U of Alberta - 2012 / Chase & Radisson

[MayShowers]

Thanks for the update bev.

[bev.]

sorry , i have not been here. With the wedding on april28 and the drama here, I have been so busy. We are monitoring daily right now.

And i will post picutres by tomorrow.
What  I can tel you right now is we have a young unbanded male. He appears young as it looks like R is showing him the ropes. We were worried as it appeared on e day she  was feeding herself, with all the turmoil. He seems to be providing food right now. We have not seen bonding (copulation) but they have flown together. he does go to box and sniff eggs and sometimes will sit on perch while she is gone.

last night he called ad she went on top of Maz and she assumed position but when he came in he landed beside her. he either does not know what to do or is not ready hormonally yet. now  this could be happening when we are not there also.
so far R is incubating and only leaving for about 20 minutes at longest.

the fighting was not as brutal as I have seen so I do not believe anyone seriously hurt.

Sunday night at about 9pm a female came in . and R and the male wre on the chase. r gave her a few good hits and ushered far SW and then came back. Maybe a young female.

Gord is going to check around also. It has been a trying time but I think we are O.K. It appears to be same as San Jose and things have worked out there. I monitored San Josa during their drama.

More later  and a few picutres

[Kinderchick]

Thanks for the update, Elaine. Sounds like lots of drama, right now. Hopefully, it won't last too long.

[RCF]

Hopefully things will get back to normal. 

[Elaine L]

Bev and Peter and Becky and I all happened to arrive down here tonight to check out the situation, and the situation is this:  There are two males here, alright, but tonight, as the intruder male arrived at the nestbox, both Radisson and original male (we think) chased him off, with Radisson giving him a couple of hits, but he was o.k.  She and the original male then returned to their positions, Radisson in the nestbox and the male on a corner of College Plaza.  Shortly after, he and Radisson did a bit of bonding by flying around together and having a pleasant conversation.  It seemed obvious that he is the preferred male.  Then the male settled on the corner of the Clinical Sciences Building while Radisson returned to the nestbox.  Bev and Peter hoped to witness a food exchange, as this would reassure us all that Radisson and this male have a good bond, but they had to leave, they were so exhausted.  While I was there, no food exchange, but Becky hoped to see this before she departed later.

[The Peregrine Chick]

No, MayShowers, we did not find out if this male is the same as last year, not for certain.  Bev says she is going to find out as soon as she can get away from home.  In our latest reports this morning at BCAW, Bev says that she thinks the old male is back, and I said that I think it is the new male that is hanging out on top of the nestbox.  Once Bev checks through her photos, she should be able to identify who's who.  Everything here is so confusing right now.

Take heart you two, this is what spring returns are like in most places ... we've been through 9 IDs so far this year, two more to go, one we missed and would have loved to have, and four more migrating through we never had a chance at!  You'll get them or you won't.  Sometimes you'll get a second chance at it.  In the end, you'll have peregrines nesting and you'll eventually be able to confirm who they are. Nerve-wracking and frustrating as it can be, try to enjoy yourselves, you've got mysteries to solve!

[MayShowers]

Oh, thanks Elaine L.   No kidding this is confusing.

[Elaine L]

No, MayShowers, we did not find out if this male is the same as last year, not for certain.  Bev says she is going to find out as soon as she can get away from home.  In our latest reports this morning at BCAW, Bev says that she thinks the old male is back, and I said that I think it is the new male that is hanging out on top of the nestbox.  Once Bev checks through her photos, she should be able to identify who's who.  Everything here is so confusing right now.

[MayShowers]

4 eggs - fantastic news.  Another male - not so good!  This may have been previously posted, but did we find out who the resident male was, and whether it was the same one as last year?

[Elaine L]

Bev went down to the U of A last night after getting a report that two falcons were fighting, and one landed on the ground.  From what we can ascertain, the male from the High Level Bridge has come here to take over the territory, and had more than one aerial fight last night with, we assume, the resident male.  From what Bev reports on BCAW, neither male was injured.  Radisson did not seem exactly pleased with the new male entering the nestbox, but she did not kick him out, either.  We await developments, as we do not know if everything has been decided and we have a new male, or if the fight continues.  So much for an uneventful hatching here this year.

[Kinderchick]

4 eggs it is! That's great news!

[SusanE]

Looks like 4 eggs this morning.  Approx. lay dates:  4/22, 4/25, 4/27, 4/30

[bev.]

hoping for another egg tomorrow. After the weekend I will get this forum up on my new computer and then I can post more pciutres

[MayShowers]

Great news, two eggs.  How egg-citing!

[bev.]

we have another egg. sometime between 9 :10 pm april24 and 6am april25th. I thought she was in egg laying position jsut after 9 last night but had to go out and it was too dark to see . and when I woke up this morning she was laying down of course, and had to leave again but Anka caught them off after 7am and now 2 eggs.

Still trying to ID male