Mischief and Mistakes

Mornings are usually good times to see the fledglings at play or flying around. After yesterday's lull, I was glad to see a lot of really terrific flying in the hour that I spent outside.

I began just after 7AM with a quick scan of the Kodak tower's south side. I turned up four falcons; on the southwest corner of the tower perched Quest and Susan B, soaking up the sun:


On the east side, Kaver and Mariah, sitting one above the other:
     

Diamante got things started off, flying in from the east-- possibly off the High Falls Smokestack-- and landing on the roof of Building 10:
          

I headed around to the roof of Building 10 myself, both to check the north side of the tower, and to see if I could get a closer shot of Diamante. Now, emerging from one of the many stair towers onto the various building roofs is best done with caution, since the falcons perch all over and my aim is always to avoid disturbing them. So I cracked the door to the stair tower, and this is what I found:


It was Zephyr! I ducked back inside the stair tower after a few shots, and walked around to another roof exit. Building 10 has several built-up structures on its roof and I used them for cover, creeping along to avoid spooking any perching falcons that might be nearby. I finally worked my way to a clear view of the north side of the tower without encountering any fledglings. There was a great deal of kacking going on though, and I found out why soon enough:


Diamante was up, and so was Kaver! The young tiercel passed right over my head on his way to play some tag with Zephyr:


The morning sun's glare made shooting their game difficult, so I turned to the playpen where I found Seneca excercising her wings:

She still hasn't flown yet, but I think it won't be too much longer.

When I looked around the boys were gone, but new vocalizing caught my attention. Looking out over the edge of the building I was amazed to see Kaver, with Quest in hot pursuit:


It was easy to see that Kaver had something, and at first I thought it was prey, but it was oddly elongated, dangling below him. These still photos are much provide a much clearer picture than I had at the time:
     

No breakfast here-- at least not for the fledglings. It was little more than the remnants of two wings held together with bone and ligaments. What he was doing with it wasn't clear, until I saw Zephyr head right for it. Kaver dropped his burden, and Zephyr dove after it:


Unfortunately the remains fell to the ground, and in his haste to chase after what he must have thought was a meal, Zephyr very nearly ended up on the ground himself:


He flew in circles, only a few feet off the ground, before finally winging up to a landing on the east edge of Building 9:
     

While I was grabbing that last shot to make sure Zephyr was OK, I suddenly noticed that Mariah was in the air, close by. Worse, she was heading straight for me! I took a quick look behind me, and found to my amazement that Diamante had landed again on the peak of the Building 10 roof. Apparently Mariah decided I was too close to her son. I didn't stay to argue with her, and ducked inside the nearest stairtower. It's the kind of mistake I don't like to make. After eight years of falcon watching, I think I'm pretty good at judging how close is close enough, and how close is too close. I should have been paying more attention to what was going on around me, but I just plain messed up that time.

There were a few watchers at Falcon Watching HQ so I decided to exchange observations with them. Of course, they'd seen Mariah stoop on me, so I took a bit of ribbing. In the time it took me to get down the 10 flights of stairs, Diamante had moved to the edge of Building 10:


So what was Kaver doing dangling prey remains to tempt the fledglings? Dan Stiehler went to the plaza and collected the feathery left-overs so we could get a better look. At this time, we all still thought it had been prey in Kaver's talons, so it was something of a surprise to find there was not a bit of flesh to be had. Could Kaver have been using the remains in the way a falconer uses a lure to train a raptor in hunting technique? I haven't seen either adult do that before. Food exchanges we've seen many times, and the parents often will drop the prey before the fledglings have time to get to it, encouraging them to dive after the food. I don't think I've ever seen them do it with something that wasn't edible, though.

Still in all, it would have been a good lesson except for the fact that Zephyr ended up very low to the ground. He was certainly low enough to have been in danger from passing cars and trucks on State Street. Fortunately, he found his way over to the tower pretty quickly, so no damage done.

Just to prove the point, he left the building soon after I arrived, and made a dive right at Mariah, who was perched on the southeast corner of the 17^th floor:


Mariah was ready for her playful son, and leapt out to meet him, talons extended:
          

For the next minute they ranged back and forth, teasing and chasing each other in a spectacular display:
     

     

After Mariah broke off, Zephyr made a nice overflight:


A minute later it was Quest who took up the talon tag challenge:
          

          

After their chase, they both flew to the tower where Quest landed on the broad ledge of the 17^th floor:
          

Zephyr continued to fly, sometimes by himself, and sometimes with Kaver:
     

Not to be outflown, Quest got airborne again. She made an interesting touch and go landing on the northeast corner of the 19^th floor ledge...
     
... before flying to the High Falls Smokestack where she made a very tidy landing:


The Z-man decided she needed some company, and flew over too:


The tower was too much of a draw for him though. After only a couple of minutes he was back, finding a spot on the ledge near the scalloped railing of the 19^th floor:
     

And Quest, who seemed to want to match her brother move for move, flew back to land on the "O" of the KODAK sign:
     

Finally, everyone settled down for a while. It was good timing-- the top of the hour. I left the watching to Lisa McKeown and headed inside to get to work for the day.

So, lots of fun flying, and a too close encounter-- something to be avoided on future watches. If we can just get Seneca up and out of the playpen, and get Susan B a little more practice, I have no doubt there will be plenty of opportunities to witness some extraordinary flying in the days to come.