Urban Peregrines Braving the Canadian Winter
December 04, 2009 - Toronto - King Street
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Last week, Ranka noted that the peregrines in the King St location are still active, and visible on our King Street webcam feed. With this information, Mark Nash informed us that this pair are still territorial and will be staying all winter this year, again.
Mark explains…
Unlike the “non-urban” peregrine population in other parts of northern Ontario, the southern Ontario urban pairs have historically stayed on territory and on site throughout the winter. This has been consistent with many of our urban pairs since 1995, both at the King Street nest site as well as the 12 other urban nest sites that we are monitoring. These urban guys are a hardy bunch indeed!
While it is unfortunate that we are having camera problems with the MEC and Etobicoke nest sites, my recent visits of the two buildings over the last week has confirmed that the resident adults are also again staying for the winter. Recent reports of the Burlington Lift Bridge pair have confirmed that they are also holding firm on territory and are being seen in the nest box on a daily basis.
All in all although, this is very good news for our southern Ontario peregrine population, as they still have an abundance of food and protection. The migration south is usually a “hi-risk” dispersal for many of the non-urban population and constitutes high mortality, especially for the first and second year aged juveniles. By having adults stay the winter, they too avoid the dangers of this long dangerous roundtrip flight down south. The peregrine wintering grounds in Central and South America are still very dangerous, many birds continue to be poisoned and shot. This makes ups a large part of their mortality.
Sadly, when our peregrines are out of the country, especially in the far south, there is no protection for them as many of these countries have no laws to protect many of our species at risk, including the peregrine falcon.
Thanks for the update Ranka!