ON / Port Colborne - 2009-10

[Kinderchick]

You could be right, carly.

[kittenface]

You know Poland has problems with eggs hatching there it is because of transmitters tho

[carly]

!!! 4 eggs reduced to one
May 18, 2010 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill

Doug Garbutt Reports:

The 4 eggs that were once here (for a second time this year) are now only 1. Not sure how the 1st one went missing but I saw the female consume the 2nd one that went missing. This is way too wierd for me to comprehend, but I’m hoping she must have known that the egg she ate was not fertilized because when she ate it, the yoke & white were clearly visible. I think if it was a viable egg that there would have been an embryo or something solid in the egg. So to this point, she has 1 egg left & is on it constantly. We are hoping that this egg will eventually hatch. Never a dull moment here in Port Colborne! Mostly frustrating ones.

You have to wonder if there isn't something environmental going on here - perhaps something as a result of the mill itself as there have been many different males and females here and no matter who it is - this is always the outcome save for the odd hatch here or there.  If it was the same pair all these years then you could say perhaps one of the pair has a problem with fertility however it's every pair with different males/females at any given time and the eggs are almost always not viable and destroyed.  Wonder what kind of chemicals they are spewing there and if it's affecting the viability of the embryos.

Maybe I'm grasping but seriously what are the odds??? 

[Alison]

Four eggs now at Port Colborne!

!!! Port Colborne now has 4 eggs!!!
May 06, 2010 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill

Doug Garbutt Reports:

Believe it or not, another egg appeared today. For a brief moment, the female was off the scrape & I clearly saw 4 eggs. The 4th egg could have been there before Monday (when full incubation started) but out of camera view. The camera covers most of the scrape but not the whole thing. Another good thing is that dad (who we call Buffalo Bill) is now pitching in with the incubation process. Hopefully he wasn’t shooting blanks & the eggs are fertilised, as they are taking very good care of them to date.

[carly]

!!! Port Colborne now has 3 eggs
May 03, 2010 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill

Doug Garbutt Reports:

Well, the 4 eggs that were produced here by late March & were destroyed have since been replaced by 3 new ones. I think that the new clutch is complete as the female is in full incubation mode, hardly getting off the eggs at all. We have our fingers crossed for a late fledge of falcons.

Bev:  Yes the rochester folks were hoping she'd choose lennox, it's a good place and has a nice large nestbox there but maybe no males around?!

Alison:  I'm hoping it's Treasure too and give this fast reclutch...maybe!  I am going to try to find out more about this site.  I know there are alot of birds there but honestly how do eggs vanish every year like this, and with different pairs too.  I know they will take them out sometimes but having 4 vanish overnight all the time..seems odd to me.  If they were being damaged in fights then you'd find some shell fragments or something.  And they do have a private cam there last I heard..yet every time the eggs vanish the cam suddenly breaks down?

[Alison]

Two eggs now at Port Colborne:

May 01, 2010 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:

When I left work yesterday at 3:00pm there was still only 1 egg in the scrape. Today when I arrived at work it was 5:30am & I couldn’t se a darn thing, but when the sun came up & the female finally got off the scrape, I noticed that there were 2 eggs. I’m not sure if the 2nd egg was produced last night or early today. Mom was on & off the eggs quite a bit while I was there today so maybe she plans on having more as it does not appear that full incubation has started.

I hope Treasure is still the resident female here . . .

[bev.]

I think the folks in Rochester were hoping she would choose Lennox , were they not. what a mess.

[carly]

She was near there Bev the day prior to the sighting and is the only transmitter falcon currently in this area - unless someone is not telling about theirs.  The day she was at PC - coincidently they had problems with the transmitter and then 2 days later she was moving back to the US.  Doesn't mean she tried to take over Treasure's site, maybe she just got caught up in the melee or challenged as she passed through the area.  Carol posted that she was in touch the Doug and she's pretty confident it was Quest based on her conversation with him.

Three days ago she was here in Toronto near our site again - so she's moving around like crazy.  The past week alone, she was in the US, in Hamilton, in Toronto, in Port Colbourne area again and back at Lennox Station.

The fact that an egg has been laid already - I'd be inclined to think it's still Treasure here as it was almost right away and there hasnt' been a period of getting to know you like you'd expect with a new female.  Mind you, if you're in the mood - you might skip those pleasantries but seems more like a reclutch to me.

ps: Doug has also seen another tiercel in the vicinity so it's falcon central here! Now if Quest could just entice him back to to Lennox..then we'd have a new pair!

[The Peregrine Chick]

Nuts, going to need to put a question mark beside Treasure's name in the subject line 
The children (all of them) need to start behaving themselves!!!

[bev.]

After reading reports that quest was traveling all over after this, not so sure, this would be Quest. Maybe it is the resident female. they would know if they saw a transmitter. as much as I like the idea of quest, I hope Treasure is o.k.

[carly]

!!! Maybe we’re not done yet!!!!!
April 29, 2010 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill

Doug Garbutt Reports:
As reported, in late March there were 4 eggs here which have mysteriously gone missing. Well I think it was because a 3rd falcon showed up & caused a trauma smash or the residents here destroyed the eggs, I’m just guessing.  However, yesterday the new female laid her 1st egg. She is taking good care of it & the male is bringing in food for her. We are hoping that there will be more eggs & that they are viable. It’s late in the season but hopefully it will work out ok.

Not sure if it's really a new female or not as Quest was in Maine after she left this area.  I don't know what's going on down here but I sure hope Treasure is okay.

[Alison]

Quest was 17 km from PC 2 days ago according to the Imprints folks.     *sigh*  I wish the eggs wouldn't get destroyed all the time.  I sure hope Treasure is okay.  This site is highly prized for some reason - interestingly Freedom nested here and Archer was born here so wouldn't surprise me if it's Quest.

On second thought, Carly, I think you're absolutely right about this being Quest. I thought she had moved farther from this area, and that she might still be interested in the nest at the Lennox Power Plant. I hadn't thought of her planning a takeover of another nest. 

[carly]

Quest was 17 km from PC 2 days ago according to the Imprints folks.     *sigh*  I wish the eggs wouldn't get destroyed all the time.  I sure hope Treasure is okay.  This site is highly prized for some reason - interestingly Freedom nested here and Archer was born here so wouldn't surprise me if it's Quest.

[bev.]

I know a perfect spot for a falcon . Across the river from Ottawa. there is a wonderful spot and we have a picture of what we thought was a falcon last year, but no one spotted it after that. Peter and I checked it out ,when first reported. We happened to be in Ottawa at the time.

Quest just needs to move East a bit.

[Alison]

I saw this update too, Carly. It's very sad about the eggs. I wish the peregrines could be identified, and I wonder who the falcon with the transmitter is. There always seems to be territorial fighting at this nest site.

I too hope Treasure is okay. I thought Quest had moved on from Hamilton and had been moving around a lot lately. The last updates on her indicated that she had been all over Ontario and Quebec, and in Maine and Vermont, so I think the third falcon is probably someone else.