A rare moment at midnight, one of the resident adults stands on guard on the nest ledge.
We received an update from Donna this afternoon in that she witnessed Kendal finally bringing in food to Quest on the nest ledge!!
While Kendal has been in overdrive hunting mode since their humble beginnings providing enough food to his mate to stock a small butcher shop, he has been a little “slow to the go” to bring the food directly into the nest ledge while Quest has been brooding mode.
In true male peregrine fashion while his mate has been incubating the egg(s), Kendal has been stockpiling the cache spots with mountains of fresh food,, and eventually figured out that he too must help out with the domestic duties and has been routinely assisting her with the incubation duties.
This “shift change”as we say, allows Quest to take a break from her incubation duties to stretch her wings and eat some of the food he’s been stashing for her. Up until now, Quest has not allowed food to be brought directly into the nest ledge,, (and for good reason)!
She instinctively knows that food on the nest ledge, (especially at this time now that there is a young hatchling in the nest), attracts unwanted scavengers and other predators, in addition to the various parasites that would be attracted to the nest ledge by the presence of food, so they rarely bring food directly to the nest ledge or eat on the nest ledge itself at this particular stage of the family rearing process.
Now that the egg has hatched, and a tiny new hatchling is present, the female becomes even more protective, as she must switch from egg incubation mode into brooding mode. She must now be extra careful to keep her new hatchling warm but not to hot, covered and concealed, but must be careful not to suffocate the young hatchling, and she must also be careful so as not to crush the tiny hatchling.
Until the hatchling(s) are much older, they can not regulate their own body temperatures, and a single hatchling does not have the benefit of other siblings to help stay warm.
As such, the adult female’s actions and routines change, as she is very cautious not to leave the young hatchling exposed to the elements or any un-wanted attention.
The male must also change his routine after the hatch when the chicks(s) are very small, in that he must bring food directly to his mate on the nest ledge so she can stay brooding and feed the young hatchling(s).
Over the past few days, Quest has allowed Kendal several opportunities to take a peak at his new family member, but has for the most parts been very guarded and only allowed him short supervised visits.
Most recently, she allowed Kendal a short ‘un-supervised” visit to the nest tray, but only after he didn’t respond quick enough to her demands to bring food to her on the nest ledge so she could feed the hatchling.
She was forced to leave the nest tray and the young hatchling alone with Kendal while she retrieved her own food. During this brief 2 to 3 minute encounter, Kendal was observed touching the hatchling several times with his beak and showed an intense curiosity. A very tender family moment indeed!!
Quest quickly returned to the nest ledge with food and Kendal was asked to leave! Quest proceeded to feed the young hatchling.
Stay tuned…………
A quick visit today to do a final check on the Etobicoke Sun Life hatchlings before their big day tomorrow, and all is well. Once again, the extreme change in weather had the two hatchlings huddled together with the temps substantially cooler today with no humidity and blustery winds.
While the sun was shining and blue skies, the wind chill factor at 24 stories up had us all dawning jackets and looking for cover behind the building walls to get out of the gusty winds.
The resident adult female was on guard, holding on tight to the upper roof ledge flashing just above the nest ledge.
We’re all looking forward to the banding tomorrow
Frank and I were able to attend the Hamilton Sheraton Hotel banding today and there were three chicks in this latest family. They are;
Pigott - Female - 914 grams - Black 43 over Black X - red and green tape
Thomson - Male - 650 grams - Black 51 over Black Y - yellow and blue tape
Gore - Male - 671 grams - Black 82 over Black Y - yellow and green tape
It was a great day and we were happy to be able to attend!!! Congratulations Madame X and Surge!!
This morning as I was walking north on University Ave, approaching Elm St. I caught sight of a Turkey Vulture high tailing it off the University Ave building of Sick Children’s Hospital. It flew low past the south side of Mt.Sinai Hospital. I kept my eyes to the sky and Ranger was in hot pursuit chasing it out of the area. I think the peregrines may have grounded the bird since it was flying so low. I believe the bird made a safe getaway while, both Hunter and Ranger did regular patrols coming back to the east elevation of Mt.Sinai. No indication that Ranger and Hunter have laid a new clutch of eggs.
Below are photos taken at the banding on May 31, 2011.
A great day indeed! With a huge thank you to the great folks at the Etobicoke general Hospital - William Osler hospital and the Ministry of Natural Resources, the banding went like clock work.
Three very healthy and fiesta hatchlings were banded to day in front of hospital staff.
With Hurricane (the resident adult male - produced at the Toronto Sheraton Hotel nest site in 2004 - banded Black 5 over Black x)), and his mate - (now finally identified by her Black M over Green 87 leg band,, as being named O’Conner, a 2007 Ohio produced peregrine) were both on hand to voice their opinion, the three young hatchlings were weighed in, sexed, banded, and named.
The first hatchling weighed in at 800 grams, (full crop) - sexed as a Female, at 23 days old, banded with a Black 26 over Black X and named Wind,, with Red Tape
The second hatchling weighed in at 625 grams, (full crop weight), - sexed as a Male, at 23 days old, banded with a Black 92 over Black Y at 23 days old, and named Storm,, with Yellow Tape
The third hatchling weighed in at 855 grams, - (full crop weight), - sexed as a Female, at 24 days old, banded with a Black 48 over a Black X, and named Rain, with White tape.
One un-hatched egg was recovered.
I have been going up to see the Falcons everyday and today was the first day i really got to see the two babies.. Boy they are growing quick.. They are a bit hard to see since there feathers are the same color as the bridge but once they moved around i could tell where they were… Excited for the banding coming soon so i can really see them…
Collette Denkers
Today was banding day. Anne Yagi, Biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources performed the banding . The statistics are as follows:
Lady Lamont - Weighing in at a whopping 1063 grams - Black band 41/X and she will be wearing a red band on her right leg
Lady Nelson - A little smaller at 988 grams - Black band 42/X and she will be wearing a yellow band on her right leg
There were 2 unhatched eggs in the box, which were retrieved for testing.
Now the fun begins. Given their size and estimated age of 26/27 days, the official Fledge Watch will begin in approximately 10 days (June 10th)
Photos will follow.
Ranger and Hunter are still in the area and keeping close. Ranger was seen on the east side of Princess Margaret Hospital, while Hunter was sitting on the “Intact” sign at University Ave. They did a fly around together and then returned to their roosting spots. While I was in the area, they weren’t paying much attention to one particular area, to indicate a re-clutch of eggs.