!!! One Mystery Solved, and another mystery surfaces??
May 20, 2009 - Scarborough - Bell
Mark Nash Reports:
After leaving the Yellow Pages nest site, we headed off to the Bell site to check in on Linn to get an update on her status. After more than an hour at street level scanning both the communications tower and every nook and cranny of the building, (and with absolutely no birds in sight), we decided to check in at the hack box to utilize the peep holes to see if she was home. Not only was no one at home, there was no evidence of any activity in the hack box. No scrape, no eggs, and no peregrines. Seconds later as we were exiting the roof, we heard vocalizing coming from the direction of the communications tower to the east of the building and before we had a chance to react, we were aggressively stooped and pursued from above as Linn seems to come from no where. Very aggressive & protective behavior indeed! Very territorial! No male was observed during this visit. After arriving back at street level, we both concluded that Linn may have produced / laid eggs somewhere else on the facility, (and suspected that her mate was currently incubating). This would explain both her protective behavior and the lack of her mate’s presence. We stayed and watched from the street level for the next hour and never saw the presence of a male, nor did Linn return to any part of the building, preferring to roost on the communication tower to the east of the building. After returning to the CPF office, we received news about the band number of the male that Marion and Bruce had watched and recorded several days earlier when they observed this male involved in a three hour plus long courtship and 8 copulations with Linn during this time frame. The males band number was observed and recorded by both Marin and Bruce as being a Black 43 over Green M belongs and belongs to non-other than Rueben!! Rueben was Lawrie’s mate here at the Scarborough Bell site in 2005 & 2006. Now the more interesting part: Rueben is currently the territorial male at the Scarborough Yellow Pages nest site with Lawrie!! So it appears that Rueben has two homes and is servicing two different female mates!!
Stay tuned…….