6:16 am and I can see 2 eggs this morning in the nest box. Laid after 10 pm as there was only one in there when last checking!
March 28th -2013
It looks like we are getting early Easter gifts all over southern Ontario today as it might appear that the resident adult female (named Erin)is getting ready to lay her first egg. Erin has been laying down allot on the nest bowl at the King Street nest ledge today and it would appear that she maybe egg bound and getting ready to lay her first egg. .
The resident adult male - officially named Windwhistler,,, - (a.k.a., nick-named “Spike” back in his early days when he arrived and took over the King Street nest territory, and we hadn’t identified him) has been noticeably keeping his distance from the nest ledge today.
Looking forward to some web camera pictures of her first egg.
Stay tuned……
March 28th - 2013
Despite the ongoing nest box renovations on behalf of the new resident female (a 2009 produced peregrine named Cass from Mich.), she obviously had time to slip in the laying of her first egg sometime overnight or early this morning! Sante, the resident adult male did not make an appearance for the morning views, but I’m sure that we will see him on camera soon as he takes over his family incubation duties.
We’re all looking forward to seeing what other surprises Cass has for us down the down the road.
Stay tuned….
Thanks to the observant eye of Dutch Eagle Fan for alerting me to the first egg for our pair which can clearly be seen in the nest box this morning!!
March 27th - 2013
A quickly stop at the Hearn nest site found the two love birds involved in some courtship and copulation activities and allot of vocalization. While the resident adult male (believed to be Peter - who was the same resident adult male at Hearn from last season) tried his best to coax his new female mate to several of his chosen nesting spots, she showed absolutely no interest and remained on her roosting spot throughout most of this observation period.
While she was very receptive to his courtship advances and allowed copulation several times during this same period, she had no interest in being coaxed off her roosting spot. Peter visited at least three different potential nesting spots (including the old nest cavity / nest spot of last year), each time vocalizing to her in an attempt to draw her off her roosting spot to join him and check out the great potential nesting spots he had picked put for her, but she would have no part or interest in anything he was showing her and refused to leave her upper ledge roosting spot high up on the south ledge of the superstructure!
Clearly he was really trying really hard to coax her to these spots, but alas, he was unsuccessful in getting her to budge off her roosting spot. By dark, he had flown up to a higher elevation, perched himself himself and continued to vocalize as darkness fell.
During our observation period, he made several hi-speed hunting stoops - (both unsuccessful) and just as darkness fell, he stooped at and knocked a large female Red-tailed hawk out of the air south of the superstructure - (south east of our location), grounding it as we watched it disappeared from our view below the tall grass! A spectacular event to witness. We never did see the Red-tail come back up from the ground level! Sadly, it happen so fast (and too dark) to get a photo!
We left when it was literally to dark to see much of anything. The strong gusting cold winds and rain really made it difficult to spend anytime out of the car thus the lack of any really decent photographs.
Stay tuned………..
March 27th - 2013
All of the recent activity on the nest ledge being observed proved to be something more than just allot of the usual day to day peregrine activity in and around the nest ledge. The photos tell the story!
Just as I arrived, the resident adult male - (Jack) flew in with food to the ledge and it was quickly snatched by O’Connor who was already standing at the south end of the nest ledge screaming at him to hurry up! She immediately flew off the ledge with the food in hand and hooked around to the south side of the building and out of sight. Jack was obviously taken by surprise at how quickly that his mate had snatched the food from him and flew off the nest ledge and disappeared from his view before either one of us really realized what had just happened.
A half hour passed when she finally returned to the nest ledge. Surprisingly enough, during her absence, Jack never attempted to cover or incubate the two reddish brown coloured eggs that were very visible in the nest tray. While he did jump up to roost on the edge of the nest tray itself, he seemed more concerned that O’Connor had so aggressively (and so quickly) snatched the food from him and flew off out of his sight. Equally as surprising, neither of the birds seemed interested in my presence at all.
When O’Connor finally return to the nest ledge, she screamed and howled at Jack for several minutes obviously not impressed that he had made no effort to cover or conceal the two eggs in the nest tray during her absence and/or that he had taken so long to bring in food and relieve her in the first place? She then immediately hopped back onto the nest tray and resumed incubation duties.
During my short visit, heavy dark clouds rolled in the driving rain turned to ice pellets and the wind was howling with strong guests!
On another very positive note, we are very close to being able to finally get the two new web cameras on line as we should have an internet connection sometime next week.
Stay tuned………..
March 26th - 2013
I was by Mt. Sinai today, one peregrine on the east facing ledges this afternoon.
Linda
March 24th - 2013
A quick stop in at the Holcim nest site and found both resident adults in full view involved in more courtship activities. Both residents appear to be the same birds as last year as their leg band numbers and leg band colour configuration are the same as last year.
The resident adult Male is banded with a solid Black 94 over D and does have a silver USFW band on the other leg. The resident adult female has a Black over Green band and does not have a USFW band on the other leg.
Sadly, I was not able to get a clear enough photo to read her Black over Green band.
No incubation activity observed as yet, but given the amount of copulation activity we have observed over the past week, the pair are very close to egg production.
Stay tuned………..
I stopped by the Burlington Lift Bridge today to follow up on the excellent observations of Bill and Sue of Cirrus laying down in the back of the nest box out of view. I met up with Todd who assisted me in getting a look at and monitor to confirm the news… …Cirrus has eggs!!!!! Upon arrival at the box, I could see that Cirrus was laying down and was sound asleep protecting the precious package beneath her. She stirred very little and only moved once to reposition herself. It was then that I was able to see at least one egg in the nest bowl but I am sure there are others by the way in which the egg was placed; it was leaning against another that was just out of my view. While we are unsure as to the total number of eggs, I can confirm that she is in full time incubation as of today and that the first egg, in talking with the bridge staff, was in the box by March 19th. Given that subsequent eggs follow within 48 hours of each other at the outset, March 23rd is the latest when the clutch would have reached completion for a full set of four eggs. A huge thank you to the bridge staff and watchers Bill and Sue for your vigilance, support and great observations and congratulations to Cirrus and McKenzie for being the first of 2013 in southern Ontario!!!!!!
Pictures to follow.
This morning when I arrived, O’Connor was sitting by the nest box in the semi dark. When I checked on her an hour later she was still there looking very lethargic. Jack arrived chupping with some food for her and went to ledge 3 to prepare it.
This afternoon he has been by twice when I’ve checked sitting on the web cam while she’s been in the nest box. How do I know she’s in there? Because just before he left last time, a chup fest between then ensued - was she sharing some ‘egg’citing news with him? or was he just telling her he was off to his other site and would be back later to see if she had ’something’ to show him?
Stay tuned…