Posts Tagged With: Bird conservation

Ok, maybe “indoors” isn’t quite the right term for their preferred nesting ledges, but this location is truly unusual and definitely under a roof. A large roof, sitting on top of very tall walls. About ten stories tall. We’re talking about a drydock facility on Erie’s bayfront, where very large ships are built and repaired.

This has been home to a nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons since about 2012. We’re not sure exactly which year they first adopted it; the workers knew the birds were there, but didn’t know how rare they were or that it was highly unusual to be hosting royalty of the avian world in an active industrial facility. They did enjoy the way the falcons kept the gulls in check, and noticed the piles of feathers and other evidence of the falcons’ prey. And then in 2013, a young falcon got in trouble when it first fledged, as often happens, so the workers called Tamarack Wildlife Center for help. Tamarack was amazed to be treating a locally hatched young Peregrine, of course, and then the word was out. Every spring since then, members of Presque Isle Audubon Society, Tamarack Wildlife Center, Audubon PA, and now Erie Bird Observatory make a trip to Donjon’s to check out the status of the birds there.

So, kicking off the 2019 season, Mary Birdsong, Mike Plyler and I met at 7 AM on Friday, March 29th, at the entry gate, and signed in. This is private property, and an industrial work site, so we also sign “hold harmless” waivers and are issued hard hats. Fortunately, the management at Donjon is very supportive of the falcons, and is proud to be their host. After all, the birds came to them! And they kindly let us come in a check up on them a few times a year.But this is not a publicly accessible location for observing Peregrine nesting. Note: The birds can easily be observed from adjacent public access areas, such as the Blasco Public Library parking lot, perching on high spots such as the Blasco smokestack or flying by.

Right away when we got into the big bay, we were told that a bird was perched up high. Sure enough, we found the female way up in the roof rafters. She stayed on the same rafter the entire time of our visit in fact. It looked to me like her crop was full, so presumably she had just had a nice meal of … ? In the past I’ve taken lots of pictures of heads, wings, legs and feathers of prey items found here, and these birds have wide-ranging tastes.

About 10 minutes later, the male made his first appearance, coming in through the big open door, actually the whole end of the building. In winter this side of the building gets closed down, and depending on the work they are doing, they may close it in spring, even while the falcons are nesting. But it operates like a big garage door, and they don’t close it the entire way to the ground, so the birds still go in an out under the door. Actually, the facility is designed to be able to float a ship in through the door, so the floor is several stories below ground level here.

The pair called quite a bit, then the male swooped up to the female, and … copulation! A short time later, the male spent quite a bit of time on a particular ledge, just above the “window” line of translucent panels that allow light into the main bay of the building. So probably 80 feet above the floor- perfect height for Peregrines!

The female watched the male intently, but never left her perch. The male called and watched her. About 17 minutes after the first one, the male flew up to the female and they copulated again. Again he returned to the same ledge, but she never joined him.

We struggled to see their legs because we were hoping these birds were banded and we would be able to tell if they were the same pair as in previous years or not. We never were able to see the legs of the female, because she was so high in the roof and the truss she was perching on obscured her legs from our lowly vantage point. Fortunately the male eventually moved to the outdoor crane and perched in a way that we got a good look at both legs. No bands. The previous male here was banded. What has become of him? And where is this male from? Could he be an offspring of the old breeders from a previous year who has taken over his natal site? We don’t know.

We had a successful visit, and will return again in a few weeks. We hope that the male is able to convince the female that the ledge he selected is just right for their brood. Unlike the scrape site chosen in previous years, this one was relatively easy to relocate and observe. It’s amazing how many ledges and crevices there are inside a structure like this one, and there have been some years that we never did figure out exactly where the pair had their scrape.

Again we were amazed at the birds’ choice to use this site. The whole time we were there, shipbuilding was happening, with loud machinery, sirens going off whenever the roof crane moved, sparks from welders flickering, constant clanking, buzzing, pounding, you name it. None of it seemed to bother them. They observed the human activity from high above. Perhaps it keeps them entertained? Mary noticed that the gulls were teasing the falcons, flying daringly close to the big door, letting a wingtip cross the invisible fourth wall as they streaked by. Indeed, as the male left to go to perch on the high crane outside he struck at a gull playing this dangerous game. We heard a squawk from the gull as the male flashed by it, and the gull hauled tail out of view.