dig the guy with the broom (non-herp post)

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billysbrown
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dig the guy with the broom (non-herp post)

Post by billysbrown »

This isn't about herps, but for an article I'm writing for Grid (http://www.gridphilly.com) I was observing a state biologist band baby peregrine falcons at Philadelphia's City Hall. The broom guy was stuck in traffic, so...

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/video?id=8674081

Then after work I hit a vacant lot in N. Philly and flipped a whole lot of garter snakes and brown snakes (so it was not a snakeless day!).

Happy Herping,
Billy
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pete
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Re: dig the guy with the broom (non-herp post)

Post by pete »

YOU LUCKY MAN!!! Very cool! :thumb:
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CrimsonCoils
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Re: dig the guy with the broom (non-herp post)

Post by CrimsonCoils »

Lol, Bill, I must say I love your love affair with Garters and Browns.

I know a lot of herpers on this forum also have a love for birds. I can't exactly say I get too much of a thrill out of the garden variety, but I've always love Raptors. Nothing is better than seeing a Red Tailed Hawk (which has got to be the most common bird of prey in the southeast PA region) up in the sky.

I pass city hall many many times a week. I'll now be nearly getting into accidents looking for the falcons.

- Matt
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billysbrown
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Re: dig the guy with the broom (non-herp post)

Post by billysbrown »

Matt,

Indeed there are peregrines all over Philadelphia - the pair at City Hall and basically at every bridge over the Delaware. The nest is on the south side of the clock tower, so if you just stand on Broad Street with binoculars and watch, you'll see them, at least for another week or so until the babies fledge.

Billy
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brick911
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Re: dig the guy with the broom (non-herp post)

Post by brick911 »

That's worth a trip down there!

Very, very, cool. Good for you. Great thing to be involved in!

Question: They said 38 breeding pairs in PA? Does that mean a lot are down in the SE corner of the state? Also, were the people you were with disappointed to see they were all males? I'm assuming a female or two would have been more exciting for the species' survival?
sstaedtler
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Re: dig the guy with the broom (non-herp post)

Post by sstaedtler »

Very cool. I don't get excited about sparrows and finches but I love birds of prey...hawks, falcons, eagles, ospreys, etc.
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billysbrown
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Re: dig the guy with the broom (non-herp post)

Post by billysbrown »

No one seemed bothered by the sex ratio. They do seem to disperse pretty widely (the adult female was from Tuckahoe, for example), so I guess it averages out okay overall.

The biologist said 34 breeding pairs in PA, with a quarter of them in the Philly area. Pre-DDT it was 44, though most of those were on bluffs along the Susquehanna. Basically the urban areas are serving as nuclei for reestablishing the falcons where they were previously, the idea being to keep them breeding in some relatively safe (say from great horned owls, which apparently kill peregrines) spots with good pigeon supplies and over time the offspring will disperse to the more 'natural' habitat.

Billy
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brick911
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Re: dig the guy with the broom (non-herp post)

Post by brick911 »

Very interesting. Thanks Billy!
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