Nongame Bird Blog

About 150 peopled ventured out to the first ever Wanahoo Eagle Extravaganza on Saturday.  The event featured the lake’s nesting pair of Bald Eagles.   Activities were provided, spotting scopes were set up to view the eagles, Raptor Recovery Nebraska brought live raptors (a Barn Owl and a Broad-winged Hawk) for people to see up close and personal, and the Wahoo Chamber of Commerce provided refreshments.  Many of the event’s participants were young kids, which is good because that was …

To be honest, I was beginning to wonder whether the Peregrine Falcons were going to breed this year.  As I have mentioned, the birds had the first egg on 26 March last year.  It is not surprising that activity is a bit later this year, but going on more than two week later was feeling a little off.   Plus, the Woodmen Peregrine Falcons had already completed their four egg clutch several days ago.   I guess the bottom line is …

Peregrine Falcon watchers from  last year will remember that we occasionally capture video at the nestbox and share it.  Troy Kroeger captured the following video late last week of the male bringing the female a snack.  The victim appears to be a meadowlark.  The female seems to just want the food and has no desire to socialize.    Hopefully eggs are developing inside the female at this time.  The male will be asked to bring a steady supply of food …

I serendipitously caught the male in the nestbox Friday afternoon and snapped a series of screen shots. Fortunately, I was able to decipher the band combination,”19/K”. This is the same male present since 2003 and the only male Peregrine Falcon to sire offspring at the Capitol.   Thus, the same pair is back again for 2013. Difficult to read in this one photo, the green and black band reads “19/K” on the male Peregrine

I finally captured a screen shot good enough to confirm the band of the adult female Peregrine Falcon.   The band reads “A” on the upper portion and “Y” on the bottom portion, or in other words, “A/Y”.  Thus, this is Alley, the female from Winnipeg, Manitoba, present since 2005.  This is the only female that has successful bred at the Capitol.  Now, getting a look at the male’s bands may prove to be much more challenging.  We should also …

I will mention more about this next week, but in case you are not aware of this event, below is our flyer.  We hope to have a great turnout, it should be lots of fun.

Spring has been slow to emerge from the depths of winter this year.  Not surprisingly, the Capitol’s Peregrine Falcons have also been slow with their breeding activities this year compared to last.  On this date (26 March) last year, the first egg had already arrived.  With the forecast looking like it might finally be shaping up, expect activity around the nestbox to pick up quickly.  We still do not know for certain whether the same birds are back, so if …

Our friends over at the Woodmen (http://falcons.woodmen.org/) in Omaha announced this morning a mystery that was covertly solved late last week.   There is a new male Peregrine Falcon at the Woodmen this spring, supplanting the long-lived Zeus.  Surprise, surprise, the new male Peregrine in Omaha was hatched at the Capitol in 2010.   It has the band combination 57/H and was assigned the name “Mintaka” as a result of our “name-the-chicks” contest. It was just over a week I blogged …

We received a call on Friday of a dead Peregrine Falcon found on the roof of the First National Bank tower in Omaha.  The bird was banded with the auxiliary marker (the color band with the letter/number combination in a large font) 98/H.   This particular band combination is familiar; 98/H was banded at the Nebraska State Capitol on 2 June 2009.  The Peregrine was given the name “Niobrara” as a result that year’s name-the-chick contest. The dead Peregrine Falcon’s …

Some of the bugs and details are being worked out, but the Peregrine Falcon webcams will be up and running again this year. In fact, they are up and running right now.  All we need is some spring weather and a couple of birds.  The Peregrine Falcons are around, they apparently overwintered at the Capitol again this year. Thanks to Troy Kroeger for his work on this project and also thanks to our collaborators down at the Nebraska State Capitol …