McKenzie Seeds - 2010 / Brooklyn & Hurricane

[The Peregrine Chick]

Just out of curiosity, did Dan have to go up a ladder to see in the nestbox or does he have a 30 foot periscope? 

Neither, there is a window that we can use, along with binocs to get a good look in the box 

[bev.]

Well, peregrines love soap operas. Just as long as no one is hurt.

Maybe we have step kids there

[RCF]

Just out of curiosity, did Dan have to go up a ladder to see in the nestbox or does he have a 30 foot periscope? 

[Shocka88]

All I can say is WOW! The most important part of it all....we have 4 eggs. Wonderful!!  

[RCF]

Dan in Brandon witnessed a bit of a dust-up on April 30th.

So maybe what I saw on the 29th with the falcon chasing the other one and the upsidedown grabbing of talons was indeed unfriendly.     On friday when I saw the male give the female a gift, I didnt really notice if male was different because I was focused trying to see her black band. I didn't see them again till today. I did notice that the male was perched close to the top of the MTS tower, not where (who we think was Zeus) perched.  He was usually perched on one of the girders about two thirds up on tower.
Today there is a birdie laying in the nestbox. I waited around the parkade for a while cause at first it looked like nobody was in box, I guess she needed a stretch and I could see the top of her head. If this male is Brooklyn, would he be Zeus's kid and would Zeus give up his territory easily?
    

[Rose]

What a soap opera When I read tpc's 1st post I thought I'd been seeing things these last few weeks and then she said the female she saw when she was out here was big and the male looked like Zeus which was kind of what we thought in our amaturish way(Zeus black band right leg and longer malar stripe right side,couldn't see numbers) and we are pretty sure that female layed at least one egg maybe two from activity in nest box. Then there was the flying activity on thursday 29th and then on 30th we noticed the female was different and had a black band right leg and different malar stripes( very black and rounded) but didn't particularly notice the male.Then Saturday and Sunday were a wipe out ,terrible weather!! Bless Dan for going out in the rain.Now that incubation has started what's next? Where's Zeus? would he give up his territory so easily? Did he and big female leave for someplace else? A real conundrum

[carly]

Wow...the wild west 

[Kinderchick]

WOW!  Lots of excitement in Brandon, for sure! 4 eggs in the nestbox! Excellent!!!

[The Peregrine Chick]

You may have noticed my "looks to be", these are really our first looks at these bands, Dan is sure about Brooklyn's and is pretty sure about Hurricane's.  But given that these are the two I saw when I was there  2+ weeks ago, "looks to be" is the best I can say before I chat with Dan in person ....

[The Peregrine Chick]

Whoo hoo, new birds all around it looks like in Brandon.  And that there was coup, either both male and female or just the male.

Resident female looks to be Hurricane, female from last year.  When I was last in Brandon however, the female on site was much larger than Hurricane, so there was another female there within the last month.  Perhaps Holly, perhaps another female.

Resident male looks to be new at this site.  New male looks to be Brooklyn, a 2007 wild-hatch from Brandon who spent last summer not nesting at a site west of Brandon last year.  We had hoped he would return to nest this year, just thought he would go to the same site as last year, but it does not look like that is what is happening.  I should note that the male that was around when I was in Brandon, looked & behaved very much like Zeus and Dan in Brandon witnessed a bit of a dust-up on April 30th.

Now the question is, and which will probably never be answerable, is if there are 4 eggs in the box as of today (yes a fourth was laid) then who's kids are they?  Chances are they are Hurricane's as she appears to have been around long enough, but can't say for sure if Brooklyn has been around for at least 2 weeks ....

Brandon is sure the wild, wild west this year, anything can happen and it is!!

[The Peregrine Chick]

Dan our "Man in Brandon" reports three eggs in the nestbox at McKenzie Seeds as of Saturday, May 1st.  That means incubation has started, chicks to hatch May 30-June 2 probably.  Very tentatively, banding should occur about June 23-25.

As for the identity of the birds, Dan is pretty sure Hurricane is our resident female again this year.  So for those of you looking for bands, female should have a black band on her right leg.  If Zeus is our resident male, he too should have a black band on his right leg.  Start with that and let me know what y'all see!!

[The Peregrine Chick]

What I saw that day looked more like they were playing  , not fighting.

Then that is probably what it was ...

[RCF]

What I saw that day looked more like they were playing  , not fighting.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Very interesting! Maybe 3 peregrines out there?!

Probably not three for the season, unless one is a juvenile that the resident pair will allow to remain so near to the nest.  Not a common occurrence.

[The Peregrine Chick]

What was the significance of the the flying display RCF saw april 29th was it just having fun or was it greeting a new friend?

This is from April 29th Today I watched our two falcons swooping and playing talon tag around the McKenzie building and the MTS tower. Its amazing how fast they were flying in and around the buildings   They were cacking and flying upside down, touching talons. Pretty Cool

Or was this an unfriendly meeting with one of them trying to chase the other away?
 TPC, What's your take on this?

Hard to tell, it could be courting flights or territorial warnings.  Real conflict, in my experience, is pretty down and dirty even in flight, the aggressiveness shows even to the layperson.  I suspect that your flights are courting we've seen that kind of thing before often in Brandon ...