falconspace

On three previous occasions, MidAmerican Energy Co. employee David Sebben was able to find missing Peregrine falcon chicks and return them to their nest high atop the utility company building in downtown Davenport.

The fourth such instance did not have a happy ending, though.

A young Peregrine missing since Saturday night or Sunday morning was killed when it was run over by two cars, Sebben said Wednesday.

Sebben, who oversees the falcon family, said he was contacted Tuesday by a passer-by who had seen the chick hit by the vehicles about 3:30 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Harrison and 2nd streets.

He said the witness wrapped the dead bird in a towel and was unsure what to do with the remains until learning a public appeal for help in finding it had been made through the news media.

Sebben retrieved the 40-day-old, named Kalani, from the witness, took its identifying tags off to be returned to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and said he plans to bury the bird. The MidAmerican building technician regularly watches the activities of Kalani's parents though a window near his office and reports back to state wildlife authorities.

This is the first chick to die in such a manner since the falcons arrived in downtown Davenport four years ago. They have nested on the Centennial Bridge as well as the MidAmerican building. Sebben retrieved three Peregrine chicks that also left the nest at the end of their fledgling period and ended up in places such as the roof of the nearby Radisson Quad-City Plaza Hotel. Those chicks successfully returned to the wild, he believes.

Pat Schlarbaum, a state wildlife biologist, said the raptors are enticed to nesting sites such as the tall MidAmerican structure because there are few natural predators in an urban setting. In the wild, animals such as raccoons try to harm the baby birds, he explained.

About 60 percent of raptors do not survive a year, he said.

"That doesn't lessen the sting of the loss of this young chick. But it's one reason to be thankful for the adults and hope they will nest again next year. We'll hope for a better outcome," he added.

The falcon species was decimated by the pesticide DDT, which was banned in 1972. Falconers brought the raptors back to Iowa in the 1980s and the state population has grown slowly. Peregrine falcons are on Iowa's Endangered Species List although they have been taken off the national list.

Kalani was banded when she was 27 days old by Schlarbaum and local falconer Tom Deckert. The experts described her as a robust bird who had fluffy white down that was beginning to give way to black and brown feathers.

Schlarbaum will return to the Quad-Cities next week to check out a possible Peregrine falcon nest on the Interstate 80 bridge.

# posted by Unknown : 1:27 PM

A Peregrine falcon chick is missing from its nest atop the MidAmerican Energy Co. headquarters, 102 E. 2nd St., Davenport.

The baby bird is not yet able to fly and probably is on a downtown rooftop or street, said David Sebben, a building technician and the MidAmerican employee who keeps an eye on the raptors.

Sebben said the 38-day-old chick, called an eyases, disappeared between 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 a.m. Sunday. The bird is covered with fluffy white down, which is beginning to give way to brown and black feathers, and has a leg band identifying it as "N/30."

She is the daughter of Scorpio, a Peregrine falcon who was reintroduced to nature after the species was decimated by the pesticide DDT. Falconers began the project in Iowa during the 1980s, and the birds are on the state's Endangered Species List.

The falcon nest is at the top of one of Davenport's tallest structures. Baby Peregrines previously have been located along 2nd Street and on the roof of the Radisson Quad-City Plaza Hotel in downtown Davenport.

Anyone who spots the chick should call Sebben at (563) 333-8950 or his cell phone, (563) 320-1796.

# posted by Unknown : 9:43 AM

A PEREGRINE falcon chick which fell out of its nest has been rescued by workmen at Torness Power Station.

The nuclear power plant has been home to a mating pair of falcons for several years now, with the site considered amongst the safest in the UK.

Workmen who were repairing wind damage to part of the building's roof found the fallen chick after climbing the scaffolding.

# posted by Unknown : 9:37 AM

The prisoner known around the U.S. naval station at Guantánamo Bay as Detainee 063 was a hard man to break. Defiant from the start, he told his captors that he had been in Afghanistan to pursue his love of falconry. But the young Saudi prisoner who wouldn't talk was not just any detainee. He was Mohammed al-Qahtani, a follower of Osama bin Laden's and the man believed by many to be the so-called 20th hijacker. He had tried to enter the U.S. in August 2001, allegedly to take part in the Sept. 11 attacks.

# posted by Unknown : 4:21 PM