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News: Canadian Peregrines

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Alison:
From the Padre Island Peregrine Falcon Survey

July 27 2015

We received a message from Sylvain Bourdages: "I'm sending you some info on a female peregrine that was banded on South Padre Island...that was recaptured in Clairmont, Alberta on 05/06/2015 with the band number 1687-26022. She was released and seemed to be doing fine. She did have a nasty scar on her right shoulder that seemed to have healed well but left quite a mark....here are a few pictures for you."

This falcon was originally captured and banded by Catherine Wightman on October 17, 2012 during her first passage south. It's great to hear she's doing well and probably now tending to her first brood somewhere north of Clairmont. Thanks for sharing the news, Sylvain!

Clairmont is a hamlet 5 kilometres north of Grande Prairie. It is about 2,800 miles from South Padre Island — a very long way to fly. I hope she is having a very successful breeding season.

 

https://www.facebook.com/PadreIslandPeregrines/posts/452374901589265

The Peregrine Chick:
Falcons steer clear of Nik Wallenda
by Jayme Poisson and Graham Slaughter, The Toronto Star
15 June 2012

Nik Wallenda made his walk across the Falls falcon-free, eliminating the risk of being charged under the Endangered Species Act.

“They’re tucked in for the night at this hour because of all the night predators,” said Mark Nash of the Canadian peregrine foundation, noting that the falcons are especially wary of great horned owls.

Wallenda’s decision to postpone his walk until after sunset boded well for the falcons, which are listed under the Species at Risk registry.

“I guess if there was a best time for this monkey walk, this is it,” Nash said.

Anne Yagi from the province's Ministry of Natural Resources arrived at the Falls Friday afternoon. She, along with counterparts in the U.S., played the role of personal attachés to a pair of rare peregrine falcons and their four hatchlings.

The birds nest in the window of a closed Ontario Power Generation Station in the Niagara Gorge, about 200 metres below where Wallenda walked. The wire was strung up in the airspace the birds use to hunt for food.

“We did not approve this,” says Yagi of the MNR's position on the walk. The biologist said she spoke with Wallenda and asked him to postpone his stunt until September, when nesting season is over, but he decided to go ahead with it.

Yagi was escorted down into the gorge to monitor the birds during Wallenda’s walk. She had a scope and took pictures and notes to use as evidence in case the birds were hurt. New York State park biologists did the same thing on the other side.

Yagi said that when she explained to Wallenda that the birds could attack him, the stuntman responded by saying his parents often threw objects at him when he was training and he still stayed on the wire.

“Just because they're small doesn't mean they don't hit with force,” she said of the two-and-a-half-pound birds that can reach speeds of 360 kilometres per hour.

The female adult falcon is named Diamond and the male, Onyx.


Story & photos: Falcons steer clear of Nik Wallenda

I went hunting for this story because I was watching a YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IURdqj6OSko) and thought I saw a bird fly past and around with a very falcon-like silhouette, but it sounds like must have been gulls or another long winged bird.

Elaine L:
Edmonton's high level peregrines get new home

EDMONTON — A pair of peregrine falcons that have made their home on the High Level Bridge for the past three years were treated to two specially designed nests Thursday, courtesy of the Edmonton Fire Rescue technical team.

The team of 10 placed two wooden boxes safely under the bridge on the top of the centre concrete pillars. The nests were necessary to give the falcons a safe place to breed and raise their nestlings, said provincial wildlife biologist Gordon Court, who specializes in at-risk species. Since making the bridge's pillars their home, the pair have managed to raise only two nestlings.

"When the birds insist on using a structure and they fail every year, that's when we intervene," Court said. "The hatching success will definitely go up. There will be fewer losses due to snowstorms, rainstorms, that sort of thing."

Made out of simple plywood and some shingles for the roof, the approximately 23-kilogram boxes include a layer of gravel for the birds to rest on. They also feature metal bars across the opening to prevent Canada geese from moving in. Technical rescue team member Geoff Boulton suited up with all the necessary safety gear before making his first trip over the bridge's side.

"We rappelled off a building downtown much higher than this," he said. "This is fabulous, working with the team like this."

Capt. Scott Macdonald called the exercise just another day on the job for the team.

"It's just what we do every day on the technical rescue team," Macdonald said. "We'll send one guy down with all the safeties. He's going to lower that thing down, set it in place, and we'll bring him back up."

The team is deployed a few times a month to assist with technical rescues. Macdonald said the team regularly completes training exercises at a facility in the city's west end and at the University of Alberta. And while he said Thursday's exercise was out of the ordinary, it gave the team an opportunity to practise their skills. During the manoeuvre, at least one of the falcons began circling the bridge as Boulton secured the first box.

"That's a very good sign," Court said of the appearance. "They still want to own this bridge."

Court said that while a majority of peregrines in the province are found in Wood Buffalo National Park, about one-third commonly make their homes on tall buildings, power plants and bridges in urban or industrial areas in and around Edmonton and Calgary.

"The peregrine falcon is a perfect example of a bird that can tolerate an urban environment," Court said. "They like the height these places offer."

He added that the iconic bridge is an ideal nesting place for the birds because it offers them a secure environment where they're unlikely to bother people.

Most of the peregrines in the province disappeared from much of North America during the 1960s and '70s because of the pesticide DDT that damaged their eggs before the chicks could hatch. Today, there are 68 pairs of the birds across the province -- only two pairs away from removing them from their designation as an at-risk species.

"What you're seeing here with this pair on this bridge is an example of what we're hoping for birds breeding in the wild," Court said.

Alison:
Kingston, Ontario

Injured falcon flies again
Posted By MICHAEL LEA, THE WHIG-STANDARD

An injured peregrine falcon, nursed back to health at a Napanee wildlife centre, was set free into the skies over Kingston again yesterday amid fears one of its main sources of food is being poisoned.

Sue Meech, director of the Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre, brought the female raptor back to the city to release it near where it was injured in late March in a confrontation with an Ontario Street apartment building.

She warned the bird's future health could depend on stopping whoever has been putting out the chemical Avitrol to rid the downtown of one of the falcon's favourite meals -- pigeons.

Meech said two pigeons suffering from the effects of the chemical have been brought to her centre.

"If people have only brought in two that are still alive there are probably a hundred out there that have been killed," she said.

She explained Avitrol is not designed to kill pigeons but to confuse them so they will fly around in circles emitting distress calls.

"It's supposed to scare all the other pigeons away," she said, "(but) if it's not mixed properly or if a pigeon eats too much then the pigeon dies.

"It's a horrible death."

She said the danger to the falcon would come from eating pigeons contaminated with the chemical. "They die," she said.

Meech's fear for the falcon's future was tempered by the pleasure of watching it fly away on two healthy wings yesterday.

The bird was brought to the waterfront next to the Pump House Steam Museum in a cardboard box covered by a small blanket. Once the covering was removed, the falcon swept low over the grass and soared up into the sky.

Another of those watching was Carolyn Teeple, who first saw the falcon coming towards her building at 135 Ontario St. in late March and thought it was landing on her 15th floor balcony.

When she went to check on it, it appeared to want to take off again but couldn't.

"After a while I went out with two oven mitts and a big towel to see if it was injured but it just went down into the crevice between the deck and the glass railing."

"So I started phoning. I was a little bit annoyed because I went through the phone book and phoned everybody I could find."

She said a half hour later what appeared to be the bird's mate came along, sat for a few minutes, and then flew off again.

The bird remained trapped and obviously injured for about two hours, she said.

Connie Black, a Kingston volunteer for the wildlife centre, was called to rescue the falcon after the wildlife centre learned of the situation from the Kingston Humane Society.

"We suspect it was chasing another bird and it probably struck the building and landed on (Teeple's) balcony," said Black.

"It managed to get itself stuck between the concrete and the glass. Luckily I managed to pull it out of the gap."

She said the bird had struggled for at least two hours to free itself.

"It looked worse than it really was. The whole one wing was scraped so there was a lot of blood and there was bruising on the body as well."

Black, who is licensed to care for migratory birds, took the falcon home and then transported it to the wildlife centre the following morning.

"I just made it comfortable and let it rest because she was exhausted. This was the first peregrine I ever handled and I hear they are supposed to be quite feisty but she had been fighting so long she wasn't feisty any more at all."

Meech said the bird had been beating her wings on the stone to try to free herself and badly scraped the leading edge of one wing. The wound was cleaned and the bird was eventually introduced to the wildlife centre's aviary where she soon took flight again.

One exciting aspect to the temporary confinement came when the falcon laid an egg.

"She probably has laid several before she came in and hopefully she will be laying some more now," Meech said. "Then she will be raising some young ones in the city."

But only if she doesn't come in contact with Avitrol, she said.

"As long as people don't put that poison down and the bird doesn't eat a poisoned pigeon then we should be okay."

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2531195

There is a video and a great photo of the falcon at the link.

The Peregrine Chick:
Nova Scotia names five new species at risk
The Globe & Mail – 10 October 2007

The Nova Scotia government is adding three birds and two plants to its list of species that are considered at risk in the province.  The birds that were added to the list Wednesday are the red knot, chimney swift and common nighthawk.  The red knot is a medium-sized shorebird whose population in Canada has declined by 70 per cent in the past 15 years – with a similar decline recorded in Nova Scotia.  The chimney swift was added to the endangered list, while the common nighthawk is classified as threatened. 

The plants that were added to the list are the ram's-head lady slipper – a small orchid that grows in open forests – and the rockrose – a herb with yellow flowers.  The ram's-head lady slipper, now found in just six places in Nova Scotia, has been listed as endangered.  The rockrose is also listed as endangered.

Meanwhile, the government announced that the province's peregrine falcon population has successfully recovered, although it is remains on the vulnerable list.  The falcons are now nesting on cliffs along the Bay of Fundy. From 1955 to 1995, no nesting peregrine falcons were seen in Nova Scotia.  “I am encouraged by the interest and concern that Nova Scotians show for species at risk,” Natural Resources Minister David Morse said in a statement.  To ensure their survival, we need to continue to work together, on both Crown land and private land. Downgrading the risk status of the peregrine falcon shows what we can accomplish together.”

A total of 41 species are now listed under the Endangered Species Act in Nova Scotia.  The peregrine falcon remains on the vulnerable list, because it is still too early to conclude that it is no longer threatened.  Federal and provincial law helps protect threatened and endangered species by prohibiting activities that could disturb or destroy the species or their habitat.Laws includes fines for anyone caught harming species or their habitat.  

To view rest of the original article ... Nova Scotia names five new species at risk

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