads to the conclusion that there are at least two three-week-old young up there.










This image was taken last year when the Eastside adult female was eating on the ground.


My second break was near the Duwamish site. Here the adult female was perched in a light stand. Searching around the nest ledge revealed two young mostly feathered young with extensive tyfts of down on body and wings. About 4 1/2 to 5 weeks old. One was 'pancaked' and sound asleep. The other busy preening on the ouside edge of the nest ledge.
Just as I left the adult male showed up and perched in anearby light stand as well.

In 2006 I banded both adults at the Duwamish site, after the nesting season was over. The female is on the left, the male on the right. Both birds have returned to nest at this site this year.

My final break was near the Ballard nest site. Initially I did not see the youngster on the ledge and I feared it might have fallen in the water. But while I changed to a different vantage point and back again the youngster received food from the adults and was busily tearing away at what once was a pigeon. This youngster is about five weeks old. One more week and hopefully it will fledge successfully.

Banding at Seattle Peregrine Eyries

Friday May 18, 2007.

West Seattle Bridge, Seattle

With the help of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Ed Deal and Pat Little of the FRG accessed the West Seattle Bridge nest site and banded four peregrine chicks. This is the second time that chicks were banded at this site. The nest is only accessible through a man-hole cover in the bridge deck, which requires the closure of an entire lane. Mary Brown, Bridge Maintenance Supervisor for SDOT gave permission for Crew Chief Greg Funk to assist the banding team.
The peregrines have chosen to nest in a small gap next to an expansion joint of the bridge and are difficult to observe from the ground. However, once the team descends the ladder, we can walk into the nest space, which is tall enough to stand up in. The adult female and four chicks were all in the gap. We picked up the young and kept them safe while they were banded one by one. All four chicks were females.

Note that the nest subtsrate is formed by prey remains.

Saturday May 19, 2007.

Ballard Bridge, Seattle
Once again, with the help of an SDOT crew, (this time under the supervision of John Dahle) Ed Deal got to ride in the bucket of a U-bit truck, the only equipment that will allow access to the nest on the Ballard Bridge. For the second year in a row, we banded a single chick, this time a male.

Monday May 21, 2007.

Interstate 5 Freeway Bridge, Seattle
FRG members Mark Gleason and Martin Muller banded four three-week-old peregrine chicks on Seattle’s I-5 Ship Canal Bridge. For the fifth year in a row, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Widlife Biologist Michael MacDonald arranged for permission and assistance from WSDOT. Thanks go to Archie Allen, Regional Bridge Maintenance Supervisor; Rick Rodda, Assistant Regional Bridge Maintenance Supervisor; Dave Wheeler and Gerald Cornell for driving trucks, Tim Ditch, Ship Canal Bridge Maintenance Supervisor, also driving one of the trucks; Eric Engi, the lucky bridge technician who got to go down the ladder first, and Lauren Penning, of WSDOT Public Relations, who documented the whole affair.
Both adult peregrines at this site had been previously banded. The female is from the former Trojan Nuclear Plant downstream from Portland, Oregon, and the male is a descendant of the Washington Mutual pair (Stewart & Bell). We quickly collected the nestlings and placed them in a cloth bag, where they were safe. During our banding activities, the female spent most of the time standing in or near the nest box keeping watch. With the young calm and quiet, the adults also remained fairly calm, although they did occasionally voice their objections.
In our program, each young falcon receives two bands. We place a US Fish and Wildlife aluminum band on one leg and a black, numbered Visual Identification (VID) band on the other. The VID bands have much larger symbols which are easy to read in a spotting scope. They allow us to identify individual peregrines at a distance. Bird watchers and other observers often read these bands in the field and report the sightings. In this way, we can learn more about where the falcons go, what happens to them or even how long they might live.The return rate on birds with VID bands is about 25 times higher than USFWS bands alone.

In this picture of the adult female you can see how much easier it is to decipher a VID band compared to the USFWS band.

Seattle Peregrines March Update

March 2007 Update

A record six pairs of peregrines nested in the Greater Seattle area in 2006. All pairs fledged young, but we had very few sightings of juveniles after the initial fledging period. Unfortunately, window strikes and apparent vehicle collisions took a toll of some of the young birds, and those that survived apparently dispersed. With young birds, no news may be the best news.
The birds that breed here are residents; they do not leave in the winter. Six pairs of residents make it easier to monitor peregrines year round. But, since residents exclude intruders from their territories, it is now more difficult to locate birds that are wintering here or are moving through the area. Experienced observers identified several “strangers” outside of established territories this winter. Birds of unknown origin were seen on Lake Washington, at Ballard, Beacon Hill, Rainier Beach and the Central Area. One was a juvenile; the others were adults. It is now rare to see a juvenile in Seattle in the winter, in contrast to earlier years of peregrine monitoring. The dominant adults are probably chasing them off, as juveniles are reported outside the food-rich city.
A hatch year 2003 male from Tacoma was a non-breeder on territory throughout the 2006 breeding season and into the fall. We thought he might try to breed here this spring, but he has vanished. The unbanded juvenile female that kept him company is gone, too.
As we move into the 2007 breeding season, it appears that all the breeding adults are still on their territories, except at the Ballard site, where there is a new male. Courtship is going on now, and peregrine watchers are looking forward to courtship flights, eggs, fuzzy chicks and the chicks’ metamorphosis into beautiful fledglings, ready to challenge their brave new world.

WAMU

The young female from the Washington Mutual nest – the only survivor of the two young – was last reported in downtown Seattle in August. Some juveniles continue to “visit” their parents on into the fall, probably in hopes of getting an easy meal from the adults. However, it can be very difficult to locate one juvenile in the forest of downtown buildings, so the absence of sightings after August may not be significant.
As far as observers can tell, the unbanded adults at this skyscraper site are still the same pair that first nested there last year. They have been seen regularly on the nest ledge and other parts of their home “cliff” throughout the fall and winter. Activity around the nest ledge has increased steadily over the last month.

Ballard

The sole fledgling at the Ballard site made it through her first few weeks on the wing, but has not been reported since.
An unbanded adult male has replaced the banded adult male that bred at the Ballard site last year. We don’t know when or how this happened. The original male was the hatch year 2004 offspring of the pair at I-5, and we hope that he will resurface at some other location in the future.

West Seattle

The last confirmed report of a youngster still hanging around its natal territory was a juvenile seen in early September, dozing on the West Seattle nest ledge with a full crop. One of the other young birds died from an apparent vehicle collision earlier in the summer. The adults have been observed regularly at this site throughout the winter.

South Duwamish

Both adults at the south Duwamish site were trapped and banded after the breeding season. We don’t know the origin of either, but the VID (Visual Identification) bands will allow us to keep track of them while they are in the area. Both are currently on their home territory. Their sole fledgling, a female, was found dead on an adjacent road only a couple of weeks after her first flight.

I-5

Two of the young from this site died from window collisions, one at the University of Washington and one in a residential area. Based on partial band readings, it appears that the adults at this site are the residents that have been there since 2002.

Eastside

The adults at our one eastside site were very early nesters last year; we don’t know why they are earlier than other resident pairs. Based on recent observations, it appears that they are on an early schedule again this year.

30 May

The two little charmers in the WaMu nest box continue to grow at a rapid pace. The energy they take in via meals during the first half of the six-week nestling period goes to attaining full body size, while the second half goes toward growing feathers. At 2 ½ weeks, they’ve grown their second coat of down, which makes them look soft and fuzzy. Once they pass the three-week milestone, watch for rapid feather growth. Once this starts, it’s possible to see them change from day to day. The majority of the meals we have seen the female feed them have featured small birds, with a few pigeons as well. As the female increases her amount of hunting, we expect that there will be more pigeons. She has time for hunting now that they can regulate their body temperature and don’t need constant brooding to keep warm. They will be banded at approximately three weeks. This is the ideal age, as their legs have reached their maximum size, which assures that the bands each will wear for the rest of its life are the correct size. Also, at this age they can’t move around very well, which means they can’t run down the ledge to get away from the bander.

As far as the other Seattle area peregrines, four young were banded at the I-5 Ship Canal on May 17, four at West Seattle on 5/23 and one at Ballard on 5/23. All appeared healthy. We would like to thank the Washington State DOT and Seattle DOT for access to the ledges for banding. The young at these sites are older than the WaMu eyasses, and they are in various stages of transition between down and feathers. Pristine new feathers are growing in, but lots of fuzzy white down is sticking out around and between the feathers. Sleek does not describe them at this age. Although they are active and curious, they still are quite clumsy. However, when one stops and stares intently at something beyond the ledge, the dark-eyed gaze and intent posture give a glimpse of the potential powerful raptor within.

May

Washington Mutual has hatched! The last time we had fluffy eyasses to watch downtown was in 2004, which seems eons ago, rather than only two years. While it is disappointing that two of the eggs did not hatch, we look forward to watching the two eyasses mature and to observing the adults taking care of them.

This is a new pair. Since neither is banded, we know very little about them, other than that they have been here since last summer. The female may be the same bird that attempted to nest on a ledge on the IBM Building last spring.

The peregrine population in the greater Seattle area continues to expand. We now have pairs at seven sites, and six of these pairs have laid eggs. All except the Washington Mutual Tower are on bridges. One site from last year – the Grain Terminal – is not active this year.

Four young at the I-5 Ship Canal hatched the last week in April. This is the fifth nesting season for the pair at this site; the previous two years have been successful. The male is from the Washington Mutual nest (hatch year 2001) and the female (hatch year 2000) from an Oregon site on the Columbia River.

The West Seattle pair fledged four young last year, for the first successful nesting season ever at this site. The pair did not use the nest box this year and laid eggs in a nearby expansion gap on the bridge. Observations of prey deliveries by the adults confirmed that eggs had hatched by May 1.

The pair of two-year-olds (hatch year 2004) at the Ballard Bridge had at least one young hatch by 5/2 or 5/3. The Ballard male is from the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge site, and his mate from a nest on a crane in Olympia.

After showing interest in a nest box provided for them, the pair of unbanded adults at our south Duwamish site chose instead to lay and incubate eggs on a small ledge that is out of view. This is a new site and a new pair.

The first youngster fledged from our one eastside site May 14th. This is a very early fledge date for the Seattle area. This is the 4^th season at this site for the hatch year 2001 female from Portland. Her current mate is an unbanded adult male; probably the same bird who shared unsuccessful incubation duties last spring after the disappearance of her original mate (hatch year 2002, Washington Mutual).

An adult male from the 11^th Street Bridge in Tacoma (hatch year 2003) is on territory on I-90 and has attracted a mate; the birds have not laid eggs.

The Grain Terminal is not active this year, and there have no recent sightings of birds at this site.

We had an anniversary to celebrate on May 2, 2006. On May 2, 1995, three peregrine eggs hatched on the WaMu tower. It was Bell’s first breeding season and the second for Stewart. Only one of the young, a male, survived past fledging. Because he stayed in Seattle his first two years of life, many of our volunteers were able to watch his adventures as a juvenile and young adult. When this little brown peregrine was only a few weeks post fledging, he challenged an adult female for her territory at the Grain Terminal, and the following spring he courted another adult female in Ballard. In his second winter, he courted a much older female that wintered at the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge for years. Our last confirmed sighting of him in Seattle was in 1997. Based on a partial reading of his VID (visual identification) band several years ago, we suspected that he was still alive. Last month, we were delighted at confirmation (via VID band reading) that the eleven year old male we called “Junior” is still alive and nesting in the Bremerton area.

2005 post-season summary

Downtown Seattle - Washington Mutual Tower

After the unidentified pair abandoned the nesting attempt at the IBM building, summer observations were scarce, until July. We believed that Bell probably died either in the winter or early in the breeding season, but on July 27, we confirmed (by her VID band) that a dead peregrine on the roof of a condo in downtown Seattle Avenue was Bell. The roof had been checked about a week earlier, and she was not there then. She died two blocks from her home cliff on the Washington Mutual Tower, where she fledged a total of 26 young from 1995 to 2004.

Her cause of death is unknown. We don't know if the pair of adults that appeared on the WaMu Tower around the same time was responsible for her death or if the timing was a coincidence. The new female is not banded; the male's band status has not been confirmed yet. They have been observed on the nest ledge every week since July, and we expect that they will breed this spring.

(Read more about Bell here)

West Seattle - finally!

After years of waiting since the first attempt in 1999, four young--a male and three females--fledged from the West Seattle site in late June. The current female finally had a "full time" mate who did what male peregrines are "supposed" to do. It was a joy to watch the young grow up.

When she was still fluff and feathers and not ready to fly, one female eyas fell off the nest platform and apparently helicoptered to the pavement below. Someone grabbed her, put her in a box, and took her to Pioneer Square that evening. He was showing off "his" bird, when the police intervened and rescued her. We have seen a lot of fledgling "drama" over the years, but we never imagined this scenario! She stayed at a rehab center until she was ready to fly; she was then released and joined her siblings and parents. A second female also spent a few days at a rehab center, after she was found wandering on a busy road near the nest; she was released at the same time as her sibling. The third female and the male fledged uneventfully.

Ship Canal Bridge

Three young fledged from the bridge in early June - two females and a male. One of the young females promptly got into trouble with the local crows and ended up in a bush in a restaurant parking lot. When she was rescued, it was noticed that she had a slightly deformed mandible. Because of concerns about the beak deformities that have been observed in Washington State, she stayed at a wildlife care center for a short time for further observation, but was then released at her home territory. We don't know the whereabouts of the young birds at this time.

Grain Terminal

After this pair fledged four young in 2003 and three last year, it was disappointing that they only fledged one - a male. Several weeks post fledging, he was found dead on a seldom-visited part of the structure, wrapped in fishing line. The grain terminal is at the edge of Elliott Bay, just south of a public fishing pier. It is all too easy to imagine him getting tangled in discarded line, flying up onto the structure wrapped in it and trapping himself fatally in his attempts to get free. This was a very sad and graphic demonstration of the harm that discarded fishing line can cause.

Eastside

When the breeding season began, our same eastside adults from the previous two years were together at their nest site and appeared to be incubating. We don't know when an unbanded adult male replaced the original male (Washington Mutual 2002). The new male and the female incubated, but the nest failed. We didn't know what happened to the original male until the end of November, when Department of Transportation crews found him dead in a crevice in a bridge on I-90.We don't know when he died.

Since the Breeding Season

We have seen our resident west side pairs regularly on their breeding territories, except at the Grain Terminal, where sightings have been scarce. However, this pair was also hard to locate last winter.

We may have a new breeding pair this spring - at the Ballard Bridge. This would be a first - the nest box there has only hosted Canada Geese and Glaucous-winged Gulls in the past. Since both birds are banded, we know that they are hatch year 2004. The male is the offspring of the birds at the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge. His father is from the WaMu nest, so he is Bell and Stewart's grandson, in human terms. The female fledged from a nest box atop a crane at the Port of Olympia. They were first reported together at the Ballard Bridge in September. A lot can happen between now and the breeding season, but it certainly looks like this pair will breed.

We have had sightings of single birds and pairs at several other locations in the last few weeks. As usual at this time of year, it is difficult to determine what might be a wintering pair and what might be a pair that will stay and try to nest. Spring will be here soon, and then we will find out. We hope for successful seasons for all our pairs.

Late 2003 update

Here’s what has happened with Seattle peregrines over the fall and winter.

As far as we know, the four Grain Terminal young dispersed without problems. Grain Terminal employees told wonderful stories about the young peregrines watching them while they worked, the adults flushing and nabbing pigeons at close range, the adults chasing off other raptors and the ever-present gulls and, the screeching youngsters chasing their parents – close, personal views of the lives of a peregrine family with vigorous flying young.

One of the Grain Terminal youngsters was at the Ballard Bridge in December. Observations of the juvenile with an adult female at this location, without conflict, suggest that the adult may have been its mother. As the peregrine flies, it’s only a few minutes in the air from the Grain Terminal to the Ballard Bridge. An adult female that appears to be the same bird is seen regularly at the Grain Terminal. There have been no recent reports of her mate, but observations at that locale are spotty. We will certainly be looking – this was our only successful nest last year!

The female that tried to nest in a ventilation pit on One Union Square began perching on the nest ledge at WaMu in late summer, after abandoning incubation. In the fall, we confirmed this was Bell by reading her VID band. She spent time close to the nest box almost every day until the cold weather in late winter, when she became less regular there.

An adult male has also been present at the WaMu tower since fall and has been seen almost every week. We have not been able to confirm his identity, so we don’t know if this is the double-banded adult reported at One Union in late spring. Keep in mind that it’s not impossible that this male could be Stewart. We haven’t been able to confirm whether he is or is not in the area.

As the days have gotten longer, the female and male have been displaying near the nest box, as we would expect at this time of the year. We want to confirm that the female is still Bell and see if we can determine who the male is. We see them only at a distance, and the birds we’re seeing may not be who we think they are.

Both the Ship Canal adults are active and highly visible on their territory. An observer read the male’s VID band about a month ago and the female’s last week and confirmed they are still the 2001 male from the WaMu nest and his Columbia River (Oregon) mate. We hope that the 3^rd try will be the charm for this young pair and that they will nest successfully in 2004.

Recent reports suggest the West Seattle female has not paired with a male over the winter. This could change, though. This is the time of year when unpaired birds are moving around, looking for mates and territories.

There have been regular peregrine reports from some of the areas outside of the core activity area in Seattle – in Renton and Tukwila, for instance. Time will tell whether these birds are wintering birds or will stay in the area and attempt to breed.

Stay tuned for breeding season updates.