On Sunday, Orion remained in the immediate vicinity of the nestbox. She did a lot of calling and some exercising. She was also well fed. Astrid continues to reject her, but made about 75 % fewer dives on her than she did the day before. We’ll take that as progress. It was only too clear on Sunday that Orion’s father and brothers are all squarely on her side. More than once, Ares brought food to Orion, including one remarkable incursion made in the midst of one of Astrid’s swooping raids. Even more remarkably, more than once, Comet flew to Orion’s defense by challenging his mother and even chasing her off. It was fledgling solidarity day in the canyon and it was something to see! Definitely Comet was in rare form on Sunday. The fledge watch volunteers got to see him make a kill. It was large prey too. By the description, I believe it was a pigeon! Comet flew laboriously with it over to the State Building, where with great effort he managed to pull it up over the ledge. This is an amazing feat for any fledgling of his age, but especially for Comet who seemed so slow to take to flying. We’re not sure what to expect from our falcon family on Monday. Lately every day has been filled with surprises. It seems certain that Orion will try to fledge very soon and when she does we are uncertain what Astrid’s reaction will be. Possibly she will attack or at least try to drive Orion into potentially dangerous situations. Will the males falcons be on hand to play interference for Orion? We don’t know. Fledge watch volunteers are needed more than ever for this next phase. It’s quite a show, folks.
This just in: As of 6:00 Monday morning, Orion has fledged!!! She took a nice flight around the Canyon and landed on the roof of the Adirondack Bank Building. Comet is there with her. Importantly: Astrid did not interfere with Orion’s flight.
That is great news!!! It is amazing how the boys are sticking by her. Hopefully Astrid will get off her high horse!!! Thank you again for the great pics and the updates.
I think Astrid just wanted her to leave the nest like Comet and Skye did instead of them all going back to the box to be fed. I am so sorry we lost Orion and I am sure her family misses her.
Thank you for all the great pictures and updates.
I totally lucked out in seeing Comet slogging back to the State Building with a load of prey that looked as big as he was. I was just pulling up in my car to scope out where the birds and watchers were. It was a sight to be seen! At first, I thought one of them was injured, he flew so slow and with so much effort and jerkiness. But then I realized he was not all bent out of shape but was carrying something VERY big. I didn’t know it was Comet and assumed it was Skye or one of the parents. Never imagined that Comet would go hunting this soon!