Viper has successfully nested in Lansing, Michigan and has laid her first egg. She successfully fledged in Windsor in 2012 and is one of the many strong, beautiful Peregrine offspring of Voltaire and Freddie.
Today at 10:30 am a banded male falcon was observed consuming one of the 2 eggs in the scrape here. I’m not sure if it was the resident male Bill, or another falcon. I can tell by the colour of the egg that it was the 3rd egg laid by Trillium (the 1st 2 laid were eaten). So the good news is that we still have 1 egg left (the 4th one laid) & she appears to be taking good care of it after the discouraging news of what has transpired today. Stay tuned.
April 15th - 2014
Well, as you can see, Old Man Winter gave us yet another kick in the butt last night and so far this morning and dropping another 2-4cms of snow on us, in addition to running the temps back down to almost freezing again. While no real accumulation happened on the road ways so far given that they were so warm from the last several days of some real spring like temps, the snow has already covered all of the roof tops and parts of the various nest ledges.
The real good protected sites are those with enclosed nest boxes, as seen here at the Duncan Mills nest site where Quest is tucked far back into the nest box well protected from the snow and wind by the nest box roof and walls.
We all awoke this morning to find the entire city rooftops covered with a light covering of white snow, high winds, blowing snow and cold yet again!!
I’m sure that we’re not the only one feeling the pain, as a quick check of all of the web cams had all of the resident adult females down tight to their eggs and in the MEC nest site case, down hard covering the Canada’s first hatchlings.
Stay tuned…
April 15th - 2014
Well, as you can see, Old Man Winter gave us yet another kick in the butt last night and today as it dropped more snow on us and ran the temps back down to almost freezing again.
While no real accumulation happened on the road ways (so far) given that they are so warm from the last several days of some real warm spring like temps, the snow has although covered all of the roof tops and parts of the various nest ledges around the city.
We all awoke this morning to find the entire city rooftops covered with a light covering of white snow, blustery snow and high winds and cold temps yet again!!
I’m sure that we’re not the only one feeling the pain, as a quick check of all of the web cams had all of the resident adult females down tight to their eggs and in the MEC nest site case, down hard covering the Canada’s first peregrine hatchlings.
Stay tuned…
There have been many sightings of the K-W pair all winter and this spring, in downtown Kitchener and on the Sun Life tower in Waterloo. They became very active in March around the Waterloo tower. They have also been sighted on last year’s nest on the CTV tower. Presumed to be Caster, the male was observed using the nest box on the tower many times and enjoying lunch on the east side of the Sun Life sign visible from the ladies washroom on the east side. According to Rudy, everything appeared to be normal the week before Tracy and Bruce’s visit. They appeared to be a bonded pair and they were frequently sighted coming to downtown Kitchener to hunt together. Then Rudy noticed that their behaviour changed. Caster was going out of his way to impress the female, trying to coax her into the nest box but she seemed uninterested and irritated by his attentions and flew off to the CTV tower.
After Tracy and Bruce’s visit, on April 1, at 9:15 a.m. two peregrines were flying in tandem around the top of the tower. One of the grins flew straight into the nest box, the other landed on the north side of the tower. On April 2, Caster was sighted at 9:30 a.m. perched on the nest box balcony. He was also sighted perched above the nest box on the adjacent parapet. On April 3, the pair was again spotted sparring for food from the tower. One was flying east carrying a late lunch at 2:30. The 2nd peregrine flew directly at the other grin and then sped north far into uptown Waterloo. A turkey vulture was also spotted an hour later in the afternoon almost bouncing off the corner of the north side of the tower. No peregrines were sighted at the time. There has been much activity around the building this week, but no copulation has been reported.
On April 6, Tony captured the ‘mystery’ female posing for the camera flaunting her unbanded legs. The reported activity this week has been mostly single sightings which is likely the ‘mystery’ female. On April 8, there was a lot of activity sighted by Wendy who has a ‘bird’s eye view’. One flew past her sight with breakfast in it’s claws at 8:30 and a few minutes later feathers were floating down. But alas, there have been no sightings of activity around the nest box like the week before.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed that Caster, our “ladies” man, is going to be successful securing a mate this year!
Photos courtesy of Tony Bergauer
Today at about 2:00 pm Trillium produced another egg. Surprisingly enough she hasn’t as of yet eaten the egg she produced last week. With the addition of the 2nd egg things should be interesting if & when these eggs hatch (because they were laid so far apart). We have our fingers crossed for some success but are well aware of what could happen in this crazy world of Mother Nature.
Finally able to capture an image of MEC chick. By the size of the feet, looks like a little female.
April 8th - 2014
Great news today in that Barb from Holcim has confirmed after speaking with Armando, that the Holcim peregrines have in fact laid two eggs so far. Given that the eggs were visible and the report was short and sweat without any further details, we suspect that full time incubation is not yet underway but should be in a day or two. The temperatures have finally become a little more seasonal and it might appear that spring like conditions are here to stay!
Stay tuned for further updates………
April 12th - 2014
A quick visit to check in on the Hearn peregrines this afternoon resulted in some good observations. Both adults were quite visible and very active for the several hours that we were down at Hearn this afternoon.
Peter, the resident adult male, was still very busy courting his gal and on two occasions he brought her small food packages, followed by several rounds of copulation and mating.
During the several hours of observations, the un-banded resident adult female spent most of her time roosting on various levels of the superstructure and at no time did she give up any of her choice of potential nesting spots. Peter spent most of his free time chasing the local avian inhabitants out of the territory and tending to his courtship activities.
More time in will be the only way that we are going to find out where she has decided to lay her eggs.
Stay tuned ………………
This morning we were able to confirm that Viper, hatched to Freddie and Voltaire in 2012, is vying for a nest box in Lansing, Michigan at the Board of Light and Power nest site. She is one of several birds that are now actively seeking out “property rights” to the box as many different birds have now been captured on camera view (as many as four or more!!). During the past few days, it has been Viper that has been seen as the regular female attending the box so she may have won the day for the 2014 season.
Her band number was clearly photographed by Dina and posted at BCAW for help in identifying her. Looking back through our banding records and pictures we can say for sure that this is Viper, banded solid black 22 over W in 2012 at the Windsor Ambassador Bridge. A huge thank you to Kathy and Dina for sharing this news and helping us to get camera shots for identification! If Viper stays and nests in Lansing she will join 6 other Ontario females now nesting in Michigan.
Congratulations to the Windsor team, the Board of Light and Power and to all that are watching this new pairing unfold across the border. The first two pictures are from Viper’s banding in 2012 and the second two are from the Lansing Board of Light and Power that were posted on BCAW. Enjoy!
