Niagara Falls

Wednesday October 18, 2000
Michael and Nancy van der Poorten report:  On Sunday, October 8, we were at Niagara Falls (Canadian side) and heard the familiar 'ki ki ki'. Looking up, we saw a peregrine dive-bombing a much larger bird (possibly a red-tailed hawk). The action continued for a few minutes; the hawk flew on and the peregrine disappeared from our view.

Saturday October 7, 2000
Bruce Massey reports:  Spent the day down at Niagara Falls and found who I believe to be Father Henny soaring over Goat Island.

Wednesday August 9, 2000
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  Daylight broke around 6 am today in Niagara, and the peregrines were in action just minutes later.  First to appear on the scene were Amelia and the young male, circling around the base of the Skylon Tower's pod.  Perhaps they had roosted there for the night.  Around 6:15 two peregrines, one female, and one male, were seen flying along the top of the Goat Island cliff face.  It was still too dark to see colours clearly (especially with the mist from the falls taken into account), but both birds flew with fairly stiff, short wingbeats typical of juveniles.

About twenty minutes later, these two birds shifted to the Canadian side of the gorge, allowing us to finally confirm that there are indeed at least two juveniles at this site this year.  Both the male and the female spent several minutes perching on a variety of perches overlooking the old Hydro building below the Horseshoe Falls.  The female then swooped up to the top of the falls and across to Goat Island, where she harassed some of the resident gulls.  Meanwhile, her brother down toward the water and headed downstream, also attacking some gulls along the way.  A few minutes after that, Henny arrived on the scene, streaking along the face of Goat Island and spooking many roosting birds into flight.  It almost looked like he was trying to put prey in the air for the female to attack.  By shortly after 7 am, all of the peregrines had disappeared from view - the morning show was over.

Thursday August 3, 2000
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  Mark Nash and I made an early morning trip to Niagara Falls today to see whether we could catch the local juvenile for inclusion in Project Track-'em.  We arrived around 5:30 am, and began preparations for setting out our traps.  A couple of hours later, everything was in place, but we still had not seen any sign of the peregrines.  During that time, however, Mark Kandel was able to show us the ledge where the peregrines nested this year - roughly in the middle of the face of Goat Island, on a partly vegetated ledge.  The nest is not visible from any point on Goat Island, and can only be seen from the Canadian side of the gorge with a good telescope (and even then, spotting the birds can remain a challenge!)

It was around 9:40 am when we first spotted Henny, flying over the gorge from the direction of the American Falls to over Victoria Park Restaurant on the Canadian side.  Less than five minutes later, the juvenile male put in his first appearance.  For 15 to 20 minutes, he flew back and forth over Goat Island between the two falls.  At times, he seemd to be playing with the wind, reacting instinctively to the air vortices being created on either side of him.  On a couple of occasions, he made short stoop at a high-flying gull, as if to warn it to stay out of his air space.  Eventually he landed beside a small mountain ash tree growing on the cliff near the west end of Goat Island.

The trapping attempts proved unsuccessful today, in large part because gulls from the Goat Island breeding colony were quicker to react to our bait than the peregrines were.  Having been able to observe the situation in some detail, we are now assessing what alternative capture techniques might prove more effective at this site.

Thursday July 20, 2000
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  Just like a year ago, it seems that the Niagara peregrine family is becoming conspicuous in July.  Until yesterday I had only heard reports of a single chick at this location, but Nadine Litwin tells me that just over a week ago she, Bob Chambers, and Corey from the Niagara Falls Review saw at least two chicks playing together.  While it appeared that at one point in time the 2 were the same size, later in the same evening it appeared that 2 were different sizes, so Nadine felt they were probably watching a total of 3 chicks.  We are curious to learn more about the success of this year's nesting, and encourage anyone in the area to try to spot the fledglings in the near future to help determine how many there actually are.  Please e-mail any reports to us!

Tuesday July 18, 2000
Deborah Migneault reports:  Today, July 18, 2000 I went down to Queen Victoria Park for a walk with my dog.  At approximately 10:00 am across from the Victoria Park Restaurant I spotted 2 Falcons down below on top of the hydro building.  By the time I was able to get my binoculars out one flew away.  I focused on the one that was left and it definitely is one of the chick(s).  It flew around, squawked a few times and did not have the neatest landing.  I was looking around for an adult and eventually spotted one below on one of the 'rods' that protrude from the cliffs side.  I was unable to determine if it was Amelia or Henny, but it definitely was an adult.  The chick flew towards Table Rock and along the gorge side (Canadian) and back again.  Then as it flew back towards Table Rock again, I lost sight of it against the cliff.  I only observed one chick, and one adult that did not take flight at all.  Tomorrow I hope to have more of a show!  

Thursday July 6, 2000
Nadine Litwin reports:  Today, July 6, about 12:50pm I checked Goat Island, close to Terrapin Point.  And I watched Amelia fly with a male youngster.  Three gulls caught my eye, very near Terrapin Point (Canadian Falls), because they looked like they were trying to mob something.  When I checked with my binoculars, it was a small peregrine.  Then Amelia came into my field of view ... I knew it was her from her size, and both happened to fly in good sunlight just then, so I could see that the little guy was also a *young* little guy.  Anyway, the gulls fell back, and Amelia and her youngster flew together, close to the wall, not any great distance away.  They did the kind of up-and-down swooping thing we see them do when they're learning to fly.  Then it disappeared into the trees at the top of the cliff.

Amelia landed on an outcropping further down the wall, and faced outwards.  I could see her so clearly, it's like she was *daring* the gulls to come in.  After a while she did a clean sweep of the area, the gulls fell back some more, and she headed up to the trees where her youngster had landed.  No other peregrines flew at this time.

Tuesday June 20, 2000
Mark Kandel reports:  Rick Stevens saw a chick on Friday. The first sighting of a chick that I am aware of. It was well feathered. Probably greater than four weeks old.   We will not be banding this site this year obviously. The chick(s) should be showing themselves more and more over the next few days and weeks as they prepare to fledge.

Wednesday April 5, 2000
John Fletcher reports:  Saturday morning (April 1) I went down to the falls to try to get a look at the falcons and maybe help find the nest site.  Around 8:30 I spotted a peregrine above the river opposite the skylon tower.  After 2 or 3 minutes of cruising over the gorge it climbed to the top of the skylon and perched on the support for the mast.  The bird made four flights from the mast to the gorge and back again in the next hour and a half.  I'm pretty sure it was hunting but I didn't see a kill.  I lost sight of the bird around 10:00 when it made it's way into a very bright sun.  I was hoping to see it head towards a possible nest site but no such luck.  I thought maybe the continual returns to the Skylon were a hint but it is a very good location to hunt from and never once did the bird move from the mast to a ledge where a nest might be. 

I returned April 5 from 3:30 to 5:00 without a sighting.  Perhaps the lack of activity in the air is a sign of a well tended nest site.

Monday March 27, 2000
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  As reported by Anne Yagi, there is a pair of peregrines back in the area of Niagara Falls.  While their identity has not been confirmed yet, but there is a good chance they are again Amelia Earhart and Father Hennepin.  We hope to confirm their identity over the coming weeks.  However, even more important than identifying who they are, is where they are.  In 1999, the peregrines nested successfully somewhere near the falls, but at the time we did not know where they were nesting.  We have since heard from reliable sources that they were in fact nesting on Goat Island in between the American and Canadian Falls (and therefore had crossed over into American territory!).  They may nest again at that location this spring, return to their original 1998 site on the Canadian side of the gorge, or seek out yet a third place to nest.  Regardless of where they go, we would like to know where they are setting up, so that we can work together with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and/or New York State Department of Environment and Conservation to ensure that the nest is protected.

You can help us locate (and identify) these birds!  If you happen to be in the Niagara area in the next several weeks, see whether you can spot any peregrines near the falls.  If you have any luck, please report to us by e-mail as much information as you can about your sighting.  Please read all the details of our "Great Gorge Mystery", as posted at the top of this page.

Friday March 17, 2000
Anne Yagi reports:  I went to Table rock today to check out our latest arrivals. I observed both male and female peregrine falcons on two separate occasions above Table Rock, terrorizing seagulls. Putting on a great show I might add.   Definitely territorial behavior in the same area as 1998.  I did not see a scrape. I saw them cruise both sides of the river as well.