PEFA

I really like watching the birds in my backyard. I have 4 feeders going year round, plus a birdbath that's heated during the winter. I have lots of flowers that attract hummingbirds. And despite having no trees, several birds will nest in the bigger bushes I have. In the winter, it's not unusual to have the resident sharp-shinned hawk visit the "buffet" in my back yard.

Back in April I got hooked watching the webcam of the peregrine falcons (aka PEFA to the seasoned birder) that were in the nestbox on top of the Brandywine Building. I would checked on them several times a day. It was so exciting see 1-2-3-4 eggs. Sitting on the nest became a 24-7 routine shared by both the male and female. Then one day I noticed she seemed to be away from the eggs quite a bit. I learned from an inquiry that the male had disappeared, most likely he was killed. So, many of us watched and waited...and eventually the eggs were removed. It was so sad. The good news was she found a potential new mate so there's some optimism for 2011.

Then in early June I was out riding my bike one very early Sunday morning. I headed down Rt. 9, then worked my way back over to the St. Georges Bridge to use the newly striped bike lanes. The bike lanes are great, especially since this bridge is less than a mile from my house. When I was approaching the top, I heard the sound of a couple of birds overhead. They seemed rather panicked. I stopped at the top and there they were - 2 birds circling and squawking at me. Now, for whatever strange reason, I had decided to bring my camera along with me. Maybe because it was brand new and I wanted to try it out? So, I got out the camera and took a couple of shots. The birds continued to circle and squawk, then finally landed on top of the bridge...still squawking. They "escorted" me halfway down.

When I got home I downloaded the photos, and hmmm, they looked an awful lot like the PEFA's I had been watching in the nest box. So, I contacted the guy involved with the web cam...and sure enough, it was a pair! There are PEFA's currently nesting on both Reedy and Summit but they weren't aware of any nests on St. Georges!! Really exciting news!! The sad news was when DNREC went out to observe...they found a dead falcon, most likely hit by a car. The "good" news in that was it was an unbanded bird, so again, a bird they were unaware of which led back to some optimism despite the loss of the bird.

Fast forward to yesterday. I got an e-mail from the US Fish and Wildlife - wow, this really went pretty far!! Turns out the USFW biologist studied the dead falcon and it turns out it was a juvenile! So that more or less confirms there was a nest on the bridge and the squawking parents were protecting their young from the big bad cyclist!