If we were to measure our travel each year as we search and check (and recheck) for new arrivals, potential nests and visiting birds, it would probably equal driving across the Canadian Prairies. With the pandemic, we still needed to check the sites but we also needed to keep ourselves and others safe. We have cameras on three of our nestsites but we have more than 10 times that many sites we check/monitor that don’t (and won’t) so they must be checked/monitored in-person. Selkirk is one of those locations that we always check even though we have only ever had 2 nests (2012 & 2019) because we think it has great potential. Finally last year, we had a pair (so far as we can tell it was Marilyn and Sundance) nest successfully at Manitoba Hydro’s Selkirk Generating Station – the only really serious contender for a nestsite in the area.
Our April road trip found us checking out the Selkirk Station on a nice day – sunny with light winds – and we were pleased to find two peregrines, better still, a male who was actively tempting a female with a not insignificant prey item. Because the site is high, we have to work from a distance in order to be able to see what we need to see. It means one needs to be patient (and lucky) to get a good look at birds here. Today we got lucky – twice. The male in his enthusiastic courting of his lady friend showed us his feet and even at a distance we could see he had no bands and then a bit later, his lady friend perched on the roof edge and we could see that she had a black band on her right leg. We know that Manitoba is one of only a few jurisdictions that still uses black bands on its wild-hatched birds, so it is very likely that this is one of our “girls” returning home to nest. No way to read the band number (even with Dennis’ incredible camera equipment and steady hands) at this distance, so we will have to hope that a) she and her unbanded mate hang around, b) she is equally cooperative when we next visit and c) we get lucky again and we are able to see enough of her coloured band to be able to identify her.
Fortunately, we don’t mind a challenge – pandemic or no pandemic!!