QC / Montréal - l'Université de Montréal - 2009-19

[Alison]

Ève laid four eggs, which she and Éole took turns incubating with great skill and seamless shift changes.

All four eggs hatched, and on June 12 the four chicks were banded.

The chicks were named for the Three Musketeers:

Porthos: Male, 672 Grams, banded C/72 (Green tape over silver band on right leg)
Athos: Male, 643 Grams, banded C/73 (Yellow tape over silver band on right leg)
D'Artagnan: Male, 638 Grams, banded C/74 (no tape over silver band on right leg)

And their sister was named Sola:

Sola: Female, 880 Grams, banded E/93 (Red tape over silver band on right leg)

[Alison]

Throughout the stress of the last few days, Éole could not have been more supportive of Ève.

People all around the world watched Ève lay her egg this morning.

 

 

[Alison]

At 5:33 a.m., Ève was finally able to lay her first egg. By 5:59 a.m., Éole was there to admire the egg, and by 6:01 a.m. he was incubating.

 

 

[Alison]

During the worst of this ice storm, with visibility almost nil, Éole went hunting and came back with a pigeon, which he presented to Ève. She was very hungry, and ate ravenously.

Yesterday around noon, the temperature rose to about 5 degrees. The icicles did not melt and drip; they fell like projectiles. One large chunk of ice crashed down exactly where Éole had been perching ten seconds earlier.

Éole

 

Renewing their bond:

 

 

[Alison]

April 11, 2019

The resident peregrines at this nest are still Éole, son of Spirit and Roger, and his mate Ève, who is unbanded. They are seen less frequently during the winter, but they do not migrate.

Ève was approaching the time for laying her first egg, when a horrendous ice storm hit Montréal, blanketing the area for three days. High winds, ice, snow, ice fog and cold. Almost 250,000 people without power.

Huge icicles obscured the view of the nest, where Ève spent most of her time.

 

 

http://www.ornithologie.ca/faucons/

[The Peregrine Chick]

Certainly is nice to see a full house ... so many houses are far from full this year ...

[burdi]

Really nice to see these four beautiful chicks here! Thanks Alison.

I want so much to see Spirit again. She crosses my mind every so often, but I also worry that something has happened to her. 

[Alison]

Éole and Eve have four chicks this year. The chicks have been banded, and have now been given names.

They are:

Ezio, banded C/71 (black tape)
Altaïr, banded C/70 (green tape)
Isis, banded 81/W (red tape)
Aura, banded 82/W (silver band, no tape)



Left to right: Ezio, Isis, Altaïr and Aura

There have been no known sightings of Spirit since her release in November of last year. I believe that something must have happened to her. I doubt that we will ever know for sure. 

http://www.ornithologie.ca/faucons/

[burdi]

Thank you, Alison. I always appreciate information regarding Spirit.

Many people must be wondering how she is doing since her release ... hopefully someone will spot her somewhere.

[Alison]

Photo of Spirit taken by the trucker who found her:



Photos of Spirit in care at l'Union québécoise de réhabilitation des oiseaux de proie by Guy Fitzgerald.

 

[Alison]

Here is the article, which I translated from the French.

The story of the falcon named Spirit

Posted December 15 2017

A falcon with a great deal of "Spirit"

In May 2004, in Cleveland, Ohio, biologists banded young peregrine falcons at a nest installed on a bridge structure. Several years later, one of these birds was observed in Montreal on one of the buildings of l’Université de Montréal. It was thanks to the numbers on the bands on her legs that she was identified, and she was named Spirit. Then, in 2009, began a long history of following the reproduction of peregrine falcons in Montreal by means of webcam images on the Internet. You can see Spirit's family tree at https://uqrop.qc.ca/Symfony/web/upload/files/g%C3%A9n%C3%A9alogie%20Spirit.pdf, or follow the activities of these magnificent birds live at http://www.ornithologie.ca/faucons.

In April 2017, webcam surveillance allowed the observation of a fight between two female peregrine falcons at the nest. In July 2017, UQROP received a call from a trucker in Montreal concerning a bird of prey who appeared to be injured. He sent us a photo on his cellphone, which allowed us to recognize an adult peregrine falcon. One of our most valued volunteer transporters, Christian Fritschi, agreed to go and catch the bird and bring her to us at the Birds of Prey Clinic at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

During the general examination of Spirit at the Birds of Prey Clinic injuries were observed on the cere and the beak, covered by dry scabs, as well as a major, hot swelling of the right elbow. X-rays confirmed a septic arthritis of the elbow, and we also found an old fracture on the right side of the pelvis (synsacrum). All these injuries were compatible with the famous battle of about 30 minutes duration which took place in April and in June with another female. The X-rays also told us that Spirit had been shot with lead ammunition from a rifle (lead shot) at some point in her life. What a survivor!



Radiography of Spirit where the arrows indicate the swelling of the right elbow (septic arthritis), the fracture of the right hip and the lead shot in the keel bone.

After several weeks of treatment with antibiotics, wound care and physiotherapy, Spirit was able to be transferred into a rehabilitation flight at Chouette à voir! at Saint-Jude. The final stage of her rehabilitation took place in the large flight. Then the great moment arrived on November 19. Spirit reclaimed her freedom at the site of Chouette à voir! at Saint-Jude. We are waitimg to hear news of her when she will be seen and recognized by her bands.

[Alison]

There is additional information on Spirit from Union québécoise de réhabilitation des oiseaux de proie (UQROP), posted today:

Did you know that Spirit, the female peregrine falcon star, was a survivor? Learn more about her story of rehabilitation by visiting https://uqrop.qc.ca/fr/actualite/31-l-histoire-du-faucon-spirit. You will learn there, among other things, that she was shot with lead ammunition from a rifle at some time in her life! Our educational work still has a lot more to be done.

[burdi]

Thank you for posting the “Saving Spirit” CBC documentary, TPC.

Spirit has suffered so much … I think of her often and hope she is staying well and enjoying her freedom. She must be thinking about her University of Montreal site (I assume), but perhaps she will seek a more welcoming place to call home.

[Alison]

I had not seen much of the other female, Eve, recently. However, since the day after Spirit's release she has been at the nest frequently.

The first two pics of Eve are from yesterday; the others are from this morning.

 

 

[Alison]

The other CBC video, "Polly, Algo & Turcot" is very interesting. I could not access that video on CBC either, but it is also on YouTube, and it worked perfectly there.

I watched Polly and Algo grow up in the nest back in 2009, the first chicks raised by Spirit and Roger. The views of the birds in the video are quite beautiful.

CBC link:

http://watch.cbc.ca/short-docs/-/algo--polly--turcot/38e815a-00d61d463ed

YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7C17tqpMOo&feature=youtu.be