All went well on Wednesday. Voltaire flew well and returned to the nest. She’s squawking at Victor and sitting in her nest now. Very relieved!
A Big heart felt thank you to Erie Wildlife Rescue (EWR) and to the U of W student who rescued her your efforts and quick response has saved Windsor’s Falcon Ambassador!
Erie Wildlife Rescue(EWR) received a call about an injured Peregrine Falcon at the Ambassador Bridge on the evening of April 24th. The student who found the bird brought it to an EWR volunteer,who in turn took it to a veterinarian the following day. X-rays and blood-work showed that the bird was dehydrated and had suffered some trauma, but fortunately had no fractures. Banding information has revealed that the bird is Voltaire. She has been receiving care from EWR, and is showing signs that her strength is returning. She was moved into a large indoor flight cage today, and if all goes well we are hoping to release her tomorrow(Wednesday) at the bridge.
Windsor Peregrine Watch Team received news from our friends at Erie Wildlife Rescue that a student from the University of Windsor with experience with raptors, had found Voltaire on the ground and injured on Thursday evening. Voltaire was dangerously close to the road at Riverside Drive and Huron Church Road, not far from her nest. The student was able to capture her and delivered her to the team at Erie Wildlife Rescue who responded quickly to Voltaire’s need for care. EWR contacted Dr. Leanne Horsman, a local veterinarian with a passion for raptors, and she began evaluating and treating Voltaire. Fortunately after some X-rays and lab work, it was determined that although Voltaire was very dehydrated, there were no fractures.
Ellen, Bonnie, and Stephanie from EWR kept Voltaire well cared for, got her rehydrated and fed, and gave her a few days in rehab until she was flying well again in her enclosure. They brought Voltaire back to the bridge this evening, and I am delighted to report that Voltaire took a nice flight back around the bridge, soaring and lifting well, and returned to her nest and the eggs that have been so well cared for by her until this incident.
Given the recent sightings of a 3rd adult Peregrine vying for territory here recently, we suspect that Voltaire got in trouble defending her nest last week. We are all so deeply grateful to this unknown student and the great folks at Erie Wildlife Rescue as well as Dr. Horsman, for providing the assessment and care of Voltaire. Our team will be keeping a close eye on Voltaire and Victor to be sure they continue to thrive.
This evening, volunteers at the Bridge reported seeing a 3rd adult Peregrine flying near the nest site. Voltaire and her new mate were both seen chasing after this 3rd Peregrine. We have not been able to determine if this adult is banded or not but will keep watching to try an spot a band if possible.
I was at the Bridge this morning between 9:20 and 10:15 and when is arrived, Voltaire was perched on a crossbeam above the pipe under the bridge. I could not see anyone in the nest. About 10 minutes later, she flew to the nest tray and the male flew out to the pipe where her perched and preened until I left. Once Voltaire returned to the nest, she must have hunkered down because I could not see any part of her from that time on. Looks like we have eggs. Others from our team have observed nesting behaviour over the past two weeks so we are hopefully on track this year.
I was not able to clearly see the legs on the male so couldn’t confirm that it was the new, unbanded male but am assuming it was him.
I’ve been thinking about appropriate names for this new male and “Victor” came to mind. I’ll be checking in with the Windsor team to see what they think, but it seems rather fitting!
Thanks to Denis Dupuis for sharing his photos from this past week of Voltaire and the new resident male at the Ambassador Bridge nest site.
Denis sent the following report of his observations there yesterday:
I was there today and from the activity I watched. about 1:30 till 2:45. I assume they may be sitting on some eggs. I watched an exchange of birds in the nest box. One bird flew in and stood on the edge of the box another stepped up and flew away. The first bird I assume stepped into the box.(this I am not sure of as I was watching the aerial antics of the bird that flew away and when I glanced back to the box the first bird had disappeared).
A report from Fremont, Ohio was sent in by Larry Ludwicki, letting us know that Gwenis (2013 hatchling) has settled in with her mate, Magic, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Fremont. It would appear her early flight lessons around the Ambassador Church in Windsor may have given her a love of Catholic Church buildings!
A link to the article follows: http://www.thenews-messenger.com/story/news/local/2015/03/25/falcons-gwenis-magic-settle-st-joseph/70447696/
Tonight there was a report from Paul Patoine as follows: Paul was at the bridge this evening and saw three falcons flying around and two of them were fighting. He has also seen Voltaire in the nest quite a bit in the last few weeks.
Looks like there is competition for the Ambassador Bridge nest. Could be Freddie is trying to reclaim his territory or perhaps another Peregrine vying for space. If we spot any bands, we’ll be sure to post an update. For those with scopes in the Windsor-Essex area, any help spotting identifiers would be greatly appreciated.
On another note, there have been sightings of copulation activities between the unbanded male and Voltaire over the past week. Hoping we have a nest with several viable eggs soon!
Thanks again to Paul G. for more great shots today at the bridge. Voltaire’s bands can be seen quite well in some of these photos and the male is clearly not Freddie. We will continue to look through photos from the past couple years to try and narrow down when Freddie was last seen at this nest.
Through the sharp eyes of our friends at the CPF, it was observed that the male in the recent photos from the past week is not banded. Looking back, it appears that this new male was resident at least beginning in the Spring of 2015. We have confirmed band numbers on Voltaire so she remains the resident female here. Guess we were all too busy counting fledglings last year to notice the change.
Thanks to Marion, Mark, and Tracy for you help in noticing this significant change!