Tonga Part 2; A Little Backgrounder on our Girl in Michigan
June 01, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
For those that are new followers of the MEC nest site, I thought it would be worth sharing a bit of information on Tonga who now nests at the Blue Water bridge. This summary was created for a gallery I put together for Talon Tales, the quarterly newsletter that goes out to all of our CPF members and it focussed on the 25 peregrines hatched in Ontario that were found breeding in 2011 throughout North America. Here is Tonga’s background…
Tonga was hatched in 2003 at the Mississauga Executive Centre to Sal and an unidentified female from south of the border. She was the first of three to fledge that year and created quite a scene between June 27th when she fledged and July 1st when she was released on the roof of the nest building for the second time. Her first flight on the 27th landed her in a tree where she spent the next two days trying to sort out her next flight. She came to a low wall where she spent the rest of the day preening; something she became famous for. She soon came to the ground where she was rescued and released to try it again. Flight number two was described as “an overburdened 747″ that took her to three different buildings where she face planted into each in turn before landing on the sidewalk for another preen session; her solution to all of life’s little problems. When in doubt, at least look good. By 2006, Tonga had mastered the art of flight and was now the resident female at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan. She has been there raising young with an unbanded male ever since. Her prowess in flight is now so well known to all that watch and support her that she managed to cancel the banding of her two chicks for the safety of all in 2011 due to her ferocity in the air. During her 6 successful nesting seasons at the bridge, she has celebrated a lifetime production total to date of 18 young; one of which, a male named Freedom, is now successfully nesting at the I-480 bridge in Ohio.
In addition to this, as mentioned in the earlier post, Tonga has added another 5 chicks to her lifetime production making her a mother of 23 over the past 7 years. This is one of the reasons why we band the juveniles and why it is so important that banding continue. Not only does banding protect the young birds as they leave the natal nest site on migration, but provides valuable information on the dispersal and success of the young birds once they have left Ontario. The hard data that comes with resightings, known as band recoveries, gives us real statistical information on the success rate of juveniles on a site by site basis and key data on population dynamics throughout the Great Lakes basin and beyond. Were it not for the banding program, we would not have known about the success of Tonga in Michigan or been able to readily understand the current happenings at the MEC site today. Thank you to all who participate in banding as it is this great work that connects the local community, the scientific community and the still recovering Peregrine falcon together.