King St. brood is doing well.
I see in less than a day the four made a dash for the area behind the pillar to shade themselves from the hot sun. Best viewing via webcam is now, early evening.
The Sheraton eyases are doing well. This afternoon a quick check on the four, found them fast asleep. This one appears to be doing the signature peregrine “stoop” in it’s sleep. If you look closely, you can see the left leg extended outward.
The second image taken around 10:00p.m. One of the eyases looking outward while one of the adults looks on.
We are still awaiting confirmation for a banding date and will post here as soon as we have this information. We are anticipating that it will be on May 28, or 29th.
Stayed Tuned.
Bill and I were a little late arriving today. We finally made it to the Lift Bridge around 2:30pm and were happy to see Barry and Linda back on duty once again.
“Cirrus” was busy cleaning her prey on one of the picnic tables while “Sir” watched from the Hamilton Hydro Tower. “Cirrus” delivered the prey to the nest box at 2:40pm. It didn’t take too long to feed the little ones as she departed with the prey at 2:49pm (Photo A) and took the remains to the Hamilton Hydro Tower for storage. At 3:50pm we watched “Sir” enjoy a meal from a cache on one of the picnic tables while “Cirrus” watched from the cable arm on the Hamilton Tower. After “Sir” had eaten his share, he delivered the remains to the nest box (Photo B). I guess the little ones weren’t hungry as he left with the prey again (Photo C) and returned it to a picnic table for later.
Unfortunately, still no little white heads were visible. All was quiet when we left at 4:15pm.
I had this post ready to go last night and then my computer died
With a huge thank you to Kariann in Michigan USA, we have received some great news about Miriam and Tonga, two Canadian produced peregrines that have not only beat the mortality odds of survival, but have continued to go on and produce their own families in the USA.
Miriam (blk 89/H) successfully hatched three male peregrines last season in 2008 and is still paired with the same male (Allegro) at the Whittier Apartments in Detroit Michigan. She is currently incubating. Tonga (blk 85/H) successfully hatched three peregrines last season in 2008 (2 male and 1 female) and is still paired with an unbanded male at the Blue Water Bridge site in Port Huron Michigan. We have a new Peregrine nesting at our DTE Monroe Powerplant, we are yet to hear any origin information (blk 8/K).
Kariann, SE Michigan Peregrine Falcon Coordinator DNR.
Miriam was hacked-out and released to the wild from the CPF’s Richmond Hill Hack site in 2003, see CPF Project Track-Em and Project Release sections on the CPF web site at - http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/programs/trackem/track2003.html All 3 hacked birds survived and fledged and were closely monitored by the hack site attendants until they were finally hunting on their own and later disappeared by mid October of that year. Miriam was also involved in the CPF’s Project Track-Em and was tracked by satellite up and until she got into trouble in Detroit Mich. USA. Miriam was later found and rescued the following winter of 2003-2004 in Michigan USA during a bad winter storm of freezing rain and snow having been frozen by her tail to a concrete ledge of a office tower. She was rescued and spent a number of weeks in rehabilitation, and was later released back to the wild.
Tonga was produced at the Mississauga Ontario MEC nest site in 2003 and was one of the best fliers of the bunch. He has obviously survived the test of time and both of these birds continue to remind us all of the importance of banding for many reasons, in particular for the purpose of monitoring the species, and a reminder that the urban produced birds do in fact contribute to the restoration and recovery of the species - North American wide!
We wish both Miriam and Tonga continued success, and extremely pleased that they have chosen a home where they are so appreciated and so lovingly cared for by the great folks in Michigan USA.
We have received some very interesting news of a new peregrine being observed in the Ottawa area and we hope that he/she will stay around.
It has been reported that a regular presence of an immature peregrine in and around 10 Wellington. The peregrine has been using the slightly lower roof section on the west side as a roost, and has definitely dispersed pigeons who once occupied it. It is plainly visible from west facing windows of 23rd to 26th floors when it is in residence.
Brown immature colouring phase, slightly larger than usual - perhaps female. Seems to be solitary at present. Active hunter - usually overlooks Chaudière falls and the green area along Ottawa river. Have not been able to discern a band.
Greg
We have received some very interesting news of a new peregrine being observed in the Ottawa area and we hope that he/she will stay around.
It has been reported that a regular presence of an immature peregrine in and around 10 Wellington. The peregrine has been using the slightly lower roof section on the west side as a roost, and has definitely dispersed pigeons who once occupied it. It is plainly visible from west facing windows of 23rd to 26th floors when it is in residence.
Brown immature colouring phase, slightly larger than usual - perhaps female. Seems to be solitary at present. Active hunter - usually overlooks Chaudière falls and the green area along Ottawa river. Have not been able to discern a band.
Greg
Yet another site visit this evening to the Scarborough Bell site produced yet more confusing information. Marion and I spent several hours this evening wathing Linn hanging tight around the Bell building with no particular interest in any part of the building. She was observed having just finished her diner and with a huge buldging crop. No male was observed or present during this period. Bruce called during this same time frame from the Scarborough Yellow pages nest site and did have both adults in his view at the same time. He reports that the adult territorial male at Yellow pages may in fact be Ruben as the USFW band colour is pinkish in colour and not silver as earlier suspected. This would confirm that Rueben is still Lawrie’s mate and the territorial male at this nest site,, AND is the same male that was observed several days ago by Marion, Bruce and Kathy at the Scarborough Bell site copulating with Linn! It was obvious that Linn is not incubating any eggs as yet, as during this observation period she was observed roosting on a ledge well into the darkness and was not down incubating…. It might appear that we have yet another male “servicing” two diferent females at two different nest sites as with Whindwhistler from the 18 King Street nest site and the Toronto Sheraton nest site. Remembering that he was servicing both these nest site for several years and responsible for fertilizing both sets of eggs at these two nest sites for several years in a row. Talk about double duty!
Stay tuned, as this could get very interesting indeed!!
We stayed until it was too dark to see clearly and watched Linn settle in for the night on the upper east ledges of the building.
Seems our young ones have decided their 15 minutes of fame are up! They have been hiding out at the other end of the ledge the past few days under the web cam. Dad is usually perched on top of the cam so there is always someone there to watch over them even if you don’t see Angel.
Don’t forget, Banding Day, Tuesday, May 26th!
Late this afternoon, I went back to the Sheraton to re-establish an image for the web camera. A quick peek and found everyone snoozing, except one. It may have thought when Rhea Mae arrived on the ledge that it was time for food. The others slept under the camera.
