Fledgewatch June 11th Update
DWR biologists and volunteers set out on a third day of Fledgewatch with the goal of documenting additional flights and landings by Black and Plum, whom we had seen fly on a limited basis on Wednesday. Black was still on the Federal Reserve upon our arrival this morning but showed strong flights and landings and was observed being fed by the adults. White continued to impress with his aerial skills and spent a good bit of the day atop the Dominion building where he was also delivered prey by the adults. Unfortunately, we were unable to definitively locate Plum, and by the end of the day her whereabouts still remained unknown. Having said that, repeated flights by the adults, once with a prey item, west of the Plaza near the VA Lottery building and to the Riverfront Plaza towers suggest the possibility that there were two juveniles, we suspect Plum and Black, in those areas, although searches from street-level did not turn them up. Despite this, we remain optimistic considering the number of rooftop locations where these birds can tuck in and go completely undetected for half a day or more.
DWR is unfortunately unable to continue committing the full level of staff resources which typically averages 10-15 employees working anywhere from 4-14 hour days to continue monitoring at this initial level. However, DWR personnel will check in on the birds tomorrow and in the coming week and will report any significant updates on the blog.