Radisson - 2014 / Smiley & Princess

[The Peregrine Chick]

Was downtown today around 1:30 and had a walk around the Delta, Holiday Towers and other buildings in that area but did not see or hear any falcons. It wasn't that hot and not too windy so thought I might see some action. No luck.

Thanks for making the pilgrimage Linder!  It has been very quiet around the Radisson as well - did see one bird (Princess?) on the JR sign early yesterday and then her or Smiley on the sw Artis sign later in the day ...

[Linder]

Was downtown today around 1:30 and had a walk around the Delta, Holiday Towers and other buildings in that area but did not see or hear any falcons. It wasn't that hot and not too windy so thought I might see some action. No luck.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Smiley visited the nestbox an hour ago in order to make a post-nesting scrape to impress Princess and he couldn't find a spot to work in - his little feet started scraping but he couldn't put his breast/belly down in the mess to do the job properly.   He wandered all around the nestbox (inside and out) looking for a spot but nothing - then he sat on the box edge, did a lot of preening (just in case something got on him??) and then he just refused to look at the carnage in the nestbox any longer! 

[The Peregrine Chick]

Just wondering, can someone tell me, how would the chicks react (and the parents) if they come in contact with a chick from another nest, or another adult PF?  Are they ok with that or would they chase the other away? 

We've never witnessed it here in town but we also haven't had any injured (or dead) chicks found with injuries that might indicate they came in contact with another bird.  Adults will defend their chicks but the chicks don't have any imperative to fight with each other so no reason for the adults to get involved.  We do know that adults will "adopt" chicks that aren't theirs - it's called fostering and it has been used for years to augment small nests or to relocate orphaned or "extra" chicks.  The adults just count them in amongst their own.  We've even seen adults treating after-hatch-year birds as though they were chicks or adult birds roosting near hacksites have helped with the feeding of the captive-bred young to be hack released.

We try to scout out and help with nestsites that are far enough away from one another that the birds don't come in contact with one another while their hormones are set on "full throttle" because we'd like everyone to get along, so far, mostly so good.  The birds are pretty good at picking their battles, so hopefully, young birds just out exploring the town continue to not be cause for adult concern.

[birdbrain]

Just wondering, can someone tell me, how would the chicks react (and the parents) if they come in contact with a chick from another nest, or another adult PF?  Are they ok with that or would they chase the other away?

[bccs]

Every day is a new adventure.

I have recently relocated and am no longer downtown.

The best news.........    a peregrine just flew by my new home and she was yelling the whole time.

Yay, oh yay
I have no idea whether it was a Radisson kid or a West Winnipeg kid, but the vocals were music to my ears.

And given past experience, my money is on a girl.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Lots of flybys the nestbox in the last couple of days - will see if I can download a few clips.  Birds are of course moving too fast to identify, but nice to see anyway.  Smiley's visits are less frequent - but spotted Princess over on the east side nestledge on the gravel (so away from the edge of the building) doing some preening in the light breeze.  Nice to see her. 

Usually in August/September the resident male will start making some new nestscrapes in the nestbox as part of his post-nesting season bonding activities, will be interesting to see what and where Smiley makes scrapes.  Maybe he'll do some cleaning first or perhaps it will be the thing that convinces him on-going trash runs are best next year.

[ballywing]

Was at MTS Centre around noon today......and saw..........absolutely Nobirdie. 

[Feather2Fin]

Maybe the chicks appreciate a clean, neat nest so they don't want to go back and sit amongst the carcasses.  It was the messiest nest I've ever seen at the Radisson and they all seem to get pretty bad by the end of the nesting season. Smiley was a great provider but needs to hone his carving and serving skills to keep things a tad cleaner. 

[The Peregrine Chick]

  Where the heck did those babies go?? I don't remember this happening before - they fledge safely, then disappear for good, no sightings?? 

It's not that unusual Bally, no worries.  We usually have one we don't see or only see a couple of times after fledging.  It is more unusual for the chicks to come back to the nestbox at the Radisson funnily enough, so we've been a bit spoiled over the last couple of years.  Hurricane we never saw after she fledged, Radisson too.  Don't recall seeing Ivy either come to think of it.  Tenzing and Hillary vanished as well.  Now that Linder has spotted the darlings down near the Convention Centre, we may well get some updates over the next few days.

[ballywing]

    Where the heck did those babies go?? I don't remember this happening before - they fledge safely, then disappear for good, no sightings?? 

[Kinderchick]

Was in the downtown area with my husband this evening btw 7:00 & 8:00. Spotted a PF perched half way up on the Radisson antenna. I'm thinking it was probably Smiley but not absolutely sure. No sign of any other PF's.

[The Peregrine Chick]

We know the adult birds fight for territory before nesting.
With 10 chicks all within 5-10 miles of each other,
do the chicks or the adults get into fights now that the chicks have left the nest?

I'm sorry, I thought I answered this one already ... multi-tasking doesn't always work 

When the adults fight, it is over territory and hormones play a role in that.  The chicks aren't hormonal or territorial so no, no fights.  Now chases, that's a possibility since the little terrors chase things all the time - one of the reasons peregrines can get shot is because they chase after crows and being about the same size and dark on their backs and being the last one in the group, well, they can become a target.  Would the adults fight over territory now, no not really in part because there are no hormones driving the need to possess territory but they do still defend their territories and will defend their chicks wherever they maybe if they perceive a serious threat.

[The Peregrine Chick]

I am pretty sure I saw 2 falcons flying around rooftop of Delta Hotel. For the last 2 or 3 years the fledges have hung around there.

Very Interesting - I sure hope you saw our chicks! Thanks for reminding us Linder, (now it’s coming back to me) but I really didn’t expect this to be a recurring place of preference for fledglings! Just a guess, but I suspect it has to do with height and the availability of wider landing areas. Anything you can see that might attract them to this location TPC?

The buildings there are lower and there are a variety of them and it's closer to the river - for young birds looking for places to land, those are big pluses - the river is a magnet for them.  The last couple of years the chicks have spent considerable time there, but they also used to come home at night  and to visit regularly for quite a long time after fledging - so the "other" buildings aren't the reason why Chapelle & Vimy aren't returning to the nestbox, they are just where they are hanging out.  (hope that made sense ...)

[burdi]

I am pretty sure I saw 2 falcons flying around rooftop of Delta Hotel. For the last 2 or 3 years the fledges have hung around there.

Very Interesting - I sure hope you saw our chicks! Thanks for reminding us Linder, (now it’s coming back to me) but I really didn’t expect this to be a recurring place of preference for fledglings! Just a guess, but I suspect it has to do with height and the availability of wider landing areas. Anything you can see that might attract them to this location TPC?