!!! Introducing Soleil, Pippin, Merry and Helia!!!
June 02, 2014 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
What an exciting banding day on June 2, 2014 at Sun Life Financial in Waterloo! At 11:00 a.m., Anne and Karine of the MNR; Mark, Marion and Rudy of CPF; members of the fledge watch crew; along with CTV News, gathered to mark the special event. Equipped with falcon cam and a few people to ward off dives from the adult female, Mark made catching the young falcons look easy. Caster, the male, and the un-banded female (a.k.a. Mystery), are the confirmed resident pair at this site. With much excitement and anticipation, the crew inside waited for Mark and his compadres to return with the young chicks while Mystery could be seen swooping and screeching around the 19 floor windows. The fluffy little chicks were presented to the group and carefully banded by the dedicated MNR folks.
This year’s chicks are:
Soleil – female weighing in at 859 grams (band – 1687-19649/S33) at 23 days old, marked with yellow tape;
Pippin – male weighing in at 624 grams (band – 1156-06803/B02) at 26 days old, marked with blue tape.
Merry – male weighing in at 605 grams (band – 1156-06804/B03) at 27 days old, marked with white tape; and last but certainly not least,
Helia – female weighing in at 854 grams (band – 1687-19650/S34) at 22 days old.
All chicks have good healthy attitudes to help them on to the next stages in their young lives. Helia especially displayed very loud vocalizations to the group that were definitely heard by Mystery from outside and attracted many falcon fans at Sun Life. The 2 females were named for the Sun - Soleil (French) and Helia (Greek). The males, Merry and Pippin, are named after the 2 food loving, adventure seeking hobbits from Lord of the Rings. With 4 feisty chicks it certainly will be a journey of epic proportions this summer in Kitchener-Waterloo! Congratulations Peregrines and good luck with the next part of your journeys!
Here’s the link to the CTV story:
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=374655
A BIG THANKS to Anne and Karine of the Ministry of Natural Resources for their dedication and care of these fabulous birds. And of course to Mark and Marion Nash, Rudy Kruppa, Tony Bergauer, and all the volunteers, without you, none of this would be possible. The first day of fledge watch will be on about June 13 – let the journey begin!!!
