The first of the falcons fledged today. It was the boy (93-P), much like last year. Although I don’t think he was pushed like Hiko was. Last I had heard he was sitting in a pine tree near SJSU. Mary and I headed down town to have a look. By the time we got down there and found the tree in question, the falcon fledgling was gone. We did not know where it went, so we went up to the top of the 4th Street garage where many falcon watchers hang out. It turns out the falcon had seen food being delivered to his siblings, so he took off toward City Hall. He was not able to gain enough altitude and ended up running into the side of the building. He went to the ground and ended up in the street, where one of the local falcon watchers captured it for it’s own protection. The falcon was taken into City Hall and checked out by Glenn of the SCPBRG. They determined the falcon is fine and will release it on the roof of City Hall tomorrow. Hopefully it will fare better next time.

The eagles at Calaveras Reservoir seem to have abandoned their nest. It’s hard to tell if they had any eggs or what happened, but they don’t seem to be hanging around the nest these days. I only have the photos I took on April 27.

As for the eagles from the Channel Islands Live nest cam, it appears fledging will likely be postponed. The two eagle chicks were attacked in the nest by an immature bald eagle while the parents were out hunting. Over the course of nearly 2 hours, both eagles were knocked from the nest by the immature intruder. Fortunately a team from the Institute for Wildlife Studies was on the island at the time and were able to hike over and rescue the birds. The birds were flown to a veterinarian in Orange County (see picture on left). One had a damaged beak and the other a broken wing. The eagle with the broken wing had to be operated on, but the prognosis looks good. Unfortunately, the eagles will not be returned to the nest, but will eventually fledge from a hack site on Santa Cruz Island. The picture below left shows the x-ray of the broken wing after the operation. The picture on the right shows the damaged beak.