Peregrine Falcons?

[Winston]

Hello from Hamilton!

Does anyone follow the peregrine falcons in Ontario? Here is the Hamilton Matriarch Madame X & her new mate in 2006 Surge!

Enjoy

Cindy

[JanM]

Gorgeous pictures! The Peregrine is an awesome bird - we have them here - in BC and they are awesome to watch!

[Prin]

Cool! I'm not sure we have any here.. Never seen one outside of the Ecomuseum.

[chico2]

Winston,WOW thay are beautiful!!
I've never seen any but I have Hawks coming in to my backyard every winter.
One is really large,the other smallish,but they are stunning,unfortunately they are here to kill and eat the birds at my feeders,but it is the way of nature,they too have to survive.

[Winston]

Prin.....You never know...there are not alot of them...but there is a pair at the Crowne Hotel in Ottawa...(I think that was the name!) and they are Conner and Diana.(it was previously Horizon )..They had one clutch this past spring and it did not survive long after fledging..He was an amazing bird named Odyssey...He flew into one of the large buildings and had to be euthanized...They are a very interesting bird to learn about..Watch out though! I became addicted to the live web cams!

Here is an amazing pic of "Aldora" from Buffalo...She is a fledgling from 2006...Once again she had a tough time and ended up being rescued and taken to a rehab facility..She is working now with a Master Falconer to be hopefully released back to the wild...The unfortunate part is that her Mom "Beauty" never had the ability to really teach her to hunt on her own?? So if the falconer can get her well and teach her to hunt...all should go well...

I have some bragging rights with her....I named her! They had a contest to name them and 2 of my names were chosen....(okay I will keep bragging!) Aldora translates to "winged gift" ...and I also named a very tiny male falcon her brother Mika..which translates to "a winged gift"...Mika was born quite a few days after his brother and 2 sisters...they never exoected him to survive..but boy was he a fighter!! What a gorgeous bird he turned out to be....Anyway I guess enough bragging already!

Cindy

[Lukka'sma]

We have a pair here in London. Since 1996 they have been nesting on the Canada Trust Tower. When the wee ones are learning to fly each year the good people of London go on Peregrine watch and stand by to make sure traffic comes to a complete stop if one should happen to land on the road.

[Lukka'sma]

So has anybody been watching Madame X on the web cam. Winston gave us this link for the Hamilton Peregrine Falcons http://www.hamiltonnature.org/hamfalcam.html
It says that she has four eggs. Can't wait to see the little ones! I tune in several times a day for a glimps of her.

[Winston]

Yes Madame X has been staying very close to her nest! It has been so miserable for her since she layed these 4 EGGS! we thought there was 5 but it is 4 for sure! She has hardly moved from the nest except briefly! She is such a wonderful Mom! This is her mates 2nd year with her! (His name is Surge!) and he is quite young so he is learning to be a dad! He was really good last year taking his turn on the nest and providing ALOT of food for his 3 chicks...but he is not always visible.....Her old mate (Newbie was his name) was an AWESOME Dad! he was always by her side with food, change off duties and he also stayed very very close to the nest! You could actually watch newbie trying to teach his chicks to fly! It is soo cool to see! (maybe I have too much time on my hands!)

There are so many amazing live web cams to watch! some have amazing picture quality and others are just okay! Here are a few I enjoy!


http://rfalconcam.com/rfc-main/mainView.php
http://www.usadatanet.com/falconCam.html
http://www.55water.com/falcons/
http://news.com.au/couriermail/extra...am/default.htm
http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html
http://blogs.indystar.com/falconblog/

That should keep you all busy!

Cindy

[otter]

We have peregrine falcons up here on Lake Superior. A bit of a different view for us to see them up on the high cliffs of Old Woman Bay vs the city life. They are incredible birds!! They were really rare in the wild here a few years ago but they are making a bit of a come back now. I'll see if I can find some photos to post (we don't get your nice "up close and personal" shots but our backdrop is to die for!).
It's getting to be the time of year to go out for a paddle and see if we can find any young ones... here's hoping!

[Winston]

Hey Otter! Would love to see some pics! I bet the background is to die for! The ones making the comeback seem to like the high rise buildings since they are more of cliff dwellers! It is amazing to see them in flight! Once the chicks hatch there are some really funny shots and behaviours they have! They look so funny prouncing around in the nest ledge with their big yellow feet and there white down ..They look like clowns with the big shoes! When they get to be a few weeks old and the balance on the ledge it is enough to drive you crazy watching them...they seemed to just teeter on the edge!! like they are going to fall.....bad on the nerves!

Cindy

[Winston]

Here is beautiful Madame X and her first three eyas..Maybe one more hatch in the next day or so..If not it it not likely viable...Shes a great Mom!

Cindy

[chico2]

Awww Winston,you are lucky you get to see them!

[Winston]

Chico! you can see them tooo! Check out : http://www.hamiltonnature.org/hamfalcam.html

Cindy

[dogcatharmony]

These birds are fabulous!! My mother has a pair that live in an old pine tree. They had two babies last year and now the young birds have nested a block over. We watch them every chance we get.

[chico2]

Thank's Winston..hopefully there'll be 4 chicks

[Winston]

We keep hoping! But you know ..3 is certainly enough to keep this family going....those mouths are alot to feed! It keeps dad busy all the time! He is a good hunter and seems to be a very good Dad...he is still young! Mom is much older! If you really enjoy watching falcons I found a site in the Netherlands that has had a crazy couple of weeks...in short Mom was killed after 3 of her chicks were just 5 days old...Dad stepped up to the plate and has been providing for them...trouble is the intruding female keeps stealing the food that dad brings...and the chicks are afraid of her! the site is a few weeks ahead of ours and it has sound! here it is ! enjoy!

http://www.planet.nl/planet/show/id=2219210/sc=19b33e

Cindy

[chico2]

Aww Cindy,that one in Holland is just amazing,what a good daddy
I only see 2 chicks though:sad:

[Lukka'sma]

Oh my gosh those babies in Hamilton are growing fast. Look at the size of them

[Winston]

Yes Lukkasmom! they are gowing like weeds! It is hard to imagine that they are fully grown up within 45 days or so! Here is a pic a feeding time!

Chico ! What a soap opera the Netherlands nest site has been! In short Mom was killed off (or presumed to be!) after only having her chicks for 5 days! The intruding female began stealing the chicks food everytime Pa brought it in! The intruder was a young bird with no experience so she thought Pa was trying to impress her by bringing all of this food in....she did not get it that it was for his young! Then after a few short days step Ma figued it out (after the babies kept chasing her out of the nest!) and began a relationship with the young! She has turned out to be a wonderful step Mom! You are right there are only 2 left in the nest...The third born was so small and frail and he passed a few days after his mom was killed...As of yesterday both have began flying out of the nest and onto an adjacent ledge.....Wont be long now before they are in full flight......The sad part is that banding will not happen with these 2...so we may never know what happens to them!

Cindy

[chico2]

Awww Winston,soap-opers indeed,but with a great ending,I hope
I have 3 birdhouses,they are inhabited by mere Sparrows,but we have soo much fun watching the parents working soo hard to feed their babies,soon ready to fly on their own.

[SandraLM]

Sadly 2 of the 4 chicks died last weekend. They did the banding today of the 2 remaining chicks which are both females. One has a bacteria so they sent her to the Ontario Vet College in Guelph Ontario. Let's hope for the best for them.

There is a clip of the chicks on this site.

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/

[SandraLM]

Winston, are going to see them on the 20th?

[SandraLM]

During the winter months I usually get red tailed hawks trying to catch the birds at my feeders. One caught a morning dove one day.

[chico2]

Sandra,sorry to hear about the babies:sad:
Hopefully the other two will survive
I too have different kind of Hawks coming to my backyard in the winter,they've caught pigeons,doves and
other birds.
I always know when they are around,there will be no birds at my feeder,it's strange how the birds know there is danger in the sky

[Winston]

Well we had banding day yesterday for the 2 remaining chicks...what drama it was..it began with the parents fighting at the man climbing into the nest to take their babies away..

Then one of the chicks decided to try to flee the nest up on a ledge very high on a busy street...all turned out well after waiting quite awhile to retrieve the 1 remaining....turns out we have a sick falcon chick and 1 healthy....2 passed away earlier in the week and appear to possibly have the same bacterial infection one of them has now..so we have 1 chhick all alone in the nest and another that is being looked at in Vet Clinic in Guelph..

We are waiting to see if it will be returned to the nest in the next day or so.

Cindy

P.S The blue footed bird is the sick one...they should have bright yellow feet!!

[dtbmnec]

I'd heard reports of them in Hamilton but I haven't actually seen them (and I used to be in downtown at least everyday for about two months last year)...

Its sad that the other two died but its good that the two are still doing OK. I wonder if the little one here at the UofG is doing well .


Its amazing that the falcons are letting them pick them up and band the little ones...I didn't think they would allow that...

Megan

[SandraLM]

Luckily over the years for this nest has been fairly successful nesting/fledging.

Hopefully we will hear more soon about the little one, hopefully with good news.

Sandra