April 23, 2013 - Niagara Falls
Tracy Simpson Reports:
After visiting the Port Colborne nest site last Saturday April 20th, Bruce and I decided to travel over to the Niagara Gorge to look for Diamond and Onyx, the resident adult pair in the gorge. Vicki and Roger, our amazing watchers south of the border, have been monitoring the gorge from Terrapin Point and have been working hard to determine if the pair are nesting again in the powerhouse where they successfully raised young last year. The mist has been strong and the light challenging to get photo confirmation from the American side of the Niagara and they have been doing a wonderful job. In the series of photos that they have taken, one of the shots potentially showed the image of an adult lying down but the mists occluded the photo enough that it was inconclusive. In another photo, the cavity looked empty. Although we cannot see into the nest cavity from the Canadian side, we hoped that we might catch the pair moving through the territory and therefore give us a clue as to what they are up to.
We headed up the parkway to Table Rock, parked and walked down to the retaining wall directly above the powerhouse. We weren’t there but a few minutes when Diamond popped up onto the edge of the roof. She came straight up from below leading us to believe that she was roosting just out of our sights on the face of the powerhouse. I had been watching over the water and did not see the male and so we decided to wait for a while to see if we were witnessing a changeover indicating that they are nesting here or if she was just lounging on a familiar perch. Diamond didn’t stay long before she took off out over the water and banked around into town. We followed her trajectory as best as we could and finally lost her low behind some trees near the Niagara Casino. We scanned all of the buildings and rooftops for signs of her but she was not in visual range.
Given that it was now after 5pm and this time of day being traditionally the “witching hour” when one of the last hunts of the day takes place, we considered the possibility that this appearance by Diamond could possibly be a changeover. We decided to walk down to the Maid of the Mist and take a look back at the powerhouse for her return. We waited for almost an hour with no sign of her before slowly making our way back to the powerhouse retaining wall. We scanned the cityscape again and found her roosting just below the rooftop on the Hilton hotel. I decided that we were staying until we could determine where she was going to settle in for the night. It wasn’t long before she took off of her perch on the Hilton and made a bee line for the gorge. She whipped through about 20 feet above our heads and was out over the water before we could turn ourselves around! She made a few circles out over the river and then swooped back up to the roof of the powerhouse once more. There she found prey remains that she picked away at but was clearly not satisfied with. She consumed what little was left on the bird and then turned her attention north along the powerhouse wall. In seconds she was off like a shot and didn’t turn out over the water or up over the gorge wall. She just simply disappeared. Three minutes later she was back and this time with fresh dinner for herself. When she was done, she roosted briefly and then made two separate flights that looped out over the water and ended with her landing back on the powerhouse roof. We believed she was signalling Onyx to get his tail feathers out of her nest so she could get back to business. Her third and final flight out over the river started off as a run at a gull she didn’t care for (why she picked that one out of the jillions that were there is beyond me) and ended with her flying north to the end of the face of the powerhouse. There she dropped out of sight, skimmed the wall heading towards us, circled out once over the water and then flew straight at the wall. Gone. One minute. Two minutes. Three… …ee-chup, ee-chupp!!! The unbanded male that Marion and I named Onyx popped straight up from below the roof edge of the powerhouse! He sat and preened for a good 10 minutes before taking off towards the falls and disappearing from our view on the cliff face.
Bruce and I believe that when we arrived at 4:30pm we caught the first changeover that gave Diamond her break from incubating. Between 6:30-7:00pm, she returned to the eggs for the night and Onyx headed off to bed. A heartfelt and huge thank you goes out to Vicki and Roger for putting Bruce and I on the right track and monitoring from Terrapin Point; we couldn’t have done it without you. How many eggs they have is still unknown but it is great to see that they are well on their way.
Posted on April 26, 2013 9:27 am
April 13, 2013 - Niagara Falls
CPF Volunteer Reports:
First we must say a huge thank you to Roger and Vicki for their efforts to update us all on the progress of the Niagara Gorge pair. It would seem that Diamond and Onyx are still very much a presence in the gorge and when we looked at the shots that Vicki was able to get through the mist and fog, it would appear that there is an adult peregrine lying down in the nest cavity. While this can’t be 100% confirmed as of yet, Vicki and Roger have plans to return to Terrapin point for another recon session soon. We have posted the picture with the potential image of an adult incubating and we look forward to hearing more about the progress in Niagara!!
Posted on April 13, 2013 12:04 pm
March 30, 2013 - Niagara Falls
Kathy Reports:
Last night I received a request from our good friends Chad and Chris in Ohio to identify a female with black bands reading 45/X. She has been discovered nesting at the Lakeshore Power Plant in Cleveland, Ohio and already has 1 egg in the nest box.
Quite amazing she chose Ohio as her mother, Diamond, was born in 2009 in Canton, Ohio and has been in residence at the Niagara Falls site since 2010. Lady Millar was one of two female hatchlings banded on July 8, 2011.
Will post most details as soon as they are available as events are still unfolding here. The previous resident female here passed away last year and they haven’t yet reconfirmed the resident male.
Posted on March 30, 2013 6:38 am
June 14, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 14th - 2012
So far, everything looks okay at the Niagara Gorge nest site which is very close to where Nik Wallenda intends to perform Friday night. Wednesday, Terrapin Pt was overrun with Walle-crews, working on riggings for the cable which was installed Tues night. Lighting being installed, cables laid on the ground, interesting conversations of Walle-crew guys overheard everywhere. There are at least five cables across the gorge. The one Walle will walk on weighs seven tons! Some of the other cables I think will carry the cameras.
Please see next email with more pix of the set-up and of a feeding
Vicki & Roger
Posted on June 27, 2012 4:19 am
June 07, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 7th - 2012 - Banding day photos
Late postings with photos soem great photos from the other side!
We could see pretty well from Terrapin Point this morning and everything looked to go very smoothly! All shots except for one were taken by Roger. This is the first six, remainder in packet 2
Posted on June 27, 2012 4:14 am
June 07, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Banding Day - June 7th - 2012
A big thank from our good friends Vicki and Roger who was able to snap some photos of the banding event from the USA side . Some great shots from a different view, a view that we never get to see!
Thanks MUCH folks!!
We’ve posted the photos a little larger than normal, so they might take longer to download when viewing. You can see both resident adult peregrines involved in an intense attack on the rock climbers during the extraction. As earlier mentionaed by our rock climbing crew, the resident adults have become far more aggressive this year.
Posted on June 9, 2012 8:55 am
June 07, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 7th - 2012
Banding Day success. In record time and without incident, four young hatchlings were weighed, sexed, banded, deemed healthy and returned to their parents. Both resident adult parents were hand to supervise the event and it was quite obvious that they were far more aggressive than last years banding. A big thank you to our climbers: John Millar and his assistant Jurgen Bilo for all of their assistance in the extraction of the hatchlings (and their safe return), and the Niagara Parks commission for their support.
A huge thank you to Anne Yagi of the OMNR for her support in banding the young hatchlings and to both Carol and Dana for their support.
The hatchlings Particulars:
1. - 865 grams, female - 23 days old - banded Black 46 over X - Named Rainbow - with Blue tape
2. - 876 grams, female - 22 days old - banded black 47 over X - Named Double Diamond - with Yellow tape
3. - 766 grams, male - 22 days old, banded Black 89 over Y, - Named Black Jack, with Green Tape
4. - 887 grams, female, 22 days old, banded Black X over 90, - Named Seven, with Red tape
Many more photos to come,
Stay tuned……
Posted on June 8, 2012 12:00 am
June 06, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 6th - 2012
Two days til banding! It definitely appears that four growing eyasses are growing quickly!!
Vicki Kadow and Roger Johnson
Posted on June 6, 2012 2:38 am
June 03, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 3rd -2012
Observation reports and updates on our family of peregrines and their hatchlings from our friends to the south in the USA continue to stream in offering very positive news indeed, despite the much cooler non-seasonal temperatures and the much needed rain that has moved in.
While the views over the past 48 hours have been difficult given all of the rain, we can verify that there are at least four hatchlings in the nest, and both resident adults are very much present and attending their new family members.
On yet another front, we are to understand that Wallenda’s walk will take place despite efforts to have him put off his stunt of walking across the falls later in the summer. The good news is that the hatch was much later than expected and the young falcons will not have fledged and as such will still be confined in the nest during the time that Wallenda is expected to do his monkey stunt walk across the falls.
Posted on June 3, 2012 11:44 am
June 28, 2012 - Niagara Falls
Frank Butson Reports:
From The Welland Tribune:
Dan Dakin, Niagara Falls Review
A harness might save Nik Wallenda from plunging into the Niagara river, but it won’t spare him from over-protective peregrine falcons.
Wallenda, the seventh-generation aerialist who will walk across Niagara Falls on a five-centimetre-wide wire on June 15, has been warned by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources that he’ll be in the danger zones for a family of peregrines nesting near the falls.
“It’s highly possible he’ll be perceived as a threat,” said Anne Yagi, a management biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources. “They’ll defend their territory vigorously.”
A pair of peregrine falcons and between three and five babies are nesting in a window of the long-closed Ontario Power Generation station in the Niagara gorge, just north of the base of the Horseshoe Falls.
In Canada, peregrines aren’t considered endangered, but are classified as threatened on the ministry’s Species at Risk list. Like most of the peregrines around Ontario, the family nesting in the gorge is closely monitored by the ministry, as well as by the Canadian Peregrine Foundation.
Shortly after Wallenda was given the green light to complete the walk between Table Rock in Canada and Terrapin Point in the U.S., Yagi, contacted Wallenda to warn him about the dangers of crossing the gorge near the peregrine nest.
“We had asked him to change the date to September when the parents had completed their parental care, but he said no,” she said. “I’m hopeful nothing will happen to him.”
Though attacks on humans are rare, peregrines are incredibly protective of their nests and offspring. The birds typically grow to be more than 40 centimetres long with a wingspan of more than 100 centimetres. They can weigh nearly a kilogram.
What makes them fierce hunters is their speed. Peregrines are the fastest animal in the world reaching speeds of around 320 km/h as they dive toward their prey.
It isn’t just Wallenda Yagi is worried about. She said any crew members within 200 metres of the nest could be considered a threat by the peregrines.
“There should be a concern in terms of the personal safety of (Wallenda), any cameramen and lighting people. Anyone in the territory,” she said.
Yagi is also concerned for the well-being of the falcons. She said there will be repercussions if the peregrines are hurt during the event.
“We’ve issued (Wallenda) a letter of advice and said if the birds are injured through any part of this, he could be charged under the Endangered Species Act,” said Yagi, who has requested security clearance for her and three others to monitor the peregrines during the walk.
For his part, Wallenda said he’s not overly concerned about a potential peregrine attack.
While training at the Seneca Niagara Casino recently, Wallenda confirmed he was contacted by the ministry, but said he’s not worried about them.
Yagi said she talk to Wallenda personally last week and knows he doesn’t to hurt the birds.
“He’s interested in the birds and he doesn’t want to see anything happen to them,” she said.
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2012/05/28/wallenda-could-be-threat-to-peregrines
Posted on June 1, 2012 4:08 am
