WoodmenLife Will Not See Falcon Chicks in 2023
This time of year, we are normally excitedly welcoming new residents to the WoodmenLife Tower: Freshly hatched falcon chicks. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case for 2023.
Though our falcon pair, Cheveyo and Ave’, laid four eggs in April, it is unlikely at this point that they will hatch. Ave’ has been diligently incubating her brood. She and Cheveyo have been taking shifts, as is normal for peregrines, but Cheveyo has not been sitting on the eggs regularly. It’s possible the eggs were not viable from the start. It’s also possible that since this is a young pair, inexperience is to blame. Regardless, we have passed our hatch window, making it unlikely that we will see eyasses (baby falcons) this year.
“I think it is open to speculation what went wrong,” said Joel Jorgensen, Nongame Bird Program Manager at Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. “Hopefully if this pair remains in place, and if there is a different outcome next year, we’ll have a better idea if inexperience may have been the primary reason for failure this year.”
We will be crossing our fingers for a successful falcon season in 2024. Visit https://www.woodmenlife.org/falcons/ for more WoodmenLife peregrine information.