!!! From Our Friends at Harlequin
April 14, 2011 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
We received a letter today from our friends at Harlequin that are so enamoured with our newest nesting pair, Quest and Kendal, that they have arranged this news release and have graciously offered us the opportunity to post it here on our website!!
Harlequin’s Newest Lovebirds—Peregrine Falcons
You may think Harlequin’s hottest new couple would be appearing on the covers of their novels, but you’d be wrong, because the publisher’s most buzzed-about twosome are a pair of peregrine falcons. A mating pair of the world’s fastest animal—they can reach speeds of more than 320 km/h when in their hunting dive—was spotted by Harlequin Publisher and CEO Donna Hayes nesting on the uppermost ledge of a building across from Harlequin’s world headquarters in the North York area of Toronto.
An avid birdwatcher, Ms. Hayes immediately contacted the Canadian Peregrine Foundation Tuesday, April 10, 2011 to alert them to the pair and noted that one of the falcons had a tracking device and antenna on its back. The CPF immediately dispatched a volunteer to Harlequin’s offices and identified the bird as Quest, a peregrine falcon born, tagged and fitted with a transmitter across Lake Ontario in Rochester, New York. Her mate has been identified as Kendal, a peregrine falcon born on top of 18 King Street East in 2009.
“We’ve got a real cross-border romance going on here,” said Ms. Hayes. “Quest and Kendal have been courting around our offices. They’ve been putting on quite a display of aerial acrobatics, spins and dives—high-altitude flirting. Our lovebirds have started their scrape, the peregrine falcon equivalent of a nest, across from our building, and have become the most popular couple in our office—they’ve even overtaken the mating pair of geese that visit us every year.”
Ms. Hayes has given the CPF access to an office directly across from the scrape to track the amorous falcons’ progress and has even set up her own telescope for Harlequin employees to watch the birds and, hopefully, their offspring.
Marion Nash, director of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation directs people to their website (www.peregrine-foundation.ca) to follow the Harlequin peregrine falcons story, to pledge support or to help with the fledge watch should Quest and Kendal have offspring.
“We conduct a fledge watch at all the urban nest sites to help the little ones survive their first few days and their first flights,” said Ms. Nash. “Often during the first two to three weeks, as uncoordinated babies, the fledglings lose altitude and come to the ground, get themselves in all sorts of trouble or hit the building trying to land. We man the street in teams to keep an eye on them and rescue them when needed and get them back to the rooftop or to a vet if hurt. The fledge watch starts early in the morning and goes until dark for as long as needed—until the babies are doing well enough without us. There can still be accidents after that, so we are on standby right up until they migrate in the fall. If eggs are produced and we have a hatch we will be calling on our current volunteers to assist, as well as recruiting new ones on our website. Volunteers can fill out a form on our site.”
Harlequin employees are raising money to make a donation to the Canadian Peregrine Foundation and hope to adopt the birds. Ms. Nash said that if Quest and Kendal hatch any chicks, they will name one Harlequin.
