FRG Newsletter

2008 Winter Bulletin

2008-01-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

Australian Peregrine Expert to Speak at the Skagit Hawk Census in February

Noted Australian peregrine biologist, Victor Hurley, will describe his work on Australian peregrines at the Skagit Hawk Census on 16 February from 1200-1300. Victor is one of the most dedicated peregrine people that I have met and also one of the funniest and most captivating guys around. Trust me, don’t miss this talk. He will be coming all the way up from Australia to present it to FRG people.

Skagit Flats Annual Winter Hawk Count

As stated above, the winter hawk count will take place on Saturday, 16 February from 9-11 AM this year. As usual, meet at the Padilla Bay Center after you complete your route (by noon if possible). The count is being coordinated this year by Ed Deal (Seattle). He will be contacting the route leaders soon. If you are new to the count and would like to participate, please contact Ed at (206) 723-4742.

The Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station

Our dedicated team of volunteer hawk banders made another good effort at Entiat Ridge last autumn. After setting a new record in 2006, the team was expecting another dynamite season this year. However, after starting out at a sizzling record pace, their hopes were dashed by terrible weather in mid-September, which is normally our best trapping period. Heavy rain, snow, fog and earlier-than-normal freezing temperatures hampered their activities and reduced the number of birds caught. Because of the bad weather, they were forced to shut the project down a week earlier than normal.
The team banded a total of 280 birds, including 140 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 83 Cooper’s Hawks, 14 Red-tailed Hawks, 32 American Kestrels, 3 Merlins, 2 Prairie Falcons, 2 Northern Goshawks, 2 Northern Harriers and 1 Peregrine Falcon. Pat Little provided the highlight of the season with a Golden Eagle, very rarely caught at Entiat.
We have now banded a total of 2,013 migrant hawks at Entiat Ridge over the last 7 years (217, 228, 235, 280, 309, 349, and 395), for an average of 287 birds per year.
Thanks go to everyone involved, especially our hawk banders, who spend long hours in the blind and on the roads. Thanks also to both Longview Fibre for their continued permission to conduct the study on their land and Eagle Creek Ranch for their continuing logistical support.

San Juan Peregrines

Ed Deal, Pat Little, Russ Beardsley and Martin Muller surveyed the San Juans last summer and found a low rate of productivity. Among the 22 known breeding sites in the islands, only 15 were occupied this year. Among these pairs, only 6 were successful. They produced only 14 young falcons, an average was 2.3 young per successful pair. Weather and predation are the most likely causes for this low rate.

The Urban Peregrines of Western Washington

This year, the FRG monitored 6 active pairs of urban nesting peregrines in Seattle and Everett. We did not visit five additional pairs in Tacoma, Bremerton and Olympia.
The new pair at the Washington Mutual Tower failed again but under quite unusual circumstances. Ruth Taylor observed eight peregrine eggs in the nest box early in the season. This is extremely unusual for peregrines. Our best guess is that an early female laid her eggs and then either died or was driven out. A second adult female must have also laid her four eggs in the box. Unfortunately, all eight of the eggs perished.
In addition, Martin, Ed, Mark Gleason and Mike McDonald banded 4 young falcons at West Seattle, 4 at the I-5 Ship Canal, and one at Ballard. At least one young fledged unbanded at Mercer Island and two more from what is my candidate for the most hideous peregrine nest site in the world, the First Avenue South Bridge.
As always, the Everett pair failed.
Our thanks go to the Washington State Department of Transportation (especially Mike McDonald) for their kind permission to band these birds.

Southern Cross Peregrine Project Update

Thanks to the support of our membership, the FRG research team traveled to Chile last February and March and successfully tagged seven peregrines with satellite transmitters. Four were North American adult migrants and three resident Chilean birds.
Last spring, (April-June), we followed the four adults back to North America via satellite. Their daily movements were displayed “live” on our website at http://www.frg.org/.
All four migrant peregrines flew back north into Canada. The first female (Arena) migrated to the Ungava Peninsula and the other female (Linda) apparently bred near NW Hudson Bay. One male (Sparrow King) went to the southern tip of Baffin Island and the other male (Seven) flew all the way to the Northwest Territories above the Arctic Circle. He arrived at his breeding site in Tuktut Nogiat National Park near the Arctic Ocean and was actually observed at his nest site with young during the boreal summer.
During this migration, we discovered the routes, roosting sites, distances and timing for each of the birds as they passed through both hemispheres. We followed each bird back to their presumed northern breeding sites, completing their spring cycles.
In July, Arena’s transmitter failed and we lost contact with her.

- The Autumn Chase South:

In September, we selected one adult female, Linda, and attempted to follow her south. The plan was to parallel her route via truck as much as possible during her flight back to South America. However, she proved to be a very late migrant and took an unexpectedly long period of time to move south. Due to time constraints, we had to continue on south without her. In addition, she chose to migrate down the eastern seaboard, guaranteeing that she would cross the Caribbean Sea and effectively prevent us from following her by ground vehicle.
So we drove the truck south to Texas, into Mexico and across Central America to Panama. From there, we shipped it to Chile for the next phase of the study.

- La Serena Breeds In Chile:

In the meantime, our colleagues in Chile followed the resident adult female at La Serena and discovered her nest in the Andean foothills. She succeeded in raising two young peregrines this year. This was the first time that a peregrine had been followed to her nest in South America by satellite transmitter.

-Searching for Tundra Migrants in Chile:

In December, FRG advance team members Zach Smith, his wife Elizabeth, Kathryn Gunther and Mark Hopey arrived in Chile and spent two weeks surveying for tundra peregrines in the coastal areas of Chile from near Santiago south to Puerto Montt.
Their goal was to locate the southernmost migrant peregrines in the world and to provide information on these birds to the satellite-tagging team arriving in January. They discovered that such birds are unexpectedly rare in this region of Chile, locating only four peregrines suitable for tagging.

-Follow Our Field Team in Chile During January:

On 8 January, Mark Prostor and Bud Anderson will fly to Chile and join Kathryn Gunther for a two week banding effort. Our goal will be to capture and tag the falcons located by the FRG advance team. We expect his part of the project to be very challenging. Tundra falcons are rare and it is not easy to capture them. However, because of our special interest in this group of truly “deep” peregrines, we will make our best effort to tag them.
We plan to provide daily field reports to our members during this trip via the FRG website (http://www.frg.org/), so check out the site beginning around 10 January.

Proposed FRG Panama Hawk Tour

During the trip south, I spent 11 days in Panama and fell in love with the place. I also met a variety of bird people including Guido Berguido, a supporter of the hawk migration project and owner of a birding tour company in Panama City, Advantage Tours.
We decided to see if we could organize a Panama tour among FRG members for next November. So I am querying the membership. How many would be interested in a 7-10 day tour to visit the best birding country in Central America? Although we would emphasize raptors (Harpys, Ornate Hawk-eagles, Bat Falcons, etc), we’d also go for the many other species that can be found there (from Toucans to Three-toed Sloths).
We need a minimum of 8 people for the trip. If you are interested, contact Bud by e-mail (bud@frg.org) for more information on prices and itinerary. Amazing place!

Hawkwatching Classes

This 5 session class is a traditional point for entry into the world of raptors in western WA and still one of the best ways to get involved with hawks through our FRG field projects. Please pass on this information to friends, family and potential hawkwatchers.

The following is the class date and location information:

5 Feb-4 March in Bellingham at the Whatcom County Museum on Tuesday nights.

- and-

14 Feb-13 March in Mt. Vernon at the Padilla bay Interpretive Center on Thursday nights.

Cost is $135.00 per person. To reserve your space, please send a check to the FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. For more information, contact Bud at (360) 757-1911.

Annual Dues

Once again, if you like what we are doing and would like to help the FRG, we’d appreciate your support. Dues are $25.00 per year. You can send a check to FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Happy New Year to you all.

2007 Winter Bulletin

2007-01-30T08:37:00.000-08:00

The Southern Cross Peregrine Expedition:

Our recent fund-raising effort is a tremendous success. We had 197 members donate funds to purchase 8 transmitters for the Southern Cross Expedition. Amounts ranged from $10.00 to $5,000, and each one of them was important to us. So thank you all.

As a result of your generosity and vision, our multi-national team of experts will converge on southern Chile in late February. This includes Tom Maechtle, Mark Prostor, Kathy Gunther, Zach Smith, and Bud Anderson from the US, Christian Gonzalez from Chile, and Jesus Garcia Ubierna, from the Canary Islands in Spain.

The best news is that, in addition to the 8 transmitters that you have provided, Dr. Keith Bildstein (Hawk Mountain Sanctuary) and Dr. Mike McGrady (Natural Resources LTD) have donated two more. These two will be placed on adult males, as little is known about their migration. Another two units were donated by an anonymous source for a total of 12 transmitters, far more than we had expected.

I’d like to thank you all once again. I sincerely hope that you will all be pleased with our results over the next few years.

In addition, we are going to incorporate another exciting new element into this project. Our web gurus, Mark Prostor, Don McCall and Pat Little are all working hard to update the FRG website (www.frg.org) so we can provide daily reports from Chile during the banding effort in February and March. We want to share our results as they are happening with all of you who were so kind to us. We will be well out in the field so we can’t promise we’ll get reports to the web on a daily basis, but we are going to try our best. So please stay tuned in late February and early March to see how it goes.

Again, sincere thanks to everyone for your support.

Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station:

Our skilled, dedicated and wild spirited team of volunteers, lead by Martin Muller and Mark Gleason, set another new record at Entiat Ridge last fall. They banded 395 migrant raptors, including 212 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 89 Cooper’s Hawks, 33 Red-tailed Hawks, 22 Merlins, 19 American Kestrels, 9 Northern Goshawks, 6 Peregrine Falcons, 5 Prairie Falcons and 1 Rough-legged Hawk (bold indicates new records). This was our sixth and most productive year at Entiat, 9 miles NE of Leavenworth, WA.

We also had a record number of both new volunteers and visitors to our mountain site. It became clearly apparent that we have outgrown our blind and will need to expand in size next fall.

Thank you to everyone involved, especially our trappers, for all of your help. Thanks to both Longview Fibre for their continued permission to conduct the study on their land and Eagle Creek Ranch for their logistical support.

Success At Last for the Ladies Tea and Trapping Society:

This year at Entiat, a finely-honed, all woman team lead by Susie Q. Hindman and Dalene Keith managed to set a long-sought new record for the number of hawks banded in a single day at our station. They caught and banded 26 raptors, surpassing our old record handily. Congratulations to them all. The men stand with our heads held down in shame. At least until next year.

Skagit Flats Annual Winter Hawk Count:

The count will take place on Saturday, 10 February from 9-11 AM. As usual, meet at the Padilla Bay Center after you complete your route. The count is being coordinated this year by Ed Deal (Seattle) and Roger Johnson (Sedro Woolley). They will be contacting the route leaders soon. If you are new to the count and would like to participate, please contact Ed (206) 723-4742 or Roger at (360) 856-0870.

New Raptor Book:

I’d like to bring this book to the attention of all FRG members. The Raptors of California, by Hans and Pam Peeters and published by the University of California (2005)is, to me, the single best raptor book ever published. The artwork alone is superb and worth the price of the book. But more importantly, the information and insights are excellent and are obviously the result of a lifetime dedicated to observing and living with raptors. This little book is what all raptor books want to be when they grow up. See more of his art work at www.peeters.homestead.com and look under raptor paintings.

San Juan Island Peregrines:

We continued to monitor the San Juan Island (SJI) breeding population of peregrines last summer. This was the 31st year of the survey. Our goals have always been to gather accurate data on the number of active pairs present, their production of young and to identify the types of prey species they utilize. We basically want to understand what goes on among peregrines in the San Juans and to make sure they are doing OK.

This year, the islands still supported 20 occupied territories although some shifting among sites occurred. Observers found three new active cliffs but three others became unoccupied. All of the pairs use natural cliff sites. From 28 May through 8 July, we banded 33 eyasses (nestlings) at 12 eyries, a new record for islands and for the strikingly handsome, manly and stalwart SJI banding team (Martin Muller, Ed Deal, Mark Prostor and Bud Anderson).

Our purpose is to discover what happens to these birds, e.g. where do they go, how long do they live and what kills them. This was the twelfth year we have banded eyasses in the islands. Our total there is now 253 nestling peregrines.

FRG Website Wants Your Photos:

Pat Little suggests giving our members the opportunity to contribute their favorite three digital raptor photos to the FRG website. If you’d like your photos to represent our organization (with acknowledgement), please send them directly to Pat at redtail@cablespeed.com. Add date, location and description if possible.

Long-billed Hawk Update:

More good news! USGS toxicologist, Dr. Chuck Henny, has arranged a small grant to support some much- needed clinical research on long-billed hawks. He is directing it to Dr. Lindsay Oaks, of WSU. Lindsay is a veterinarian and virologist with great experience working with raptors. He famously discovered the cause of the recent vulture deaths in SE Asia.

Our banding team is now starting to capture local long-billed Red-tails to send to WSU for examination. This is an excellent start towards discovering the cause of the syndrome.

In the meantime, Buzz Hull of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory in CA, reports the first long-bill record in a Red-shouldered Hawk and another source in Boise reports the first long-billed Barn Owl.

New FRG Logo:

Our new logo depicts a migrant adult female tundra Peregrine Falcon. It was painted by Hans Peeters, a renowned US raptor artist www.peeters.homestead.com and very kindly donated to our Southern Cross Peregrine Expedition. The painting depicts the type of migrant falcon we will be tagging in Chile in February/March. Thank you Hans.

We added a compass rose for two reasons. First, throughout history, a compass rose has always accompanied great adventures. Second, it symbolizes the compass direction our birds will fly to South America.

Hawkwatching Classes:

I’ll be presenting our traditional FRG class, Hawkwatching in Western Washington, in Seattle, Mt. Vernon and Bellingham this year. Please pass on the information to friends, family and potential hawkwatchers. This is still one of the best ways to get involved with hawks through our FRG field projects.

City/Location	Date	Location
Seattle	17 Jan.-14 Feb.	Discovery Park visitor Center
Mt. Vernon	18 Jan.-15 Feb.	Padilla Bay Interpretive Center
Bellingham	30 Jan.-27 Feb.	Whatcom County Museum

Cost is still $135.00 per person. To reserve your space, please send a check to the FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. For more information, contact Bud at (360) 757-1911 or bud@frg.org

Annual Dues:

For those of you that kindly contributed to the Southern Cross Peregrine Expedition, please skip this part of the newsletter. You have already donated this year. For everyone else, if you like what we are doing and would like to help the FRG, we’d appreciate your support.

Dues are $25.00 per year. You can send a check to FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Happy New Year to you all.

A Final Note:

The FRG is staffed almost entirely by a group of very dedicated volunteers. I wanted to say thank you to everyone (named and unnamed) and let you know that I deeply appreciate your efforts. You are very important to the successful operation of the organization as you can clearly see from the work described in this newsletter.

If any of you have any questions about hawks or the FRG, I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Sincerely, Bud Andersen
FRG President

2006 Winter Bulletin

2006-01-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

The Passing of Bell

For many years, thousands of people watched the events at the Washington Mutual Tower in Seattle as two peregrines raised their young on a high ledge of the building. The female was named Bell and she was an amazing bird. She enthralled so many people with her beauty, her grace and even her ferocity. Her image went all over the world via the Internet (it was the first live peregrine nest-cam) thanks to Mark Prostor and the many people at the Washington Mutual Tower , including Ray Congdon, Denise Kolb and Jeff Kasowski. She became an unofficial mascot of the city and a regular feature on local TV stations each spring and summer. Literally thousands of people in Seattle saw her live on the TV monitor in the lobby of the Washington Mutual Bank on Third Avenue , thanks to manager Bob Strauss. She became one of the most studied peregrines in the world as a dedicated team of volunteers led by Ruth Taylor video-taped her behavior in detail every year. A popular children’s book was written by Linda Birman about Stewart, her mate.

Bell first showed up at the Bank in August 1994 and remained there for ten years. She and Stewart produced a total of 26 fledglings (2.6 young per year), raising young in eight of the ten years.

From banding records, we know that her offspring dispersed as far south as Los Angeles and Portland and north to Vancouver , BC . Several others remained in the local area.

One of her 2001 offspring, a male, is currently breeding on the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge, not far from WAMU. Another of her young, a 2002 male (E-7), bred on Mercer Island for two years, producing 5 young. Still another 2000 female (SY) bred in the San Juan Islands but was killed by a Raccoon, apparently while defending her young in 2004. A “grandson” is now living on the Ballard Bridge.

Bell last nested in 2004 when she raised her final four young. She disappeared shortly thereafter, presumably after the death of Stewart in 2003. Last summer, on 27 July 2005 , Ruth Taylor confirmed that a banded peregrine found dead on top of the Watermark Tower in Seattle was indeed Bell . Her cause of death was unknown.

We all have a certain number of years to live and to contribute to life. Bell had her number and what a wonderful contribution she made to literally thousands of children and adults as she taught us all about the beauty and magnificence of peregrines right in our own backyard. She was an exceptional falcon.

Long-billed Hawk Update

The long-bill syndrome causes accelerated and often grotesque growth in the beaks of birds, eventually resulting in starvation. We now have 105 records of long-billed raptors including Red-tailed Hawks, Rough-legged Hawks, a Ferruginous Hawk, Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Crested Caracara, and Sharp-shinned Hawk. The majority of records involve Red-tails in western Washington . New reports are coming in almost weekly.

We are continuing to publicize the syndrome to raise awareness of the problem. I have given presentations to the annual Raptor Research Foundation meeting, the Wildlife Society, the Washington Rehabilitation Council and Audubon chapters in Bellingham , Mt. Vernon , San Juan Island , Seattle and Olympia . I will present a paper at the national meeting of wildlife rehabilitators in March in California.

We have been consulting with several experts on the condition in an attempt to discover its cause. In January, the worlds’ leading raptor veterinarian, Dr. Pat Redig, at the University of Minnesota , agreed to look at the histopathology of the keratin-producing cells in long-bills. I regard this as a major step forward.

The syndrome also appears to be spreading to other bird species in our state and elsewhere. We have received reports of long-billed American Crows, Glaucous-winged Gulls, European Starlings, Northern Flickers, a Steller’s Jay, a Bewick’s Wren, and a Common Murre, all from Washington.

Working in association with USGS biologist Colleen Handel and Michigan passerine bander, Julie Craves, we have now documented the long-billed syndrome in over 110 North American species of birds, primarily passerines. Records range from Florida to Baja California , Alaska to Maine and several provinces in Canada . There are also records from Europe , South Africa and Argentina . Of course, it is not known if all of these examples are caused by the same phenomenon.

You can help by being aware of the syndrome and reporting any birds that you see that have long-bills. Keep in mind it is no longer limited to just hawks.

The Entiat Ridge 2005 Fall Hawk Migration

We had a record season at Entiat Ridge last fall. Our team banded 349 birds of prey over the 6 week study period (28 August-15 October). We caught 10 species of raptors including 3 Northern Harriers, 206 Sharp-shinned Hawks (record), 71 Cooper’s Hawks (record), 7 Northern Goshawks, 14 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Golden Eagle, 12 American Kestrels, 28 Merlins (record), 1 Peregrine Falcon and 6 Prairie Falcons (record).

We want to thank the Longview Fibre Company for permission to conduct our study on their land. In particular, we would like to extend our appreciation to Jim McCracken, Steve Tift, and Ron Simon.

The Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station is an entirely volunteer-driven project and would simply not have been possible without the support, dedication, hard work (and gas money) of the following 25 people;

Rik and Nora Adams, Gretchen Albrecht, Carolyn Brannen, Kelly Cordell, Ray Cruz, Ed Deal, John Deliduka, Mike and Vicki Elledge, Mark Gleason, Vivian Gross, Kathy Gunther, Karen Haire, Sue Hindman, Dalene Keith, Pat Little, Marti Louther, Megan Lyden, Don McCall, Martin Muller, Von Pope, Emma Lux, Melissa Sherwood, and Jim Shiflett.

A detailed report of our results at Entiat Ridge over the last 5 years can be found on our website at http://www.frg.org.

Annual Skagit Flats Hawk Census

The Skagit Hawk Count will take place this year on Saturday 11 February ( 9-11 am ). Bob Merrick has passed the coordination of the census on to Roger Johnson (360) 856-0870 in Sedro Woolley and Ed Deal (206) 723-4742 in Seattle, so, team leaders, please make note of these new contact numbers.

I thank Bob for his many years of gracious administration of the count, his humor, efficiency and wonderful generosity of spirit. You are appreciated greatly.

Hawk Watching Classes

I will be teaching the introductory course, Hawkwatching in Western Washington in Mt. Vernon and Bellingham this winter. Since most of you have already taken this class, please pass the information along to your friends. It runs 5 weeks, one night a week, plus the usual day-long field trip. Cost remains $135.00. To register, please send a check to the FRG, Box 248 , Bow , WA , 98232. For more information, please contact Bud Anderson at (360) 757-1911 or his e-mail bud@frg.org.

Class Schedules:

- Bellingham Class (Whatcom Museum) -- 31 Jan. - 28 February 2007
Tuesdays 7:00-9:30 PM

- Mt. Vernon Class (Padilla Bay Center) -- 2 February - 2 March 2007
Thursdays 7:00-9:30 PM

The Merlin Saga Continues...

Until recently, little was known about Merlins nesting in our state since historic breeding records are almost non-existent. This situation changed dramatically in 2000 when Merlins suddenly moved into Bellingham and nested in a residential part of town. Since then, the breeding population has expanded into several other cities, including Mt. Vernon , Anacortes, Stanwood, Marysville, and Lake Stevens . In addition, there are two current breeding records from eastern Washington.

In 2005, Kevin Mack reported a recently fledged Merlin (with down still on its head) that was rescued from a bucket of water in Lynnwood . It had apparently been trying to bathe. This indicates that Merlins were breeding in the Lynnwood area in 2005.

We also received several sightings of Merlins in Seattle last summer. Most were from the Ballard and Wedgewood areas. We have long suspected that Merlins are breeding in town but this remains to be confirmed.

As Merlins continue their expansion south, it is just a matter of time before they become a Seattle resident. Give us a call should you encounter them.

San Juan Peregrines

We’ve been studying the San Juan Island peregrine population since 1976. Over the years, we have documented their recovery as the post-DDT number of pairs increased from 0 in 1976 to 20 in 2002. Since 1995, our team has been banding the young at these nests in an attempt to learn more about their dispersal, movements and site fidelity. To date, through the extraordinary efforts of our peregrine climbing team (Martin Muller, Ed Deal, Kathy Gunther, Mark Prostor and Wendy Gibble), we have banded 220 San Juan eyasses (nestlings). Last summer, we observed an unexpected and severe reduction in productivity among the island peregrines. Of the 20 known pairs, only 5 produced young, a 75% failure rate, and the highest we have observed thus far. In a normal year, we will generally have failures at 3-5 sites. In some cases, we have been able to determine the causes of these failures. They are usually related to the weather (rainwater in the nest) or predation (raccoons/fox). Unfortunately, we do not know what caused the majority of failures in 2005. It may have been caused by an exceptionally wet spring (if rain saturates the nest scrape, it kills the eggs). But failure may also have been caused by other factors (e.g. pollutants) although we have no direct evidence of this at this time. We will continue to monitor the pairs again this summer.

Urban Peregrines

Breeding peregrines have successfully “colonized” most major cities on the west coast of North America . Here in western Washington , they currently nest in Everett, Seattle (4 pairs), Mercer Island , Tacoma (3 pairs), Bremerton and Olympia . Ed Deal reports two more new pairs now forming in Seattle.

Last summer, we banded 10 chicks at 4 of these sites, 3 nests in Seattle and 1 in Tacoma . Pairs failed in Seattle (1), Olympia (1), Mercer Island (1) and Everett (1).

We’d like to especially acknowledge the assistance of the Washington State Department of Transportation in banding falcon chicks on local bridges.

Everett Ospreys

Everett Harbor supports the densest known concentration of breeding Ospreys in Washington . Discovered by Ed Schulz in the 1990’s, the harbor has approximately 26 pairs nesting on pilings and “dolphins” (multiple pilings lashed together).

We began banding young at Everett in 2002. Over three seasons, we banded 38 (2002), 23 (2003) and 35 (2005) young, or a total of 96 nestlings. To date, we have received only one band return from the west coast of Mexico.

This year, with assistance from Ed, we also relocated two Osprey chicks from a cell tower nest at Sea-Tac to two different wild nests in Everett . The purpose was to move these young safely away from the nearby approach pattern of jet aircraft.

Sea-Tac Bird Strike Program

The FRG began working with Port of Seattle Biologist , Steve Osmek, in June 2001. We developed a raptor management program to address the issue of potential hawk strikes at Sea-Tac. Our primary goal was to identify and relocate any transient hawks that occurred at the airport. The program has proven to be successful. So far, we have captured 122 raptors at the airport, including 77 Red-tailed Hawks, 22 American Kestrels, 14 Coopers Hawks, 3 Great Horned Owls, 3 Ospreys, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks and one Peregrine Falcon. The majority of these birds (immature Red-tails) were relocated to the Samish Flats area 75 miles north of the runways. Their naiveté around jet aircraft makes them more vulnerable to strikes. To date, none of the relocated raptors are known to have returned to Sea-Tac. We presented a paper summarizing our Sea-Tac methods and results at the National BirdStrike Conference in Vancouver , BC , last summer.

Annual Dues

It is once again time to send in your dues and donations. Dues of $25 per year ensure notification of FRG events, classes and this newsletter. Donations are warmly welcomed to underwrite these and other FRG research programs. Thank you for your support.

A Final Note

The FRG is staffed almost entirely by a group of very dedicated volunteers. I wanted to say thank you to everyone (named and unnamed) and let you know that I deeply appreciate your efforts. You are very important to the successful operation of the organization as you can clearly see from the work described in this newsletter.

If any of you have any questions about hawks or the FRG, I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Sincerely,

Bud Andersen
FRG President

2005 Winter Bulletin

2005-01-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

I want to begin by thanking all of you for your continuing support. Over the last 20 years, the FRG could not have conducted our projects without the help, dedication and inspiration of its many members and supporters. Sincere thanks to all of you.

Update on Long-billed Red-tails

As many of you know, there is a new and troubling problem developing among West Coast hawks. The long-billed syndrome is characterized by an excessive (and often grotesque) growth of keratin in the beaks of the affected birds. First discovered in Red-tails on the Skagit in 1997, we now have 60 records of long-billed hawks and the list keeps growing. Photos of the 4 categories of deformed beaks can be seen on our web-site at www.frg.org.

The records now include 55 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 Ferruginous Hawk and 2 Peregrine Falcons. The falcons were both fall migrants caught in 2004 in Minnesota and Texas (i.e. origin unknown). At this time, the condition appears to be limited to the West Coast of North America, specifically from Richmond, British Columbia to Los Angeles, California, but no one really has any idea of just how far it extends. Most of our records are from northwestern Washington.

The condition occurs both among males/females and resident/migrant hawks. Until recently, we thought it only affected adult birds. However, we now have an example of a juvenile long-billed RTHA, demonstrating that the syndrome can occur much earlier than we thought. We have also seen it in 3 different second-year Red-tails.

The cause of the syndrome is unknown. It could be an environmental contaminant, a virus, a disease, a fungus or something new. We know that it kills hawks by impeding their ability to feed, i.e. through starvation. No one knows how many birds have died as a result but we suggest that 60 known records indicate that it is becoming a major problem.

If you would like to assist in our study of the syndrome, please report all observations of long-billed hawks (or birds of any species, including passerines at your feeder) to the FRG. Second, when you are in the field, take time to really look closely at both Red-tails and Rough-legs (surprisingly few people do anymore). Keep in mind that the condition can be difficult to detect in its early stages. You need to be fairly close and take a really good look at the profile to see it. A good scope is essential.

Finally, and I have never asked this of our membership before, if you know or are associated with a foundation, corporate sponsor or potential donor that might want to help with this problem, please let us know. We will direct a proposal to them to fund research on this problem. I am asking because I sincerely believe that this may be the most serious threat to our local raptors since DDT. Thanks for your help.

2004 Entiat Ridge Fall Migration Results

This was our fourth season at Entiat Ridge (near Leavenworth) and Mark Gleason and his stalwart crew of hawk banders had their second best year so far. Over the six week study period (29 August-15 October) they captured, banded and released 235 migrant birds of prey, including 129 Sharp-shins, 53 Cooper’s Hawks, 14 Northern Goshawks (a new record for us), 15 Red-tailed Hawks, 12 American Kestrels, 7 Merlins, 2 Peregrine falcons, 1 Prairie Falcon, 1 Northern Harrier, and our first ever Golden Eagle at Entiat. It was caught by Martin Muller, alone. Quite a handful for one guy. Good job Martin.

The team has now caught a total of 989 raptors at Entiat over the last 4 years, i.e. 217, 309, 228 and 235 respectively.

Special thanks are due to the intrepid FRG banding team that made this happen, including Dalene Keith, Martin Muller, Emma Lux, Ed Deal, Cindy Willis, Dennis Ryan, Ray Cruz, Don McCall, Rik Adams, Marti Louther, Pat Little, Jack Bettesworth, Sue Hindman, Tim Boyer, Megan Lyden, Kathy Gunther, John Deliduka, Donald Kent, Jim Shiflett, Tim Aimes, Gretchen Albrecht, Ruth Taylor, Simone Cooke, Jerry Van Vleck and Vivian Gross, our wonderful scheduler.

Nesting Merlins

Until recently, nesting Merlins were as scarce as hen’s teeth in Washington. The first city nesting in our state took place in Bellingham, 2000. As predicted, Merlins have been expanding southward into other cities ever since (Mt.Vernon, Stanwood). Last summer, we received new reports of family groups from Anacortes, Marysville and the Lake Stevens area. Heads up Seattle, they are coming your way soon. Listen for the food begging of young in July. It is unmistakable. Two pairs have also been found nesting in eastern Washington.

And a final note on raptor terminology. Merlins have never been and are not now known as “Merlin Falcons” despite recent promotion of this term. The correct term is simply “Merlin”.

Hawk Classes

We will be presenting our annual class, Hawkwatching in Western Washington, in both Mt. Vernon and Bellingham (but not Seattle) this winter. The Bellingham class will begin on Tuesday nights (7-9:30) at the Whatcom County Museum (25 January-22 February) and the Mt. V. class will be held on Thursday nights at the Padilla Bay Interpretive Center (27 January-24 February). To register, please send a check for $135.00 to the FRG at the address shown above. Direct any questions to bud@frg.org or call (360) 757-1911. Please pass this info on to your birding/hawk friends.

Sixteenth Annual Skagit Flats Hawk Census

The annual hawk count will be held on Saturday, 12 February (9-11AM) this year. Please mark your calendars. Contact the count coordinator, Bob Merrick, at (360) 678-3161 or preferably by e-mail (tinekesfam@aol.com) to participate.

After the census, Bud Anderson will present a current update on long-billed hawks. In addition, when on your route, please keep an eye out for long-billed RTHAs and RLHAs.

San Juan Peregrines

The San Juan Islands peregrine population continues to be an instructive example of what happens to a “normal” group of breeding peregrines living around a temperate, salt-water environment. Keep in mind that as a result of the DDT era, there is precious little historical information on what a “normal” population does in Washington. So we keep on learning what that looks like.

This year, 17 of the 20 (85%) pairs attempted to breed. Among the 17, only 10 pairs (50%) hatched young and started to raise them. Predators (most likely raccoon or fox) hit three eyries and at one of these (hit late in the season) the predator ate only one of two young. The other managed to fledge and was seen on Whidbey Island on 5 January by Bob Merrick and Jack Bettesworth.

The eight successful pairs (40%) produced 19 young, or 2.36 young per successful pair.

First Falconry Take of Nestling Peregrines in Washington

Last summer, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and USFWS authorized the first take of nestling peregrines for falconry since the 1960’s. Three permits were issued to falconers and three birds were taken, one from Whatcom County, one from Skagit County and one from Pierce County. All are doing well at this time.

Since the peregrine population has grown to an unprecedented high number (over 100 known active nests in Washington), the state and federal agencies determined that the population could easily handle a take of three falcons.

As experts on the West Side nesting peregrine population, FRG members participated in the San Juan harvest, providing technical and logistical support and ensuring that the bird was taken in a safe and professional manner.

Urban Peregrines

This year, the "city peregrines" did better than the "wild pairs" we are monitoring. Eleven falcon pairs now inhabit Everett (1), Bellevue (1), Seattle (5), Tacoma (2), Bremerton (1) and Olympia (1). Eight pairs (73%) produced 22 young in 2004, or 2.75 young per successful pair. Two pairs were new this year (Floating Bridge and Tacoma Narrows), two others failed (Everett and West Seattle) and at a third site (Bremerton) four eggs were taken by the Portland Audubon Society and one young successfully hatched and released in Oregon.

The famous Tacoma pair (the most aggressive peregrines I have experienced) produced 5 young (!) this year, the first time this has been recorded in Washington. While banding the chicks in May, Martin Muller and I deterred this aggressive pair by using a new high- tech technique (umbrellas) to keep them from striking us. The Tacoma police have apparently dubbed us the “Mary Poppins” crew. But it works.

The 2004 Anacortes Great Gray Owl

Great Gray Owls are one of the rarest species of owls in western Washington. They occur sporadically in winter but little is known about where they come from.

Last winter, a Great Gray was found wintering on Gibraltar Road near Anacortes. We were able to place a tail-mounted radio transmitter on the bird and Jim Shiflett volunteered to track it north as he had done twice before in past years.

The bird began its northward migration on 17 February 2004. It flew NE to Bayview, then to Lake Samish and Bellingham before moving into Canada. Jim followed the owl through the coast range and into interior British Columbia, where it finally stopped near Kamloops. So at least two of our local wintering Great Grays originate from interior BC.

Annual Dues

It is time once again to send in your annual FRG dues of $25.00. In addition, this year donations of all kinds are also needed as we prepare to address the long-billed hawk problem. We can use all the help we can get on this one. It is so very important. Thanks in advance for your support.

Winter 2004 Bulletin

2004-01-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

Entiat Ridge Fall Hawk Migration Results

Last fall, 34 FRG volunteers conducted our third annual hawk-banding project at Entiat Ridge in the Cascade Mountains near Leavenworth, Washington. Coordinated by Mark Gleason, the project ran for 48 days from 1 September through 18 October.

The team caught, banded and released 228 raptors (9 species). As usual, the majority was accipiters (82%), confirming that the best place to learn your accipiters is at a fall banding station. The total included 145 Sharp-shinned Hawks (64%), 39 Cooper’s Hawks (17%), 2 Northern Goshawks, 6 American Kestrels, 11 Merlins, 3 Peregrine Falcons, 2 Prairie Falcons, 2 Northern Harriers, and 18 Red-tailed Hawks.

Many thanks to team leaders Mark Gleason, Martin Muller, Mike and Vickie Elledge, Sue Hindman, Kathy Gunther and Ed Deal. They were ably assisted by Rik Adams, Gretchen Albrecht, Steve Biber, Tim Boyer, Carolyn and George Brannen, Ray Cruz, John Deliduka, Lou Ann Harris, Mary Hogan, Mitsuhiro Kawase, Donald Kent, Dalene Keith, Lee Kincaid, Pat Little, Megan Lyden, Roger Orness, Don McCall, Bryan McCormick, Jim Shiflett, Megan and Jeremy Strahler, Ruth Taylor, Matt Treat, Shirley Vanderveen, Jerry Van Vleck and especially Vivian Gross who ran the schedule.

We have now banded a total of 754 fall migrant hawks at Entiat Ridge, 217 in 2001 (29%), 309 in 2002 (41%) and 228 in 2003 (30%).

We would like to once again extend our gratitude to the Longview Fibre Company for permission to continue this work on their property at Entiat Ridge.

Annual Skagit Flats Valentines Day Hawk Census

The fifteenth annual FRG hawk count will be held on Saturday, 14 February, this year. As usual, the survey will take place from 9-11 am with a meeting at the Padilla Bay Center afterwards. If you are a team leader or a new member and would like to participate in the survey, please contact the count coordinator, Bob Merrick, at (360) 678-3161. See you there.

Great Gray Owls

Great Gray Owls are a relatively rare species in western Washington, but every so often a small movement of these northern owls makes its way south into the Puget Sound basin. This year, 2 have been reported in Vancouver, BC, and at least two more in Skagit County. No doubt others remain to be discovered.

This winter, we plan to radio-tag one of these birds and attempt to follow it north into Canada and discover its nesting area. Several years ago, we were able to follow one tagged adult back to its nesting area near Williams Lake, BC.

Padre Island Peregrine Survey

Over a century ago, a large movement of fall migrant peregrine falcons along the Texas gulf coast was described by ornithologists. Later, during the 1950’s, the late falconer, Colonel Luff Meredith, began to study what ultimately became the largest known peregrine migration in the world.

Every fall, thousands of peregrines move south along the coastal beaches of Texas en route to their winter territories in Latin America. Over the last 30 years, a team of falcon specialists has conducted a long-term study of these birds at South Padre Island, a barrier island off the coast of south Texas. The current leader of the team, Tom Maechtle, reports that the team has captured and banded approximately 8,000 peregrines at Padre during this period.

The Falcon Research Group is an active supporter of this effort. Bud Anderson often joins the fall effort as part of the FRG mission to support field research and the conservation of raptors. Last fall, during the 4-week period from 25 September to 25 October, the team caught 171 falcons and obtained blood samples from 150 individual birds for a study of West Nile Virus.

We plan to continue supporting the study in future years.

More on Long-billed Red-tailed Hawks

Six winters ago, Bud Anderson discovered a dead adult Red-tailed Hawk on the Samish Flats of Washington. The bird was emaciated and had obviously starved to death. Its beak had grown so long that the hawk could no longer open its mouth completely and feed in a normal manner. This condition was quite remarkable and had never been reported in Red-tails. We have put some photos of these birds on our website at http://www.frg.org . so you can see what they look like.

Since then, we have observed, captured or had reports of another 14 "long-billed" Red-tails in the northern Puget Sound area. Three of these (two with very long bills) have been reported this winter from Whidbey Island (Bob Merrick), the Samish Flats (Bob Merrick) and Seattle-Tacoma Airport (Bud Anderson). Last year, Dennis Ryan and Cindy Willis reported another bird from Whidbey Island whose upper beak was so long that it had crossed completely over the mandible. As I write this on 5 January, I have just received an e-mail from Sandy Gibbs reporting another long-bill from Camano Island.

To our knowledge, the condition appears to be limited to the Puget Sound Basin at this time. We have reports ranging north from the Fraser River Delta in British Columbia (1) to the Seattle-Tacoma Airport in the south and from Whidbey Island (west) to Conway (east).

At present, we don’t know what causes this condition. Speculation has included environmental pollutants, cattle growth hormones, herbicides, viruses, fungi, dietary deficiencies, and acid rain. Whatever it is seems to cause the horn (keratin) covering of the bill to either grow faster or become harder thereby reducing what Dr. Steve Herman calls the "miracle of abrasion" in bird beaks.

We have only seen this condition in adult, not immature, Red-tails. This suggests that the long beak may take some time to develop, perhaps years. At present, we are also trying to determine if long bills occur in both resident and wintering Red-tails.

We would like to once again ask for your help in this investigation. During your hawk watching activities, please look closely at local Red-tails that you see. Try to examine their beaks (preferably in profile) and if you observe one of the "long-bills", please contact us with the date and location. It will help us define how extensive the problem is. Thanks in advance.

Two Peregrine Band Returns

Last summer on 1 June, Martin Muller and Bud Anderson banded an eyass Peregrine Falcon at a nest site in the San Juan Islands. During the fall migration study at Entiat Ridge on 7 September, Martin captured a juvenile peregrine, one of only three caught at the ridge last year. The falcon was already wearing a black VID band. When we checked, we found that it was the same nestling that he had banded 3 months earlier in the islands. The eyrie was 135 miles northwest of the banding station. Remarkable event.

In 2003, a new pair of peregrines started a nest on the I-90 Freeway Bridge at Mercer Island. With the permission of Mike McDonald and the Washington State Department of Transportation, we banded two young falcons on 10 June. One bird later fledged and landed below the bridge in Lake Washington, a potentially fatal situation. It either swam ashore or was rescued. We were notified, caught the bird and released her later in the day at the site. She flew off beautifully after her mishap.

On 10 December, this falcon was reported flying around the Portland International Airport, approximately 180 miles south by our colleague, Carol Hallet.

Winter Hawkwatching Classes

This winter, we will be holding two hawkwatching classes, one in Bellingham (Whatcom County Museum) and one in Mt. Vernon (Padilla Bay Interpretive Center). Bellingham will begin on Tuesday nights starting on 25 January at 7pm. Mt. Vernon will be held on Wednesday nights beginning on 26 January. Field trips will take place in early March. Please pass this information along to your friends, fellow birders and family.

To reserve your space for either class, please send a check for $135.00 to the Falcon Research Group at the above address.

Note: The Seattle class was already held in November last year.

Annual Dues

Your annual FRG dues for 2004 help support activities like those described in this newsletter. If you would like to contribute further to these efforts, please send $25.00 to the Falcon Research Group, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Thank you for your support.

2003 Summer Bulletin

2003-07-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

Fall Hawk Banding Class

For those of you wanting to learn how to catch fall migrant hawks, we will be holding a one day class for a limited number of people in both Seattle (Saturday, 16 August) and Mt. Vernon (Sunday 17 August) from 9-2 pm.

The class will cover in-hand ID (especially accipiters), aging and sexing, how to trap, weigh, measure and handle wild hawks, and what goes on at a banding station.

The class will be taught by Mark Gleason, Ed Deal, Martin Muller and Bud Anderson all experienced hawk trappers and members of the Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station.

This is our official introduction to the Entiat project. After completion of the class, you will be qualified to join the group at the blind near Leavenworth for an on-going, 6-week study of the fall hawk migration. Your role will be to extract birds from the traps, process them and release them safely. We will also be scouting out some new locations adjacent to the ridge for a second banding station. You'll be helping to determine how many birds occur at these locations.

To register, please send $100 to the Falcon Research Group, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Proceeds from the class go to support the project.

Last fall, our team banded 309 raptors of 10 species. Stalwart team members included Rik Adams, Gretchen Albrecht, Ann Fleck, Sara and Geoff Clark, Ray Cruz, Ed Deal, John Deliduka, Dean Drugge, Mike and Vicki Elledge, Fiona and Mark Gleason, Vivian Gross, Kathy Gunther, Susie Hindman, Sue Hoyer, Mitsuhiro Kawase, Dalene Keith, Pat Little, Marti Louther, Emma Lux, Don McCall, Martin Muller, Christy Mann, Roger Orness, Mary Pearson, Jim Shiftlett, Ruth Taylor, Dolly Turner, Shirley Vanderveen and Dennis Weeks. Thank you to everyone that participated on the 2002 study. As a thank you, this group is welcome to attend the class for free.

And don't forget this project starts in a month and a half! Fall is coming soon.

San Juan Peregrine Update

We have been monitoring nesting peregrines in the San Juan Islands since 1976. Over the last 23 years, the breeding population has grown from 1 pair in 1980 to 20 pairs in 2002.

This year, pairs occupied 18 of the 20 known sites. Among these pairs, 10 produced young (50%), one of the lower years for productivity that we have seen. The adults produced at least 23 eyasses, for a healthy 2.3 young per active pair.

Among the 10 failed sites, two were missing pairs, 4 failed at the incubation/brooding stage, two others failed for unknown reasons, and at the last two eyries the young were eaten by an unknown predator. At one of these sites, the adult female was also eaten, something we have seen only once before in the San Juans. We found her tail feathers atop the cliff and suspect that the predator was a ground mammal, e.g. raccoon, coyote, fox, mink, or possibly even an otter.

We saw banded adult females at two of the sites. One bird was a 2001 nestling banded at a San Juan nest site 15 miles away.

Special thanks to Ed Deal, Martin Muller, Marty Daniels and especially David and Ginger Ridgway for all their help this year.

City Peregrine Update

Peregrines first began breeding in the cities of western Washington ten years ago (1994). Stewart and Virginia at the Washington Mutual Tower were the first pair. Since then, falcons have continued to move into Seattle (4 pairs), Tacoma (1 pair), Bremerton (1 pair) and Everett (1 pair).

At the Washington Mutual Tower, Stewart and Bell failed to nest in 2003. However, Ruth Taylor suspects that a pair that laid eggs but failed on the 1 Union Building several blocks from WAMU may have been Bell with a different male (he's banded, Stewart isn't).

This summer, peregrines continued their expansion into the urban environments and new pairs were found attempting to breed on a crane in Olympia (Steve Herman), the East Channel freeway bridge between Mercer Island and Bellevue (Patricia Thompson) and now on the Grain Terminal (Ruth Taylor) in Seattle.

Peregrines seem to find bridges particularly attractive and are now nesting on at least 10 structures under the jurisdiction of the Washington State Department of Transportation. DOT personnel, particularly Seattle-based Mike McDonald and Tacoma-based Kip Wylie, have been instrumental in working with us to get these birds banded. We would like to extend our gratitude to the DOT for generously assisting with the nesting of these birds. They have shown a genuine concern for the welfare of Washington wildlife and should be commended for their efforts.

"Long-billed Red-tails"

Over the past several years, we have been noticing an increasing number of local wild Red-tailed Hawks that exhibit distinctive overgrown beaks. So far, we have seen this feature on birds from the Samish Flats (3), Bow Hill (1), Fir Island (1), Anacortes (1) and south Whidbey Island (1). Cindy Willis and Dennis Ryan report the bird on Whidbey has a beak that is so overgrown that it has "crossed".

The cause of this condition remains unknown. We do know that the beak material appears to be "harder" and "flakier" than normal. As the beak continues to grow, it can prevent the bird from eating and will eventually cause death from starvation. At least three additional birds have been brought into the Sarvey Wildlife Center in such emaciated condition (fide Kay Baxter).

We have also seen the "long-beaked syndrome" in a wintering adult male Rough-legged Hawk, confirming that it can occur in other species of raptors and suggesting that the condition originates here on their wintering grounds.

To our knowledge, this condition had never been seen in western Washington prior to about 5 years ago. Dr. Eric Stauber, chief raptor veterinarian at the WSU Raptor Clinic had never seen it until this year when we sent him a bird with such a beak. Dr. Pat Redig, the world's leading raptor vet with the Minnesota Raptor Center, is also unfamiliar with it.

Therefore, we would like to ask FRG members to keep an eye out for such Red-tails and to report the date and location of such birds to Bud Anderson. We are trying to determine the geographic extent of the condition at this time and you can help.

It is important to remember that few of us actually look closely at Red-tails anymore. However, if you take a minute to examine their head profiles with a spotting scope, an overgrown beak will become very obvious to you. The tip of the beak will extend down much farther than normal.

Canary Island Barbarys

Canary Island Barbary Falcon eyasses.
Photo by: Jesus Garcia Ubierna, 2003.

There are approximately 38 species of falcons in the world. Most are kestrels (13). Among the rarer, larger species, there are desert falcons (e.g. Prairie Falcons, Lanners, Sakers and Gyrs) and the peregrine group (e.g. Orange-breasted Falcons, Peregrines).

Within the peregrine group, there are two "species" of controversial status, the Barbary Falcon of North Africa and the Red-naped Shaheen that extends from Iran into China.

The taxonomic status of both remains unclear and has been debated for well over a century. Their scientific name is Falco pelegrinoides, which means "peregrine-like", reflecting this confusion.

The Barbary form is known to occur in the Canary Islands off Morocco. A very similar form (Falco peregrinus madens) occurs to the south in the Cape Verde Islands off Africa but is considered to be a subspecies of peregrine. We have collected DNA samples from the Cape Verde falcons and wanted to compare them with the known Barbary Falcons from the Canarys.

In April, a team consisting of Kathy Gunther, Zach Smith and Bud Anderson traveled to Spanish Gran Canaria and met the falcon authority in the islands, Dr. Jesus Garcia Ubierna, a most gracious host. We worked together for several weeks visiting three islands (Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote) and collected DNA samples from three falcons. They proved to be very difficult to capture.

We saw many nesting Barbarys in their native habitats and came away with the impression of a trimmed down, super-fast hyper-peregrine. In our opinion, they are very different than peregrines in many aspects but, of course, similar in many others. We hope that the DNA samples we collected will assist in clarifying the relationship between the two forms. They are currently being analyzed by the USFWS in Alaska.

Canary Island Barbary Falcon
photo by : Jesus Ubierna Garcia, 2003

Recent Peregrine Band Returns

As many of you know, we apply special black, numbered leg bands (VID bands) to many of our local eyass (nestling) peregrines. Because of the high number of skilled birders and raptor people in our area, we receive a lot of sightings of these banded birds. Our extraordinarily high rate of returns/sightings hovers around 24%. In other words, we have sightings from 1 of every four birds we band. Great stuff!

Here are our most recent results. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

1. Mortality among banded nestlings begins almost immediately. This year, we were banding chicks at a San Juan eyrie and found another VID band (69B) on the nest ledge. It was from a nestling we had banded two years earlier on 3 June. This bird never made it off the ledge. Whether it was killed by a predator or died naturally is unknown.

2. It has long been recognized that peregrines raised on bridges seem to have a particularly high rate of mortality. The young often fledge into the water below the bridges and drown on their maiden flights. This season, two of the Tacoma nestlings were found in the water below the 11^th Street bridge. Roger Orness reports that one was successfully retrieved and placed back on the bridge by Kip Wylie of the DOT. The other was found dead in the water.

3. Ed Deal and Mark Prostor banded an adult female peregrine (67B) as a nestling in the SJIs on 3 June 2001. This is the famous "upside down band" bird. Canadian peregrine biologist Don Doyle saw her the following year at Clover Point, B.C.near Victoria on 23 April and then Jack Bettesworth observed her on Whidbey Island on 26 May. This summer, we found her breeding at another San Juan nest site, approximately 15 miles from her natal origin. She successfully raised two young.

4. Another female peregrine (29D) banded as a nestling by Kathy Gunther and Bud Anderson in the San Juans on 2 June 2002 (same nest as #3) was seen in Blaine on 28 September 2002 and again in Bellingham on 29 April 2003.

5. An immature male peregrine (64B) banded as a nestling in the San Juans on 25 May 2002 was trapped by Bud Anderson on a field trip on Fir Island on 1 March 2003, 28 miles from its natal site.

6. An adult female peregrine (P3) banded as a nestling by Wendy Gibble in the San Juans on 4 June 1997 was found breeding at another San Juan site on 8 July 1999. She has not been found breeding since then but was reported eating a Band-tailed Pigeon at Lake Whatcom near Bellingham on 7 June 2003.

7. Don Doyle trapped another adult female San Juan peregrine (N2) on 13 June 2003 at a nest site near Duncan, B.C. Wendy Gibble also banded this bird as a nestling on 12 June 1999. Roger Orness and Jack Bettesworth have seen this falcon over several winters in the Kent Valley (24 January 2000, 4 November 2001 and 18 April 2002). This seems to be her wintering area. Don has placed a satellite transmitter on N2 and will be updating us on her whereabouts.

N2, San Juan Island peregrine.

N2, San Juan Island peregrine
w/ transmitter attached.

More on Merlins

It is always enjoyable to report on nesting Merlins as we know so little about them in Washington. This year, Jim Fackler saw at least three pairs nesting in Mt. Vernon, all within a relatively small area. Typical of urban Merlins, they were found nesting in neighborhoods right in town and surrounded by people. They are always an event for the local residents as the adults and young are so noisy and entertaining.

As more Merlins are produced in cities, (adults usually have 5 young) you can expect to see a rapid expansion into other towns. Several more pairs have been reported in other western Washington communities this year but we were unable to confirm these reports. So keep looking for them in your neighborhood. And let us know when you see them….

The Satellite Red-tail

Last fall at Entiat Ridge, Susie Hindman caught an adult female Red-tailed Hawk, which is a rarely captured bird in fall migration in Washington. We applied a satellite transmitter and released the bird. Instead of heading south (as we told her to), the hawk veered back north to Glacier Peak and hung out awhile before dropping west into the Snohomish River Valley! This was completely unexpected, to say the least, but fascinating data. She is still there as I write this newsletter. Apparently she was just on a little fall tour and went for one of our "snacks" at the ridge. We did not know that our local west side Red-tails did this type of "touring" but apparently they do.

Annual Dues

We enjoy sharing the results of our work with fellow raptor enthusiasts and we hope that you enjoy hearing about them. Your annual support of the FRG allows us to continue these projects and to learn more about these remarkable "sky-sharks". Your annual membership dues ($25) help the group to meet its research and educational goals (Please send your membership dues to:

Falcon Research Group (FRG)
BOX 248
Bow, Wa. 98232

In addition, if you have a special interest in a particular project, we welcome your donations to help underwrite the costs of our special projects. These include the San Juan Peregrine Project, the Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station, Monitoring Urban Peregrines and special initiatives such as the Global Peregrine DNA Survey.

We welcome your interest, your involvement and thank you for your support.