2013 SOUTH BEND INDIANA 2013 ~ Guinevere & Zeus

sbwatcher · **Posted:** Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:21 am

I saw the birds again on Sunday, perched on the Tower Building, hunkering down in the cold. The light was better and they are definitely two falcons, each on their own window sill.

sbwatcher, heading for bed :offtobed:

p.s. thanks for all the treats, guys ! :-)

gigi · **Posted:** Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:42 pm

Keep us posted sbwatcher!

sbwatcher · **Posted:** Wed Jan 30, 2013 12:30 am

Will do, gigi. It was nice and warm here today, in the low 60s !! With LOTS of rain. By the time I got off work around 8 p.m., the falcons were perched in different windows in the Tower building. I guess perching is more sprightly than hunkering. I hope they enjoyed the warm weather, probably some chances for some good meals. They are favoring different windows, not next to each other, but not too far away. Glad that Guinevere has some company during the cold weather past and the cold weather to come.

sbwatcher working through a box of tissues :tissue:

still on the good side of the fine line between congestion and true illness

gigi · **Posted:** Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:36 pm

Take care of yourself sbwatcher and get better soon!

sbwatcher · **Posted:** Sun Feb 03, 2013 11:21 pm

Bird sightings: Last Friday, 2 birds on the west side windows of the Tower Building. Small chilly popsicle birds. :coldwinter:

Not much movement.

Today, Sunday , a falcon on the SOUTHERN side of the County City Building. This is a first for this location in my watching experience. THe bird was perched on the Southeast corner, turning slightly, then a possible bathroom break .

I hope it was digesting a good pre-Superbowl meal. These birds need to eat in this cold weather, and I'm not sure how favorable the cold, wind and snow are for hunting. :cold:

Maybe the falcons could fly to Lake Michigan and take up ice fishing.

sbwatcher

Beth · **Posted:** Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:47 am

Thanks for the updates sbwatcher!
Take care of yourself :zzzzz

, get
plenty of rest plus drink your oj!

sbwatcher · **Posted:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 1:40 am

Birds on the Tower building west side windows tonight. Not too cold, but they are perching there.

got to go to bed

sbwatcher

sbwatcher · **Posted:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:42 pm

On the way to work this morning, a possible sighting of a diving falcon downtown (I was just passing through, so couldn't be sure. )

Tonight, in the rain, two falcons huddling in windows of the Tower, one right below the other. Kind of sweet.
This is the first time I've seen them in adjoining windows.
:flowers

sbwatcher

kittenface · **Posted:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:58 pm

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 61947

sbwatcher · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:16 am

Falcons in Tower windows at 5:30 p.m. One looking outward, and one fluffed up so much that at first I thought it might be a pigeon until my binoculars set me straight. It's not cold here, but maybe the bird was fluffed up to combat all the rain we had today.

Bonus raptor sighting: Driving to park in the back parking lot at work, I saw a beautiful hawk in flight. Maybe I will park in the back more often. :snowflake8:

sbwatcher drinking extra oj !!

gigi · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:50 am

Sbwatcher, Thanks for all the updates. This spring I want to come to SB and meet you and do some falcon watching. :snowflake6i:

sbwatcher · **Posted:** Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:12 am

Yes, gigi, not too early to think of fledge-time traveling.

Tonight one and only one falcon seen, but that falcon did not look too anxious so I suppose the other one was out some place close. Hmmmm, maybe out hunting for a last minute VALENTINE present? :flowers

Something a little more exotic than pigeon?

Hmmmm :think

what should I get my sweetie, thinks the falcon. Quail? Partridge? Pheasant? Perhaps a brace of voles? What would suit for a romantic falcon meal? :newyeartoast:

just wondering,

sbwatcher

kittenface · **Posted:** Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:26 pm

SOUTH BEND IN. UPDATE

By ERIN BLASKO -
4:47 p.m. EST, February 28, 2013

SOUTH BEND -- Guinevere appears to have found a new mate.

The city's resident female peregrine falcon has been spotted in recent weeks hunting downtown with another bird, Carol Riewe, a local raptor rehabilitator, said today.

"They have been seen hunting pigeons together and swooping and diving," Riewe said, "so it looks like somebody has picked up on the widow here and is going to stay."

"And it's time for that," Riewe said, "because normally, in past years, we had egg-laying beginning in the third week of March, the 23rd or 24th, somewhere in that area."

Riewe said she has spotted the pair herself recently. "I have seen them evenings, after dark," she said, "roosting in the west side windows of the Tower Building."

She said she doesn't know if the other bird is banded because she hasn't been able to get a close enough look at it. She said the camera atop County-City Building that is pointed at Guinevere's nest has been disabled since last year because of a wiring problem.

"The roof has to be clear of ice and snow before anybody gets up there" to fix it, she said.

Peregrine falcons keep the same mate year-to-year, and generally don't accept a replacement unless their partner dies or disappears. Guinevere's former longtime mate, Zephyr, died last June in an accident while he was hunting downtown. The two produced several broods over the years.

The pair's last chick, Zoey, flew the coop over the summer, Riewe said.

"She left in late-August, which is what they do," she said. "They get to a point in their development where they just decide they have to move on."

As for Zephyr, Riewe said he is being readied for display.

"Zephyr is going to be taxidermied, and I have given him to Rum Village Nature Center," she said. "And ... the avian biologist for the state agreed that that's a good thing. This is Zephyr's hometown, this is where he should be."
- See more at:

gigi · **Posted:** Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:08 pm

kittenface · **Posted:** Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:15 pm

gigi wrote:

You sbwatcher and marineof2 were the first people I thought of :snowflake6i:

Tsusan · **Posted:** Sat Mar 02, 2013 12:21 pm

I am so glad for Guinevere!! :loveheart:

sbwatcher · **Posted:** Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:21 am

I am very happy for Guinevere too, but I do wish that somehow the nest box could be turned around for future chick safety.

I will keep everyone updated on the South Bend doings :girlluv:

sbwatcher

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 61947

kittenface wrote:

gigi wrote:

You sbwatcher and marineof2 were the first people I thought of :snowflake6i:

Me too, KF...

I wonder if they would be open to either turning the nest box or moving it back...since they haven't been up there yet, its not to late to make changes..do we need to start an email campaign? it took Topeka 2 years of tragedy to finally do something..no sense in that happening here again!!

gigi · **Posted:** Mon Mar 04, 2013 10:19 am

skygirlblue wrote:

kittenface wrote:

gigi wrote:

You sbwatcher and marineof2 were the first people I thought of :snowflake6i:

Me too, KF...

I wonder if they would be open to either turning the nest box or moving it back...since they haven't been up there yet, its not to late to make changes..do we need to start an email campaign? it took Topeka 2 years of tragedy to finally do something..no sense in that happening here again!!

I talked to John about it last year, so I don't think it would hurt to bring it up again.

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2013 SOUTH BEND INDIANA 2013 ~ Guinevere & Zeus

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