Definitely getting bigger. Over the last couple of days Bill and I have finally been able to see the little ones. Still not sure how many.
May 17th - 2013
A great day indeed in the field for me today with a very successful and very productive day gathering information at several other nest sites that were on my list to visit, combined with clear sunny conditions and allot of good luck, I finished off my day at the Hearn nest site to get an update on the Peter and his new mate.
I can confirm that they are back at it, with incubation duties being observed on their second clutch of eggs, starting over in another location.
It didn’t take me long to locate Peter, (the resident adult male) who was observed on several locations on the superstructure overlooking and guarding his territory, but I must admit it did take me some time to scan the entire superstructure with my binoculars to finally locate his mate, who appeared to be down on full time incubation duties, on a horizontal steel beam tucked in behind some of the white metal wall flashing.
Shortly after I located her, (and only able to see the end of her tail and wing tips that stuck out from behind the metal flashing), Peter did eventually fly in to relieve his mate for a very short period of time. The change-over, (or changing of the guard as we say), happen very quickly,, in only a few seconds as he disappeared in behind the metal flashing from my view. Moments later after hearing the pair squawking to one another, the female suddenly appeared from behind the white metal flashing and flew off out around the building and out of my view. The entire event was over in less than six seconds!!
Needless to say, it would appear that the pair maybe once again involved in incubation activities (now for their second time,, if not their third attempt).
Stay tuned, more to come…….
May 17th - 2013
A great sunny day with no wind, and we were finally able to get some detailed shots of the new hatchlings at the Etobicoke Sun Life nest site. It appears that I arrived just a the right time, in that O’Connor was out getting food and the nest ledge was un-attended for a short period of time during my observation period.
I was finally able to snap a few shots of the hatchlings, and while not the best of shots, I can confirm at least three hatchlings in the nest tray, with the possibility of a fourth hatchling that was huddled in the middle of the group. Jack was of course no where to found and again I got lucky with an un-interrupted period to get the shots and complete my observations.
We have some very special news that we will be reporting next week and hoping that you all will stay tuned, as its very exciting indeed!!
We are also working on a banding date of Wednesday May 29th around 2pm. There is allot to coordinate but so far its looking pretty good for a banding event May 29th.
Stay tuned…………..
May 17th - 2013
After more than an hour trying to get a peak at the new hatchlings, mom was not giving up much! The good news of course, it that we can confirm our suspicions and haven’t lost our touch. While the web cams really do confirm the story and provide a mountain of scientific information, (in addition to the detailed happenings going on in the nest ledge),, good old “time-in” on site observations and having detailed knowledge of the peregrines biology, tells a similar story.
After more than 17 years working with peregrines, not much escapes us.
That being said, even intense monitoring can still lead to mysteries and unknowns, and that is the case at the ICICI Don Mills nest site. During our observations, the resident adult female stayed tight down on her clutch and was not bothered at all with our presence from above. Curiously, the new resident adult male was no where to found and we had a uninterrupted observation period.
After more than an hour of observing, I can confirm that there has in fact been a hatch, and we did get a very short peak at what appeared to be at least one, if not two white fluffy squiggly balls under the brooding / incubating adult female. The easy part was being able to observe at least two un-hatched eggs, but its every early in the hatch cycle. We believe that the first hatched happened on or about the 15th or 16th of May, which would consistent to when we believe that the pair went down into full time incubation duties and actually started cooking as we say.
With a very cold damp rainy and snowy spring, most of the southern Ontario peregrine pairs went down onto full time incubation from the day the first egg was laid, and as such, we expected that hatch rate would be lower as the failure rate we documented several years ago when similar spring like conditions resulted in a low hatch rate.
So what we can confirm, is that we have a hatch for sure and our congratulations go out to Amexon Property management and all of the great folks at 150 Ferrand drive.
Stay tuned, we will be back on Tuesday after the long weekend to do further observations.
Looks like three new ones at the Sheraton having a morning feeding at 09:35
May 16th - 2013
I was able to catch a feeding at MEC today. Some great shots!
Enjoy!
Beautiful sunny morning and O’Connor is for the first time in a few weeks on her favorite cam perch. Jack is above her on the building and both are focused on the ropes hanging off the condo building right across from them…it’s window washing day!
When I came in earlier, I caught what looked like the end of a feed as I could here her chupping and making up and down motions as if she was feeding someone in the nest box. How ever many are up there, they would now be old enough not to have to be covered and it’s going to be a gorgeous warm day for them.
Otherwise it’s been quiet and calm here the past week..save for the odd TV group coming through.
Image taken from the web cam, afternoon snack for the Sheraton Chicks.
I tuned in just now to the Mississauga Executive Centre webcam and caught Cass in the middle of a feeding. It would appear that only two of the four eggs have successfully hatched which is not unusual for a first time mother. The two hatchlings that she has are sooooooooo cute!! One is distinctly larger than the other and was most likely due to a “first egg, later egg” hatching. Mama Cass was gingerly feeding the little ones moments ago and the two are up on their haunches and getting much more mobile. Cute doesn’t cover it!!!
