Virginia Peregrine Falcon monitoring and management program: Year 2014 report

The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) was believed to be extinct as a breeding species in Virginia by the mid-1960s. Intensive management efforts since the late 1970s have resulted in a known breeding population that has now exceeded 20 pairs. However, most known breeding pairs currently nest on artificial structures and reproductive performance continues to be erratic. The primary objective of this program is to continue to monitor population trends and to improve reproductive performance through active management. The ultimate goal of the program is to recover a population that is self-sustaining. The Virginia breeding population supported 26 known pairs during the 2013 breeding season. Since 1982, the population has exhibited a steady recovery with an average doubling time of 5.4 years. Fifty-six nesting structures were surveyed for Peregrine Falcon activity during the 2013 breeding season. Occupied nesting structures included 10 peregrine towers, 1 ground nest, 1 bridge, 1 navigation tower, and 2 fishing shacks on the Delmarva Peninsula; 6 bridges, 1 power plant stack, and 1 high-rise building in the coastal plain; and 3 natural cliff sites in the mountains. Twenty-six falcon pairs made breeding attempts producing 91 eggs and 50 chicks known to have survived to banding age. The reproductive rate was 2.0 chicks/occupied territory and 2.0 chicks/active territory. Nine falcons representing 18% of the chicks produced in the state were translocated from the coast to the mountains during the 2013 breeding season. This included 8 females and 1 male. All translocated chicks originated on bridges that have a history of poor fledging success. Birds collected from bridge territories were transported to Hogback Mountain in Shenandoah National Park and released in a hacking program

Virginia Peregrine Falcon Monitoring and Management Program: Year 2011 Report

The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) was believed to be extinct as a breeding species in Virginia by the mid-1960s. Intensive management efforts since the late 1970s have resulted in a known breeding population that has now exceeded 20 pairs. However, most known breeding pairs currently nests on artificial structures and reproductive performance continues to be erratic. The primary objective of this program is to continue to monitor population trends and to improve reproductive performance through active management. The ultimate goal of the program is to recover a population that is self-sustaining. The Virginia breeding population supported 25 known pairs during the 2011 breeding season. Since 1982, the population has exhibited a steady recovery with an average doubling time of 5.4 years. Fifty-six nesting structures were surveyed for Peregrine Falcon activity during the 2011 breeding season. Occupied nesting structures included 10 peregrine towers and 2 fishing shacks on the Delmarva Peninsula; 6 bridges, 1 retired ship, 1 power plant stack, and 1 high-rise building in the coastal plain; and 4 natural cliff sites in the mountains. Nineteen falcon pairs made breeding attempts producing 59 eggs and 40 chicks that survived to banding age. Reproductive rate was 2.1 chicks/occupied territory and 2.63 chicks/active territory. Of 14 clutches that were followed completely from laying to fledging, 46 of 49 (93.8%) eggs hatched, 36 of the 44 (81.8%) chicks survived to banding age, and at least 19 fledged successfully. Fourteen falcons representing 35% of the chicks produced in the state were translocated from the coast to the mountains during the 2011 breeding season. This included 5 females and 9 males. Three of these chicks originated on bridges that have a history of poor fledging success. The remaining chicks were from towers along the Delmarva Peninsula. Birds collected from territories were transported to Franklin Cliffs in Shenandoah National Park, and Grandview in New River Gorge National River. The management strategy initiated in 2006 to utilize productivity along the Delmarva to fuel targeted hacks in the mountains was continued in 2011. This strategy meets the objective of both repopulating the mountain range and reducing impacts to sensitive waterbirds

Herschel Observations of Debris Disks from WISE

The \Vide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has just completed a sensitive all-sky survey in photometric bands at 3.4, 4.6,12 and 22 microns. We report on a study of main sequence Hipparcos and Tycho catalog stars within 120 pc with WISE 22 micron emission in excess of photospheric levels. This warm excess emission traces material in the circumstellar region likely to host terrestrial planets and is preferentially found in young systems with ages < 1 Gyr. Nearly a hundred of the WISE new warm debris disk candidates detected among FGK stars are being observed by Herschel/PACS to characterize circumstellar dust. Preliminary results indicate 70 micron detection rates in excess of 80% for these targets, suggesting that most of these systems have both warm and cool dust in analogy to our asteroid and Kuiper belts. In this contribution, we will discuss the WISE debris disk survey and latest results from Herschel observations of these sources

Submillimeter Structure of the Disk of the Butterfly Star

We present a spatially resolved 894 micron map of the circumstellar disk of the Butterfly star in Taurus (IRAS 04302+2247), obtained with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). The predicted and observed radial brightness profile agree well in the outer disk region, but differ in the inner region with an outer radius of ~80-120 AU. In particular, we find a local minimum of the radial brightness distribution at the center, which can be explained by an increasing density / optical depth combined with the decreasing vertical extent of the disk towards the center. Our finding indicates that young circumstellar disks can be optically thick at wavelengths as long as 894 micron. While earlier modeling lead to general conclusions about the global disk structure and, most importantly, evidence for grain growth in the disk (Wolf, Padgett, & Stapelfeldt 2003), the presented SMA observations provide more detailed constraints for the disk structure and dust grain properties in the inner, potentially planet-forming region (inside ~80-120 AU) vs. the outer disk region (~120-300 AU).Comment: 6 pages, emulatepaj, Accepted to ApJ

Crystal Structure of (E)-2-[(2- bromo-3-pyridyl)methylidene]-6-methoxy-3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1-one and 3-[(E)-(6- methoxy-3,4-dihydronaphth-2-oylidene)methyl]-1H-pyridin-2-one

The title compounds C17H14BrNO2, (I), and C17H15NO3, (II), were obtained from the reaction of 6-meth­oxy-3,4-di­hydro-2H-naphthalen-1-one and 2-bromo­nicotinaldehyde in ethanol. Compound (I) was the expected product and compound (II) was the oxidation product from air exposure. In the crystal structure of compound (I), there are no short contacts or hydrogen bonds. The structure does display [pi]-[pi] inter­actions between adjacent benzene rings and adjacent pyridyl rings. Compound (II) contains two independent mol­ecules, A and B, in the asymmetric unit; both are non-planar, the dihedral angles between the meth­oxy­benzene and 1H-pyridin-2-one mean planes being 35.07 (9)° in A and 35.28 (9)°in B. In each mol­ecule, the 1H-pyridin-2-one unit participates in inter­molecular N-H...O hydrogen bonding to another mol­ecule of the same type (A to A or B to B). The structure also displays [pi]-[pi] inter­actions between the pyridyl and the benzene rings of non-equivalent mol­ecules (viz., A to B and B to A)

FALCONTRAK: Final Report

FalconTrak is a cooperative project designed to answer questions about the movements and survival of Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) within the mid-Atlantic region. We tracked 61 falcons between 2001 and 2011 with solar-powered, satellite transmitters to investigate the spatial dynamics of their annual cycle and to identify causes of mortality. Birds included 40 females and 21 males from coastal bridges (20), nesting towers (36), a high-rise building (2), and a captive breeder (3). Birds were either released from mountain hack sites (31) or allowed to fledge in situ (30). We received 66,343 signals of usable quality from transmitters. Movement patterns were used to subdivide the annual cycle into biologically meaningful units. Periods used included 1) Pre-dispersal, 2) post-dispersal, 3) fall migration, 4) winter, 5) spring migration, and 6) summer. More than half of the falcons that survived into the fall period migrated south of the mid-Atlantic region. Individuals did not change their migratory status between years. On average, southbound migration lasted 23 days and birds traveled 3,106 km. Fledging location had a dramatic influence on both migratory route and the location of winter home ranges. Birds that were fledged on the coast were the only birds to migrate to the tropics. Two of these birds crossed over to the Pacific Coast and wintered in Panama and Columbia. Birds from Shenandoah National Park and Harpers Ferry remained in the mid-Atlantic or migrated relatively short distances to the southern Piedmont. Birds fledged from the New River Gorge were the only birds to migrate down the Appalachians and winter along the Gulf Coast. Birds that did not migrate settled within winter home ranges 1.5 months earlier than those that migrated. Birds established winter home ranges over a wide geographic area ranging from western Long Island, NY to Buenaventura, Columbia (3 to 41° N. latitude). All of the non-migratory birds moved north and east of their fledging sites, most wintering near water in the northern mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. Some of these birds established permanent home ranges. Most of the migratory birds moved to southern latitudes and established home ranges near major coastlines. Winter home ranges (50% kernel) varied widely between individuals ranging from 101 to 2,362 square kilometers . Spring migration was more rapid and direct compared to fall migration averaging only 15 days. Arrival within the summer home range was in May following the first spring migration and in March following the second. Summer home ranges were confined to the mid-Atlantic region and were distributed from Virginia to upstate New York. Five individuals were tracked to breeding territories along the eastern shore of Virginia, near Charles Town, WV, near Baltimore, MD, and on Long Island, NY. Cause of death was assigned to 24 falcons. Of these 11 were believed to be predated, 7 flew into man-made structures, 3 were killed in storms, 1 was hit by a truck, 1 drowned, and 1 was lost at sea. Predators believed to account for the most mortality included Great Horned Owls and adult Peregrine Falcons. Birds flew into transmission lines, towers, a high-rise building, and the side of a barn. The bird lost at sea was flying out over the open ocean and was lost near Bermuda