affordwatches

The “Lady in Red” still refuses to fledge! The “boy in Blue” is rock-in! and Dad shows his urban skills!

June 27, 2013 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages

Mark Nash Reports:

June 27th - 2013
Despite another really uneventful day in the field on the fledge watch again today with regards to any the young peregrines doing anything spectacular, (or anything at all) for all that matter,, it was still a good day on the other side of the coin in that both hatchlings (one now fledged and tearing up the skies -(named Loki) and his sister - (named Neira) is still on the nest ledge, BOTH of them are still visible and very much alive!

The extreme heat and humidity has finally dissipated and although no one’s running around the block as yet, you can actually breath now without looking like you have just showered! Overcast all day, light breezes and NO SUN!!! Thank Goodness! The “easy-bake” over finally turned off!

Three days of intense observations from dawn to dusk has paid off and there appears to be a real pattern unfolding, now almost predictable, (at least at this stage of the young peregrines development). By 8:30pm each day, both parents have settled down and no longer very active. Linn brings the last food in for the day to the nest ledge and drops its off. Loki, returns to the nest ledge prior to this event and is already waiting with his sister on the nest ledge for the food to arrive!

By 8:45pm, quiet is an understatement, as both of the young peregrines are settled down for the night! It is quite obvious that Linn is drawing them (or at least Loki) back to the nest ledge each night with food at the same time each night and has tucked them in so to speak, just prior to darkness falling. Both adults have once again taken up their roosting positions after the final food drop and become very inactive indeed. The young have disappeared in behind the nest ledge lip and are not seen again for the balance of the evening. Its almost like Linn has set a “curfew” for the kids, - be home by 8:30pm or miss out on supper! Now that’s some experienced parenting!

I consulting with Marion who has historically been doing the Yellow Pages watch over the past years, she recants that this is exactly the same behaviour that she has documented for several years at the Yellow pages fledge watch! After reviewing her field notes from the previous years, I can confirm without any doubt that this is exactly the case! History has once again repeated itself at this nest site!

The highlight of the day, (or should I say the evening) was Ruben’s last hunt. Given the obvious lack of any pigeons in the immediate area, (it appears that the peregrines have cleaned out the neighborhood of local pigeon populations), Ruben is having to travel much further beyond the visible territory to find his choice of food. Just as the CAA had finished boosting my battery, (yes, sleep depravation is taking its toll as I left my car lights on all day and killed my battery), Ruben suddenly appeared from the south east chasing a pigeon almost over our heads and deliberately forced the pigeon into the side of the nest building windows about half way up the building.

The pigeon hit the office building window at an incredible speed (and with a very loud bang) and either killed itself on impact or knocked itself out cold on impact. It actually bounced off the window after its collision and Ruben caught it on the re-bound as it bounced of the window back into the air. Absolutely incredible! He caught it without missing a single wing beat!!!

Both Dave and I watched in amazement as the event unfolded!! Ruben never missed a wing beat, and grabbed the lifeless pigeon and simply carried on around the north side of the building with the lifeless pigeon in his clutches. While he did struggled to hold his altitude with the huge pigeon in his clutches, he was able to gain enough altitude and flew around to the west to the “kitchen”,, (atop of the Investors group building as we have nick-named it), where both adults have historically over the years taken their food to prepare it.

Unbenounced to us, Patti had dropped in and was positioned on the north side of the building watching the peregrines. She later hooked up with Dave and I in the back parking lot and showed us a incredible photo that she had taken of Ruben struggling to hold his altitude with a huge pigeon in his clutches as he flew over to the Kitchen.

Hopping that Patti will send us the photos so you can see the incredible size of the pigeon in comparison to Ruben’s small body size.

We closed the fledge watch down for the evening by 9:20pm with all four birds in sight and tucked in for the evening.
Stay tuned……….
A foot note: The young female hatchling - (named Neira) dawns RED coloured marker tap - (thus her nick-name) - “The lady in Red” and the young male fledgling - (named Loki) dawns BLUE coloured marker tape, thus his nick-name the Boy in Blue.

Photos submitted by Patti -now added!