Manitoba Peregrines > McKenzie Seeds Peregrines
McKenzie Seeds - 2011 / Brooklyn & Hurricane
The Peregrine Chick:
--- Quote from: carly on June 08, 2011, 09:35 ---TPC...if you need funds for a box for them, especially given the complexities of the location, I would happily contribute for a new home for them. Maybe you could put a little domed roof on it?!
--- End quote ---
Thank you for the offer Carly - and yes, I will be setting up a nestbox fundraising campaign to first fund the new Brandon box, but also to cover costs on at least one other new box in Winnipeg, perhaps two. Any remaining funds would go into the general fund to cover other expenses. Look for the new campaign to be set up by the weekend.
As for the domed roof, that would just funnel water into the nestbox I'm afraid though it is a neat idea. :) Because work is slated to be done on the roof of McKenzie Seeds later this year, we are taking advantage of the work to upgrade the site and replace the nestbox at the same time. Our intention is to put the box back where it is now but it is an old building so we are building in contingencies and back-up plans. We are also working on a number of designs, some look very different, some look similar, some are bigger, some have a bigger roof, some have a redesigned roof, etc, etc. The final design will depend on the condition of the building (i.e., can we put a new box where the old box has been) and what works best with the renovations being made on the building (i.e., repairing the roof).
I will post a note here when the donation forms and online payment features are all set-up.
Rose:
--- Quote from: carly on June 08, 2011, 09:35 ---TPC...if you need funds for a box for them, especially given the complexities of the location, I would happily contribute for a new home for them. Maybe you could put a little domed roof on it?!
--- End quote ---
I'm with you Carly but you would need more than domed roof on it to keep that kind of weather out of the box. The rain and hail were being driven horizontally from the east, you would need four sides and a stout door to keep the wind ,rain and hail out.
carly:
TPC...if you need funds for a box for them, especially given the complexities of the location, I would happily contribute for a new home for them. Maybe you could put a little domed roof on it?!
The Peregrine Chick:
0915 hrs
Brooklyn was babysitting when Hurricane arrived with a fairly long-legged shorebird for a second, perhaps third breakfast for the day ...
The Peregrine Chick:
It is most likely that the prolonged wet weather and the very young age of the chick was the cause for our second Brandon chick's death. Chances are it was the youngest chick and at 3 days of age it was affected most by the wet. Hurricane isn't a large female (she's smaller than Princess) and with three chicks and a day-long deluge like yesterday, it was going to be almost impossible to keep them perfectly dry and warm. Though she did try, she was tucked under the cover of the roof all day without moving for most of it. The water that hit her blew in or dribbled off the roof onto her head (hence the head-shaking periodically). Of all the chicks, the youngest would be the most vulnerable to getting damp/cold during mealtimes and then not being able to dry off/warm up enough between meals. And that could very likely have been the difference between life and death for the little one. Add to that that we have had a chick death here already and it may be that even at 3 days of age,the youngest chick was already at a disadvantage which contributed to its death.
The last two years have not been kind to Brandon which is very unusual for this site. It could also be that Hurricane and Brooklyn are relative youngsters at this site and if the weather had been more normal, particularly this year, their chicks would have done just fine. Previous Brandon pairs held the territory for a long time, so hopefully with this year's experience to add to last year's Hurricane and Brooklyn will not have to fight quite so hard to protect their young in the future.
It is also hard but useful to understand that had Brooklyn and Hurricane been nesting on a cliffledge, the chances that any of their chicks would have survived yesterday's weather is slim. With the nestbox, their chances of success were increased dramatically. And yes, before anyone asks, for the new box planned for next year, we are looking at box designs that provide more roof cover to increase their odds even more. There are a couple of physical limitations we have to work with (the box is attached to a wall 30 feet up from the roof after all) but we have some ideas.
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