Progeny and the Topeka Connection
Our Peregrine Falcon pair has produced offspring six out of seven past years (see the family tree graphic for a complete rundown of all the Capitol chicks). Even though we have banded all sixteen chicks produced since 2005, we rarely hear back from those youngsters. This is because young Peregrine Falcons, like all birds, have a tough go of it during their first year of life and a decent proportion just don’t make. Furthermore, getting a report of one of our falcons requires someone to be in position to actually read the color bands (and, yes, report the band, too) we put on the birds. Thus, it was rather nifty last spring when we got word that not one, but two, of our Capitol progeny were homemaking at the Westar Energy facility in Topeka, Kansas.
The two birds are Boreas and Nemaha. Boreas is a male that was hatched and raised in 2007. Nemaha is a female hatched and raised in 2009. These two birds nested and hatched eggs in Topeka last year and word is the same pair is back again this year and also has four eggs. This is the first occasions where a live Peregrines produced at the Capitol has shown up or been re-sighted anywhere. The Lincoln Journal Star ran a story last year that is still available online, the link is….
http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_19dff0a3-930c-509d-ab31-44ca57f8015e.html
Westar Energy also has a falconcam that can be found here: http://www.westarenergy.com/wcm.nsf/content/falcons
What happened in 2008? Did we have a pair or were they gone that year? Or did we have a pair and none of the eggs hatched or the chicks didn’t survived?
Hi Larry:
Thanks for the question! In 2008, 4 eggs were laid but during a nest check on 12 May I found nothing in the nestbox except for one (apparently infertile) egg. We didn’t have the view that we have now, so we can only speculate. There was a very bad storm during that spring and that may have caused the birds to be unsuccessful. Other than weather, it is really difficult to explain what happened. There are not a whole lot of other possibilities.
-Joel
Joel,
Thanks for your quick response! That would explain the gap in the progeny family tree. Has it been the same pair that has produced all of the Capitol chicks since 2005? I believe the nesting site was first set up in 2005, correct? I read another article where it stated they were seen setting up their territory around the State Capitol two years earlier in 2003. Wonder if they had any chicks earlier?
Larry:
There were no chicks prior to 2005 and this pair is the only one to produce anything. The quick and entire history can be found on our “old” Peregrine pages
http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/wildlife/webcam/peregrine/history.asp