Lost Tiercel Passage Peregrine NJ/PA

[pj_elia]

I'm posting this for a friend. The bird was last seen tail chasing a pigeon in Warren County NJ. The transmitter frequency is 216.014 and the batteries should have 2 more weeks of life. It has in the past made a trip across the Delaware River into PA, so if any eastern PA falconers can check for a signal. That would be great.

if anyone sees or hears anything, call or text 908-303-0979

Thanks,

Paul

[BLeonard]

Paul, I just thought that I'd let you know, I tried. After seeing your post about 8 days after the fact, I hooked up my receiver as I got ready to head to a local farmers' market. Lancaster, Pa. isn't that far from Jersey as a peregrine flies!

It's a dreary day with off and on drizzle, which could be good. Not a great day to do a lot of flying. If I get a signal maybe the bird won't be on the move. After 5 miles, I'm approaching the final turn to the market when? ? ? Holly hell, a beep! I swerve into a farm driveway, disconnect the omni, jump out and hook up the yagi! No signal. nothing! Get back into the car and go to switch antennas when I hear a beep. The thing is, no antenna is hooked up! Well, for whatever reason, my wipers picked that time to "beep" during the 1 in. of travel.

Sorry, Bob

[rri32701]

Has this bird been found?

[Jethrow]

Try Warren County Landfill , Oxford, NJ, any Cattle Feed Farms within 30 Miles. If its an imprint, notify county dispatch. Nearest City on PA side is Easton, Bushkill, Allentown. Since we had Southern followed by Northwesten winds may want to look upstate.

Had a peregrine/merlin years ago that went on the lam for 30 days, recovered in a NJ parking lot eating a pigeon on top of car. They notified police dispatch who then in turn contact a local falconer. Recovered within 20 miles from original flight.

Its still in the area.

Good luck - See you at the NJ Meet

Jethrow

[pj_elia]

Thanks for all that helped to either look or spread the word. The tierce is still lost but hopefully alive and thriving somewhere. My friend searched daily for 2 weeks all the local farms and fields. He's probably in PA or NJ hunting pigeons, doves, and starlings at a farm. Though the landfill in Oxford is a good suggestion, I'll let him know in case he hasn't searched that yet. The bird was lost in Oxford when it chased a pigeon out of site.

[jmseegar]

If this is a passage tundra peregrine it's probably in south America.
Jim Seegar

[pj_elia]

If this is a passage tundra peregrine it's probably in south America.
Jim Seegar


It could be, but I would think a tundra lost 2 months after the migration, would find a local food source and then head north in the spring.

[joekoz]

There is an underlying story associated with this lose, and a lesson to be learned for anyone fortunate enough to trap and fly their first Passage Peregrine.

The falconer who lost this bird isn’t new to the game. He’s been a falconer for over 30 years, and although this was his first Passage Peregrine, he’s trapped and flown lots of Broad Wings, Short Wings, and many Merlins over the years.

He had been free flying and throwing pigeons for this bird for about 4 weeks before it took off for the second time. The first time was in the late afternoon, on the farm close to where he lives in New Jersey with its first free flight. He subsequently found it the next day across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. He had no difficulty finding it because over the years he’s had lots of experience fine tuning his telemetry skills.

When he lost sight of it, and lost it the 2nd time, he immediately pulled out his receiver and didn’t get a signal, and realized he had a problem. After trapping the bird, he purchased a “New” transmitter and is certain that it crapped out on him. Within 36 hours of him having lost it, I went out and spend 6 hours in the area where he lost it, and traveled to the area where he previously found it in PA, and couldn’t get a valid signal. As Paul mentioned, he searched daily for 2 weeks all the local farms and fields hoping to spot it. You never know with all of the feral pigeons around the farms within a 15 mile radius of where he lost it, it still might show up.

If you ask him what he would do differently if he had the chance, and herein lies the lesson, he would have had a second transmitter on the bird.

As a side note. I owe everything I know about trapping Merlins to Paul, and everything I know about flying them to this falconer. After I purchased and read the “Passage Merlin”, I loaned it to this falconer when he mentioned to me that he would be trapping and flying another Merlin this season. As he and I were discussing flying Merlins this year, I encouraged him to apply for one of NJ’s 2 Peregrine Permits, and he did. When his name was pulled he was ecstatic. To say that this loss hit him hard is an understatement. I’m hoping Paul’s thought that it might still be hanging around proves to be the case. It would be great to see this falconer get his lifetime dream bird back.

[Jethrow]

Joe, you know as well as I, anything can happen, I had many transmitters crap out on me. I learned never to rely on telementry when training or flying. There were occasions where I called the Falcon in and discovered that the transmitter stopped working.

Yes, a fresh Passage Peregrine can vanish if you don't have its constant attention. Before you know it, the Falcon is checking off on its next intended meal.

Jethrow

[Bird_Dog]

I have direct experience losing and recovering a tundra albeit a second year bird. The falcon escaped in November. My assumption at the time was that it probably caught a pigeon or grackle, took a bath, and took off to parts unknown never to be seen again. To my surprise, she took up residence in the vicinity of my local duck hawking ground. About six weeks later, I received a report of a banded peregrine catching ducks nearby. I went to place and time of day of the report. Swung my lure for 15 minutes and miraculous my tundra appeared. She was about +100 grams above her trapping weight. In addition, Brian McDonald told me of other recoveries during his time flying passage tundras, so it can be done.

-- Scott

[dirthawker12]

Here's.."Hoping" Paul finds that passage longwing.
keep at it..have a live piegon ready.

[rri32701]

Thanks for the explaination Joe.I am flying a passage tiercel as well .When I hear about someone losing a passage falcon it makes me paranoid.This sounds like something that really had little to do with it being a passage and more to do with it being a young bird and bad luck.I also bought a new transmitter(powermax) for my new bird and a backpack.I've had to do 2 telemetry drills and both times he had a grackle within 1/2 mile.Just out of curiosity what kind of transmitter was it and how was it mounted.Good luck finding him.

[Jethrow]

Thanks for the explaination Joe.I am flying a passage tiercel as well .When I hear about someone losing a passage falcon it makes me paranoid.This sounds like something that really had little to do with it being a passage and more to do with it being a young bird and bad luck.I also bought a new transmitter(powermax) for my new bird and a backpack.I've had to do 2 telemetry drills and both times he had a grackle within 1/2 mile.Just out of curiosity what kind of transmitter was it and how was it mounted.Good luck finding him.

Telemetry should not be a routine drill, if your going on frequent telemetry drills, you need to change things up (setups-training) because there will be a day when you have one/two working transmitters but your receiver fails. Telemetry is a fall back, not part of flying fast and loose (not saying that you are and I'm guilty of the same). Having good game setups are critical otherwise checking off/telemtry chases will be the drill.

Jethrow