Sun Life Centre Banding - May 24th - 2pm
Meet and Greet - 1:30pm, Banding at 2PM
I paid a visit to the site this morning to check on our new resident female O’connor and family.
As expected she was sitting quietly in front of the nest box on the ledge looking very alert. The sun was directly on the ledge and so quite hot out. A few minutes later I saw her run down the ledge towards the back..no doubt one or more of the kids are out of the box looking for shade.
I was lucky enough to see one of the eyases spread his wings and back up for a poop shoot as we call it :). And I could see some pin feathers on the underside of his wings. I also saw another cute little white head peeking over the nest box.
No sign of Jack while I was there.
Sun Life banding has been scheduled for Thursday May 24th at 1:30pm!
Today was the happiest. Every once in a while something overly magical happens and you get to have “a moment”. It’s brilliant.
The last few days I have been out to the Etobicoke Sun Life nest site trying to determine who the new resident female is. From the photos taken by Mark Nash, it was clear that a banded bird with a Black over Green recovery band was the new resident female. Now we needed to get to the task of identifying her. Two previous tries at an identification from Eagle Road and Bloor Street through the scope and she wouldn’t even flinch. But today I was treated to the most memorable experience I have had in a very long time.
The bird that presented itself on the nest tray was sleeping when I arrived at 3:00pm. Each and every opportunity I had to see her, she was fast asleep on the edge of the tray next to her 4 healthy and happy hatchlings. She consistently roosted on her left leg, the one that I wanted to see and possibly photograph. She sat for half an hour not moving, only sleeping. This had me a little concerned and confused as this female was so docile with gulls, crows and other activity all around her. Earlier I had the opportunity to briefly see her fly and she did that well with good landings and excellent control and she roosted in the strong winds with good balance. She just seemed really tired. When I thought about it, this is a new female at a new site, with a new male, new chicks and a new territory. I’m tired just thinking about it. From all that I have observed, she seems to have everything under control and looks to be flying and feeding well.
At around 3:30pm this afternoon, Jack flew in with a food package for the young ones and she greeted him on the ledge, took the food and then proceeded to feed the kids. I snapped away with my camera in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her band and recording what my eyes could not see. My little digital camera has an awesome lens until I go into the digital range and I hoped for a clear photograph in the blustery winds. After feeding the chicks, she took off of the nest ledge and flew over to a corner perch. She sat there on the edge of her chosen ledge and watched the world around her quietly, only occasionally calling to Jack with a few chups. I again set to snapping photographs as fast as my little camera could take them and I struck it lucky with a crystal clear shot. After blowing the photo up, I was able to clearly and without doubt read her band number and it is Black M over Green 87. I was speechless and unable to stop a tear from coming to my eye. It’s O’Connor.
I don’t know whether I’m happy, sad, confused or all of them mixed together but I drove away from the site blasting the music and singing like a silly thing at the top of my lungs. Between smiles and tears I thought of all of the adventures I have shared with this bird over the past three years watching her and am so excited to see what the season will bring. I stopped for gas on the way to the barn and at the counter when I was asked if I wanted anything else I said, “Better give me a lottery ticket ‘cause today I feel soooooo lucky!”
More observations and pictures to come!!!
Back on April 2, we reported part of the ongoing saga of the Rochester NY falcons. At that point, DotCa a male from the Etobicoke Sunlife Centre,hatched in 2010, had taken over as the resident male with Unity as his mate. Shortly after a tragic accident occured when Unity was struck by a car and was killed. Beauty the former resident female was released from rehab almost concurrent to this and she took over the nestbox again. At first it seemed DotCa wanted her out of the box,but they came to accept one another and have now produced their first egg! DotCa has been trying to nest with another female at a 2nd site in the Brighton area of Rochester too. So far it doesnt appear there are eggs there.
Everyone from the Sun Life family of staff and watchers is excited to hear that DotCa has made it and is starting a family! We will be sure to follow he and Beauty and keep everyone informed as to their progress.
It came as a huge shock when Mark Nash came by the CPF Raptor Centre with a ton of pictures he had just taken of the family at the Etobicoke Sun Life nest site during a feeding and we noticed that both adults were banded. For the past 11 years, this site has been home to an unbanded adult female that we have dubbed Angel. It would appear that Mark was able to capture a picture clearly showing a Black over Green recovery band on her left leg and a purple USFW band on her right leg indicating she is of midwest American origins.
In the early spring during courtship, Angel was positively identified as the current resident female with Jack, the long standing resident male hatched in 2002 at the Mississauga Executive Centre. There were no observations of a territorial battle, interlopers or a change in adults so once the pair entered the incubation phase of the breeding season, the female spent most of her time in the nest tray. I visited recently to confirm the first hatch of the season for the site and she did not budge from her duties in brooding her newly hatched young. It wasn’t until this recent feeding of her four hatchlings that we were able to clearly denote the change.
I have yet to get a clear look at her band numbers so that we can put a name to a face of this new mystery female. With her arrival comes the promise of 4 new hatchlings in 2012 and hopefully many more to come. I will hopefully have her identified for you very shortly so check back soon!!
I heard about the update posted by Kathy having seen food going into the ledge and decided to check it out to confirm the news. I went up to a higher elevation to get a look and found Angel in the tray looking like the top of a muffin!! Hunch back doesn’t quite describe it! To the left of her was the shell of an egg, evidence of the young she hid beneath her. Congratulations to Oxford Properties and the Etobicoke Sun Life Centre on your first hatch of 2012!!!
3:50 pm today I observed Jack arriving at the ledge with his food in his talons. He landed directly in front of the nest box and Angel immediately jumped out and grabbed the food. Jack then took off screaming and dive bombing on some TV’s that had entered the territory while Angel assumed feeding position.
I could clearly see her bending over and feeding someone and I could hear her chupping to them. I notified CPF and a few minutes ago Tracy - who was nearby - went up to the adjacent condo rootops and confirmed visually that we have eggshell in the nestbox!
So finally …we have some eyases! Congratulations Jack and Angel!
Continuing on with the west end nest site checks, I paid a visit to Jack and Angel at the Etobicoke Sun Life building as we know that they are very close to their hatch date. When I arrived, there were no adults in sight so I headed over to Kingsway on the Park where I met up with our long standing falcon watcher Baylie. We headed upstairs for a better view to the nest ledge and found Angel in hard incubation in the nest tray. She didn’t so much as bat an eye as she sat tending to her motherly duties. Within 10 minutes, Jack made an appearance at the site and came whistling in to the ledge just east of where Angel lay incubating. It certainly would appear by her behaviour and the posture in which she lay that the eggs have not hatched yet but we are expecting our first little one any day now.
