ON / Etobicoke - Bloor & Islington / 2008-21

[allikat]

Ohhhhh....hmmmm.  Can't wait to hear more!

[carly]

Male adult falcon sitting in his usual spot one ledge over to the nest for the past 15 minutes.  Mom on the cam appearing relaxed.  Can't see bands or feet as his back was to the outside...but saw part of his chest and can definitely confirm it's a male adult and not a juvie... 

[carly]

So far so good here the past few days.  I've seen alot of great flying from both Elena and both boys, even Mac.  I've seen a few more successful hunts and one kill that unfortunately didn't get caught in time and kept getting run over in the middle of the road...eww 

Mom has a new perch spot in addition to her usual webcam spot.  I've noticed that if one of the kids is in dad's spot on the other side then she will sit on the cam or on the ledge but when they are gone she goes to the condo roof top where she normally never, ever perched before.  The only thing I can deduce is that with the male gone...she can't see the other side of the building from the ledge..normally one would be on each side to cover the area.  So when she is right on top of the condos which has a nice metal thing she can perch on and puts her even higher than her building ...she has a view of the entire perimeter.

Amazing how fast they adapt to protect their homes and young. 

[allikat]

Thanks Carly....very happy to hear that the kids are doing well and Mom is standing guard...proudly! 

[Moonstar]

So nice to read good news. 
I am always afraid to read these posts for other sites because so often it is sad news.
But today this was good happy news.
thanks

[carly]

Just witnessed one of the males successfully catch his own breakfast !!!  It was awesome and well done!!  All three kids are up on the rooftop now and were yelling up a storm as our young male caught his prey! 

Mom is standing guard as they enjoy a rooftop breakfast in the sun..cant' see up there but hope he's sharing    No sign of dad today yet but  mom was on her webcam perch for the first time days so maybe he finally put in an appearence or she's adjusted to his absence...

Good to see the chicks progressing as they should, a few more weeks and they'll be venturing out into the big wide world!

[carly]

Mom has been on the ledge since I came in this morning.  She's sitting in front of the nest box looking out - it's cold and grey here today.  Saw all 3 kids as well earlier, actually saw one take a run at a pigeon but the prey got away  .  One of the boys can now be seen on dad's perch on the ADP sign on the opposite side of the building. 

[allikat]

Thanks Carly...we appreciate all this feedback.  Keep us posted!

[bev.]

It is the juveniles I worry about in these cases. so lets hope they are being fed and tit there are 2 adults here.

this might have to be monitored

[carly]

Well Angel finally showed up around 2:30 this afternoon.  She may have been around earlier but I was busy at work trying to get caught up from the past few days and running outside at every opportunity I could get!  On lunch, mom was not around however no doubt she was out hunting.  I have seen the juvies chasing birds but I have no idea if they've actually caught any yet and are capable of feeding themselves.  I suspect the 45 minutes of crying for food I heard today with no parents in sight ... probably means not so much!

I did not see the resident male at all today and did check out his regular haunts.  Mom was home like I said about 2:30 and still there when I left after work.  She has not been on her cam all her day...normally you'd have to pry her off that thing with a crowbar especially first thing in the morning!!  If Jack is the same Jack at TR and he's now there more - I dont' know if that means he's going to hang there until he bonds with the female and then go back and forth or if he's just abandoned Angel.  My understanding is the 2 sites are too far apart to have 2 nests going, it's not like the Windwhistler situation where they were a few flocks apart. 

I'll keep watching.  I am hoping there is some sort of error with bands and maybe I'm just missing dad when he's there.  Until the MNR confirms those bands - all I can do is keep an eye on the site and hope for the best. 

[carly]

Thank you, thank you Alison for this great news!  I feel like the proud grandma..lol 

As for Jack...pending confirmation from the MNR, we think it's the same male.  I did some research online yesterday and found a few papers on bigamous falcons - apparently this does happen and the one really good article was from the US Midwest biologists.  Apparently from what I was able to find out - it's a territorial thing not really about having another mate.  It happens in cases where the male either wants to expand his existing territory or where the nest site is already considered a part of his territory.  And that is a possibility as TR site is only 2 years old so perhaps this was a part of Jack's territory before or he sees an opportunity to go bigger!!

They said that in these situations the male will try to woo the female in hopes of adding to his territory but that the second nest usually fails because the male will spend more time with his 'alpha' female (their words).  They did cite a successful case down there where a male had 2 successful nest sites and raised 8 young in total to fledge however in most cases they said one nest site fails due to the male not being as attentive to his second mate.  For me that speaks to our situation at Scarborough here this year where Reuben stepped out on long time mate Lawrie with Linn from Rochester.  Both territories are side by side and unfortunately both sites failed this year...so not sure what the full story is there but I know Lawrie's clutches both failed and not sure if Linn even laid eggs but they did mate.

Windwhistler as we know did run 2 sites for 4 years but he had alot of human help!  As it's not 'mating' season the situation may correct itself.  Apparently if a new male comes along that is strong enough to hold his own against Jack and he tries to woo the TR female and she accepts him then Jack will go back to his existing boundaries.  If the TR male recovers and comes back, that should probably do it as the TR female has been with her mate for several years so no doubt she would be happy to take him back. 

[Alison]

Thank you for the great update on the whole family, Carly! Good to know the kids are doing well.

So is Jack another Windwhistler?

Chad and Chris posted this evening on the Cleveland site that Lara (born at the Sun Life Building, Etobicoke, 2006) and her mate Rocky (last son of the great Buckeye of Hilliard Road Bridge, Cleveland) have four chicks!

Some great news here today! This was the first day that we saw the chicks-- we could see when they were huddled together that there were two heads at first, then we saw a third head, and a little while later (right before feeding) we saw a fourth!! So, four chicks for first-time parents Rocky and Lara after reclutching is pretty exciting (the "Buckmaster" would be proud)! The oldest chick is about three and a half weeks old and looks to be a female.

Photos by Chad and Chris:

 

[allikat]

Thanks Carly for keeping us updated.....
Love the comment...he's cheeky

[carly]

Went to check on the family this morning for about 2.5 hours.  Mom and the kids were all in sight and doing quite well.  No sign of the 'rogue' for the entire time I was there, I checked all his hangouts so he must have been out visiting his girlfriend 

Elena and Perry were flying around screeching and playing tag and diving, it was great to see.  My little Mackenzie took a few flights but he's definitely the loner of the group.  He spent most of the time perched on the web cam in mom's usual spot.  She spent her time trying to get him to move to which he responded simply by turning his back on her and preening...he's cheeky

I'll have to wait til Monday now and see if I can catch Dad.  Mathew says he's starting to come around there more now than he did before..no doubt since the kids are fledged he has time on his talons....assuming it is him and not his secret twin brother whom he was separated from at birth 

[Alison]

I'm so glad you saw all three juvies, Carly! Wonderful news!