Banding day has been set for May 20th at 3:00 PM in the lobby of #1 Robert Spec Parkway. Please come out to see the newest additions to MEC’s Peregrine Family and watch the banding.
Since the battle between the 2 young falcons reported in the last post, the resident female Trillium has only been seen once & it was at 7am May 9th. Since then, Buffalo Bill & the juvie with no bands (the one that had the battle with Red Bud) have been in the nest box frequently & exhibiting courtship behaviour & digging in the scrape.
On Friday, May 6 – Morning feedings were observed at 6:00 and at 10:30 and all 5 chicks were accounted for. At 2:30 there was a little squabbling and jostling amongst some of the siblings while the parents were out hunting. At 3:00 one of the adults returned with an afternoon snack.
At 7:40 a.m. on Saturday, May 7 only 4 babies could be seen. The last chick to hatch was so much smaller than the others and was hard to see amongst his larger siblings. It looked like he had some catching up to do. Mystery left the nest a little after 4:00 p.m. and the 4 bigger ones were huddled together, jostling and pecking at each other a little. The littlest one was just outside of the group face down and wasn’t moving. At 4:20 Mystery came back and her foot dragged him over closer to the brood but he still didn’t move. She nestled back over the chicks and you see some of them appearing moving underneath Mom. At around 4:45, Mystery moved off of the nest and took off and the littlest one was still in the same place not moving while the others pecked at each other a little and jostled for a position in the group. Around 5:00, Mystery came back with a grackle for dinner and there was no reaction at all from the littlest one while the others demanded their dinner. A sad turn of events, that the last hatchling has passed.
At 7:00 a.m., Sunday May 8 – the deceased hatchling could still be seen sticking out from under his siblings. At 8:00 a.m. he couldn’t be seen. At some point, Mom will remove the deceased hatchling as peregrines don’t usually eat their own. There was too much of a spread between the first hatchling and the last one which you could see in the difference in the size. The 4 remaining chicks are almost double the size of the last hatchling. Although it is sad losing the littlest hatchling, it will make it a little easier for the parents to keep up with the demanding needs of the 4 remaining chicks who appear strong, feisty and healthy.
May 2016
We are in desperate need of your assistance!
We are looking for someone that has in-depth hands-on experience with WordPress.
There are several major changes needed to both update some portions of the CPF web site, in addition to some design changes and in need of an experienced WordPress person that has some spare time to donate to the CPF.
This individual should also have in-depth hands-on experience with the technical side of web site management.
Please if you can help, and some spare time, we would love to talk to you!
You can contact us at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation via our telephone number at: 416-937-7226 or by e-mail to marion@peregrine-foundation.ca
May 3rd - 2016
Just getting caught up on all of the recent news and hatches as its flowing in faster than we can keep up!
It was reported as of May 3rd, that there was three of the four eggs hatched, with the forth egg now looking like its not going to hatch. That being the case, we believe based on the review of all of the observation reports, that the first hatched around April 30th.
Congratulations are in order!!!
:-)
May 2nd - 2016
After having received several disturbing observation reports from Kathy regarding the Don Mills pair, ie: seeing both resident adults off and away from the nest ledge for long periods of time, (for many hours at a time),, this in addition to also seeing the pair copulating again and going to other ledges altogether,, we all concluded that something was not right and we need to get back to the roof to check things out.
Well, this afternoon, I was finally able to get back up to the roof of the nest building and take a detailed look at all of the ledges, including the nest ledge.
As we suspected based on Kathy’s observations of the peregrines recent activities, (and what I observed during my site visit today), it has became quite apparent that the pair have in fact abandoned the original nest ledge on the 250 Ferrand Drive nest building leaving a single egg unattended. The egg was dull and lacked luster and sheen, and very consistent to the sort of appearance that an egg would look like that had been exposed to the elements for some time - (many days unattended). This is also consistent with Kathy’s observations of the pair.
The peregrines are now showing allot of interest as they are now being observed on the original nest ledge over on the 150 Ferrand Drive building, where they successfully produced young several years ago. For what ever reason, they have apparently decided to move to another ledge,, abandoning their first clutch of egg(s).
Unfortunately, we were never able to confirm just how many eggs that the resident adult female had laid in her first clutch, as she was down hard in full time incubation mode when I did my earlier site visit.
We will be monitoring the situation closely in an effort to figure out just what the birds are doing now.
Stay tuned………..
May 2nd - 2016
Again, a late posting, our bad,, but its getting very very busy indeed these days with hatches happening all over and now trying to coordinate and arrange banding schedules!! A good shot of one of Lakeview first new babies!! Photo taken and submitted by Ken.
Thank you MUCH for this shot!
May 4th - 2016
A quickly update, as we have confirmed that the Burlington Lift Bridge pair have in fact laid and are currently incubating 5 eggs!
Its getting very close to a hatch,, so we’re asking everyone to keep a close eye on the pair as its getting very very close to a hatch!!
At around 11:15 today, the chicks were left alone for about 30 minutes. Mystery brought in a big gull to feed all the hungry mouths! The nest box has a blanket of large feathers in it that look large enough to be gulls. It’s a good thing that she can hunt such large birds to feed her large family!! At 2:00 p.m. the family were all fed and sleepy. Mystery nestled back down on her brood but one little one was left outside of the group! A few minutes later, Mystery gently picked him up and nestled him back underneath her with it’s siblings. At around 3:00, Mystery was a little hungry again and started to peck at the gull. She then started to drag the gull around the nest and dragged it right over top of the babies! The gull was squishing the babies while Mystery pecked at it. The little chicks were bounced around while the remnants of lunch were dragged to the back of the nest box over top of them.
At 11:45 on May 3, four hatchlings were observed in the nest box! Just before noon today, there was a changing of the guard as Mystery moved off the chicks. No. 5 egg could be seen with just a wee bit of white poking out!!! By 12:30 the latest arrival had fully emerged from the egg and after about an hour, the wee one was struggling to keep upright and get noticed by Mom with it’s siblings. Before hatching, the chicks feed on the yoke sack which keeps the newly hatched well nourished providing them a reserve as they gain their strength. At around 3:00 this afternoon another feeding was observed and all of the chicks got a little tidbit. The adults very gently feed their tiny new chicks that seem to be growing by the hour and are already very demanding.
It will be a very busy fledge watch this year with 5 chicks to keep track of! We’re anticipating a first fledge around 34 days old which would be around June 4th. Exciting times ahead!!
