Falcon Flash begins again

Once again, Peregrine Falcon fans can tune in for another breeding season featuring SW and Buckeye. The two birds of prey have raised young on a skyscraper -- Terminal Tower -- in Cleveland, Ohio, for seven years; SW (female) appears on the left, Buckeye (male) on the right.



Scott Wright provides images for the educational project, as do the FalconCams sponsored by Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The direct link to the FalconCams, updated once a minute, is here.

The Falcon Flash e-mail bulletins come from Deborah Mathies, with the Raptors In The City science curriculum for children ages 7-11. No doubt raptor fans of all ages can enjoy and benefit from the news bulletins (to which you can subscribe at the RITC site) and the FalconCam updates.

The photo below, taken yesterday, shows SW and Buckeye in the nestbox on the skyscraper's ledge. They're showing courtship behavior, Mathies wrote.


Good luck, SW and Buckeye!

Bluebirds thrive in SoCal

From today's "Los Angeles Times":

Dick Purvis knew that if he was going to bring bluebirds to Orange County, the county would need more holes.

Bluebirds, he explained, require them for nesting, and there aren't many trees with holes in the county's developed recreational areas. If you find one, he said, "the ranger will come and cut it down."

So Purvis, 80, a bird lover since his boyhood in North Georgia, set out to bolster the area's bluebird population by placing nest boxes in parks and golf courses. And what started as one man's hobby in 1984 has grown into the 200-member Southern California Bluebird Club, whose efforts last year added more than 5,000 members of the species to the skies of Orange County, making it the state's most prolific bluebird haven.

At Peters Canyon Regional Park in eastern Orange, Senior Park Ranger Raul Herrera attests to the success of the efforts by the former McDonnell Douglas engineer. The park's bluebird population, said Herrera, "was just about zero when he started here. He's brought it back to life."

A six-image photo gallery appears here.


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First eaglet hatches at Norfolk garden

On Saturday, the live video camera at Virginia's Norfolk Botanical Garden revealed the first eaglet to hatch from the three eggs in the Bald Eagle nest.


The two remaining eggs are expected hatch before Thursday the 15th. Keep tabs by clicking on the "live" link above!

Game Commission introduces students to bluebirds

Thanks to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, students in Jefferson County have learned about nesting Eastern Bluebirds since 1995. Wildlife Conservation Officer Michael Girosky worked with schools in his district to supply nestboxes and has seen the program catch students' interest.


"Teachers and PTAs call to request it, and I hear more positive feedback about this program than any other activity I am involved in," Girosky said. "I have high school students telling me how they have continued to maintain and build more boxes on their own just because they were introduced to the bluebirds way back in the fifth grade.

"I will attempt to continue this program as long as possible because it not only gives the children a outstanding and unique opportunity to learn about and help the bluebirds; it is the best program that I have found to bring the Game Commission into the classroom on a neutral subject that all can agree on and shows us in the best light to the kids, parents, teachers and administration of the schools in the community."

The commission says early to mid-March is the right time to offer clean nestboxes. For oodles of details, visit the North American Bluebird Society.

Photo courtesy of PGC/Jake Dingel