Pen Door Opened On Own, Fledge Watch Cancelled
The pen door opened, inadvertently, sometime this morning between 7:00 – 8:15 am, either on its own or perhaps through the flapping action of one of the chicks (at least one of the birds had been previously observed flying up onto the pen door). Today the chicks are 42 days old. Peregrine Falcons typically fledge the nest between 40-44 days old, therefore at this point, we will not intervene and let the chicks fledge when they are ready to. So far this morning we’ve verified that one of the chicks is still present on the ledge, perched atop the pen, as of this writing. The other chick’s whereabouts are currently unknown.
Since the birds are already out of the pen and the timing of their fledging is unpredictable at this point, we have cancelled the formal Fledge Watch. However, we will monitor the birds on an informal basis until they fledge.