Radisson - 2011 / Ivy & Princess

[The Peregrine Chick]

Checked out the Radisson cam recordings and we had a visitor 

Nope, not a peregrine, for that you will have to wait 91 days (and counting) for that.

On Christmas Day in the morning sunlight we had a Common Raven.  Beautiful bird, all irridescent in the sunlight.  Sat on the edge, did a little picking in the debris and then took off.  Visited for about a minute, maybe a minute and a half.  Not the first time he/she/they have been by, one was by in November or very early December - stayed about the same amount of time after checking out the inside of the box a bit.

No pigeons and any other visitors to the box, near the box or on the ledge since there was a pigeon hanging out by the ledge cam in late November/early December (about the time of the earlier Raven visit).

[Kinderchick]

Thanks for the update, TPC.
Sounds like it will be a quiet New Year's Eve then, at the condo.

Unless, of course, the pigeons in the nestbox are up for a little action!

[The Peregrine Chick]

Thanks for the update, TPC.

Sounds like it will be a quiet New Year's Eve then, at the condo.

Its only -3C right now, so who knows - maybe everyone will decide to come home for Christmas!!  (just kidding folks - not about the temp but the returns!)

[bcbird]

Thanks for the update, TPC.

Sounds like it will be a quiet New Year's Eve then, at the condo.

[The Peregrine Chick]

The bird with the black/green band I'm sure was Sandy ... our "other" late autumn guest had a full black band but no luck what so ever figuring out who that could be, the it was very likely one of our (Manitoba's) birds.  She did not hang around long enough for me to get any look at her feet other than the band colours. 

One of my winter projects is to see if I can't start putting together a gallery of facial markings on our adults birds - not definitive for identification purposes but its at least something.  (if you aren't sure what I mean, look at Trey's profile above and look at the his cheek patch - those are the easiest markings to spot, however they can look different as the bird moves its head around or up/down)

And we've had no sighting of peregrines since November, but we have had some pigeons spending time at the cam end of the box ledge and a raven came in and had a yell at the box last week - kinda cute actually.  Other than that, its been all quiet at the "condo".

[susha]

Some friends and I were wondering the exact same thing this evening, TPC.  When was the last sighting of Sandy or whoever she was?

[bcbird]

At 0729h this morning a peregrine buzzed by the nestbox in a split second.  The outline was unmistakable but that was about all I got.  The bird was flying north and around the building just below the nestbox.  Haven't seen any sign since and the snow hasn't been disturbed on the edge of the box this morning ...

1342h
Birdie is on the west side Radisson sign eating on the green "slash", not sure under which letter, but I think the "i" or the first "s", - basically just south of the middle of the sign.

Our wintery bird has a purple anondized band so either Sandy or her boyfriend or another American peregrine is parked at the Radisson ... have to go check and see which foot Sandy's coloured band is on ..

TPC, have there been any sightings since these last? 

[The Peregrine Chick]

The Search function seems to be more useful than I remember in the past.  Maybe the last couple of maintenance related updates have tweaked it.   

Glad to hear that - the updates don't always tell you all the details of what is being updated (or at least not what I can find) just the big scary stuff 

[bcbird]

You are very welcome. 
The Search function seems to be more useful than I remember in the past.  Maybe the last couple of maintenance related updates have tweaked it.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Do all American falcons have the purple anodized bands?

They used not to, they used to have black or red and silver, just like us - everyone in NA started out the same way.  But there are lots of birds in the US and they have switched to the multi-coloured bands in the Midwest (and I think elsewhere but I'm not so sure who or where) and the purple bands are the same as our silver ones just anondized which makes them look pink/purple when you see them.

(thanks for the help bcbird!!  appreciate you tracking down that note  )

[birdcamfan]

Thank you so much for seeking out this information bcbird.

[bcbird]

Hi Birdcam fan.
I did a search for purple band, and came up with this quote from TPC, way back in July 2008 Observations on the Radisson thread, reply #86.

Purple band is definitely Princess.  The US uses a purple aluminium FWS band these days, we us a silver band.  Her other band is bicoloured black over green indicating that she is a Midwest US bird.  Our bands are black (wild-hatched) or red (captive-bred).

[birdcamfan]

Do all American falcons have the purple anodized bands?

[des]

Good to read about all the forum sitings!
Great reminder not to stop checking the forum - and of course keep looking up, way up!

[Kinderchick]

Hmm... I wonder if she/he is planning on spending the winter? If this recent snow hasn't sent her on her way, then maybe she is staying!