2012 - Kinderchicklets / Princess, Ivy and the Chicks

[The Peregrine Chick]

And to answer Amy's 2 questions, I'm going to answer the second first and the first one second

How did you know that there was a Peregrine Falcon on top of the Radisson Hotel?  
 
Back in 1980 (I know, that was a very long time ago) there were no Peregrines in Manitoba at all.  Then in 1981 we were sent four peregrine chicks that had been hatched in captivity (that's sort of like being hatched in a zoo) and we released them from a special nestbox in Winnipeg.  We did the same thing for the next 7 years and then one of the male birds we had released in 1986 came back to Winnipeg and nested with a female from Minneapolis, Minnesota and they had four male chicks in a nestbox we put on the roof of the Radisson Hotel. In fact, the nestbox that Princess is using this year is in exactly the same place as that first nest in 1989!  There have been peregrines nesting at the Radisson Hotel ever since. Every spring I keep an eye on the Radisson Hotel to see who comes back and when. 

How did you put the camera on top of the Radisson Hotel? 

As for the cameras, one of the people who helps me with the peregrines, he knows all about cameras and all sorts of neat electronic things.  One year I had a camera I wanted to use to watch the peregrines because they were nesting on a small ledge on the Hotel instead of the nestbox and I couldn't get close to the ledge.  The problem was that I didn't know how I could attach the camera so I could watch the chicks.  That was how I met Eye-Spy.  He figured out how to hang my camera and it was great!  The next year, he helped to make the camera even better and then the year after the peregrines nested in the nestbox again and we needed to use different cameras.  Since then, Eye-Spy has helped to put cameras on all our nesting peregrines and he figured out how to set up the microphone so we can hear the peregrines too! 
 
I will be sure to pass along all your thank yous to Eye-Spy for all his hard work on the cameras.  We are very lucky that he likes the peregrines so much!!

[The Peregrine Chick]

You are very welcome everyone and I am very happy that you enjoy watching the peregrine falcons on the Falcon Cam.  They are pretty neat aren't they?  Just think, you will get to watch when we band the Radisson chicks in a couple more weeks and then the Brandon chicks should be hatching.  Lots of exciting stuff to watch on the cams in the next little while.  And thank you for sending me your questions, I am always happy to answer questions from students!

[The Peregrine Chick]

We are thoroughly enjoying our time with Princess, Ivy and family.  Some of my students wanted to appreciate you and your team, so I'm enclosing a few of their messages.


Thank you for telling us why the dads name is Ivy.  I hope Ivy and Princess have fun taking care of their babies.  Thank you for putting the camera  there because we can  learn about peregrine falcons.
Sincerely, Rotem


Thank you for explaining why the Dad's name is Ivy.  It explains a lot! I hope Ivy and Princess takes good care of the babies. I would like to thank you for putting and taking your time to put the webcam so we can see the babies grow. We are learning about birds at school and your webcam is helping us learn more about birds. Thank You!
From Thazin


I would like to thank you for letting us watch Princess and Ivy because we have never seen a Peregrine Falcon before. I have some questions for you, and those questions are how did you put the camera on top of the Radisson Hotel ? How did you know that there was a Peregrine Falcon on top of the Radisson hotel?Did you know that I was kind of like a bird watcher but not for 24 hours, but i was waiting for the eggs to hatch for about 2-5 hours on my computer. My whole class would like to appreciate you for letting us watch Princess and Ivy. Also for telling us why the dad's name is called Ivy. Last but not least I would really love to thank you for everything that you did to let everyone see Peregrine Falcons.      
Thank you for everything,
Amy


I would like to appreciate tracy for making a webcam for people to see the perigine falcons and the little cute chicks, and I would like to appreciate you for showing a wonderful site of perigine falcons.
Sincerely, Rico


I like to appreciate Tracy for making a webcam so we can see the little cute chicks and the mother peregine falcon.  I am very thankful for you making this site for us to view and I will also like to appreciate you for  sharing the peregine falcons you discovered!
Sincerely, Talha          


Thank you for let us learn a lot of information about birds and I would like to appreciate you for helping us on our learning journey.  What's more, thank you for spending time on birds. I am glad we have a virtual pet for our class and I also happy to hear that the baby birds were born on Saturday and Sunday.I have the same name of their father,my name is Ivy too.  Thank you for helping us learn about birds.
Ivy


I'm Vivian, this is for the person who set up the camera of Falcons-I would like to appreciate you for setting up the camera to let us explore the Falcons. Thank you!!
Vivian


Thank-you Tracy for putting up this Cam for us to see the Peregrine Falcon and the eggs
From Vincent


I would like to apperciate Tracy for watching over Princess and seting up this cammera so people can watch.
From dini


Thank you for letting us see the Peregrine Falcons and we have learned a lot about them.  I think how Princess feeds the chicks is really cute and how Ivy got his name is cool! I would like to appreciate you for telling us so much about Princess.
From Cynthia        


I would like to thank you for organizing this web cam so we can see the wonderful and cute baby chicks and their parents.
Jennifer      


I would like to thank you for providing my class with wonderful, interesting information on those paragin falcons on the hotel roof in Winnepeg. We are currently studying birds and may I say they are very intereseting animals. Thanks for all of the amazing info and keep us connected.
Tyler

[The Peregrine Chick]

Has the same falcon been on the eggs the whole time or have Princess and Ivy been on there at different times.  Do all 4 eggs belong to Princess?

All the eggs are Princess' and Ivy's and yes Ivy has been helping Princess to incubate the eggs since they were laid and he will help to feed and brood (keep the chicks warm and dry when they are very young) when Princess lets him in a few days.  Princess is bigger than Ivy (all female peregrines are bigger than the males) but they both raise the chicks.  She will spend a bit more time on the eggs and chicks and he will do most of the hunting for all of them when he isn't on the eggs - he works very hard sometimes to makes sure that everyone gets all the food they need. 

 
Thanks for the questions, hope my answers helped!  Look forward to hearing from you all again!

The Peregrine Chick

[The Peregrine Chick]

The other falcon that we saw yesterday - was that Dad or Ivy?

Well now that you know who Ivy is, Ivy is Dad and it was Ivy you saw yesterday ... and today, and tomorrow. 

[The Peregrine Chick]

I'm going to answer your questions one by one ....

Who are Princess and Ivy?  Are they related?  Where is Dad?

Princess is the mother at the Radisson Hotel nestsite here in Winnipeg and Ivy is her mate this year - he's a bit younger than she is but he's the daddy of this year's chicks.  Actually, he has been the daddy at this site since 2010 and Princess has been the Mum here since 2004 - her mate before Ivy was Trey but he didn't come back to Winnipeg in 2010 and so Ivy became Princess' mate.
 
Now you are probably saying that Ivy is a pretty funny name for a male peregrine, and it is if you don't know how he got his name.  Now your teacher is going to have to help you out with this - maybe on the blackboard or on the computer because its easier to explain if you draw it out.  The first male peregrine at the Radisson was Pop and the second male was Pop's son who's name was T-Rex (because he was very fierce and scary, but we liked him alot).  The third male at the Radisson was Simba but he wasn't T-Rex's son, he was his nephew from Brandon, which was kind a cool.  The fourth male at the Radisson was Trey and he was T-Rex's son.  Trey's got his name because he was the third generation of Radisson males - he was the son of T-Rex and the grand-son of Pop.  Ivy is the fourth generation - he is Trey's son, T-Rex's grandson and Pop's great-grandson.  For example, if my name was James and my father's name was James, people would call my father James Senior and me James Junior.  Now if everyone in my family was called James, then my great-grandfather would be James I, my grandfather would be James II, my father would be James III and I would be James IV.  Sometimes people with III after their name are called Trey (like Ivy's Dad) and people with IV after their name are called, you guessed it, Ivy.  And that's how Ivy got his name.

[The Peregrine Chick]

These questions came in via email ...

Our class has been watching Princess on top of the Radisson for the past week.  We noticed that two babies have hatched.  Here are some questions that I hope you can answer:

1.  Who are Princess and Ivy?  Are they related?  Where is Dad?
2.  The other falcon that we saw yesterday- was that Dad or Ivy?
3.  Has the same falcon been on the eggs the whole time or have Princess and Ivy been on there at different intervals?  Do all 4 eggs belong to Princess?

We are now addicted to falcon watching and can no longer get any work done at school!  YIKES!