Mississauga North… Oh Dear Its Getting Crazy!! Two Different Females Confirmed Seen!!
August 10, 2013 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
With the possibility of a new pairing shaping up, Bruce made his way out this afternoon for a check of the Hurontario corridor beginning with a quick sweep of downtown Brampton. On the condo overhang he was able to confirm a single peregrine on the ledge that he believes, based on size, was female. He then headed down to the Mississauga North territory at Hurontario and Hwy. 401 to check on the pair hanging out there. Rob was fortunate earlier to get a photo of a falcon on the Revenue Canada building with what appeared to be bright red on its left leg. While this could be tape on a bird banded with the USFW on the left instead of the right leg, Bruce aimed to find and confirm by scope who this was and confirm the second bird as well. When he arrived, he walked the entire territory in search of the birds and none were to be found. I decided to meet up with him and help locate and identify the birds and we also planned to travel further south to MEC where we are now void a resident female due to the loss of Cass a few weeks ago. Well, the best laid plans went quite whacky after I arrived.
I met up with Bruce as a bird had just arrived on the southeast corner of the Revenue Canada building and was perched looking southeast. The bird sat almost motionless for quite some time and I was able, when it turned, to get an absolute positive look at the band and read it without any doubt. The band was Black 98 over Red E with a purple USFW on the right leg. This was Midnight from downtown Brampton???!!!! There was no sign of the female we believe could possibly be Alfrieda based on a partial reading of her Black over Green band two days ago. What on earth was this now???
After 15 minutes or so, in came another falcon and landed on the upper retaining wall of the Revenue Canada building on the south side. I heard him come in and vocalize and Bruce watched him land. What made this interesting is that at the time Midnight was preening and his vocalization actually caused her to flinch. She was on edge. We spun that scope around to get a look at the bird that we knew to be the male and could only see his back and right leg as he perched. We both confirmed that he had a USFW band on the right leg with yellow tape and that he appeared to be a subadult. The left leg was hidden and with it, so was his identification. The pair stayed on the building for almost 2 hours during which the male went in onto the sub-roof area for almost 15 minutes out of view and Midnight remained on the southeast corner. Midnight finally took flight and made a straight shot out of view. The male appeared on the retaining wall edge but stayed back just enough to keep his left leg hidden. I had him right in the scope view when all of a sudden he bowed. The female had returned. She landed just to his right and looked furious. Her hackles were up, wings held out and neck stretched out towards him. He took off like a shot and was out of view for a good 5 minutes before returning to the northwest corner of the building. He then took off again, circled back and landed on the southeast rooftop. At this point the female, still puffed up and aggressive looking, stepped forward and I was able to clearly see a Black over Green band but no digits were clear. What????!!!! In the space of three hours we now had two completely different females on the same face of the same building after the same male. The male took another flight off of the corner around to the female and this time she pursued. They both flew south and she took a shallow run at him that was not bonding but slightly aggressive. The Black over Green banded female continued south and the male circled back alone to the southeast corner. There he sat alone as the sun was setting looking off to the southeast with eyes as round as pie plates. He was so on edge that he was flinching at passing insects!!
This whole experience this evening has completely reshuffled my mental deck and so I will attempt to summarize for you.
Last year between Bruce, myself and Rob we were sporadically catching sight of a juvenile peregrine female. She was confirmed in the territory in May of this year and we were only able to confirm a silver USFW. The past few months the sightings of her on the Revenue Canada building have increased and she was now being seen much more frequently by Rob who was keeping an eye on her. I was lucky enough to catch her two days ago on the building and get a partial look at her band in the scope. Black 73 over Green ?? is what I believe her to be. Yesterday Rob had a second peregrine on the building with her and we set our minds to confirming who this pair is. Today, not one female but two were in the territory, one confirmed as Midnight from Brampton North and the other confirmed as having a Black over Green band that came from the south. It was very apparent by their behaviour that they are arguing over the dashing little male who’s identity remains a mystery for now. Given that we are coming into migration soon things will be unsettled as birds move through but you can bet that we will be staying on it and will keep you updated. Phew!!