West Winnipeg - 2012 / Beau & Jules

[bcbird]

Not good news about little Nipper, but very relieved it wasn't Beau.

I like the names.

It is quite something to picture three big birds protesting confinemen tin a very, very small sub-compact car!
 

[birdcamfan]

Too bad. I was just thinking the other day that things had gone well with the fledges and we hadn't had any disasters yet. Should have nipped that thought in the bud I guess. We have been lucky this year. Very blessed.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Names ....

female 1 - Lilith - name just jumped out at me when I was driving the three of them off to Prairie Wildlife prior to heading out to the hack site.  Bird is protesting her confinement, sorry, start again, big bird is protesting her confinement on the passenger seat of a very very small sub-compact car.  And the name just jumped into my head.

female 2 - Juliet - again, just a name that seemed to suit given that they hatched on a ledge and she's always calling out to her siblings.  Made me think of Shakespeare's Juliet.  Maybe with such a romantic name she will survive to find her Romeo!

male - did I have a name for him - yes.  Am I going to use it, no.  Just doesn't seem appropriate anymore.  It would have been a great name so long as he survived to migrate out and (hopefully many times) back again.  As he hasn't, I decided to give him a name that honours what we did know about him (not much granted), something that will immortalize him even though we knew him for such a short time.  There were two distinctive things about him, both behavioural that we discovered when we put his bands on.  One I just can't name him after, too embarassing for him, sort of like calling a rottweiler "kitty".  The other was that he liked to bite, and bite hard.  And of course as the person who was holding him I was the bitee, even through the gloves I was wearing.  So, because of the three birds he was the smallest (being the only male) and the one who gave me bruises in the back of my hands right through the thick leather gloves I was wearing, he's been re-christened "Nipper".  Our little Nipper was a nice little bird and it was just dumb luck I suspect that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and became our, so far (knock on wood) first mortality of 2012.  If we are very very lucky (knock on wood) he will be our only fatalilty in 2012.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Great Horned Owls are the only confirmed predator of peregrines - and no, its not necessarily for food, it can just be to kill.  Yes they are territorial while the chicks are around but they don't migrate so their territories change in shape/size through the seasons but there is always a presence on territory.

Was the West Winnipeg male killed for food?  Don't think so.  My understanding is that we have a decent small mammal population this year and a peregrine can outfly an owl on speed alone.

[Jan]

Very sad news

[susha]

Such sad news    So sad for you and Dennis to see, TPC, as it always is, I'm sure.

[RCF]

Tracy,

If a Great Horned Owl killed the male chick
did he just kill it to kill it, or did the owl eat the chick?
I know now a great subject, I was just wondering.

Yes, I would like to know also, not to sound morbid. The Great horned owl nests early so it wouldn't be feeding young at this time of year, so could it be just territorial. Very sad about the unnamed male juvenile peregrine. 

[Doreen]

Lilith and Juliet are wonderful names Tracy!
What is the meaning behind the names.

Had you named the male? If so what was his name?

[Doreen]

Tracy,

If a Great Horned Owl killed the male chick
did he just kill it to kill it, or did the owl eat the chick?
I know now a great subject, I was just wondering.
 

[Doreen]

For just a split second when I read about the WW male, I thought of Beau.  I must admit I was relieved that it wasn't him, but at the same time I am so sorry about the juvie male We never even had the chance to learn his name.

I also thought it was Beau!

[Pense]

So sad to hear about the news about the WW male. 

[Kinderchick]

Aw! So sorry to hear of the death of the WW male, TPC. Had you registered a name for him yet?

[MayShowers]

For just a split second when I read about the WW male, I thought of Beau.  I must admit I was relieved that it wasn't him, but at the same time I am so sorry about the juvie male We never even had the chance to learn his name.

[Saoirse]

That's such sad news about the WW male, especially when things seemed to be going so well for the fledglings. It's good to hear that Lilith and Juliet are thriving and I hope that "safety in numbers" proves to be the case for them.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Dennis and I went to have a visit with the West Winnipeg birds last night to see how they were flying after their first few days and our timing was perfect, but not for good reasons.  The West Winnipeg male was found dead yesterday morning - likely the victim of a Great Horned Owl, the species' only confirmed predator. 

He was found not far from the hacksite so it was just bad luck likely rather than anything he did.  His flight patterns (according to his transmitter) is pretty much the same as his sisters' so he was where he was suppose to be doing what he was suppose to be doing. 

The upside of fledging in a rural area is no concrete skyscrapers and fewer cars, downside is more things that will eat you.  So six of one, half dozen of another when it comes to the rural vs urban nesting debate.  Mortality rates are about the same for both geographies.  This will make this male our third probable predated peregrine in two years from the most rural nest/release sites  we have had/used.  Not that our urban peregrine chicks are really that much safer, once they leave Winnipeg and Brandon to hunt or disperse prior to migrating, they are all at risk of predation by other raptors - either because they are seen as a threat/competition or because they have food someone else wants - sometimes they are the food someone else wants.

The two females - Lilith and Juliet - are both fine, flying very very well and hanging out as a unit which could/should make it harder for anything wanting to take a chance at taking one "on".  We watched the pair of them flying over fields and through some nearby trees with much more dexterity then you can see watching the Radisson or Brandon chicks at this same stage of fledging and that is just because of the topography they have to use.  And they are very wary of humans which is great.  That and the cloud cover yesterday evening made it tough for Dennis to get the kind of photos he could have had if the sun had just stayed out.  He still managed to get some wonderful shots (from what I could see on the camera screen) but they would have been astounding if the clouds had held off for just a little longer!!