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ON / Mississauga - Executive Centre - 2008-20

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Loriann:
This is the camera located at the Mississauga Executive centre, near Square one shopping mall, in 'downtown' Misssissauga.

There has been no camera all year, and no updates.  THe chicks are about a week away from fledging, not sure what the hold up is or was.  Last year we had a live feed, and updated pictures.

As i mentioned once before, we live really close to this, and see the birds daily. 

The banding has gone ahead ( finally )... so we expect that we'll see all of them zipping around soon enough.  four babies this year !

Last year there were three, but one died when it crashed to the ground on its first flight.

Hopefully this years batch will fare better.

I'll keep checking for updates or pictures in the paper and post them here.

Lori.

The Peregrine Chick:
Mississauga Executive Centre
Mississauga, Ontario

webcam: www.peregrine-foundation.ca/Web_Cams/Mississauga/index.htm

website: Mississauga Executive Centre Home Page

This site is partnership between the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, Oxford Properties, Panasonic Canada, kyreach Window Cleaning Inc., D.G. Consulting Co. and Dan Gill.

Resident Pairs & Offspring

* info hopefully coming soon

Loriann:
2008 NESTING SEASON

Banding delayed for falcon babies
 
Staff photo by Fred Loek
The St. Lawrence Cement Peregrine Falcons have hatched and the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, as well the Ministry of Natural Resources, came to band the "baby birds" today — only trouble was, these birds were babies no longer as they were out of the nest.         
 
By: John Stewart
 
June 4, 2008 05:19 PM - An attempt to band two baby peregrine falcons this afternoon at the St. Lawrence Cement plant had to be abandoned because there was a danger that the frightened chicks might jump to their deaths.

"The chicks look to be about 35 days old, which is about a week past the time they should be banded," Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources biologist Mark Heaton said after the attempt was truncated. "We had to abandon for the safety of the birds.

"The ideal time to band the birds is between the time they are 24-28 days old," Heaton continued. "Once you get beyond 32 days, there's high risk. They are fledging, but they are not ready to fly yet. If we had proceeded, the eldest bird likely would have jumped and died."

The Ministry and the Canadian Peregrine Foundation band the birds so they can track their movements and identify them in future.

"It's disappointing, but the safety of the birds must come first," said Barb Smith, an employee of St. Lawrence who has kept a keen eye on the falcons since they first began nesting at the Clarkson cement plant six years ago.

Just because today's attempt failed does not mean that the birds will not be banded, however.

Canadian Peregrine Foundation co-founder and executive director Mark Nash explained that the chicks will likely fall to the ground at least once or twice in the next 10 days as they try to learn to fly.

"It's not a matter of if they will fall, it's a matter of when," he said.

His words proved prophetic two hours later, when one of the chicks fell. It was placed in a rescue box. Heaton will return to the plant tomorrow morning to band the bird, which will be named Clarkson in honour of the village's 200th anniversary.

Smith said that all 200 employees of the cement plant have embraced the birds. "They're part of the family now," said the Mississauga native. "We know they are endangered, but the fact is that 13 chicks have now been born here. That means we're that much closer to taking them off the (endangered) list."

Earlier in the day, at the city's other falcon-nesting site, the Mississauga Executive Centre at 1 Robert Speck Pkwy., four peregrine chicks were successfully banded — but not until after a major equipment problem was resolved.

Students from Sts. Peter and Paul Elementary School walked to the MEC to witness the banding in what has become an annual tradition. It almost had to be cancelled as well when the motor of the window-washing swing-stage used to remove the chicks from their rooftop nest failed to work. After a 90-minute wait, the motor was fixed and the banding completed.


** from our local paper... St Lawrence Cement has cameras, but are only accessable via their security systems.

The plant is located right on the shore of Lake Ontario, and the falcons dine on seagulls, often leaving only the decapitated heads in the parking lot of the employees.  THere is a picture on this article, and the babies are HUGE.. ( compared to the manitoba ones ).

link to source: http://www.mississauga.com/news_home

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