Asaf Mordechai, an inspector from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, received an emergency call on Saturday about a falcon fledgling trapped in a pigeon net installed on a residential building in Holon.
Due to the nuisance caused by pigeons, many homeowners install nets to prevent their entry, and apparently, the net was installed while the falcons were away from their nest.
The parent birds were unable to enter through the net to feed them. A fledgling is a young bird with grown feathers but still depends on its parents for food and protection while it practices flying until it reaches independence.
"With the help of the building committee and a technician who rappelled down to the nest located on the eighth floor under air conditioning units, we carefully rescued four falcon fledglings," Mordechai explained. "I transported them to the Israeli Wildlife Hospital."
"Preliminary findings indicate that the net was installed a few days ago. The falcons were likely not noticed during the installation because the nest was situated beneath the air conditioner units," he added.
Falcons are relatively small and agile birds of prey. The common kestrel is widespread in Israel and can be seen in both urban areas and natural habitats. Other kestrel species include the desert kestrel, the lesser kestrel, and the lanner falcon, which weighs between 650-800 grams.
The lanner falcon is endangered in Israel, and a breeding nucleus was first established in the 1980s. It was transferred in the 2000s to the Hai-Bar Carmel Nature Reserve. Young kestrels are fitted with transmitters before being released back into the wild, and today there are only a few pairs of this species in the wild.