It’s tough sometimes being a peregrine! Nobody likes you!
August 05, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
On August 5th,
Kelly and John Schiedel reported that: “We were sitting in our high rise condo on Willow St. in Waterloo this morning, when on the next building, we noticed a juvenile Peregrine being harassed by a very brave Robin. The Robin flew all about the Peregrine, chirping loudly and getting in its face. When the Robin left, we saw that the falcon was mid-meal - looked like a white pigeon that it was ripping apart. At that point, 2 adult Crows appeared on the scene, followed by their 4 young. The adult Crows flew all around the Peregrine, who followed their progress by swiveling its head. Meanwhile the young crows perched atop the building, watching intently. After several fly-pasts, the crow family left, and the Peregrine made a very short flight to another part of the building, settling in on a ledge close to the wall, finally hunkering down into a rest mode. The juvenile Peregrine had the largest bulging crop we had ever seen on a bird - looks like he made quite a meal of it. One of our watchers reported a yellow band on one leg and a green on the other - though the yellow band might have just been the yellow claw of the bird being eaten.
The juvie actually stayed resting on the ledge for about 3 hours after its feed- it appeared to be sleeping, closing its eyes for a bit, and then opening them to gaze around, then closing them again. We did not see it fly away, which is too bad, as I wanted to see whether it flew to the tv station or the Sun Life building. I took a picture of the peregrine eating its meal, but not a very clear one, unfortunately.
Our daughter and son in law live in Thunder Bay and have been watching a family of peregrines who have nested on the mountain behind their home- we compare sightings…
You are welcome to share our information and to post it to the nest site.
John and Kelly Schiedel
