Mississauga North Female is Identified But Needs Confirmation
August 08, 2013 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
For almost a year now Rob, Bruce and I have been chasing a juvenile peregrine female around the Mississauga North area attempting to identify her. A really big, dark and heavily streaked female, she has challenged and frustrated us by always sitting so high up our scopes were useless or turning her recovery band in towards the Revenue Canada building that she roosts on. Yesterday while in Mississauga, I was fortunate enough to have her roosting on the building, left leg in, and I was determined to wait her out. I got out the scope, camera and any other tool I could find to try and identify her. I got lucky.
She made a short flight from one corner of the building to another and was flipping her head like a little kid at something. I was able to capture band colours and the top digits only in the scope view and on the camera. Given that I knew her banding year to be 2012, last year as she is just now moulting into her subadult phase, and the colours and top digits, I took a chance and contacted the New York DEC for a bit of a scavenger hunt. I sent off an email with the information I had. How many females in 2012 could have that top digit combination? Well, just one.
The female at the Revenue Canada building in north Mississauga is Alfrieda, banded Black 73 over Green AW and she was hatched at the Central Terminal nest site in 2012. She is daughter to Gleig from the Hamilton Sheraton Hotel and Diamante from Rochester.
Now I must warn you that this ID is preliminary and MUST be confirmed by a full reading of the band but the chances that this is Alfrieda are very high. The DEC shared with me that Alfrieda struggled in her fledgling phase and was rescued from the ground twice before really getting her wings. Not only is she now in Ontario but as of today, our watcher Rob Mueller found her with a male!! I knew yesterday when she was flipping her head and being somewhat silly that it had to be another falcon that I couldn’t see. You don’t flip your head at food or predators if you want to succeed!! He made his first appearance today and we will be working very hard to confirm Alfrieda as the female and discover who her mate is.
Pictures will be posted shortly so please check back.