News: Canadian Peregrines

[eagle63_1999]

The amazing story of Madelaine (Aug 2007)



A peregrine falcon’s call compels attention. Kip McCurdy will say he’s been a bit obsessed with a bird named Madelaine. He watched her as she clawed her kind back from the brink of extinction. This extraordinary story began on a chilly March day in St. Croix Cove. McCurdy had been cutting wood when he decided to take a break and go for walk along the bay to ‘see what was happening in the world.’  He was sitting at the edge of the cliffs when first one, then a second bird drifted into view. They seemed to stop and hover in midair to face him. "They looked at me and I looked at them," he said. "And I thought, those are peregrine falcons."

For years they were considered to be nearly extinct in Nova Scotia, with only rare sightings of lone peregrines. McCurdy said he continued to ask around and check these grim facts against what he was seeing, but his eyes always won. This was the first local sighting of a pair of mating falcons in more than 40 years. The larger one, a female that he named Madelaine, was more aggressive and therefore easier to see than the male. She could be found riding the wind in defense of her nest, and fearlessly charging intruders.

The more he watched and learned about them, the farther out on a limb -- or rather the cliff’s edge -- he went to gather enough proof that Madeline was indeed a peregrine falcon. It took some convincing, but the following spring McCurdy was able to persuade Mark Elderkin, a local species-at-risk biologist to come out and have a look. "He called. Said they’d arranged a helicopter survey," said McCurdy. "They landed in the hayfield to pick me up. At first, I couldn’t see anything in the cliffs, so I had them back off until I could get my bearings." This led to a confirmed sighting by the team of biologists and earned McCurdy a seat on the peregrine falcon recovery team, monitoring the peregrine’s nest on behalf of the Department of Natural Resources. For more than 10 years, McCurdy said he shivered and watched for Madelaine to return each March to her aerie in the rock face that overlooks the Bay of Fundy.

In 1955, a falconer snatched the last two wild chicks from a nest in Cape D’or for use as hunting birds. The number of falcons continued to decline in North America. Finally in 1973, the Canadian Wildlife Service began a series of attempts to reintroduce the species into various parts of Canada.  About 80 birds were released over a five-year period at three sites in Nova Scotia. These attempts to re-establish breeding appeared to be largely unsuccessful, until Madelaine’s surprise appearance at St. Croix Cove in 1997.

From 1998 until 2005, McCurdy kept close watch on the peregrines, counting as each chick became a fledgling, and the number of offspring grew to 23.  During that time he witnessed some amazing aerobatic feats. Peregrines mate for life and Madelaine and her tercel would often exchange food on the fly. They could be seen flying in formation and then breaking off to meet on flared wings to touch talons. Madelaine was also known to fly upside down for extended periods, McCurdy said he couldn’t imagine why she would except as ‘an emphatic statement that no animal sails the wind like a peregrine falcon.’  Over the years he watched as she fearlessly charged larger animals that included a red tailed hawk, a dog, and a team of biologists.  

To this day, Madelaine’s origin is a mystery. McCurdy said she didn’t wear bands, so it’s unlikely that she was a captive release bird. She could be the offspring of hacked parents; or a rare descendant of wild ancestry, perhaps from a nest in Labrador, he said. "It’s a good thing that she was so confrontational," he said. "We wouldn’t have known about her otherwise."

In June 2005, the tercel was found dead on the road, likely struck by a car. The following spring Madelaine didn’t return to St. Croix Cove.  Her aerie is now home to a new pair of peregrines. McCurdy said he thinks it’s likely that the female is one of Madeline’s daughters.  He added that several of her offspring are scattered throughout the Minas Basin. McCurdy said he is far from confident that the species is out of the woods. "DDT is still used in South America, where they spend the winter," he said. "And we continue to introduce pesticides that are contaminating the environment and their prey." He added that since the population appeared to be on a rebound, a recent survey probably hasn’t been taken. "Resources only go so far," he said.

The story has been abbreviated a wee bit to fit here ... http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-129811-The-amazing-story-of-Madelaine.html