Saturday, May 31, 2014
May 31, 2014 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
9:00 am – 12:30 pm
What a beautiful morning for falcon watching. When we arrived at the Lift Bridge, both adults were hanging out in the Hamilton Hydro Tower. The little ones were in the back of the box, probably trying to get out of the sun. I imagine the box in very hot until the afternoon, when they get some shade.
There wasn’t too much going on until a freighter came through with a full lift of the Bridge. Immediately at the sound of the bells, and before the bridge even started to lift, both Cirrus and Mackenzie sprang into action. Working together they began terrorizing the Pigeons on the bridge, getting them up and into the air. Cirrus was finally able to grab one and she took it to the Hamilton Hydro Tower to prepare. Mackenzie continued to work the bridge. He was in and out of the holes, looking for squab, much to the chagrin of the adults. He was unsuccessful. Cirrus prepared the meal and took it over to Ghent and Ireland where she beak fed both of them.
A short time later another freighter came through, again with a full lift of the Bridge. Mackenzie started again. He search hole after hole with the Pigeon Parents trying to scare him away. Again, he was unsuccessful. By this time Cirrus had finished feeding the little ones and returned to the Hydro Tower to clean herself up. When Mackenzie saw she was out of sight, he went into the nest box and took the scraps that remained of the meal. He took them to the face of the Hamilton Bridge Tower where he stored it. We figured he wanted to be sure that Cirrus hadn’t seen him.
After all that, things quieted down. The little ones went to the back of the box to sleep off the meal and Cirrus and Mackenzie were resting in the Hamilton Hydro Tower.
We figured that all would be quiet for a while so we took our leave.
