!!! Surprise, Surprise, Surprise,,,, Two very healthy hatchlings!!!
June 04, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
June 4th - 2016
With a short brake from the bandings, I was finally able to get back to finishing our site visits in an effort to get an update on what’s been happening at several of the other nest sites,, as we’re looking for second clutches and new hatches. Today, I was able to complete and visit three sites, including the Scarborough Yellow Pages nest site at Progress and Milner in Scarborough.
With Paul’s support, I attended the upper roof top walkway and checked the new nest location of Linn and her new mate. While the resident adult male was no where to be seen during my visit,, Linn was on site, and in fine form!! Linn’s Black over Green leg band 91 over V was very visible during my visit. Linn, the long standing resident adult female greeted us moments after exiting the door to the upper roof walkway.
We were quickly reminded that “she” is the lord and master and that the upper elevations are hers and hers only! It was quite obvious that we were not welcomed guests!! With Paul defending, I was able to briefly get my camera up and over the top of the retaining wall ledge and snapped a couple of photos of the nest ledge below.
Just at that moment, I felt the sting on the top of my head as Linn made yet another full contact hit! Paul and I quickly headed for the cover behind the retaining wall, eventually making our way around the south side of the building, and finally to safety and under cover behind the exit door. The entire event was something out of Alfred Hitchcock’s horror movie “The Birds”,, but this time we were the victim’s !!!! Oh my goodness, this girl is a no-nonsense peregrine!!
During the brief encounter, (yes we were being aggressively pursued, dive-bombed and stooped on with full contact hits), I was able to snap a few photos of Linn as she kited above us during her set ups for additional stoops and dive-bombing runs.
Lets just say, it would be understatement to say that we were both pleased to be off the roof and under cover!
Much to my delight, I was able to confirm that there was at least two very healthy hatchlings on the nest ledge! While there may have been a third hatchling under the overhang, there was no way I was going to hang around with my back exposed to Linn any longer with this bird. The photos should tell the story.
