June 19, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Paul Reynolds Reports:
5:45 am this morning Dad was in his usual spot on the old nest ledge and no one else was visible . On walking down the pier I looked back as lady Lamont flew across to the Burlington tower landing on the cable arm Bay side. Dad had moved across to the Hamilton tower roof and Mum appeared flying up to the top of the Hydro tower Burlington side. She made a long dive towards Burlington but came back empty, settling on the top of the Hamilton Hydro tower.
But now Lady Lamont was screaming “I’m hungry” so she then went foraging for food on all the picnic tables, flying to each one. The landings were pretty good. Seems like she has done this before. When I left at 8:30am Lady Lamont was on the bay side cable arm Hamilton tower maybe I should say in the cable arm. All the time I was there I only saw three birds, Lady Nelson was hiding some place.
Bill and I just returned after spending 3 hours at the Bridge. The two girls were laying around on the Hamilton bay side cable arm. Mom did a couple of flybys which was enough to get them screaming but not enough to get them up and moving. Very little activity today.
Posted on June 19, 2011 3:56 pm
June 18, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
When Bill and I returned after dinner this evening, things were still quiet. All of a sudden Lady Nelson spotted Dad under the Skyway Bridge dining. The screaming was not getting her anywhere and the desire was too strong for her to control. She took off, made a great landing on the Skyway beam and immediately grabbed the food away from Dad. He took off and left her there to finish it.
At around 6:40pm, Mom flew by Lady Lamont who was sitting on a picnic table. She was carrying a great big juicy pigeon. Just like Lady Nelson, the screaming was not doing her any good. Mom continued to entice her with flybys. Finally Lady Lamont took to the air and the first food transfer took place. Lady Lamont made the catch but unfortunately, was not able to hang on to it.
When we left at 7:30pm both juveniles and Mom and Dad were hanging out on the wires. The kids were still screaming for dinner.
Flights are strong and landings are definitely improving. What will tomorrow bring?
Posted on June 18, 2011 8:51 pm
June 17, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Paul Reynolds reported this morning:
Sorry I missed the entertainment last night. This morning at the bridge two Falcons were on the cables, the one closest to the nest box was a junior, who while I was there took flight across to the Hamilton tower and missed the landing, turning back to the nest box and missed again, turning around and gaining height this time she made the nest box. I then had to leave. As this is where we left Lady Lamont and Mom last night, I guess it would be safe to assume that they had spent the night on the cables.
When Bill and I arrived around 8am Lady Lamont and Mom were out on one of the picnic tables close to the nest box. Mom had food and Lady Lamont was not to happy about having to wait for her to prepare it. We took a quick look around for Lady Nelson, and we assumed she was MIA. All of a sudden out of nowhere Lady Nelson flew between the towers and landed well on a cross beam on the Burlington Tower. She knew there was food about and took off almost immediately and joined Mom and Lady Lamont on the picnic. The meal was ready and Lady Nelson grabbed it and left Lady Lamont screaming her objection.
The rest of the day the juveniles made several really good flights. The landings are still a little shaky, but things are definitely improving. When we left this evening at 8pm, Lady Lamont was tucked into a corner of the Burlington Tower and Lady Nelson was sitting tall on a picnic table.
Photos to follow.
Posted on June 17, 2011 9:16 pm
June 15, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Mark Nash Reports:
The morning started off with Lady Lamont in sight for the most parts of the day,,, but at some time from first light to 8am, Lady Nelson had taken her first flight and was no where to be found! Our worst fears given the two big bodies of water and the two busy roadways. After hours of searching both sides of the pier on the lake side them on the bay side, pure frustration led to defeat as we all retired to the base camp to do the only thing that was left,, sit and wait and watch the parents to give you a clue as to her location. Hours passed and absolutely noting!! Mom and dad were scarce at best, and when the were visible, they showed absolutely no concern on interest for their missing daughter!!!
Another fews hours passed, and more scanning with the bins and scope and still nothing. Finally, at approx. 2:45 pm, we asked the guys in the bridge if they could escort us to the roof area of the Hamilton tower roof, (now safe as we once again had lady Lamont in sight on the other tower).
Now at roof level, and by 3pm I was scanning the world. Just as I was ready to call it quits, a tiny little brown figure appeared in the massive undercarriage amongst the steel girder superstructure frame of the Burlington skyway bridge on the leading edge of a huge horizontal steel beam.
Guess WHO?? Yes, it was Lady Nelson standing several huge concrete support columns down from on the Burlington side of the canal way up in the steel I-beams!!! I radioed to the group and base camp to a more than overjoyed and very relieved crowd down at ground level.
For the next few hours we watched Lady Nelson make some very short flights (and terrible landing) through the spider web of steel superstructure undercarriage of the Skyway bridge as she made her way back closer to the lift bridge towers.
As she flew to a beam directly behind us. Dad finally appeared in our view, seemingly flying out into our view from thin air to join his daughter. Hmmmm, did he have his eye on her the entire time???
The evening had Lady Nelson finally flying over to the Hamilton tower of the lift bridge, holding up on a steel beam way up on a beam of the Hamilton tower overlooking the canal As darkness fell, and with both fledglings and both adults in sight,, (Lady Lamont back in the nest box and Lady Nelson safely on a steel beam), and both settled in for the evening, we all agreed the it was safe to pack up and go home for the evening.
It was NOT TO BE! Minutes after 9pm, both parents were again airborne alarm calling as they stoped and dove around the upper tower area above and the rear of where Lady Nelson was roosting. After more than 15 minutes of scanning the darkened beams, Sue finally spotted “Rocky the Raccoon” with her binoculars high up on the tower moving around in the shadows.
Both parents were frantic as they continued to alarm call and flew around in the darkness around the rear corner of the upper levels of the back side of the tower.
Finally, we all got a sight line on this huge raccoon slowly descending face down one of the vertical steel ladders. We all watched in horror knowing only tooo well that if “Rocky the Raccoon“ spotted Lady Nelson, it would have been likely a very bad close to the day!
Thank goodness that McKenzie and Cirrus continued their pursuit of Rocky as I`m sure that it was their encouragement that kept Rocky both distracted and on the move down the tower and
past Lady Nelson.
By 10pm, Rocky had finally made its way to the lover bridge road way area and disappeared into the darkness.
We all crossed our fingers that Rocky had enough of McKenzie and Cirrus and officially closed down the fledge watch for the evening.
Stay tuned……
Posted on June 17, 2011 2:55 am
June 16, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
First off let me say, stay tuned for Mark Nash’s report from yesterday about Rocky Raccoon. It is quite a story.
It was another trying day at the Lift Bridge. I don’t know how we would have handled any more than 2 juveniles. 3 sets of eyes are just not enough to keep up with them. I couldn’t begin to write a whole report for the day so this is just a recap.
When Bill and I arrived at the Bridge this morning at 8am, Lady Nelson was nowhere to be found and the search began. No luck!! Several hours later, Mark just happened to look up at the Control Tower (on the Hamilton Bay side) and lo and behold, Missy had worked her way over to the edge and there she sat in full view. She spent the next couple of hours making her way around the Control Tower, ending up just over the walkway and the road. She was sitting right above a “Danger Sign” and she was most definitely in danger. A decision was made to rescue her before the next lift of the bridge. Well that didn’t work out too well. She took off out over the canal and tried to land on the Burlington Tower, missed, came around and tried to land on the Burlington Hydro Tower, missed and landed in the trees somewhere???
The search was on. Over the bridge, search the ground, search the trees, search the towers. If it wasn’t for the Red Wing Blackbirds and Baltimore Orioles dive bombing her we would never have found her.
At around 4:30pm Bill and I decided to take a break and go home for a bite to eat. When we got back around 6:30pm, Lady Nelson was no longer in the tree and was MIA. By this time, some backup had arrived and the search was on once again, over the bridge, etc. etc. etc.
An hour or so later, she was finally spotted by Robert Williams on the upper beam on the bay side of the Bridge. When we left at 9pm, that’s where she was. I don’t think that she had been fed all day. She must be one very hungry and tired bird.
While all this was going on with Lady Nelson, Lady Lamont was no angel either. She is flying well and holding her altitude, but the landings are still not very good. When we left this evening, she was sitting out in the open on one of the cable wires.
Even while all this searching was going on Mom and Dad continued to entertain us with their hunting skills. I have never seen anything like it. In all my years of falcon watching I have never seen a pigeon plucked out of the air. Well today I finally saw it. Mom and Dad working together, it’s quite a sight.
Keeping our fingers crossed that all will be well when we arrive in the morning. Photos to follow.
Posted on June 16, 2011 10:14 pm
June 14, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Mark Nash Reports:
PM watch report -Tuesday June 14th - 2011
It was a crazy day in Burlington today full of activity on and off all day. There was so much happening throughout the day that my head is spinning.
The highlights this evening had Lady Lamont completing several good strong short flights from tower to tower roofs, them to the hydro tower for the first time as she tried to get closer to mom.
With several not so good landings and just as many aborted landings unable to get the altitude that she wanted, she was forced to fly around back where she came from only to land on a different part of the tower roofs. Finally she was able to make it back to the nest box where she was greeted with a very excited sister (Lady Nelson). The two siblings touched beaks for several minutes that could only be described as a true sign of affection between the two. A very heart warming moment indeed!
Throughout the later afternoon and evening, the resident adult male McKenzie was in “warp-drive” hunting mode with more energy that I have ever seen in my 17 plus years on the watch!
In addition to the incredible energy that this little guy demonstrated throughout most of the afternoon and evening, he has an affection for the local pigeon population!! He made several pigeon kills that were some of most outstanding stoops and pursuits, catching all that he went after with a determination and agility that I have never seen before. He never ran out of gas!!
If that were not enough to take your breath away - (and it did), we were all caught up in running across the parking lot on one of his successful pigeon hunts screaming “Go Daddy GO”,, as he struggled to hold his altitude making carrying the huge pigeon, while completed circle after circle and several figure-eights while trying to hold on and carrying these huge squirming live pigeons that he had in his clutches while trying to fly in dead air!!
On one occasion he was chased and mobbed by gulls that were in hot pursuit trying to take the pigeon away from him and was almost grounded in the water as he tried to gain some altitude as he flew up the canal past our watch position towards the Hamilton harbour!
Unlike the past weeks where the pair have been hunting in tandem on every other hunt, McKenzie hunted solo all day long today with his mate showing little to no interest at all in hunting.
Another unusual and very strange happening this year, is that both adults seemed to have absolutely no interests in the actual fledgling of their young. When Lady Lamont took her flights today, neither of the adults even looked sideways at her during the flights, let alone accompanied her in any of her flights. Very strange indeed!!!!! The resident adult female didn’t bring a single scrap of food to the young and she spent most of the day roosting on the hydro tower showing very little interest at all to all the happenings going on. And there were allot of happenings throughout the day!!!
McKenzie on the other hand, was in hyper-drive all day long right up until darkness when we closed down the watch for the evening.
By darkness, both of the girls had retired to the back of the nest box, with McKenzie roosting on one of the cables only several feet from the nest box. Mom was on the hydro tower, once again with her back to the nest box which has been her posture and behaviour for the most parts throughout the entire day!.
As I write this observation report, I can’t help but chuckle, as it would have almost appeared that the two adults must have had wicked knock out argument at some point during our absence over the evening and were they have been ignoring each other all day still not speaking to one another! They didn’t interact with each other at all today!
Hmmmmmm??????
Stay tuned…….
Posted on June 15, 2011 2:10 am
June 14, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Paul Reynolds reported that at 5:10 this morning; Lady Lamont was sitting on a light on the harbor side of the Burlington Tower. Thank goodness she had survived the night and had made her way to the edge of the Tower. At 5:30am she was flapping her wings. Mom definitely knew where she was and appeared to dive bomb her at one point.
When Bill and I arrived at 7:45am she was sitting on one corner of the Burlington Tower and Mom was sitting on the other corner. At 8:00am Lady Lamont started working her way along the edge of the Tower flapping and vocalizing the whole way. Mom was sitting on the Eye Bolt and Dad was flying between the cable arm and the wires. By 8:42am Lady Lamont had made her way directly over the nest box and both sisters were looking at each other and vocalizing. For the rest of the morning Lady Lamont made her way around the Tower flapping and running and sleeping.
At around 12 noon, Bill and I left for some lunch and when we returned, Mark Nash informed us that we had just missed a pretty good flight. At 12:35pm Lady Lamont left the roof of the Burlington Tower and flew to the Hamilton Tower with an unsuccessful landing. She came around and made her way back to the Burlington Tower landing on the lake side cable arm. At 12:45pm she flew again to the Hamilton Tower again an unsuccessful landing but managed to carry on to the Hamilton Hydro Tower. Mom was sitting in the Hydro Tower and appeared to pay no attention to these flights.
At 2:30pm, Lady Lamont left the Hydro Tower and flew to the Burlington Tower. It looked like she was trying to make her way back to the nest box. Again, an unsuccessful landing with a face plant on the buffer housing. She got off and landed safely on a picnic table. Over the next little while she managed to walk to cables to the Burlington Tower lake side cable arm. When we left for a break at 3:30pm, that is where she remained.
Lady Nelson continues to flap her wings and run around the nest box. Her first flight should be soon.
Stay tuned…….
Posted on June 14, 2011 5:10 pm
June 13, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Bill and I arrived at the bridge around 7:45am. One bird was visible in the box and I thought Oh Oh, we’re missing a bird. At 8:30am, Dad made a food delivery and then I knew for sure we were missing a bird. Somewhere between sun up and 7:45am, Lady Lamont had taken her first flight. By 8:43am, the search was on. Bill crossed the bridge, did a search of the Burlington side, the road and the surrounding area with no luck. I searched the Hamilton side with no luck. At 9:30am Reiner arrived and he did a thorough search of the rough ground on the South Side of the Burlington Tower again with no luck. At 10:20am, Mom made another food drop to the nest box. At 10:50am a young man named Wade, approached me riding his bike. He asked if I was watching the falcons. I replied “yes” and he told me there was one down on the North pier on the Burlington side. Mark, Bill and Dennis grabbed the rescue box and at 11:00am, Lady Lamont was rescued. Mark examined her and she appeared to be okay. She was kept inside in a dark quiet area until night fall. At 9:00pm, Mark did another examination and Lady Lamont was in fine feisty shape. She was released on the roof of the Burlington Tower under the cover of darkness. Mom and Dad were not happy to have someone on the roof. When we left at 10:00pm, everything had quieted down and hopefully Lady Lamont will stay quiet until morning when the watch will start all over again.
Thanks to Wade for his quick thinking, Reiner for his searching, Dennis for his photography and Mark for the fine art of Peregrine rescuing and releasing.
Rescue photos compliments of Dennis Williams-Yeagers.
Posted on June 13, 2011 11:27 pm
June 12, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Mark Nash Reports:
Closed off the watch this evening after endless delays in getting out of Toronto a terrible 5 hour ride down the lake with blustery north west winds and metre high waves. As darkness fell, the two juveniles, - Lady Lamont and Lady Nelson had moved from the edge of the landing platform of the nest box and had disappeared from my view as they retired to the back side of the nest box for the evening. One of the adults had positioned itsself on the lower ledge of the north tower below te nest box and also appeared to have also settled in for the night. Tomorrow, the oldest hatchling is approx. 39 days old.
I took the opportunity at my arrival to check in with the bridge staff and stowed the tent shelter and radios on site for set up in the morning.
Stay tuned……..
Posted on June 13, 2011 1:36 am
June 12, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
June 10th – It was pretty uneventful except for the US Steel Workers Protest on the bridge. Our Peregrines didn’t seem to mind all the flags and people that were about. It was surprising to see the interest that the Steelworkers and their children took in the falcons. Many had no idea that they even nested on the bridge. Around 3:00 in the afternoon, Mom caught a pigeon right under the Skyway. The Steelworks watched in amazement as she took it to a telephone pole across the canal to prepare it. After taking her share, she made a drop at the nest box. It was the first time in 3 days that we had seen the juvies get a meal. However, we are not there 24/7.
We had a visit from MAK and Joyce from Rochester who were on their way to the CPF banding at the Scarborough Yellow Pages site. It was nice to meet the girls and share our common interest.
June 11th - A very cold and grey day at the Bridge. Heavy jackets required. Just a whole lot of wing flapping going on. I think lift off will be pretty soon. There is no white down left and they are sure exercising those wings.
It’s very interesting this year with our new Dad Mackenzie. He is certainly a feisty little guy and he does not shy away from a Pigeon, a Cormorant, a Gull or even a Turkey Vulture. On several occasions we have seen him trying to teach the gulls and cormorants that they are not to be anywhere near “His” bridge. The other interesting thing is that he and Mom are hunting in tandem. It is so interesting to watch. Sir Adam Beck was never much of a hunter and we never saw him bring in a pigeon. Mackenzie brings in the pigeons even though it is a struggle for him to manage.
We’re off again. Hoping that all goes well with the fledge of our girls.
Posted on June 12, 2011 9:05 am
