Other Peregrine Projects > Canadian Peregrines

QC / Montréal - l'Université de Montréal - 2009-19

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Elaine L:
Alison, those photos of Spirit's family are fantastic!  Most photos posted on this site I never get to see because of the firewall here at work, but there was no problem at all with these stunning photos.  Thanks.

carly:
7:55 am and Polly is in the nestbox trying to incubate the eggs again  ::)

Edit:  She's decided laying next to them in the sun is better   :-\

Alison:
An article in the Montreal Gazette today on Spirit, Roger and Polly:

Like a lot of teens, Polly is a little slow to leave the nest
 
Université de Montréal falcon pair may have to evict their daughter
 
By DAVID BIRD, Freelance
April 21, 2010
 
Welcome to Montreal's newest Internet reality show, Mind Your Own Falcon Business, starring Spirit, Roger, Polly and Eve. Who needs soap operas when you've got the real thing on your computer?

I have studied and written about peregrine falcons for more than 30 years and I thought I had seen it all. But this year takes the cake.

It all started in 2007 when Eve Bélisle, a programmer in the chemical engineering department at École Polytechnique on the Université de Montréal campus, contacted me about a pair of peregrines hanging about the 26-storey tower there. The following winter, we installed a comfortable nesting box on the 23rd floor and, lo and behold, right around Mother's Day in 2009, the birds produced two young, a male and a female.

From reading her leg band number, Eve discovered that the mother's name is Spirit and she fledged from a bridge nest in Ohio in 2004. She gave the name Roger to the father in honour of Roger Gaudry, the man the tower is named after. The two nestlings were called Algo (after Alain Goulet, owner of the Centre de conservation de la faune ailée, a nature store in the east end, and the financial backer for both the nest box and the web cam) and Polly, a former name for Spirit. And Eve, of course, is now the official voyeur. So now you know all the players in this fascinating drama.

After the usual rescues of both nestlings from the ground when they made unsuccessful attempts to fly, both kids hung around Mom and Dad for quite a while.

Algo eventually disappeared and will hopefully show up as a breeder at around 3 years of age - a very natural thing for young fledged peregrines to do. But here is where our story gets quite interesting.

Polly became the child who wouldn't go away; she stayed with her parents through the entire winter. Eve had noticed that Polly had sustained some form of permanent leg injury, which, to a peregrine used to nailing their prey with their feet in the air, can be a handicap. Thus, it is conceivable that Polly remained with her parents throughout the winter with the thought that she could garner the odd food handout for old time's sake.

Spirit and Roger are now sitting on a clutch of four eggs in the nest box. The episode titled The Trouble with Polly started during egg-laying. Polly just couldn't keep her little beak out of Mom's business. Every time Mom or Dad would enter the nest box, Polly had to be there, too. You see, some bird species like crows and scrub-jays welcome assistance from helpers in the form of youngsters from previous years, but not falcons, at least not to my knowledge.

For the rest of the article:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Like+teens+Polly+little+slow+leave+nest/2932137/story.html

Alison:
Polly was back at the nest today, but things were peaceful and she did not harm the eggs in any way. Eve has posted a new video on the blog.

A look at Spirit's family: all photos are by Chad and Chris.

Her Dad, the charismatic Buckeye, whom we lost in April 2007:







Her Mom, Hillary, who was very young when she first came to this site, still in her juvie plumage:







Spirit's brother, Pulse, just after fledging in 2004:



Spirit as a juvie in 2004:

Kinderchick:
Very interesting, this trio with eggs in the nestbox. Had not heard of such a thing happening. Parents have been very tolerant of Polly hanging around. :)

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