U of Alberta - 2008 / Damon & Radisson

[bev.]

I cannot believe this happened
Hopefully I can remember it now.

We got to the  site at about 9:00 am and it was very chilly.   When we arrived we saw no one we then climbed up on the parkade across fromthe Heart building and saw a falcon on the corner of the Ed building .  No one else was in sight so we started to walk over there. Peter stopped to get us a coffee and  I kept walking.
When I get there I see it is a juvenile and she is cacking ( I think Hope). She then flies off toward dads building(hopefully she has seen an adult and has gone hunting)
- when I meet up with Peter he has heard her go overhead but there is no one in sight anywhere.
- We walk back to parkade across from Heart building. It is 6 degrees. Very cool.
No one is in sight so we decide to walk around the clinical science building and in front of the hospital to check out the cranes . No cigar.  We then go to the parkade across from the Ed building .  We see a falocn way on the left hand side of the campus right at the back(an engineering tech building)
- we decide to mosey over there and see who it is .  Of course when we get there it is gone(but it was a beautiful walk in the crisp air)
We walk back to the Ed building and spot a falcon up the top of the Suite Hotel(they are not there very often) Peter thinks it is mom but I am not sure.

We stand and watch for a bit and then it flies overhead and perches on an antennae on the right back of the Ed building.( We think an adult) We go for another coffee where we can watch it and get warm
- as we come out of the shop the falcon flies off to the back of the Ed building out of sight. We went up on the parkade across from the Ed building again and watch. After a bit I hear cakcing so I know that a juvenile is around. We keep looking and see an adult on the tower of the Dentistry building. The adult flies down and stoops pigeons. It flies back up and at the back of the tower.   Then it comes to the front and I see the juvenile through an  opening at the back of the tower. The adult flies back to top and the  Juvenile cacks and cat walks .Then they both stoop pigeons but come back empty taloned as we did not see them eating.


_ The adult flies way to the left side of the dentistry building(this building is very long). the juvenile flies on the top of the tower where the adult was before.
The adult then flies back to the juvenile and sticks a round for a bit and then flies over to the SUB builidng , on the top. The adult then flies out beyond the residences and we think toward the river.  The juvenile soon flies to the Sub building and then out towards where the adult went.

-We decide to call it a day as I have promised Peter breakfast and it now 12:30pm
-we have seen 2 juveniles and an adult today. so that is O.K. It has warmed up and the weather is to be really nice for about 5 days.

I hope they all stick around to give the girls all the practise and skills that they need.

[bev.]

I just lost my whole report

Pictures first then. 
Mom on far left of Dentistry building

Juvenile on tower

[bev.]

 here are some shots from Friday night with my small camera. I almost cried when dad ate the prey.
Sorry the best I could do. we were so close that if I had my daughters camera our shots would have been superb.
I believe this is Hope(very wet )

Hope catwalking after dad leaves Extension building

Hope after dad leaves

Hope on left , dad on right.(after he had eaten)Dad was going to walk down the side as per report

hope watching dad defeathert. she was cacking

dad on right , Hope on left

dad eating while Hope watches

Hope , I think, sitting on back of Ed building and 2 magpies to the right (they were harassing her) I was hoping she would tune them in)

This is where mom is tucked in for the night

[bcbird]

I don't like the thought either of dad eating daughter's dinner, but if he's an experienced parent, he must figure it's a tough lesson she has to learn. 

[bev.]

this is what my husband is saying also Carly.

[carly]

Thanks for the report Bev.  So dad ate Hope's dinner then??  That's not very nice, maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere that we're just not seeing    You did mention she's not very aggressive, maybe he's showing her that if she doesn't stand up for herself, someone will steal her dinner?? 

[bev.]

sorry I have not posted . Our computer was down. :(Peter got it fixed with the help of our server just a bit ago.

Friday evening

When we arrived we saw dad on the clinical science building on the side facing the street. Got a real good look at him so we could positively ID him.
I climbed up  to the parking lot roof across form the Heart building  and saw and heard who I believe to be Hope, on the extension building.(Hard to tell as it had just stopped raining and with her being wet she may have appeared darker than what she was). dad was to the left of her quite far away( We saw him fly off the clinical science  just as I was climbing the stairs). Hope appeared to have some prey and I thought she was eating a bit but then dad flew off and came to the right of her (quite close) and she started cacking nonstop. Dad proceeded to defeather  and eat the prey) Hope made no move to stop him which puzzled us. She just continued to cack . When dad was done he cat walked further across the roof of the extension building.  Hope just looked out toward the street and cacked.  When dad flew off (toward the clinical science and over the roof out of sight) Hope went where dad had been but made no attempt to go to the leftover prey?? after a bit she flew in the same direction as dad.

-we then walked over to the front of the hospital and spotted an adult(I think) on one end of the crane across from the hospital and a juvenile on the other end. the juvenile was cacking. I think they were thesame pair(dad and Hope)
We sat and watched for about an hour and then dad flew off over the hospital in direction of clinical science. Peter spotted  him??on the top of the antennae on his building.
Peter contnued to watch the juvenile while I walked down to the education building to see if I could see anyone there.  As I walk past the Ed building I  could see a falcon fly over the ed building and then I see it(I think same one) fly toward dads building cacking. I , of course, follow and dad is no longer there and the falcon tries to land on an antennae  with no success. Then the falcon flies off and goes around behind Newton place and then flies over the power building toward the crane area.
As I walked back to the Ed building area Peter was on top  of the Parkade  across form the Ed building and he had a  juvenile sighted there.  he said the one on the crane flew off over the hospital) He saw the one fly over the power building so we now have 2 juveniles in sight. Not sure now who is who but at least we have seen them both.( I do believe the one on the Ed building is Hope but??)
-the juvenile on the Ed building is cacking ( of course my soft heart hopes she is not hungry.)

I go back down after a bit to see what I can see around the area.  There is nothing anywhere.
I go back to the parkade where Peter is, and I have missed a whole show.( I sure wish we had the good camera but we did the best we could with our little one.) I guess all 4 were stooping pigeons behind the Ed building .  when I got there everyone was gone but one Juvenile , that was sitting on the back of the Ed building and cacking). She had no prey and 4 magpies were bothering her. They soon gave up. 

By now it is getting darker and I decide to go and check out the areas where mom checks in for the night. When I was across from the  Suite Hotel, 2 falcons(the girls) come flying overhead . They circle the Newton place and then end up on  the building. One on the very top  and one on the top balcony on right hand side.

-Peter comes to meet me and he said that while he was on the parkade a juvenile flew over his head cacking and knocked the other juvenile off her perch and they flew off. that is who I saw.
After a short while the both girls fly off toward moms building and circle it a few times. (Maybe looking for the adults. ) We then walked toward where they were and saw one fly around the back but not come out again so we walked way down beyond the traffic circle and spotted who I believe to be Cassie tucked in on a ledge on Moms building facing south.
Hope was tucked in on the same building where she usually goes (street side)
They turned in earlier tonight and a storm was approaching. when we left we had not found the 2 adults but the 2 girls were tucked in.  I am always happy to see them both together I think the other Juvenile picked up her sister and said let's call it a night

So the 4 still here and I hope they stay for a bit as I think the girls still need a lot of practice.
I am sorry the pictures are taking so long :-[but with computer down I could not do much.
Saturday mornings report in the works.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Just because the number of posts have been fewer over the last week, thought I'd try weekly thread rather than a daily one.  If the thread gets too long will split it up by day to make it easier to track the "girls'" activities.

The Peregrine Chick

[carly]

the girls tucked in together last night.

 

[bev.]

sorry, my reports still coming. 
the weather looks crisp but sunny this morning so I have convinced my husband do go down and see what hp pens in the morning.,  (Breakfast included) I do like evening as I can see them get tucked in and know who is who but..
still 4 around and the girls tucked in together last night. I will write  about it later.

[carly]

 
The one positive thing about Hope being a bit rough around the edges is that it will bode her well in the wild - after all Mother Nature can be cruel as we know and Hope seems to be a survivor   

Thanks for the photos, good to see the girls soaring 

[bev.]

Hope is banded and they think she is form the Microwave tower site.  I will look up the bands as I have them. I wish iour bands were more colorful so it would be easier to recognize them.  I do not have a scope to tell the bands right now but I  am able to tell the 2 grails apart most times.  Hope is more rough around the edges, just due to the fact that she did not have a s good care as Cassie. that is why my heart goes out to her and I named her Hope.
Do not let the blue skies fool you. It is very cool here although, Wednesday night was quite pleasant for a change and it was warm here yesterday afternoon and another nice night. But it rained all last night and it is dreary this morning . Weather is supposed to improve for tomorrow. I feel Hope needs a lot more training yet as she does not seem to be as aggressive. The nicer the weather the more chance they have of sticking around and honing Sheri skills. still 4 in place last night. I will Artie a report later and pictures are being processed.
cheers
Bev.

[bcbird]

These are lovely pictures, Bev.  Those girls are elegant falcons already!
I don't remember if you said earlier, but I'm wondering if Hope was banded.  You mentioned she was found near Red Deer, but is it known from which nest?
You sure do seem to have a lot of blue sky.

[Liz]

Thanks for these wonderful photos, bev.  I am so in love with Cassie.  And I'm so glad she got a sister. Wish I'd been in town when it happened -- visiting my mum, and missed a lot.   

[bev.]

these are just a few from last night,. the second one is Cassie on top of Ed building . the rest are Hope.   You can see that Hope is a bit darker