Likely Dot-Ca Sighting
December 31, 1969 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Frank Butson Reports:
Over the course of the last several days,Ive been trading emails with a friend,Jen Howard who lives in the Kemphenfelt Bay area of Lake Simcoe. Jen has sent me some interesting photos,taken since mid-July,of 2 different Peregrine Falcons. A 2nd year bird,carrying what appeared in the photo to be a young Starling and a more interesting pair of photos,taken from her boat of a banded,juvenile,male Peregrine Falcon. The bird was seen about a quarter of the way down the Holland River,heading to Bradford. On close examination and abit of manipulation of the photo,blue tape was easily seen on one “leg”. This is tape placed over the silver US Fish and Wildlife band,at the time the young Peregrine was banded,to keep track of it more easily during a fledge watch. The coloured alpha-numeric band is black with white letters/numbers,telling us it is Canadian. That band seems to be 2 digits which on inspection Ive made out to be 13 over Y. I made this observation before checking any of the current year’s banding records. I then checked which 2010 banded,male Peregrines the Canadian Peregrine Foundation had put the blue tape on. I found 2. Indeed the corresponding colour marker band of one was 13/Y. This bird is Dot-Ca from a nest CPF monitors,infact it is one I site-co-ordinate the Fledgling Watch for each year and is a bird I personally rescued this season from a glass balcony on a condominium building. I am certain enough of this ID to make this posting. Dot-Ca was banded this year at Etobicoke’s Sunlife Centre,at Islington and Bloor.
Attached are Jen Howards shots of the young Peregrine she and her son Jeff observed from their boat and a shot of Dot-Ca,provided by Baylie Kastner moments before he was rescued. Jen is going to keep her eyes open for us and hopes to see either or both of these Peregrine Falcons again.
Upon consultation with CPF Raptor Centre manager Tracy Simpson,we believe that Dot-Ca is quite a distance from home for such a young Peregrine,but the timeline of Kathy not observing all young at Sunlife fits and Dot-Ca was the first of the 3 brothers to hunt successfully for himself this summer. I also learned from Tracy that CPF has believed for some time that there is a Peregrine Falcon nest in the Barrie area(which is the general area of the sighting),but has been unable to confirm or find one…so far. Peregrine Falcons are already being observed migrating along the shores of Lake Ontario. At a site I attend and count at in Scarborough,4 have already been sighted. Last season a record 73 migrating Peregrine Falcons were observed. Im hopeful that even more will be seen this season.
