Erin’s Reign as Resident Female Being Challenged pt.1
December 13, 2015 - Toronto - King Street
Tracy Simpson Reports:
There is an important situation developing at the 18 King Street East nest site that has drawn our attention there for the past month. Erin’s 12 year reign as resident female is now being challenged like no other time before. A very persistent female is not backing off. I’m going to post this in a couple of segments so as to include all of the pertinent details leading up to the present.
At the beginning of this year, Erin and Windwhistler were the oldest pair of peregrine falcons nesting in southern Ontario, together since they took over the 18 King St E nest site in 2003. That changed when on Jan. 11 we noticed that the male on the ledge in the web camera image was not Windwhistler who was distinctly banded backwards; his recovery band on the right leg instead of the left. It was soon discovered that Stormin, produced at the Toronto Sheraton nest site in 2009, was Erin’s new suitor. They struggled this nesting season with the newness of the pair bond and Erin’s age. At 17 years old, she was showing signs of slowing down. During the winter leading up to this change, we would often turn on the web camera and find Erin laying down at the end of the ledge or in the nest behind the pillar, sometimes for hours. When we would go down to King and spend time watching her, she was still being quite self-sufficient and looking well, just slow. No other way to describe it. During spring observations at the nest site Linda, Bruce and I on two separate occasions witnessed a second female enter the territory and conduct a fly-by of the nest ledge. This would get Stormin on the chase in defence of his new territory and Erin would join in later. It never ended in a full contact fight as the intruding female always left quickly. Just testing the waters.
This spring Stormin and Erin courted and copulated but she failed to lay any eggs on the east ledge of 18 King by May. Shortly after that they began to disappear off camera for days at a stretch and so Linda and Bruce went on the hunt. They found the two hanging out on the west side of 18 King and other buildings to the west. We will never know if Erin did lay any eggs on the west side but by mid-summer it was clear that no chicks were successfully hatched. Into August and September, the pair were once again showing up on camera on the east side and Erin was occasionally laying down as we have known her to do for some time now. By mid-October that all changed once again. The visits on camera by the female were in and out, not long on the ledge, and the bird we were seeing was different; different enough to grab our attention. Linda, Bruce and I continued to pop down to the site and monitor the camera. Yesterday, Saturday Dec 12, Bruce was able to confirm the presence and identity of a second female on the fringe of the 18 King Street East territory and while he had her in his scope, Linda confirmed Stormin on a nearby condo and I had Erin on camera at the end of the ledge. In the post that follows this one, I will give you the details on Erin’s challenger and her time here in Ontario that we are aware of. Her name is Ivy.