New Nest Site Discovered on Viscount Road in Mississauga
August 07, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday, Bruce Massey and I responded to an observation sent in about a pair of peregrines hanging around on a hotel near the airport on Viscount Road in Mississauga. Bruce arrived first and sure enough had a female peregrine roosting on the west side of the alt Hotel at Viscount Road and the 409 exit. He watched her for a while and was able to ascertain that she was indeed banded but she wasn’t prepared to give up her ID just yet. I arrived around noonish and just before I pulled in, the female took off and disappeared somewhere to the northeast. I met up with Bruce and we chatted with staff of the alt Hotel about the activity that he had been seeing on the building. At the most he had seen three peregrines together that would indicate that this is a nesting pair and they had successfully produced at least on juvenile. After chatting with Marc for a few minutes, we decided to walk in the direction of the female’s travel to the northeast where a cluster of hotels were in close distance along Viscount Rd. As we neared the area, Bruce and I were able to see a peregrine who was now roosting on the Hilton Garden Inn sign and we made our way over to the hotel for a look. When we got there, the bird had left the sign and another peregrine, a confirmed adult, was now on a ledge around the corner sleeping. We walked back over to our vehicles, drove over and got out the scopes for an ID but this bird, the adult female, was now very busy and moving in circles around the hotel. What was keeping her busy was a very loud and determined juvenile!!
The adult female landed back on the northeast corner on the ledge she initially occupied and the juvenile landed on the ledge beneath the sign on the east side. The young one continued to vocalize and ran the ledge over to the adult female who clearly didn’t have any food but the juvie didn’t believe her. She took off over to the hotel next door, the Marriot, and landed on the sign on the west side while the young one just sat in the corner vocalizing on the Hilton. By this time, Bruce had spotted another peregrine back on the alt Hotel and he took off to monitor that one.
At some point between us leaving the Hilton and heading over to the alt Hotel, the birds pulled a switch-er-roo on us and it was now the adult female roosting on a ledge on the east face of the alt. We parked, set up our scopes and honed in on her in the hopes of getting her band number. I must say that the MEC female has me very well trained and I can wait an eternity… …apparently. It was hot and bright but I wasn’t giving in; this adult female would have to cave first and give me the ID!! I was rewarded for my efforts and I am pleased to introduce to you our first successfully nesting Michigan peregrine falcon named Claire banded black rotated S over green rotated B. She was hatched at the Blue Water Bridge nest site in 2009 and get this… …she is daughter of Tonga who was hatched at MEC in 2003!!! This is very exciting news and I look forward to identifying her resident male.
We still don’t have an exact location for a nest site but the Hilton Garden Inn looks rather exciting as a site and I wouldn’t rule out another cluster of hotels to the east at Dixon and Carlingview area. Still, I do believe that we are in the right area and all looks quite perfect for an aerie. I will be back soon to check up on Claire, try to identify her mate and see how their single juvenile is doing.
