Sorry, little busy yesterday, couldn't get online at all, so I'll try to answer questions that have come up recently ....
First is, if you have or think you have figured out where the West Winnipeg birds are, keep it to yourself - that includes on posts, private messages and emails. The last I know I have no control over, but my not naming the location has nothing whatsoever with making this a contest or a game. I chose names that were descriptive of the structures' purpose for the peregrines so that it would help you all to develop a mental image of this pair's life and activities. You are all so familiar with Trey & Princess' life that with photos and reports, I hope to be able to keep you all up to date on the pair's activities even though I can't bring them to you via webcam or take you all for a guided tour. It is a question of the birds' security and the privacy of the occupants of all the buildings/structures involved. I'm not saying all this to be mean to those of you who haven't or won't get the opportunity to see the WW birds, I wish I could share everything as we have done at the Radisson but every location has its own set of circumstances and until/if the situation changes, this is the way we are handling the WW peregrines. Keep in mind that I could have been even less accommodating about where this pair, and I am
very good at keeping some things off the radar until/unless necessary and only then if it is in the best interest of the birds.
Now having read the riot act, I will let you know that I will see what I can do about making the site more public but that part isn't my decision. Depending on what we can do, we may be able to bring you some video of the birds nesting etc on a regular basis but we are working on that and it is by no means a certainty. Heck we don't even know if/where they are going to nest yet so we are getting ahead of ourselves here.
did they install a nest box for the newlyweds?
There is a nestbox on the best structure in the area (The B&B) and they have made a scrape in it which is promising, but no guarantee as we have seen at the Radisson over the last 2 years! They have been hanging out alot on The Bleachers and The Diner but neither of those locations are optimal for nesting so we don't have boxes there. Depending on them this year, that may change however ... we will just have to see ...
ok, I asked tpc about fledge watch and what I should do if... She's pretty busy right now, but your reference to towels, jackets etc. seem like a good idea. I'm there early 5:30 to 6:oo am, so any tips you could give me would be great.
We don't even have eggs yet so I don't tempt fate talking about fledging which won't happen until the end of July or early August ... but when we get to banding (~ 3 weeks after hatching - so if they laid today, 7-8 weeks from now) we can really get rolling on plans ... and yes, they can include "gear"
I also wanted to ask her how man nestbox's we have in the city...
We had more, only a couple now as we are in the process of replacing them at the moment. Costs money and the buildings in a territory change (new buildings, additions, etc) so when our boxes got "old" they were removed and we are updating them. Box locations aren't random, they need to have certain conditions and support the core (nest area) of the pair's territory - we don't want nests that are too far away to be considered by a pair but which might attract an additional pair in which case we are encouraging the potential for territorial disputes. I have one more territory in the City I'm working on this year. It hasn't been visited in 10 years, but as more of our young birds are returning maybe we can get a bit ahead of the next return. More on that as we go along ...
