Kalamazoo falcons

I paid a visit to Peregrine Central on Friday to clean up around the nest box

The chicks are doing well. They look active and alert and are well fed and attended to by Rebecca and Kewpee.

Both birds have been diligently incubating the four eggs

The third egg arrives on 03-21-2018

Apex, the female fledgling that has been in rehab for a couple weeks following collision with a building on her fist flight, was returned home and released on June 24.

We have a different situation this year compared to the last several years. One of the eggs was not viable and did not hatch. After almost a week after the other eggs hatched, the last egg looked degenerated. Rebecca dispensed with the dead egg yesterday and even the remaining shell fragments looked abnormal. The three chicks are thriving. They hatched within a day of each other so are very close in size so are equal competitors for food. And the food is plentiful thanks to Kewpee's hunting skills and frequent delivery service!

Rebecca laid the first egg early in the morning on Sunday, 3/19/2017

Now that the Peregrine chicks are banded, they need names!  The Fifth/Third Bank is once again hosting a contest to name the birds.

http://wwmt.com/features/lori-moore-show/052316-ron-foor-and-gail-walter-peregrine-falcons-in-kalamazoo

The four Kalamazoo peregrine falcon chicks were banded Friday morning May 20, 2016

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2016/05/kalamazoo_peregrine_falcon_chi_3.html

The young Kalamazoo peregrines received their community names today.  The birds will still be identified by their official federal and state band numbers, but the Fifth Third Bank hosted a contest to give community names to three of the four 2015 hatchlings.  A panel of judges, including Kalamazoo mayor Bobby Hopewell, sorted through the forty names submitted from the community.  The fourth bird was previously named by a local classroom.