Emergency at the Columbus Peregrine Falcon Nest



Video: One of Scout’s Chicks Can’t Get Back into the Nest Box

Several hours ago, one of Scout’s chicks has been frantically trying to get back into the nest box. We can’t be sure why he is having such a difficult time, but he may have his talon stuck. Calls have been made to ODNR. Now it’s dark, and rain is expected. Downy chicks can easily die of hypothermia. It is hoped that Scout will brood them both outside of the nest box, but she may simply brood the other chick, if he is in the nest.

that was tough to watch....I wonder what will happen...seems like both were out of the box

If one or both of them go to the far left of the nest box, from our perspective, we can't see them. But it is quiet now, so it could be that Scout is brooding both of them outside of the nest box. I haven't heard any noise that would indicate a rescue. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the morning.

this is what I see this morning....outside cam hard to see if anyone is outside and i have not been able to see who she is brooding/incubating...

Maybe someone just came on the roof...like a human...Scout got up in a hurry and she was trying to incubate the non viable eggs...no perlets were under her.....:blink:

cams went blue screen after she got up

all cams are down....I think a human must be up there having a look and I doubt the news is going to be good.

Cam is back and both kids are in the box....they look hungry and stunned a bit ... Scout is back and looks confused...beans if you hear what happened please post....

Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Both Chicks Fine
The front of the nestbox camera has a bit of whitewash on it now-part of the view is blurry because of the poo. It sure would be nice if the chicks could "perfect their aim" and keep from decorating it much more!

Yesterday afternoon, one of the chicks got a foot caught in a crevice just outside of the nestbox. We monitored the situation yesterday. When it was apparent that the bird was not able to free itself we did access the ledge this morning and freed it. When I first went out on the ledge, both chicks were lying down together calmly.
What probably happened is that the foot went down in the crack but when the chick made a fist with its foot, the foot wouldn't fit back up through the crack. The good news is there wasn't any pinching or obvious injury.
Of the two chicks, one has more bluish feet, the other yellow feet. For monitoring purposes, it was the left foot of the chick with the yellow feet. Again, there was no broken skin or cuts so the chick was put back into the nestbox. We will give it a closer look next week at banding, which is scheduled for Tuesday, June 8.
Here is a photo of the area in front of the nestbox. You can see the crack. Know that in over 15 years of this site hosting nesting peregrines we've never had an incident. For now there is a white towel shoved into the crack to keep this from happening again in the next couple of weeks. The white towel is visible on the ledge view - so it might appear as though a chick is under the camera housing but it is only the towel! We apologize in advance for any confusion, but it was the only thing we had with us at the moment.

Picture on the blog....

http://ohioperegrinefalcons.blogspot.com/