https://twitter.com/mbperegrines/status/988415175341608960New females at sites are always a bit twitchy - some latch right onto a box - like Faith when she first arrived, and Beatrix before her and now it seems Ella. This site was originally settled if you like by Cowboy and Joli's sister Katherine (Kate) but they sidn't nested successfully - maybe not at all since we didn't find eggs or remains of eggs. Then Joli took over for Kate and Cowboy went back to where he and Kate had been snooping around the year before and presto, we found eggs on concrete. Eggs most certainly wouldn't have survived there - they would have rolled and cracked and that would have been the end of it - and perhaps that is what happened to Kate the year before. In any case, we were able to slip a temporary box underneath the eggs and Joli popped into the box as we were leaving and that was that, she had "her spot". Faith knows the nestsite but she didn't choose the location, this is Hart's home, the same way it was Cowboy's when Joli replaced Kate. Now we will just have to see what transpires - hopefully all will go well for Hart and Faith.
And the fight with Ella won't have helped things ... the year Beau and Ty fought at West Winnipeg, Beatrix laid 4 eggs but only 2 chicks - for a bird her age, bloodline and past record, only two chicks from 4 eggs was mostly likely a result of stress of territorial conflict even though the actual fight was between Ty and Beau. This will be Ella's first year and Faith's third, so it will be interesting to see what may be the result.
