Author Topic: West Winnipeg - 2012 / Beau & Jules  (Read 92171 times)

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Offline noellat

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #245 on: July 04, 2012, 13:53 »
Thanks Susha ;D

Offline GCG

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #244 on: July 04, 2012, 13:39 »
 :-* Tracy, all of here at the forum know that you have made the right decision for the WW Winnipeg chicks. You have our total support. Will they be banded or is it too late? Their survival is most important.  :-*

Offline susha

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #243 on: July 04, 2012, 13:28 »
I am new to this forum this year.   I can see there is much more to protecting the peregrines than meets the eye.  This has been almost a full time drama for me since I discovered the site in May.  TPC and all the others who take care of these birds are wonderful ambassadors for the peregrines.  I am very grateful to all the people who post their sightings and pictures. I am so much more informed than I was in May.  I love all the sites and I am totally peregrine crazy. I wanted to insert the happy face but I don't know how to do it. ;D :)

There, I did it for you, noellat!  You just have to click on the faces above the screen to select which one you want and it'll appear wherever your cursor is ;)

There is so much to learn on this site, I agree.  And the learning never stops.  Being "totally peregrine crazy" can describe everyone on this forum, so Welcome to the forum!

There have been so many challenges with this nestsite and I join everyone in hoping that Jules and Beau will make a better choice next year.  It seems that people have a big influence, ie. will the "good" location still be full of construction chaos when the birds return in the spring ???  I'm sure that TPC will continue to think of solutions to this dilemma.  For the time being, our three little WW chicks will be off to a safe location where they can continue to thrive and learn to be independent. 

Offline noellat

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #242 on: July 04, 2012, 13:11 »
I am new to this forum this year.   I can see there is much more to protecting the peregrines than meets the eye.  This has been almost a full time drama for me since I discovered the site in May.  TPC and all the others who take care of these birds are wonderful ambassadors for the peregrines.  I am very grateful to all the people who post their sightings and pictures. I am so much more informed than I was in May.  I love all the sites and I am totally peregrine crazy. I wanted to insert the happy face but I don't know how to do it.

Offline Leana

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #241 on: July 04, 2012, 12:55 »
Ditto to birdcamfan's post!  ;D

Offline birdcamfan

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #240 on: July 04, 2012, 12:46 »
Thank goodness Winnipeg has someone like you Tracy, with the knowledge, background and experience to know what is the right thing to do. You have been thrown a number of challenging situations over the past few years (especially with this site), and you have come up with some very inventive ways of dealing with each challenge. Thank you for sharing this information with us. We all learn a bit more with each of your posts, and I for one am very grateful.

Offline dupre501

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #239 on: July 04, 2012, 12:30 »
The chicks that fledge around the Radisson have lots of safe places to go. Even though Portage Ave with all it's traffic is right there, most of the places that the chicks will end up is on roof tops. Nice SAFE rooftops.

Unfortuneatly, where the West Winnipeg birds decided to nest there is not the density of buildings which you find downtown. Here the rooftops are far between, there is a lot of traffic and parking lots. This is all fine for an adult bird, but not so good for a fledgling that is losing altitude (since they mostly glide to start with) and trying to find somewhere to land.

Even at the 2nd building that TPC is refering to, there are plenty of things to go wrong. When the solo chick last year fledged, the first flight was to a neighboring building, but on the second flight he attempted to land on a street light and couldn't get his footing. He ended up fluttering straight down into morning traffic.

I wish these chicks the best in their new home. I will miss seeing them, but what's best for them is what is important.

P.S. to Beau and Jules - next year please nest on the good building, like you did in 2010...please.
« Last Edit: July 04, 2012, 12:36 by dupre501 »

Offline Pense

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #238 on: July 04, 2012, 12:25 »
While it's sad that the chicks had to be removed from Jules and Beau, it's obvious that it was
done in the best interests of the chicks and with a lot of thought.  Thanks TPC for explaining
the reasoning behind the move.

Offline Moonstar

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #237 on: July 04, 2012, 12:17 »
Just so sad for Jules and Beau tho to have there chicks taken away.  I know I am looking at this as a human with emotions but will they adjust okay.  Will it just be as tho a chick has died while fledging the way Polo did last year.
I know it is best for the chicks because of where they are.
It is too bad you can't get the undesirable location fixed so they won't return there.

Offline RCF

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #236 on: July 04, 2012, 12:13 »
I'm glad you were able to finally get access, it's all about the birds and it's good to do what is best for their survival.  I hope they do well in their new home.  :)

Offline Leana

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #235 on: July 04, 2012, 11:52 »
Oh WOW.  How sad... I think?  Sad for Jules and Beau at least, but ultimately good for the chicks.  It is just terribly sad they had to nest somewhere that you don't have ready access to.  If only you could block up that nest site altogether.  Jules and Beau will undoubtedly try there again next year.

Hope all is well with these guys in their new home.  Please keep us updated on their status.  

p.s. will they get names?


« Last Edit: July 04, 2012, 15:03 by Leana »

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #234 on: July 04, 2012, 11:29 »
The bird at the Bleachers is Jules and she is not happy with us (the Project).  We stole her kids late last evening and she won't be getting them back I'm afraid.  We finally got access to the nestsite on Tuesday and we had to make some big decisions and make lots of arrangments within hours.  Fortunately we pulled it off and the ball got rolling.

As of today, the WW chicks are 35-37 days old (they hatched on separate days) and because they are on the verge of fledging we were concerned that moving them to the same building as last year at this late date would stress them sufficiently that they would try to fledge too early which at this location is much much too dangerous.  Both buildings are surrounded by heavily-used, multi-lane roads and while building 2 is safer than the nestsite. 

Moving chicks is not something one just does though - they need to be old enough to handle the move banding age is a good milestone - younger than that they need to have care of some sort, foster parents or the care of a professional rehabber.  Banding age is good because the chicks aren't anywhere close to thinking about flying and their parents are still very attentive so the chicks get used to the location and their parents' presence - basically they imprint on the new location as "home" and their fledging travels bring them back there.  Older than banding age and you lose the time for them to imprint before they fledge.  When we used to hack release chicks, we would get them just before fledging and we would hold them at the site for 10+ days to again, get them to imprint, but because they can fly at this age, you actually have to hold them in a hack box so they can't fly away before they have got their bearings.  Because hack birds don't have parents to provide for them, imprinting is essential because they need to know to return to the hack site for food until they learn to hunt (which is hardwired).

The WW chicks (looks like 2 females and 1 male) are at fledging age so perhaps too old to have enough time to imprint on building 2 before taking their first flights.  So, I decided to take advantage of an opportunity to hack release them at an empty hack site just outside of the City.  They will be kept together and we will be making sure they imprint on their location before heading out and we are importing food from Ontario so that we can be sure they have what they need for as long as 6 weeks - usually doesn't take that long for the chicks to start hunting on their own, but we want to give them all the time they want. 

Not my first choice for these three, but given our problems preventing them from nesting and then accessing them at banding age, one we believe will give them a better chance and reduce their risk of hatch-year mortality. 

And for reference - all of the peregrines in North America are descendents of hack-released birds - remember the anatum species was virtually extirpated - any wild-hatched birds did not contribute significantly to the species' recovery north or south of the border.  Their father, Beau, is also a hack-released bird and likely Jules is as well.

Offline Pam

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West Winnipeg - 2012 / July
« Reply #233 on: July 03, 2012, 15:39 »
Saw one bird at the Bleachers early this afternoon....from the size, I'd guess Jules, but I have been known to be wrong before!

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / June
« Reply #232 on: June 30, 2012, 07:47 »
TPC any word on when you will band these chicks or if you will be able to.

Nope.  I suspect when (if) I do get access it won't be with much forewarning, it will be a scoop-and-run kind of thing ...

Offline Moonstar

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Re: West Winnipeg - 2012 / June
« Reply #231 on: June 30, 2012, 07:15 »
TPC any word on when you will band these chicks or if you will be able to.