Fledgling Update – Day 2
Two juvenile peregrine falcons perched atop the Bank of America. Photo by Jessica Ruthenberg.
A small team of DWR Biologists spent the day, once again, in downtown Richmond tracking down the Richmond Peregrine Falcon family. After following both adults throughout the day and hearing a juvenile calling several times, eventually, late this afternoon, visuals were confirmed of both juvenile falcons. The juvenile male was the first to be spotted as he flew and then landed upon the Williams Mullen building (the building directly north of the Riverfront Plaza/ nest box building), rested there for several minutes, then took off and flew towards the SunTrust Building (another block north, where his mother was perched), but then turned and landed upon the Wells Fargo building (a building adjacent to SunTrust). About ten minutes later, the female juvenile was spotted upon the railing of a tower one block to the east of the Riverfront Plaza building, which was in the same general area where we had been hearing a juvenile falcon calling on several occasions earlier in the day, indicating that she had spent much of the day in this same area.
Juvenile female Peregrine Falcon walking along the railing of a tower one block east of the Riverfront Plaza building (nest box location). Photo by Jessica Ruthenberg.
Although the juvenile falcons are not flying often yet (they had clearly been hunkered down most of the day), we were pleased to see that they were able to fly and obtain heights high enough to land atop buildings. It was also positive that the parents had remained throughout the day in the same general area where both juveniles were observed, showing that the parents were aware of their locations and were keeping an eye on things. Overall, we are very happy to confirm that the juveniles appear to be doing well and are being attended to. Some additional informal monitoring will continue into next week. We hope to see the juveniles begin to start flying more often as they become stronger over these next coming days.
juvenile female Peregrine Falcon perched atop the SunTrust building (two blocks to the north of the nest box location at the Riverfront Plaza building). Photo by Jessica Ruthenberg.
Young peregrine falcon on a building after fledging