A Great Earth Week Event and Three Falcons at Holcim
April 23, 2013 - Mississauga - Holcim
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I had the distinct honor of attending the Holcim Cement Earth Week event on Tuesday at the plant and spent time with the employees sharing the Canadian Peregrine Foundation’s passion for raptor species at risk with them. In attendance with me was Oscar the Peregrine and Alexandra the Great Horned owl; I think they were both a hit! After the event, I headed out to the parking lot and looked up to see a peregrine flying in from the west over the parking lot. I grabbed my camera and took a couple of quick shots before this female in the air moved out of range. I watched her soaring over towards Avonhead Road and so I decided to spend some time watching the resident pair, Storm and Caspian, as they continue to incubate a clutch of eggs. When I reached my watch spot, the resident female Caspian was out of my view, presumably now on the nest ledge incubating, and Storm was not in the immediate area. It wasn’t long before Storm came racing in like a shot and swung behind the silos low and out of my view. I looked to the north end of the silos to see if he would make his way back around but what now flew towards me was a female. ??????????
So who was incubating the eggs? Before I could finish that thought, Storm came screaming in from the north and met the female in the air. This was not “happiness to see you”. The two tussled in the air for a brief moment and upon release of the talon lock, Storm flipped and grabbed her right by the chest! The female howled at this contact and tried her best to make a hasty retreat to the north with Storm now hot on her tail. ???????????
Now I’m befuddled. I have lost sight of both birds and there is clearly no love lost between them. I quickly grabbed my camera to review the pictures and you’re just not going to believe this. The female I have photos of is… …a juvenile!! I know you’ve heard me tell this same story now half a dozen times but I can only tell you what I see and can prove with certainty. I stayed on site and waited for the two to return but it was Storm who came back alone, made a brief circle flight above the nest ledge and then flew to the top of the highest peak on the main plant. There he sat, for a while, until he was once again off like a shot to the southwest. I waited again for his return and he came back alright… …chasing the juvenile female through the territory and out to the east. Again he returned alone after 15 minutes and back to the peak of the plant he went. The peace lasted all of 20 minutes and boom!!!… …off goes Storm to the north and out of view. After 10 minutes he was back again and in pursuit again of the juvenile female out over Avonhead Road. This last intrusion finally brought Caspian off the nest ledge and she was furious. I now had three falcons in the air as the two adults escorted this pesky juvenile off the edge of the territory to the south. Caspian broke away from the chase and beat a hasty retreat back onto the ledge and her eggs. This time Storm stayed away from the territory for a good 30 minutes before returning to a smack down drag em out fight with a Red Tailed hawk, the hawk quickly deciding that Storm was way too enraged to mess with. He stooped and smacked this Red Tailed a half a dozen times before trying to grab it by the face. Fury times 10!! The Red Tailed moved out as fast as it could get gone and Storm finally returned to the peak of the plant where he remained in position as I finally pulled away. Phew!!!!!!!!
I have a lot of pictures to review but I can say for certain that the story of the pesky juvenile is being told at nest sites all over southern Ontario. I will be taking a very close look to see whether this juvenile has bands and if conspicuous red tape appears on her left one as it did in Port Colborne. I will also now be pulling out all of the pictures from all of the sites that a juvenile female has been seen at this year so far (William Osler, Burlington, Port Colborne, Brampton, St. Mary’s, Hearn and now at Holcim) and checking closely to see if we have a single bird working the lower province or if these are different young girls looking to make a name and a nest for themselves. In Port Colborne, we believe based on the band configuration and colours that the juvenile is Lucky Seven from the Niagara Gorge nest last year. If it is in fact her visiting all of these sites, she better take care who she chooses to challenge. We have some pretty tough resident adult females out there and the males are taking her on as well. Today Storm made his opinion abundantly clear and she was lucky that Caspian was otherwise occupied.
Pictures soon to follow.