5280 Peregrine Watch #5

Sixteen stories above the ground, this is the first view of one of the young peregrines! Two babies have been sighted, however, the younger one is not yet capable of getting up to join its sibling...yet.
The older baby is testing out his/her wings and clearly getting ready for flight. However, the wings and tail are only about two-thirds of the way grown in. In order to maneuver around the buildings, and navigate the winds, updrafts, etc., this juvenile will need a fully-grown set of remiges (wing feathers) and retrices (tail feathers). Mother Nature helps out in this area, and gives young raptors a set of feathers which are actually LONGER than that of their parents. Every extra square inch of flight surface will help in the coming weeks.
You can see that this baby's head is still covered in white, downy feathers. Soon, almost all of that will disappear, as the long wing and tail feathers grow to full length. The plumage of the juvenile peregrines differs from that of the parents; their wings and tails are brown, with cream and brown striped breasts and bellies. The "cere" or the skin which connects the beak to the face, is also a pale, bluish-gray, along with the orbital ring, which is the bare skin around their large, dark eyes. The adult falcons have bright yellow ceres and orbital rings. This youngster seems to be in a hurry to grow up, for sure!

[@trentmiller7321]

Thank you so much for posting these videos. They make my day! Back in 1989 and 1990, I had the fortunate opportunity to be a member of CDOW’s (now CPW) Peregrine Falcon Recovery Team, more affectionately known as “Jerry’s Kids”, named after Jerry Craig, one of the main people responsible for the recovery of the peregrine in Colorado. As part of the job, we surveyed known and potential nesting sites throughout the state, then banded the young. Some of us were then also assigned to hacking out 5 infant peregrines at different sites around the state. I was assigned to a site near Buena Vista, but had the opportunity to go to several other hack sites including LoDo. So, to see these birds brings things full circle. Currently work in LoDo and in the past I have spotted peregrines zipping by my 15th floor office window, but I have passed them off as passage birds mainly due to the time of years, but with this new info, you can bet that I will start taking walks with my binoculars and maybe even a spotting scope. You’ll know it's me because I will have a big smile on my face. Thanks again!