ON / Windsor - Ambassador Bridge - 2009-12

[Kinderchick]

From the CPF website...

June 10, 2012 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge

Dennis Patrick Reports:

Yesterday morning, one of our Watchers, Vicki phoned us as we were on our way to the Bridge to tell us that Twitter had landed on the street then flew from there to a fence post, no problems in the flying. Then she spent most of the day resting on the right side of the Abutment. Later on in the evening Twitter and General Brock were flying around with ease. Both Viper and Eddy were still in the nest box getting fed. All four of them can be heard when it’s feeding time. It’s fun to see the people that are walking by that are looking up to see what is going on. A lot of them do stop and ask questions and of course Dennis is very happy to tell everyone what we are doing and then we get more Volunteers.
 This morning we got a phone call telling us that Viper had fledged on was on the ground in the park across the street and then in a few minutes another call to say that Eddy had fledged and was on the ground as well. Dennis jumped on his motorcycle and drove down to see what was going on. Both of them were fine.

[RaptorGal]

In case my posting was to go here and not under the Radisson site, here it is again.  Lets hear it for the Windsor chickettes!!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/05/15/wdr-peregrine-falcons-feeding.html

 

[The Peregrine Chick]

If there is a webcam installed at this location this year, we will leave this thread separate, if not, then I'm going to combine the last three year's threads just to help clean up the board.

[The Peregrine Chick]

2012 NESTING SEASON

Peregrine falcons mating
posted: 23 March 2012

Windsor’s peregrine falcons have been seen mating and if they don’t already have some eggs laid at the Ambassador Bridge, they will soon.

“We’ve witnessed them mating numerous, numerous times,” Canadian Peregrine Foundation-Windsor Watch co-ordinator Dennis Patrick said Friday. He’s seen the male named Freddie entice the female Voltaire with food and watched their flight displays and mating. Patrick expects there may already be eggs on the ledge of one of the concrete pillars at the bridge but doesn’t have that confirmed yet.  “Everything was out of sync last year. This year it’s good. We’re right on track.”  There could be chicks hatching at the end of April or early May, he said.

The bridge company and the Canadian Peregrine Foundation installed a raised nest box last year that is expected to increase the chances of a successful hatch for the once-endangered species. Patrick is hoping for four eggs and chicks this year.  The peregrine pair at the bridge had three batches of chicks in the last few years. Although the nest is on a ledge under the busiest border crossing in North America, the couple don’t seem to mind.


Link to story: http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/03/23/peregrine-falcons-mating/

[Alison]

Pics from the banding:

 

[The Peregrine Chick]

Maybe the hat is mistaken for the back of the neck, and they are aiming for the decapitation hit?

Entirely possible !

[Kinderchick]

Maybe the hat is mistaken for the back of the neck, and they are aiming for the decapitation hit?

LOL, bcbird!

[bcbird]

Maybe the hat is mistaken for the back of the neck, and they are aiming for the decapitation hit?

[The Peregrine Chick]

They also like to aim at hats when you are one of the banders ...

[bev.]

I will have to remeber the sunglass tidbit.

[bcbird]

From the above report:
Hunter also had people in the crowd remove their sunglasses. The birds measure size and fierceness by your eyes so sunglasses can frighten them.

Now that is definitely something I never would have thought of!

[Shocka88]

Awe......what an adorable little baby face!

[Alison]

The chicks at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor have been banded:

Peregrine chicks raise squawk over banding

Amid squawking and dive-bombing peregrine falcon parents at the Ambassador Bridge, three chicks were banded and named Thursday. One vocal female and two males were dubbed Bridgette, Lancer and Windsor.

“This is like a dream come true,” said Dennis Patrick, the site co-ordinator for the Canadian Peregrine Foundation-Windsor Watch before the first chicks from the bridge nest were banded.  It almost didn’t happen. The adult female peregrine falcon named Voltaire didn’t leave the nest when a lift bucket was first raised to the ledge under the busy bridge.

Marion Nash, vice-president of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation in Toronto, said if the mom hadn’t left to try to defend the nest from the air, the banding attempt would have been abandoned. “Mom was pretty defiant. She stayed on that nest. That’s the first time we’ve ever had one stay,” she said.  Nash, who had on a helmet and gloves, was playing the villain to distract the parents while the chicks were lowered in a gym bag to be banded on the ground. She spent about an hour being dive-bombed by both adult peregrine falcons but wasn’t hit. She said the adults came without 10 feet of her.  Peregrine falcons can reach speeds of up to 320 km/hour when diving for prey.   For the falcons, it’s no more stress than they would have in the wild. And when the chicks are returned to the ledge, the adults gain confidence.

“We just defended our nest,” Mark explained to volunteers. “You won’t believe the new attitude these birds have.”

On the ground, the first chick out of the bag was a noisy female weighing in at 1,097 grams. Ministry of Natural Resources management biologist Pud Hunter, who did the banding, said she was more aggressive because she was the oldest and was protecting her siblings.  When the young peregrines get squawking and anxious they are distracted by a spray of water. Peregrine falcons get their moisture from the blood in the red meat they eat, so water is a new taste. Hunter also had people in the crowd remove their sunglasses. The birds measure size and fierceness by your eyes so sunglasses can frighten them.  Lancer, named in honour of the nearby University of Windsor, was quieter. He was 697 grams. It was trickier to figure out the sex of the 732-gram Windsor.  Sex is determined mostly by weight. Anything larger than 750 grams is a female. At about 650 grams, it’s a male. Anything between those numbers comes down to a leg measurement.

A small crowd of volunteers got to take pictures and watch as ministry officials put bands on both legs. One band is black and Canadian and the other is a silver U.S. Fish and Wildlife band. They weigh less than a feather and the banders call them jewellery.   The Ambassador Bridge chicks also got some coloured electrical tape which will wear off. Until it does, volunteer watchers will know Bridgette has a red band, Lancer’s is yellow and Windsor’s is green.  All three are healthy. If the birds survive — nine out of 10 peregrine falcons die before they reach breeding age — the numbers on the bands can be seen with the right magnification to give people an idea of where the adult birds go.

Freddie, the adult male, was banded in 2002 and is the adopted mascot of the Bowling Green (State University) Falcons. Voltaire was banded in 2006 in Eastlake Ohio.  The Ambassador Bridge okayed Thursday’s access to the nest and bridge director of communications Phil Frame got to name the female Bridgette. He said the peregrine falcons have “impeccable taste, they’ve chosen the number one border crossing in North America.”

Frame said the bridge company could consider installing a web camera for next year’s nest.

source:  http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/Peregrine+chicks+raise+squawk+over+banding/3079701/story.html

[Alison]

It's good to know Freddie and Voltaire have three chicks!

Third falcon chick spotted at Ambassador Bridge

WINDSOR, Ont. — A third peregrine falcon chick was spotted at the Ambassador Bridge this week.

“We got confirmation on three chicks,” Windsor Peregrine Watch Team site co-ordinator Dennis Patrick said Wednesday.  The chicks are about 19 days old. Because watch team members have to use binoculars and because of the angle of looking up at the high ledge, the team couldn’t confirm there were three chicks until Monday.

“They are growing so astoundingly fast,” Patrick said. “When you see them in the evening you go ‘I can’t believe how much they grew this day.’”  In 21 days, the chicks will be adult size and ready for their first flights, he said.  Adult peregrine falcons Freddie and Voltaire are hunting for food to feed their youngsters. Freddie brings food and Voltaire feeds the chicks, Patrick said.

The Windsor Peregrine Watch Team is monitoring the nest and will be there especially for the first flights in June. About 80 per cent of peregrine falcon chicks don’t survive but teams of trained volunteers can reduce the mortality rate to about 20 per cent.

source: http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/Third+falcon+chick+spotted+Ambassador+Bridge/3053766/story.html

Freddie or Voltaire: photo by Jason Kryk.

[carly]

!! THIRD CHICK IS CONFIRMED 100%

We’ve been 98% sure we had three chicks and have been struggling to be able to see for that last 2% to make us 100% sure that we had three chicks hatched. Well tonight Lou, Ken, you were right as we watched they all lined up along the nest ledge and waved!!!! Special thanks to Nicko who stuck with us in the rain and helped us 100%confirm the third hatch!! No doubt we have three chicks and they are growing like weeds!!!! They are getting huge. We should have some really good pictures over the next few days.

The maturity and confidence and team work of Voltaire and Freddie is light years ahead of last year!!! We are gased at the possibilities!!
Dennis and Gwenster and the whole Windsor Falcon Watch Team.