Canadian Peregrine Foundation -- Etobicoke Archives: May 1999

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ETOBICOKE HOME PAGE ARCHIVES

May 1999

Monday May 31
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The big news today is that we have confirmed Friday June 4 as the banding date for the Etobicoke peregrines. Like last year, the banding will be a public event, and will take place in the lobby of the Mutual Group Centre, just outside the Falcon Watch Centre in the East Tower. The chicks will be retrieved from the ledge shortly after 10 am, and we expect them to be in the lobby by 10:30. The banding will last for roughly 30 minutes, and then the chicks will be brought back to the nest. Everyone is invited to come out on Friday morning to take advantage of this rare opportunity to see the peregrine chicks up close.

At the moment, the peregrine chicks are still growing of course, but not that much has changed in the past few days. All three remain on the far side of the box. Like last year, they are respecting the invisible line at the front of the box, and so they can't walk around it, and are not yet strong enough to climb back in. This will likely change in the coming days.

The Etobicoke Webcam is also malfunctioning again. This time it seems to be a different problem, but again we are working on it, and we hope to have it solved soon.

Friday May 28
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The Etobicoke chicks are becoming more mobile. Joan Boardman called just before 9 am today to report that the first chick had climbed out to the far side of the box. Apparently these chicks like to stay together, since Daniel Rayman later told me that the other two had joined the first at 9:30 and 10:45 respectively.

Thursday May 27
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The Etobicoke Webcam is running smoothly again - thank you for your patience. The three chicks are now 17/18 days old, but are still all in the nest box. Last year Marco had climbed out to the far side of the box after just two weeks. For most of this morning Alberta was been on the nest box with the chicks, trying to cover them up at times, but mostly just standing on the edge watching them. Around 11 am Toby brought in food and fed the chicks himself, while Alberta stood behind them and watched.

The unhatched egg is now gone. Daniel Rayman reports that on Tuesday afternoon around 3:30, Alberta appeared to be feeding pieces of eggshell to the three chicks. Because the chicks have grown so large, the egg had been hidden behind them much of the time. As a result, we don't know when the egg broke, or how. It could be that the chicks stepped (or fell) on it, or that the gas pressure inside it had built up to the point where it essentially exploded. Whatever the case may be, it seems that the reason for it not hatching will remain a mystery.

Monday May 24
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The Etobicoke Webcam has been frozen for the past couple of days, due to a computer problem. We have now found out what is wrong, and hope to have it back up and running some time tomorrow. Meanwhile, activities at the nest continue to unfold as expected - the chicks are growing noticeably, but remain quite clumsy. The unhatched egg is still visible at times, but keeps getting pushed around by the chicks.

Wednesday May 19
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The three chicks continue to grow rapidly. Periodic checks of the Etobicoke Webcam show that Alberta is now spending much of her time standing on the edge of the box watching the chicks.

Monday May 17
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Unfortunately the fourth egg did not hatch over the weekend, and we must now conclude that it is sterile. This is the first time that one of Alberta and Toby's eggs has not hatched, and we are naturally curious what went wrong. One theory is that this egg may have been exposed to the snow during the freak storm on April 11, and that the embryo may have frozen. Of course there are also many other possibilities. We hope to recover this egg and pass it on to the Ministry of Natural Resources for analysis.

Meanwhile, the three chicks are already growing visibly. They have started to stand upright for brief periods, and are even moving around a bit. Alberta is now beginning to spend some of her time on the edge of the nest box overlooking the chicks, rather than sitting over them. Toby is still providing most of the food for Alberta and the chicks.

Friday May 14
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Many observers watched the Etobicoke family today from 6 am through to past 8 pm. Of course everyone was hoping to see the final egg hatch today, but that did not happen. In fact, we have not even seen a crack on it yet. Tomorrow will be the 35th day of incubation for this egg - it's about time for a hatch.

Today Alberta and Toby really dedicated themselves to feeding the chicks. At least eight feedings were observed, and the chicks appeared to be hungry each time. Observers continue to be amazed at how gingerly the chicks are fed by the adults.

Now that there are chicks in the nest, Alberta seems to be more protective than ever. Around 2:20 this afternoon, Ian Dalton reported an osprey flying past, well to the south of Bloor. Alberta suddenly left the nest and headed straight for the osprey to chase it away, but soon returned.

In the evening, Alberta left the chicks unattended for several minutes around 8 pm. I was amazed to see that these ~5 day old chicks were already making attempts to preen themsleves, while still propping themselves up on the egg because they don't yet have the strength to stand upright.

Wednesday May 13
Tom Moreau and Diane Brockman report: At 17:50, we visited the Falcon Watch Centre and found a feeding in progress. Alberta provided the 3 chicks (and herself) with a small supper before settling down on them. The entree appeared to be sparrow.

At 20:05, the chicks were alone and the remaining egg was in plain view. Alberta soon returned with a half-eaten carcass. It had no legs or wings; the plumage was predominantly grey. She fed herself on the far side of the box and then hopped into it. She fed 2 of the chicks for about 10 minutes, favouring one over the other by about 60:40. The remaining chick appeared disinterested in the proceedings. Alberta also fed herself in between servings to the chicks. She then left with the remainder of the food and Toby arrived within about 2 minutes and hopped into the nest box. he stood over the babies for about 1 or 2 minutes and prepared to settle down on them when Alberta reappeared. He hastily gave way, assumed a submissive posture, backed away and then flew off. Alberta then gathered up the brood for the night. A wind was evident, based upon the extensive ruffling of her feathers.

Wednesday May 12
Marcel Gahbauer reports: As of this afternoon little had changed - Alberta continued to incubate the remaining egg and brood the three chicks for most of the day. Tomorrow will be the 33rd day of incubation for egg number 4, so we may well have a hatch in the morning.

Tuesday May 11
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today was a much quieter day in Etobicoke. No new hatches, and Alberta seemed to be much more relaxed. At one point early this afternoon she remained in the same position for an hour and a half - a far cry from her restlessness the past few days.

Both yesterday and today we observed some interesting behaviour with respect to feeding. Toby would arrive at the nest box without any food, then fly away again. Alberta would then leave, at which point Toby returned to stand over the chicks. Within seconds Alberta came back with food, displacing Toby and then feeding the chicks. After a few minutes, Alberta took the remaining food away, and Toby again stood guard until she returned. This behaviour is in contrast to whatt we have often observed in the past, where Toby would bring the food right to Alberta at the nest. It was as if he was coming to the nest and saying "I've got some food for you on the other ledge - if you want it, go get it yourself!".

Although still tiny and weak, the chicks are already capable of indicating their hunger. When Alberta flew off to get the food, one of the chicks raised its head up and gaped wide, as if begging for food. It didn't do this for long, though. Soon it's head flopped back down and the chicks again became one tangled heap leaning on the remaining egg.

Monday May 10
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Alberta and Toby are now the proud parents of three chicks. The third one emerged from the egg this morning around 10 am. From early in the morning, we had seen that the third egg was cracking. By 9:40, the crack extended more than halfway around the egg's circumference. Alberta spent the next 15 minutes rocking back and forth over the eggs and chicks quite vigorously. It almost seemed as if she was trying to break the egg open. She stood partway up at 9:58 am, revealing a tuft of pink feathers under her, but it wasn't until about 10:15 that we finally had a clear view of the newly hatched chick. At that point, Alberta pulled the eggshell out from under her, and began eating it.

I stayed in front of the monitor until beyond 12:30, hoping that Toby would eventually come in with food, but I waited in vain. Throughout the morning, Alberta never completely stood up - the best we could do was catch glimpses of one chick or another. When I left, I walked out to Bloor to see whether I could spot Toby (he had been reported perched on the roof above the nest earlier). I didn't see him, but around 12:50 I saw Alberta fly away from the nest and circle casually over Bloor. Three times she headed back toward the nest, then fluttered against the glass windows and fluttered halfway down to the ground. We saw her perform this peculiar behaviour several times last year, but I haven't seen it myself yet this year. I was quite surprised to see her do it today - after being on the nest without food for so long, I would have expected her focus to be on hunting, not playing around.

A few more details about yesterday's hatches: the first chick emerged in the dark at some point between Saturday night and Sunday morning. We think it was an hour or two before dawn on Sunday, since Alberta was just beginning to eat the eggshell as dawn broke. A good crowd of people gathered yesterday to watch the peregrines, and several were on hand to watch the second chick emerge.

The chicks were first fed shortly before 2 pm. Alberta ripped off tiny pieces of flesh and gently fed them to the two chicks, who barely had the strength to hold their heads up, but tried nonetheless. Even once the feeding was over and she flew away with the leftover food, the chicks continued to sway their heads back and forth, gaping beaks open, as if begging for more food.

Toby's involvement to this point has been limited to briefly guarding the chicks while Alberta is away from the nest. He tends to stand back and watch them, rather than settling down right over them like Alberta does. A few times he has come in to the ledge while Alberta was present, but she made it clear that he was not welcome, and he quickly took the hint. It seems like the behaviours observed last year have not changed much.

Sunday May 9
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Two chicks have hatched! Right on cue for Mother's Day, the first chick hatched at some time this morning. Joan Boardman called me shortly after 8 am to report that it was visible in the nest, and that its feathers were already dry at that time, suggesting that it had been out of the egg for a while, likely hatching during the night. We will check our videotape later to confirm this.

Later, Tom Moreau phoned to say that a second chick had hatched around 9:45 am. Alberta of course continued to cover the eggs and chicks for most of the morning, but she did get off the nest a couple of times, allowing the gathering crowd at the Falcon Watch Centre to get a good look at the young chicks. We will have more information on today's events later today or tomorrow.

Ellen Donnelly reports: We headed out to Etobicoke and got there just after 6 p.m. Toby was on the ledge under the camera, facing inward. When we got to the monitor, Alberta was incubating, but quite restless-- moving the remaining eggs around a lot. So we got a couple of quick looks at the chicks. Then, at 6:45 to our great joy, Toby arrived with dinner. Somehow I was expecting regurgitated food. Nope-- Alberta got right in there, ripping bits of meat off this bird carcass and shoving it at the tiny beaks in turn. It was amazing to watch. Tough little guys!! We could see the one nearest the camera flap his tiny wing whenever he was fed. Alberta finally flew off with what remained of the bird, and the two chicks collapsed into a little heap against each other and blotted out. The one little guy was still optimistically opening and closing his beak as he went down. It was all very sweet, in a very carnivorous sort of way.

Anyway, I presume that one of the parents was just off camera, but it seemed a very long time before Alberta returned. The chicks look so vulnerable when they are alone, and I was getting really concerned. By the time we left at 7:15, Alberta had settled in and seemed much less restless. Every time we could see the eggs we looked for signs of cracking, but couldn't make anything out.

Saturday May 8
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Alberta and Toby are still keeping us in suspense, but I think it won't be much longer until the first hatch. Around 3 pm today, Alberta rotated the eggs, and I noticed that there appeared to be a small crack (about 5 mm or 1/4" long) near the end of one of them. We observed the same thing on a couple of occasions last year, and in each case the egg then hatched during the night. We have the videotapes recording until dark and starting again at dawn, so hopefully this hatch will happen either before or after the night.

For a while today the peregrines gave the volunteers at the Falcon Watch Centre a good scare - they had arranged the eggs so that one was completely hidden, and everyone was wondering what could have happened to the missing egg. Eventually Alberta turned the eggs enough so that the fourth one could be seen again, and there were signs of relief all around.

Alberta was quite restless on the eggs in the afternoon, but today it was cool and cloudy. It's quite possible that she does now feel the chicks moving inside the eggs. There was one occasion in particular where she seemed suddenly startled and stood halfway up much more quickly than she normally does when leaving the eggs.

Friday May 7
Stacey Withrow reports: As of mid-afternoon, there was still no hatch. There was a bit of excitement earlier this afternoon when Alberta took off to attack some passing turkey vultures. She made several passes at them, and they were only able to escape by climbing up higher than her. Toby incubated the eggs while Alberta chased the intruders.

Thursday May 6
Marcel Gahbauer reports: No hatch yet, but we must be getting close. Today marked the 34th day of incubation for the first of the four eggs; peregrine eggs typically hatch after 33 to 35 days of full incubation. We are now monitoring the site during all daylight hours in the hopes of seeing the first chick hatch.

Toby and Alberta continue to alternate on the nest, and as usual Toby seems more relaxed while incubating than Alberta. The only noticeable change in behaviour over the past couple of days is that Toby has taken to perching on top of the video camera. Each time he lands on it, it shudders noticeably, and it even shakes somewhat when he shifts his position on the camera. Fortunately the camera is securely installed, but I would still feel better if he perched below it instead.

This evening Alberta left the nest shortly after 8 pm, and seemed to take some food from Toby before flying off. Toby then climbed into the box, walked carefully around the eggs and settled in to incubate. He was still there shortly before 9 pm, by which time it was too dark to see any more.

Tuesday May 4
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Several observers have told me that Alberta has been more restless than normal the past couple of days. Some wonder whether she can now feel the chicks moving inside the eggs, since hatching is rapidly approaching (it could happen any day now, although it may be as long as 4 or 5 days until the first one cracks open). This is possible, but it has also been observed that she is most active in the morning, and that when Toby comes on in the afternoon he sits quietly on the eggs. I suspect it may have been the hot sun (up to 24 C / 75 F) the past few mornings which was making her uncomfortable.

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