!!! Poor Rapphie What to do about these Females
April 05, 2016 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
On April 4th Tessa a female hatched in 2014 and banded Y 82 with red tape at the Holcim Cement plant in Mississauga and the unbanded resident female at the Statler Towers in Buffalo battled it out fighting over the nest box.
Poor Ralphie the resident male who is also a Canadian bird produced at the Downtown Toronto Sheraton Hotel in 2014 just had to get the heck out of their way and let the girls fight it out. There was at the time 1 egg in the nest and the female held her ground to protect it even though Tessa had her pinned down for several minutes until they both tumbled out to the box together. All was caught on camera and can be seen on the link below. The resident female was seen in the best the nest morning so it looks like Tessa was not successful in winning the nest this time. The DEC has installed several nest boxes at other nearby Buffalo sites so hopefully Tessa will find her own mate and pick one of the unoccupied nest boxes.
Lets hope Ralphie and his mate have a successful hatch this year and there are no more fights.
Tessa and Unbanded Female Fight Video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eZtpabCi30