At 10:06 AM 6/19/98 -0700, D. Victor wrote:

>If you have been watching the "Falco-Cam" images the last few days you may
>have noticed the frequent wing flapping activities of the two young
>falcons. On Tuesday the 17th., at approx. 4:30 PM, the tiercel (male)
>falcon fledged from the ledge.

In Portland, the Fremont Bridge pair has fledged four chicks. Our Wildlife
Care Center Director, Bob Sallinger, has passed along some interesting
tidbits.

First, there's a big railyard near the river and bridge, and over the years,
fledged peregrines have often ended up there. So he's been working hard to
educate the railroad about the existence of these birds. Recently, one of
the fledged chicks was sitting in the midst of the rail tracks, and he
went out to shoo it out of this dangerous area. One of the locomotives
came by on those endless make and break train tasks that go on in the yard,
and one of the workers leaned out of the train yelling, "HEY, GET AWAY FROM
THAT BIRD, IT'S AN ENDANGERED SPECIES!!!!!"

So the word's getting out and education is setting in!

He also saw the female stoop and strike a redtailed hawk NINETEEN times,
knocking it from building top to building top. Finally the redtail
landed and WALKED away from the area...

And one of our volunteers saw one of the chicks perched on the pavement
of I-205 near the bridge, so parked in the emergency lane and shooed
it away from the freeway.

At least none of them have gone swimming this year - yet.



- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
http://donb.photo.net