A quick spot check on all 3 downtown nesting locations had both adults on site.
Today, 2 adult peregrines were sitting on the east side of the hospital in the far north ledge.
A quick spot check on the 3 downtown nesting locations, had both adults on site.
Today, both adults were sitting on the east side of 120 Adelaide St, across the street from the Sheraton Centre Hotel.
A quick check on the downtown nesting sites.
All three downtown nesting sites had two adult peregrines in view. King St. had both adults sitting on the south service area this morning. Yesterday a huge industrial crane had been lifting heavy machinery into the building. Today, the crane was one street east, and kept the peregrines on watch.
Most of January and February,the “resident male” Jack has been seen with the resident female fairly regularily. The female has been around the old nestledge. Recently,Mom was seen in some kind of altercation/chase with a large bird and arrived back on site safely. Stay tuned,historically,late February has been courtship/mating time.
A huge thank you to David from Guelph for sending in these unique photos of an American Kestrel that he had an opportunity to photograph. The Kestrel appears to have a mole or vole, (maybe a mouse) and looking to enjoy a tasty lunch. The photos were taken on February 9 / 2011 at approx. 12:30 pm. They were taken at the Guelph Hydro offices in Guelph Ontario. Photo credit to David Dimma.
With a huge thank you to Mark Robinson from Port Huron in Mich. USA, we have some interesting news about Tonga, who was produced at the MEC nest site back in 2003. After closer inspection of the great photo he sent into us, the band number was confirmed to be a solid Black band, 85 over H. Our banding records confirm that it is in fact Tonga from the MEC nest site, who was produced in 2003.
Mark writes:
I came across a banded adult Peregrine Falcon on the banks of the St
Clair River, Port Huron, Mi, last weekend.
I’ve attached a cropped image showing the only photograph I managed to
get that shows the bands. It looks to my untrained eye that the band
on the left leg is black and contains the characters 05 (85) above
the character H, with no line between the characters. Is that
sufficient information to identify the bird?
I hope this information might be useful to you and your ongoing
research. If you are able to identify the bird I would love to hear
it’s story and perhaps write a little about it, and the work you do on
my blog
best regards
Mark R.
With a huge thank you to Mark Robinson from Port Huron in Mich. USA, we have some interesting news about Tonga, who was produced at the MEC nest site back in 2003. After closer inspection of the great photo he sent into us, the band number was confirmed to be a solid Black band, 85 over H. Our banding records confirm that it is in fact Tonga from the MEC nest site, who was produced in 2003.
Mark writes:
I came across a banded adult Peregrine Falcon on the banks of the St
Clair River, Port Huron, Mi, last weekend.
I’ve attached a cropped image showing the only photograph I managed to
get that shows the bands. It looks to my untrained eye that the band
on the left leg is black and contains the characters 05 (85) above
the character H, with no line between the characters. Is that
sufficient information to identify the bird?
I hope this information might be useful to you and your ongoing
research. If you are able to identify the bird I would love to hear
it’s story and perhaps write a little about it, and the work you do on
my blog
best regards
Mark R.
Recently,Chad and Chris who monitor Ohio Peregrine Falcons very extensively have photographed and reported that Ely from 2008 King St nest in Toronto,is on site with her mate Dipper at the Cleveland Clinic site. Thanks to Chad and Chris for use of their photos and doing all they do with all of the Peregrines there,including “our” Ely!Photos of Ely From Chad and Chris
Last summer Ely and mate Dipper hatched 3 chicks named Mambo,Jojo and Rumba.The week of June 27th all 3 fledged successfully. As at October 24th,Diana Whiting was at Montezuma Wildlife Refuge (New York) on Sunday, October 24th and she spotted a gorgeous juvenile Peregrine Falcon hunting the wetlands. From photos,it was determined the band numbers belonged to Rumba. That’s halfway between Rochester and Syracuse at what appears to be the middle of the north end of the Finger Lakes Region. Its great to know the chick is doing so well!!
We look forward to more reports from the Cleveland Clinic folks about Ely and any young she has!
Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
From Eric Mortenson
Nothing’s worked. Not the clamp on federal timber sales that hammered Oregon’s mill towns. Not the lawsuits or the listing as an endangered species. The belated work to retain and restore its favored old-growth habitat will take decades to unfold. Twenty plus years of trying to save the northern spotted owl and it’s still slipping away.
Come summer,federal wildlife officials expect to finish a draft environmental impact statement that most likely recommends taking to the woods with shotguns. Over the next year, in three or more study areas from Washington to northern California, they might kill 1,200 to 1,500 barred owls — the larger, more aggressive competitor that has routed spotted owls from much of their territory and become, along with habitat loss, the biggest threat to their survival.
It’s a wrenching decision that splits wildlife biologists and environmentalists. Killing one native animal to benefit another — especially a “big, beautiful raptor, a fantastic bird,” as one biologist puts it — is such a leap that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hired an environmental ethicist to guide its discussions.
“There’s no winner in that debate,” says Bob Sallinger, conservation director with the Portland Audubon Society.
Some biologists believe the proposal won’t work. More barred owls, perhaps hundreds, would have to be killed every year to keep the study areas free of interlopers for three to 10 years. One biologist estimated the cost at up to $1 million annually.
Others oppose intervening in what they see as natural selection at work.
“Population dynamics between two native species should not be artificially manipulated,” says Blake Murden, wildlife and fisheries director for Port Blakely Tree Farms in Tumwater, Wash. The company is not anti-owl. In 2009 it agreed to manage 45,000 acres as spotted owl habitat in exchange for protection from additional logging restrictions.
Murden says barred owls expanded rapidly because they adapt well to mixed habitat and eat a variety of prey, while spotted owls prefer old-growth to nest and, in most of its range, flying squirrels to eat.
“It’s a generalist and a specialist,” Murden says, “and invariably the generalist will win.”
Will shooting help? A limited experiment on private California timberland showed spotted owls returned to their original nesting and roosting areas in every instance when barred owls were killed. In one case, a pair that hadn’t been seen for more than two years reappeared just 10 days after a pair of barred owls were shot.
The biologist who carried out the experiment cautions the results may not apply everywhere. Owl habitat and prey in Oregon and Washington are quite different, says Lowell Diller, with Green Diamond Resource Co., which owns 400,000 acres of timber adjacent to Redwood National Park.
He nonetheless concludes barred owls can be controlled. Choosing to do so, however, is “looming as one of the biggest conservation dilemmas we have faced in the Northwest.”
The spotted owl is a conservation icon. Its 1990 listing as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act was the first to have such broad economic, social and environmental impact.
“We have a huge amount of resources committed to protecting that species,” Diller says. “Then we have the barred owl show up.”
Down in timber country, Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson calls the proposal to shoot barred owls an example of “dysfunctional” forest policy. Counties like his depend economically on federal timber, which Robertson says is managed to benefit a species that can’t be recovered.
“When nature takes a turn, it’s going to prevail no matter what we try to do,” he says. “I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s nonsense to shoot one species to benefit another. I don’t think the public will accept it.”
We’ve intervened before. The freshest local example — currently halted by a federal appeals court — is the killing of more than three dozen California sea lions at Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River because they devour thousands of salmon.
Federal agents moved or killed cormorants and terns that feed on juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Columbia. Oregon offers a bounty on northern pike minnows, which also eat young salmon. Elsewhere, Texas landowners kill or trap cowbirds because they invade the nests of smaller songbirds.
But shooting barred owls is a different story. Those against it argue they are a native, not an invasive species, and their threat to spotted owls is due to range expansion and competition.
Some biologists believe barred owls and spotted owls were the same species before diverting into East and West Coast versions, respectively, during the Ice Age. Spotted owls are about 18 inches tall and weigh slightly more than a pound. Barred owls are somewhat larger. The two have interbred in some cases and produced fertile offspring.
At first, barred owls slowly advanced westward with settlers. Barred owls were in Montana by 1909, British Columbia by 1943, Washington state in 1965 and Oregon in 1972.
Population statistics aren’t available, but biologists agree the Northwest’s barred owl numbers exploded in the past 20 years. Diller, the Green Diamond biologist, believes they either reached a population tipping point or fully adapted to West Coast conditions and became “kind of a super owl.”
“They just do everything well,” he says.Spotted Owls dont.They’ve been on the ropes for decades due to heavy logging of old-growth forests. A 1990 report estimated Spotted Owl habitat had been reduced 60% to 88% since the early 1800s.The decrease in logging has been equally sharp. In 1988, Oregon loggers cut 4.9 billion board feet of timber on federal land. The 2009 federal harvest was 240 million board feet.
Logging reductions undoubtedly saved habitat, but the bird itself hasn’t shown signs of recovering. Spotted owl population estimates are vague, but studies indicate it declines 3 percent annually in much of its range. Some scientists estimate that a couple thousand mating pairs remain, and leave it at that.
Biologists knew as early as 2004 that barred owls were displacing spotted owls. A report that year warned of their “negative impact,” and a 2006 report labeled barred owls among the “most pressing threats” to spotted owls.
The 2010 spotted owl recovery plan, to be released in mid-February, concludes “barred owl removal should be initiated as soon as possible.” Meanwhile, a fish and wildlife service work group is drafting a parallel environmental impact statement on killing barred owls. It will be finished by early summer.
Conservation groups are waiting to see the statement before committing, but begrudgingly acknowledge they may support barred owl removal on an experimental basis.
“We certainly don’t want barred owls killed, but the highest priority has to be placed on not having spotted owls go extinct,” says Sallinger, with the Portland Audubon Society.
He argues logging weakened spotted owls to the point barred owls could expand rapidly. Amending habitat loss is the first step in rebalancing the playing field, he says. “Going out and killing barred owls, if you haven’t taken the other necessary steps, would be really horrific.”
Last October, biologist Robin Bown and others from the federal barred owl work group accompanied Green Diamond biologist Lowell Diller into the forest.
It was near dusk, on a ridge where Diller had seen a territorial barred owl a few days before. He played a recording of a barred owl call, and within a few minutes the targeted bird flew in to investigate.
Diller made sure the area was clear, took aim with a shotgun and blasted the owl from its perch. It was a clean kill, instantaneous.
Diller has a scientific collection permit to shoot barred owls. He and another biologist killed 20 in 2006 and 20 more in 2009. Last summer, he secured a permit to kill up to 70 more over three years in the study area.
The company has a government-approved conservation plan that avoids additional regulations if they maintain habitat for spotted owl.
“The success of that plan depends on us having spotted owls occupy our landscape and utilize our habitat,” Diller says. “If barred owls preclude them from using it, then our plan is going to fail.”
At one time, Green Diamond had more than 150 spotted owl nesting sites, and biologists saw barred owls perhaps once a year. Now, barred owls appear every time Diller turns on his recorded owl calls.
“They are taking over,” he saysBarred owls’ aggression is their Achilles heel, Diller says. When they hear another owl calling — barred or spotted — they fly to confront the intruder. Less wary than usual, they are easy targets.
You don’t have to kill them all, he says. A measured reduction in their numbers — 10 to 20 percent — might be enough to allow the two species to coexist.
“The worst thing would be to spend millions, kill a bunch of barred owls, and get no treatment effect.”
But it’s a tough business. Diller says he couldn’t watch when he went out the first time in 2006, with the other biologist wielding the shotgun.
“It’s not something you do casually,” he says.
As leader of the fish and wildlife service’s work group, Bown believes it was important for team members to see firsthand what they may endorse. They recovered the owl Diller shot and packed it off for study.
Bown also believes a “positive response” by spotted owls is very likely. Federal wildlife managers, she says, have a mandate under the Endangered Species Act to give deference to spotted owls.
That doesn’t make the decision easy.”It’s values and ethics,” she says, “and how we look at the world.”
Recently a posting was made to The Weather Channel ( www.theweathernetwork.com ) with the photo included taken by Richard Huang on Feb 2,2011 in Kingston, Ontario Canada. The Peregrine Falcon was perched on Botterell Hall, at Queen’s University, during a recent snow storm.
