ON / Kitchener - 2016-19

[carly]

New update on Lucifer today:

Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge

The Peregrine Falcon also went outside this morning. It has been a looooong road for him and he was very noisily letting me know that he likes the change of scenery.

He has had to endure confinement since early June.

He now resides in our 50’ straight flight. He has delighted me by flying straight across several times and landing perches with accuracy.

In a week or two we will start by putting obstacles in his way and will change the straight flight into a serpentine flight to let him get use to turning mid-air with his wing and see how he handles that.

[birdbrain]

Thank you for the update and pictures.  It sure must take specialized training and tiny tools to operate on a Falcon!

[carly]

The rehab centre posted an update on the injured dad Lucifer tonight.  CTV has also done a news story on the update:  https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/father-falcon-still-fighting-to-fly-after-fracture-1.4054240#_gus&_gucid=&_gup=Facebook&_gsc=SHxiPyZ

Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge

For those of you following along: Today the peregrine falcon had his wing re-x-rayed and fortunately the fracture had healed enough to removed the external fixator and pins.

This job was done by the awesome best at Scott Veterinary Clinic.

Right now he is on cage rest to let his body adjust to the transition and hopefully in a couple of weeks he can start flight training.

[birdbrain]

That’s great to hear!  They have an amazing Mom.

[carly]

The remaining three fledged successfully - two were rescued and put back up at a higher elevation and last I heard they were all doing well.

[birdbrain]

Any update on this situation?  I’m wondering if any of the chicks survived?

[carly]

The littlest got knocked off the porch by the bigger ones that were wingercizing like mad the day it happened.  He was under the porch first then seen on the side of the nest box laying down.  HE spent 1.5 days of 40C plus outside and then the storm came...likely he was blown off the tower or he died in the heat out there.  He was under 400 grams and food has been scarce due to the heat.  It's not like the city where there are pigeons everywhere, mom has to work hard to get food and she's looking pretty rough herself.  Sadly it's not a popular area for falcons so no other male has come along who could offer help. The others have all been going in and out onto the porch out there so there was never more than one missing.

 It's just a sad situation and watching poor Mystery struggle on her own has been hard...and it's back to another heatwave that will last all week again. 

[Alison]

July 9, 2018

An article on the Kitchener chicks:

Falcon family feature: where are the chicks?

The CTV peregrine falcon chicks have been growing steadily despite being cared for by a single parent. 

The first chick hatched on June 8, and all four were welcomed to the microwave tower on CTV Kitchener’s property by June 11.  That day, the male peregrine falcon, Lucifer, was injured and taken to the Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge. He underwent surgery on June 16, and he was still recovering as of July 9.  He was scheduled for another surgery the following week to have a pin and external fixator removed. The chicks’ mother, Mystery, has been feeding them by herself since.

In recent days, however, two of the chicks have gone missing.  One falcon chick, Monarch, wandered outside of the nest and has not been seen since.  On Monday morning, a second chick exited the Falcon Cam's view and disappeared outside.  Volunteers with Fledge Watch, who are monitoring the chicks as they begin spreading their wings, found one of the missing falcons in the nest on Monday afternoon.

The chicks should begin trying to learn to fly soon, CTV has been told, with males usually trying around 36 days, and females trying around 40 days.  Flying can be difficult for them, however, because they are heavy and uncoordinated at this age.

A team of volunteers searched for the most recently missing chick Monday afternoon.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/mobile/falcon-family-feature-where-are-the-chicks-1.4005710


The last time I saw all four chicks at the nest was on July 3.  Then there were three, and on some occasions only two. Today there were three chicks at the nest.
The last update I have seen on Lucifer from Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge was on June 21:  He is recovering well. The surgeons have given him a guarded optimistic prognosis.
They have also said that Lucifer is expected to spend several months in care:  It will take several months before he will be recovered as he needs complex surgery to fix the wing.

[carly]

I should also add that they are no longer considered endangered here so they may not be allowed to interfere and will have to let nature take it's course.  Let's hope a new male comes along to help her out. 

I fear for the future of all species here as Ontario has just elected a man that is anti-animals and nature and has vowed to scrap the 'barbaric endangered species act' as he calls it.   So there won't be any help in the near future for any of our feathered friends.

[carly]

Update from CPF Facebook page:

Last week on June 12th, that being Tuesday, the resident male from Kitchener named Lucifer was found grounded and picked up by the Kitchener Animal Services. He was taken to rehab and has suffered a fractured wing. The good news is that the fracture placement is perfect for pinning and he will be getting the surgery to repair the wing. That has unfortunately left Mystery, the resident female, alone with the 4 chicks for the past 5 days. The CPF has been monitoring the situation very closely and the great news is that she has been keeping up on their feeding with excellent regularity and is so far handling the whole situation like a pro. Rudy spent some time yesterday doing site observations and reports that he currently sees only her, no other male in the territory as of yet. She roosts on the top of the nest box where she can survey the territory and be near the chicks as well. Yesterday I saw 4 feedings by the female and all 4 chicks ate well. Today in between caring for our educational birds in this heat, I was able to witness on the camera 2 feedings for sure that again saw all 4 chicks get a great feeding. Another camera watcher caught another feeding just before dusk tonight. The banding is set for June 28th and we will be monitoring very closely every day to ensure that all continues to go well for the young ones. We are also hoping to get more site visit observations to see how well Mystery is doing outside of camera range. So far so good and all is well as of today. Lucifer is getting great care and will be on the mend soon and Mystery is doing an amazing job with her chicks. We will continue to keep a very close eye on this nest and post updates as we have them for you.

[carly]

Lucifer the male was found with a fractured wing a few days ago.  He's going to need surgery so he'll be out of action for awhile.  Mystery is all alone with 4 kids to raise - and they are barely 10 days old.  No new male has been spotted.  Lucifer - is Jack and Angel's grandson, son of Mackenzie from the Burlington Lift Bridge so I was quite upset to hear this news as this is his first time nesting as far as we know.  He was born in 2015.  The female is still Mystery - unbanded and she's doing an amazing job considering the situation she has been put in.

CPF is on the situation and posted this update to their page - several of us are keeping an eye on the nest from afar to help them out as it's been over 100 degrees here the past few days and watchers are having a hard time out in the heat monitoring.  Temps go back to normal tomorrow so hopefully they'll have more idea of what is going on.

This is the organization that is helping him and trying to raise funds for his surgery:  https://www.facebook.com/Hobbitstee/

[Alison]

The Kitchener nest has four chicks this year.

For the last few days, the chicks have been left alone for hours on end, and appear to be fed only rarely. They are much too young to be neglected in this way. I don't know whether perhaps there is only one parent at the nest, or if there is some other cause, but this is not a good situation. 



https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=375756

[The Peregrine Chick]

May 2nd - chicks started hatching ...

3 baby ‘grines’ arrive in Kitchener !!!
May 02, 2016 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:

On Sunday, May 1 at 7:36 a.m., Karen observed an egg shell at the back of the nest box. A little time later, the adult repositioned enough so that a new baby ‘grine’ could be seen peeking out! On May 2 at 9:30 a.m., a second baby was observed by Karen as Caster dropped off a package to Mystery at the edge of the box. They traded off and on for a few minutes and eventually Mystery began to feed both chicks. Matt confirmed seeing 3 hatchlings this morning. Welcome to the world little wee ones!!!

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2016/05/sightings/3-baby-%E2%80%98grines%E2%80%99-arrive-in-kitchener/

[susha]

What a messy nest already!   

CTV Kitchener Peregrine Falcon Cam

High above the CTV Kitchener studio, there's another family coming together.
Last year, the Canadian Peregrine Foundation and Waterloo Region Nature built a nesting box for a family of peregrine falcons nesting in our microwave tower.
Four falcon chicks were born and raised in the box, before learning how to take flight themselves.
Now it's another year, and the falcons are ready to breed again. As of March 24, there was one egg in the box -- so we thought it was time to bring back the livestream of our camera overlooking it!

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/back-for-another-year-ctv-peregrine-falcon-cam-streaming-live-1.2313835

[RCF]

CTV Kitchener Peregrine Falcon Cam

High above the CTV Kitchener studio, there's another family coming together.
Last year, the Canadian Peregrine Foundation and Waterloo Region Nature built a nesting box for a family of peregrine falcons nesting in our microwave tower.
Four falcon chicks were born and raised in the box, before learning how to take flight themselves.
Now it's another year, and the falcons are ready to breed again. As of March 24, there was one egg in the box -- so we thought it was time to bring back the livestream of our camera overlooking it!

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/back-for-another-year-ctv-peregrine-falcon-cam-streaming-live-1.2313835