There are six falcons native to North America — gyrfalcon, peregrine, prairie falcon, aplomado falcon, merlin and American kestrel — but back in 2010 I had seen only four of them because I hadn’t traveled west or south to the places that prairie and aplomado falcons call home.

That year I didn’t need to leave Pennsylvania to find a prairie falcon.  Since 2005 a single bird had spent the winter near Mud Level Road in Cumberland County.  In November 2010 I decided it was time to chase that Life Bird.

Prairie falcons (Falco mexicanus) range in North America from the Great Plains westward to the Pacific coast.  They move in spring and winter but normally travel north-south or up-slope/down-slope.  Pennsylvania is not only wetter than their usual habitat but is very far away.  The purple squares below show where they were reported on eBird, 2015-2017.  The darkest purple is their most frequent location.

When a prairie falcon was first noticed at Mud Level Road in late fall 2005, birders assumed it was an escaped falconer’s bird though it showed no signs of a former life, no jesses, no radio tracking antenna.  They soon found out it roosted overnight at a nearby quarry. Then year after year the bird came back in November and left in early spring, obviously migrating.  From the winter of 2005-2006 through the winter of 2013-2014 he returned for eight more years.

Like the peregrines I can identify as individuals because they’re the only two on territory at Pitt, this prairie falcon was unique because of his location.  He was not just any falcon.  He was the prairie falcon.

On Throw Back Thursday read of my near miss in finding this unique Life Bird three hours from my Pittsburgh home:  Prairie Falcon at Mud Level Road.

(photo of a prairie falcon in Colorado by Pat Gaines on Flickr, prairie falcon range map via eBird sightings, 2015-2017.  Click on the images to see the originals)

Want to see a lot of bald eagles?

Make a trip to Conowingo Dam in Darlington, Maryland, just south of the PA border on the Susquehanna River.  There the dam’s tail-waters attract hundreds of bald eagles in November.

Last year Annette and Gerry Devinney captured great footage of adult and juvenile bald eagles fishing and chasing below the dam.  Click here or on the screenshot above to see Gerry’s video.

If you don’t mind crowds, join the fun at Conowingo Bald Eagle Day on Saturday November 4, 2017.  Conowingo Bald Eagles and Support Conowingo Dam on Facebook posted this:

SAVE THE DATE: Eagles Day 2017 is here! Join us Saturday, November 4th 10:00am to 3pm at the Conowingo Dam Pavilion. This is a great opportunity to learn about breeding, nesting, and foraging of bald eagles around Conowingo Dam as well as the overall environmental impact of the dam. Exciting vendors and presentations throughout the day! If you plan on attending, please call 410-457-2427 or email takeaction@supportconowingodam.com. We hope to see you all there!

If you miss November 4, don’t worry.  The eagles stay at Conowingo for many weeks.

Make a trip any time next month to see them here on the Susquehanna.  Click here for a larger version of the map below.

(screenshot from video by Gerry Devinney,“Gerry Raptor” on Facebook)

Have you ever smelled a dead animal rotting in the summer heat?  Even if you don’t know where the smell is located you give it a wide berth.

Humans eat dead things but we can’t eat spoiled dead things.  In the 200,000 years of our species existence those who were not repulsed by or could not smell rotting food did not live long.  Refusing to touch spoiled meat is a life-saving trait.

Sadly vultures get a bad name for removing the very things we can’t afford to touch.  “Eeeww,” we think, “that bird is eating something vile.”  But it’s actually a good thing that they do this.

Vultures are nature’s clean up crew. They can safely eat rabid and anthrax-infected carcasses because their stomach acids kill the deadly toxins, removing them from the environment.

What would happen if there weren’t any vultures?  India knows what it’s like.

99.9% of the vultures in India, Pakistan and Nepal died off in the last 25 years due to diclofenac, a painkiller given to cattle that’s deadly to vultures.  Since then rotting carcasses have infected drinking water and the rat and wild dog populations have soared.  However, unlike vultures the mammal scavengers contract rabies, anthrax and plague from the carcasses they eat and then spread the diseases to humans.  30,000 people now die of rabies in India each year.

Thankfully our vultures are alive and well in North America and tomorrow’s a good day to learn about them.  Saturday Sept 2, 2017 is International Vulture Awareness Day.

Click this link for a list of activities planned around the world including a celebration hosted by the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia at Coopers Rock State Forest in West Virginia.  Stop by the parking lot/pavilions near the Gift shop to join the fun.

Thank a vulture this weekend!

(photo by Chuck Tague)

While I was on vacation I lost track of local news.  Today I’m catching up with the Harmar bald eagles.

It’s been more than a week since the two young eagles from the Harmar nest made their first flight.  Annette Devinney and her husband Gerry captured photos and video last Sunday July 9.  The juvies are looking good!

HARMAR BABY from Gerry Devinney on Vimeo.

I hope to have a look at them this weekend from the Harmar end of the Hulton Bridge if they’re still near the nest.

Meanwhile, read their happy news and see more of Annette’s photos in Mary Ann Thomas’s TribLive article from Monday July 10 (click here).

(photos by Annette Devinney, video from Gerry Devinney on Vimeo)

The young Hays bald eagle (H7) has flown but another fish-eating bird still has chicks in a nest near the Monongahela River.

Early this week Dana Nesiti (Eagles of Hays PA) visited the Three Rivers Heritage bike trail in Duquesne to check on a long-time osprey nest.  The ospreys return from migration every March to set up housekeeping on an old power pole in a railyard.  During the nesting season the adults are easy to see but the chicks aren’t visible until they’re almost ready to fledge.

On 19 Jun 2017 Dana wrote, I “stopped at the Osprey nest this evening and when the male flew past two little ones poked [their heads up] and when he brought a fish back only saw two again. I think we can confirm two this year.”

It’s always cool to see a fish delivery. “Incoming!”

Thanks to our cleaner rivers, there are plenty of fish for this family of four.

See photos of the Hays Bald Eagles and other local birds of prey on Dana Nesiti’s Facebook page: Eagles of Hays PA.

(photos by Dana Nesiti, Eagles of Hays PA)