Author Topic: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?  (Read 48264 times)

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Offline RCF

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #69 on: June 19, 2012, 22:01 »
I went back this evening just to see if there would be two falcons come home for the night. Sure enough there were two falcons.  ;D

Female


Male


Both

Offline RCF

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #68 on: June 19, 2012, 18:56 »
We only saw the one falcon here today and the four pictures I posted are of the same bird.   :)

Amazing how much that additional bit of stretch changes the facial markings - good thing the little darlings have leg bands!!  ;)

That's for sure!!  :)

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #67 on: June 19, 2012, 18:52 »
We only saw the one falcon here today and the four pictures I posted are of the same bird.   :)

Amazing how much that additional bit of stretch changes the facial markings - good thing the little darlings have leg bands!!  ;)

Offline RCF

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #66 on: June 19, 2012, 18:47 »
We only saw the one falcon here today and the four pictures I posted are of the same bird.   :)

Offline irenekl

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #65 on: June 19, 2012, 18:40 »
And I assummed on the first print the bird is looking off to its right and on the second print the bird is looking off to its left.  Therefore I thought for sure it was the same bird.  Shows what I know :P

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #64 on: June 19, 2012, 18:05 »


Even with the slightly different distance on these two photos, I'm pretty darn sure those are not the same bird - facial pattern on the left side of the head (the bird's left) - white cheek patch looks larger on the bird in the photo on the right ...

Offline Cooper

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #63 on: June 19, 2012, 16:30 »
 8)

Offline RCF

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #62 on: June 19, 2012, 16:20 »
I had checked out here on Saturday and Sunday and didn't see a falcon, but today Rose and I went around noon and we saw one falcon.  The falcon looked like it was the same one we saw last week. We also saw and talked to Dan and a co-worker from Manitoba Conservation and said they were checking the tower on their way back from Shilo.  8)



Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #61 on: June 16, 2012, 00:56 »

...If the bird is seriously considering the raven's nest, it might have felt it needed to try to make a scrape nearby or, or, or ...
I'm a bit confused now, TPC. I thought that North American peregrine falcons only nested on the side of rock cliffs or in cities in man made nest boxes with gravel. Would a peregrine falcon actually consider taking over a raven's nest? I thought only Merlins would do that. :-\

Ravens like some of the same human-made structures that peregrines like - towers are one of them, there are lots of birds in the US that nest on all sorts of towers.  When Zeus and Alice decided on the Tower Site, the only place they could lay their eggs safely was in the raven's nest.  And I should mention (though I think RCF might have mentioned it sometime earlier) these nests are not small - last year's nest was about the size of the McKenzie Seeds nestbox and more flat than nest-like (bowl shaped).  In this case the catwalk was like a cliff, the raven's nest the only spot with a solid surface on which to lay an egg.  So that's where they nested. 

At the University of Manitoba one year a pair tried to nest in a rain gutter and on the Hotel Fort Garry and at the Provincial Legislature, Abby and Garry used pigeon feces instead of pebbles to keep their eggs from rolling off the ledge.  They were successful but never returned at the Leg, but spectacularly unsuccessful at the Hotel Fort Garry.  In both cases they were too stress being so close to the Radisson Pair (T-Rex and Madame - both highly territorial birds). 

Offline RCF

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #60 on: June 15, 2012, 22:07 »

...If the bird is seriously considering the raven's nest, it might have felt it needed to try to make a scrape nearby or, or, or ...
I'm a bit confused now, TPC. I thought that North American peregrine falcons only nested on the side of rock cliffs or in cities in man made nest boxes with gravel. Would a peregrine falcon actually consider taking over a raven's nest? I thought only Merlins would do that. :-\

Zeus and Alice nested on a lower catwalk last year and the falcon I saw today wasn't in the raven's nest, it was lying down beside it. I don't think it was going to take over the raven's nest, and like TPC said, the falcon may have just been trying to stay cool and not trying to nest.

The falcons that nested in trees in Poland, was I believe, adaptation to their surroundings.  If there are no cliffs then they would probably find the best suitable high point, which was a tree.  

Link to reply from TPC about the Poland falcons adapting to their enviroment.
http://www.species-at-risk.mb.ca/projects/pfrp/forum/programs/index.php/topic,3232.msg86241.html#msg86241
« Last Edit: June 15, 2012, 22:40 by RCF »

Offline Kinderchick

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #59 on: June 15, 2012, 20:53 »

...If the bird is seriously considering the raven's nest, it might have felt it needed to try to make a scrape nearby or, or, or ...
I'm a bit confused now, TPC. I thought that North American peregrine falcons only nested on the side of rock cliffs or in cities in man made nest boxes with gravel. Would a peregrine falcon actually consider taking over a raven's nest? I thought only Merlins would do that. :-\

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #58 on: June 15, 2012, 18:51 »
Rose and I saw one peregrine this morning (11am) on the catwalk that the raven had nested on, he/she sat up there preening for a while. We were very surprised when the birdie lay down on the catwalk just beside the raven's nest.  I just found it interesting that the falcon would lay down in the hot sun on the catwalk.  We left to check on the McKenzie birds and then went back to the tower an hour later.  At first we didn't see the bird on the catwalk and then he/she stood up and we could see that he/she was in the same spot as when we left an hour earlier.  Could she/he have eggs up there?
 ???

No eggs, not enough time unless it is the same pair that were there earlier in the spring which seems unlikely - being away for so long and then reappearing to lay eggs in a spot they weren't really considering the first time they went by.  As for lying on the catwalk, they won't lay eggs on the catwalk so could be the bird was just trying to stay cool - I've seen younger birds lie down on their bellies to keep cool.  Or might have been a bird seeing if the catwalk was the place to "scrape" - should only take one try to realize it isn't.  If the bird is seriously considering the raven's nest, it might have felt it needed to try to make a scrape nearby or, or, or ... If you see the bird doing it alot, we might be able to better narrow down the behavioural possibilities.  Sorry I can't give yo ua clear answer ...

Offline RCF

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #57 on: June 15, 2012, 15:59 »
Rose and I saw one peregrine this morning (11am) on the catwalk that the raven had nested on, he/she sat up there preening for a while. We were very surprised when the birdie lay down on the catwalk just beside the raven's nest.  I just found it interesting that the falcon would lay down in the hot sun on the catwalk.  We left to check on the McKenzie birds and then went back to the tower an hour later.  At first we didn't see the bird on the catwalk and then he/she stood up and we could see that he/she was in the same spot as when we left an hour earlier.  Could she/he have eggs up there?

 ???




Laying down

« Last Edit: June 15, 2012, 16:11 by RCF »

Offline maryann

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #56 on: June 14, 2012, 09:28 »


For what it's worth, I haven't seen anybody at the west, west Winnipeg location since May 31, 2012.

I reported seeing a kill last Friday and on my way to work this morning they were enjoying good hunting yet again.  :D
Oops...just rereading posts and with all the back and forth re: Brandon and west, west Wpg. I got confused -- what I saw was west Winnipeg - sorry!  :-\
« Last Edit: June 14, 2012, 09:34 by maryann »

Offline BirdLover

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Re: Tower Nest - 2012 / ? & ?
« Reply #55 on: June 13, 2012, 20:24 »
Yay!!!! This is great news!  Can hardly wait to hear who/what is spotted.   8)