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Raptor Resource Project
We lost our youngest falcon at the Great Spirit Bluff nest yesterday. We were all cheering for our little underdog and hoping that its spunk would help bridge the size gap between it and its siblings. A newly hatched baby falcon or eyass can make it several days without food, but it looked like too much was missed for it to keep its strength up. Competing with larger siblings for food is always a significant issue and the larger the hatch age gap, the more challenging it is to make it through the first critical week of development. It seemed that many times it was hard for our little underdog to get up and keep its beak open and in the right direction during feeding time. Here are some photos from hatch on Saturday the 9th to Thursday the 14th. Rest in peace little one.

Joni Tilley

Joni Tilley
Ah, my precious little islands in the stunning sunrise of today

John Howe
Excitement is in the air at Great Spirit Bluff! We are pleased to see that Newman has bonded with a new female this year (finally) and it has been quite a show watching female peregrine falcons duke it out to claim this territory with him. We are not sure why Nova did not stick around after her fight with Nina.
We have selected a name for UBF (Zooey - New Girl - Life) knowing that she is a young female and we are sure hoping that she will be productive giving new falcon life to the skies above the mighty Mississippi! She has checked out almost every spot to perch, copulate, and most important work on the scrape in anticipation of eggs.
We are excited to see this new pair raise young and wish them all the best!

Shelli Fugit Simon
From RRP:
April 23, 2021: Northern Flicker for Zooey!-
. Newman brings Zooey a Northern Flicker, Yellow-Shafted form. You might have grown up calling these birds Yellow-Shafted Flickers. They eat primarily insects, especially beetles and ants, on the ground. George, John, and the Prairie Enthusiasts just conducted a prairie burn on top of the bluff. The flicker was probably feeding on the newly bare ground when Newman caught it. Northern flickers are a favorite food of peregrine falcons, probably because they are large, abundant, and easy to catch. We find their feathers at almost every nest we go to.
Will Zooey lay another egg? Will her single egg hatch? At this point, we don't think she'll lay another egg. Two year-old falcons sometimes lay full clutches and sometimes don't. Newman has been keeping her in top condition - as watchers have pointed out, he would lay the eggs himself if he could! - and Zooey has been responsive to his attention, but she should have laid another egg by now. Will their single hatch? They haven't spent much time incubating it, which makes sense, since falcons don't enter full incubation until the third egg in a four egg clutch. Incubatory behavior is heavily dependent on hormones (instinct is weird) and Zooey's hormonal regime isn't quite there yet!

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=425 ... 8955257273
Kim Eriksen
Newman feeding his little girl ♥♥