Injured Juvenile Peregrine

Earlier in the month I placed a post on an injured male juvenile Peregrine, his left leg hanging down and to all appearances broken where it joined his body.
Since that posting I have been keeping an eye on him to see if he will deteriorate in condition and also to see if he goes as the adults were not feeding him.

Juvenile on right with Falcon feeding centre of grill (click on photos to enlarge)

Falcon on prey

I am very happy to say that the little chap is hanging on in there, from Sunday’s visit it looks as if he is surviving on the adult’s leftovers. He is a game little chap as well, on Sunday he waited patiently as the Falcon fed, he was sitting about 3 metres from her occasionally giving the hunger call, she in turn mantled the prey, in this case a feral pigeon. After 25 minutes he again started to call, this time edging closer to her, she made herself look even bigger already dwarfing him being a female, instead of backing away he made a grab for the kill. There followed a free for all and he came away with part of the prey so well done to the plucky little fella, he deserves to make it. I dare say the Falcon, they are dominant over all males be it adults, juveniles or immatures probably did not put up much of a struggle being her offspring.

The juvenile with 'pinched' prey

Watching him fly after this showed the leg to be held closer to the body and even perched, it was not hanging down as much as seen a couple of weeks ago. With the right foot holding part of the prey, the left was drawn up tighter to the body. Additionally when he emerged from roost in the half-light I thought at first it was the adult Tiercel as he was more streamlined as the leg was not on show.

The leg is now being held much better than a few weeeks ago

The question is now though, how long will the adults put up with him, and is he capable of making a kill himself with the leg the way it is? I like to think that he is capable, he did have a couple of half-hearted hunts at an earlier stage and is flying much better, I will have another look at him this weekend.

Parliament September 10th and 17th

Sept 10th

Dawn found me trying to locate any birds on Victoria Tower; mornings are starting to drag out now with light not coming until 6.15am, autumn is here.

Big Ben (click on photos to enlarge)

London Eye

Despite a good search of all their usual favourite roost spots, the only one that gave itself up was the adult Tiercel; he was seen briefly before heading north. Of the Falcon and juvenile female there was no sign. It was not until 6.40am before I saw the juvenile female; she came in from the east across the river and landed on the topmost towers of Victoria Palace. At first I thought she was looking for the Tiercel to return with prey as she scanned the skyline, this thought was quickly cast aside as she proceeded to hunt. Over the course of the next hour and a half she made 7 sorties, unfortunately all failures as she returned every time preyless.

Juvenile hunting from Victoria Tower

Tiercel on the Abbey

Falcon laying up on Middle Tower

Juvenile about to go on another hunt

At 7.40am the adult Falcon came in from the west and landed on the middle Tower, scoping her revealed a full crop.
From these actions it appears the adults have stopped feeding her, this was reinforced when the Tiercel came in around 7.55am, her usual action would be to intercept him, instead she carried on hunting and the Tiercel fed on Westminster Abbey.
Decided to call it a day around 8.30am, I have now got into the habit of checking Victoria Tower Gardens for migrants, especially at this time of year, no rarities but a Chiffchaff was seen and also a pair of Egyptian Geese feeding on the river.

Egyptian Goose

A nice end to the morning, it seems constant westerly’s/south westerly’s at the moment with occasional sunshine, I managed to get a few photos, the pick of them being the juvenile flying past the flag on Victoria Palace.


September 17th

6.30am-with a strong south westerly it was not hard to locate the adults, both were sheltering in roost positions on the northern face of Victoria Palace, of the juvenile there was no sign. By 7.45am both adults had not moved, looking at both of them showed their crops to be slightly bulging but not overly. It was possible that a night time excursion or a dusk meal may have taken place, night time hunting as we now know is becoming a regular occurrence for some pairs.

Juvenile male, note size of crop

Tiercel

Tiercel

A nice surprise was seeing a juvenile coming in and landing on the Tower with the adults, I suspected as it came in that it was one of the males, as I got on it the size was quite apparent, it was indeed a male. A bulging crop showed it had killed and fed.

Bold as brass

Good nick for a ' Townie'

Checking for Dogs

I also came across what was probably one of the tamest Foxes I have seen, walking around bold as brass on the green opposite Parliament in broad daylight, no mange and a good brush, it was healthy, it was obviously used to people. As you can judge by the photos, it just walked straight up to me.
Time was marching on and nest box inspection called so I headed inside.

Young Peregrine

Recently I visited one of my regular sites checking up on a juvenile male peregrine, the resident pair had only produced the one this year, I was following his progress closely to see when he would leave and make his way in the world.
On arrival a very sad sight greeted me, he was still present, flying round as normal but his left leg was broken and hanging down, it was also quite obvious that the injury impaired his flying and his landing ability .It appeared to be broken where it joined the body.

The unfortunate juvenile with the leg held out in front of him

For many other species – pigeon, black headed gull etc., this could possibly be something that they could overcome, to a bird of prey like a peregrine the injury will very likely be the end for him. The leg will hinder him catching prey, he will lose speed and manoeuvrability in the chase, and if he does manage to catch prey it will be very hard to balance, hold the prey, and feed on one leg.
If he does survive Bumble foot could be an issue as Peregrines, as do many birds of prey alternate their leg they are resting on.
Watching him this morning was a sad affair as the adults are starting to hold prey back, this is his message to go, and without prey he will soon lose condition and deteriorate.

What caused it? – he has now been flying for over 2 months so his flight ability is not that of a recently fledged bird, the likely causes could be chasing prey and hitting an obstacle in pursuit of prey or he has wandered into another pairs territory and been attacked by one or both resident birds.

A sad sight

I have let NaturalEngland know but the kindest thing may be to put him out of his misery to stop him suffering. While I am awaiting an answer, if he does leave the natal site and is seen elsewhere in London or Essex I would appreciate a call of his whereabouts, you can contact me on www.londonperegrines.com or leave a message at the bottom of this entry.

Perks

One of the perks of visiting many peregrines sites in London is the associated wildlife that lives side by side with the peregrines and also shares the same habitat, albeit at different levels. Of the different species that I encounter Crows and Magpies are without doubt the smartest, they know when they are safe from attacks by Peregrines, they also know how far they can push them.

Large female Peregrine with prey, the Magpie knows it is safe while she is feeding

I have now been monitoring Peregrines for over 10 years, they have opened doors for me that I would have never even dreamed off, I am a lucky man and the rewards in helping and watching them accomplish successful breeding have been worth every minute of it.

As mentioned in earlier blog posts Kestrels feature at 3 sites where Peregrines are territorial and breed, on the whole both species seem to ignore each other, there is occasional mobbing by the Kestrels but they are not seen as a threat like a Carrion Crow is. Abundance of prey (feral pigeon) also means they are rarely targeted in London.

A striking male Black Redstart (click on photos to enlarge)

Black Redstarts are another species sharing the high level habitat with Peregrines, I have seen them foraging within 3 metres of them totally unconcerned, it comes down to reading body behaviour, more often than not the Peregrines are laying up. To a certain extent on 2 or 3 sites in London they actually gain protection by the presence of the Peregrines from Magpies and Carrion Crows.

Juvenile Black Redstart

 Grey Wagtail is another urban breeder, I encounter these on nearly all the sites, sometimes up to 3 pairs on the larger sites, they are vastly under recorded as an urban breeder and no doubt Black Redstart is much the same to a lesser extent.

Female Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawks are another; they do not seem to be seen as a threat, even from territorial breeding Peregrines, both species just seem to ignore each other on the sites where they occasionally meet. On the other hand I have seen Peregrines react very aggressively to the presence of a Common Buzzard going over, larger birds of prey are usually seen off with great relish. Peregrines seem to have an inbuilt high level of aggression, probably one of the reasons that Falconers value them so highly and the fact that they will tackle larger prey.

I intend to go to Parliament this Saturday now that they are back, I hope to get some video of them to place on the blog, and I have at last decided to join You Tube. Being a bit old fashioned and trying to move forward with the electronic age is hard at my age, I see pitfalls and an ambush around every corner!