Well the Hamilton Chicks are not in flight as of yet. They will more then likely sneak up and just take off and surprise us all!
Chedoke is still not on the ledge with his siblings. He is getting his darker feathers in which is good and is eating, but he is a little behind.
We hope for exciting things to come!
Malik took his first flight before I got to the watch at 7:40am.
Nothing was visible in the nest area but that is not unusual. I
checked the web-cam before I left home. Only one chick was visible.
I then started the standard ground and building search, moving in
ever wider circles. Vocalising was heard a couple of times.
Eventually, I spotted Malik on the northwest corner of the King
Edward Hotel - the highest part. Great job Malik!
Paul joined the watch early and we were about to start searching for
Zera and just then, she appeared on the nest ledge. Both parents
were in the area most of the time.
It’s hard to explain the excitement I feel to see Windsor, Lancer and Bridgette flying around sometimes with Freddie and Voltaire and other times by themselves. This morning Dennis and I got there around 5:30 A.M. still a little dark but we could hear them talking back and forth. As it got light we saw Windsor and Lancer on the ledge and Bridgette sitting on the nest ledge. One parent flew in with a food package and dropped it off. The three of them basically ran over to it. About an hour later we saw them fly off with Freddie, looks like he’s teaching them talon to talon hand off feeding as they are flying around. We want to say a Special Thank You to the Bridge corporation for helping us with the two rescues that we had to do to keep the chicks safe. Special thanks to the University of Windsor Security and all the bridge staff. This comunity spirit has launched this nest site into the treasure of great magnitude and value it deserves!! Great work by the Windsor Falcon Watch Team. There is still much to be seen in the early morning and evening.
Keep looking up, you’ll be amazed by what you’ll see!
Tomorrow evening Dennis and a friend will be adding photos on our site.
Gwen
Today was the start of the fledge watch at the Sunlife Centre nesting site. The volunteers all made an appearance and took a turn watching the 3 brothers on the ledge. They flapped and ran the ledge abit,but for the most part were not terribly active. They did alot of screaming for food. The adults sort of ween them before flight time,helping them get to a proper flight weight. They were fed 2 small amounts,parts of the same Starling. At 815pm they were fed a pigeon which Angel(mom) caught. This calmed everything down and the boys were “ready for bed”. During the afternoon Angel chased off a Turkey Vulture,hitting it several times. A 2nd Turkey Vulture flew by and Jack escorted it from the area. Jack was not present much,maybe 45minutes all day,but he did try to hunt each time he was there. Here is a short video,of Day 1. http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=148hmk6&s=6 Around the city,watches like this are taking place at several locations. They make a huge difference to the survival of Peregrine Falcons. Up to 70% of young die at fledge time normally. At locations we do fledge watches and are able to help 67% SURVIVE!
Star, Legacy and Lorenzo appear to be flying well at this stage. Two of the juveniles return to the nest ledge regularly in search of a meal from one of the adults.
They are still using the hotel roof top and neighbouring roof tops for shelter from the sun and rain and of course, more meals. Today they were spotted in the direct area of the Sheraton Hotel and I am sure they are giving the hotel guests an air show in the evening showing off the newly acquired flight skills
Zera the juvenile female and Malik, the juvenile male are still awaiting their first flights.
Lots of flapping seen, and white fluff still evident on the underside of the wings and at the base of the tail feathers. An episode of “Running of the Gulls” was seen over the King Edward Hotel by the resident male just before the evening meal which was served up around 7:15p.m.
After dinner the adult female stayed on the ledge, the adult male was seen on the roof of 18 King St. The two young ones were tucked into the back of the ledge and not seen when we closed the site for the night at 8:15p.m.
Just returned from out nest site and all three boys were on the ledge being fed by Jack! He’s been present quite a bit the past three days especially in the mornings.
On Friday, both mom and Jack were doing flying displays in front of the ledge while the two older boys cheered and flapped. Little Mercedes didn’t think much of it all and seems to have a preference for the corner right under the web cam.
Friday at about 2:30 in the afternoon and I went out to check on them and mom was doing fly bys with food in her talons right in front of the nest ledge! Then she would circle over to the condo corner where she was hoping to entice one of the boys to. Blackberry was definitely the most developed with barely any white left on him and he was running up and down the ledge as if it was a runway flapping his wings like crazy.
Yesterday both dotca and blackberry were standing beak to beak on the ledge flapping away. Mercedes didn’t want to have anything to do with it and mom beak fed him in the corner before feeding the other two.
Tomorrow our official fledge watch begins so keep your eyes to the skies as I expect these boys will be going sooner than later.
King St. chicks are still on the ledge. The weather may have had a good deal to do with that which is a good thing. The longer they wait the better they will be at flying.
Lots of flapping going on.
Our last peregrine to fledge ( Lorenzo ) is still keeping lower than the Sheraton Hotel. Last evening we had left him on the east side of 120 Adelaide St. This morning I could not find him, he had moved off of that perch. I left the area around 11:45 am and returned around 1:30. and joined up with another volunteer. She had spotted him on the east side of 120 again.
After the rain we decided to view from the a higher elevation and spotted two juveniles on the north east side of the vacant building on Richmond St. An adult was on the north west corner.
After a while the well flighted juvenile took off along with both adults. Adults returned and to try and nudge our slow flyer into the air without any luck. Eventually both adults took off again. Lorenzo then decided he did not like being by himself and flew to the next building eastward ( 85 Richmond ) He scooted across the roof top a few times trying to find the adults. Around 7p.m. he took off southward along Sheppard Street and we lost in the mist and the flat light. We repositioned to ground level and did a search of the area. We could not find any indication where he ended up. No peregrines in view. We think he either circled back or is in the area of Sheppard St and Adelaide at 7:30p.m.
We have just received some great news from Mary Beth down in New York state.
She has been closely monitoring the nesting activities of the Ogdensburg bridge peregrines and in addition to finding out that the pair have in fact produced four hatchlings this year, and nesting on the Canadian side,,, she has been able to identify the band number of the resident adult female!
I just checked the band number against our records and we have been able to positively identify the identity of the resident adult female as being named “ Zanar”,, produced at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ottawa Ontario on 2004, banded Black 69 over Black K, with a sliver USFW band # 168705686
Zanar was banded at 25 days old, 920 grams – (empty crop weight), June 11th 2004
Thanks You Mary Beth!