Radisson - 2014 / Smiley & Princess

[susha]

Everything's looking so good this year for the Royals - much preferred nest location, Princess back as wonderful as ever and desirable (non-related and young) male to be the new dad. 

Except I still wonder what happened to Ivy

[Liz]

I'm so glad to know that all is good!   Maybe her age and his youth are a good combo for sleeping , and best for the eggs. 

[The Peregrine Chick]

Sure am glad these 2 chose the west nest box & are keeping as dry as can be. That was quite the rain storm we had yesterday afternoon/evening, here in Winnipeg!

I'm glad for a couple of reasons - one of course is relative ease of access at banding - the other is that these two are sleeping during incubation more than I have seen them do in a number of years.  Nice that they can do that undercover and out of the weather but also from anything avian that might disturb them.

[Kinderchick]

Sure am glad these 2 chose the west nest box & are keeping as dry as can be. That was quite the rain storm we had yesterday afternoon/evening, here in Winnipeg!

[The Peregrine Chick]

Is this because Smiley is young and inexperienced?

Here's hoping that Princess will whip him into shape.

Maybe, or maybe just his personality.  Not a big character flaw if it is. 
He likes to preen a lot does Smiley, maybe he feels he must live up to his name and always be presentable and smiling    (yes, that is very anthropomorphic!)

[moka]

Is this because Smiley is young and inexperienced?

Here's hoping that Princess will whip him into shape.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Box is nice and dry, Princess has been sleeping on the eggs with her head inside and just the end of her tail and wing feathers outside getting damp, didn't seem to bother her in the least.  Smiley came in just before 1000h to relieve her.  No rush on either of their parts - heck, he even had time to preen a couple of breast feathers before walking over and getting on the eggs.  This young man needs to up his incubation game.  Eggs aren't at risk, he's just not as diligent as our Radisson males have been in their incubation duties!!  We'll have to see if he's better at the "chick rearing" stage.

[Kinderchick]

With all this rain these days, I'm so glad that Princess & Smiley chose the West nest box to lay their eggs & raise their upcoming brood.

[The Peregrine Chick]

0905h CDT

Princess is napping on the eggs.  She is tucked in under the roof on the box all nice and dry, doesn't even look like her beak is getting damp (it has in the past!).  The gravel in the exterior part of the box is damp an there is some water puddling on the nestledge but nothing that will make the peregrines take any notice of.

Oops, now she's bored and playing with pebbles ... definitely into the second half of incubation!

[moka]

Thanks bcbird!

[bcbird]

Hi moka. 
TPC updated the info on the main index page of the Forum:

May 16

Eggs at Radisson & McKenzie Seeds are due to hatch about the beginning of June.
So long as all the upgraded computer equipment will "talk" to each other,
the CBC Manitoba Falcon Cams will go live before the chicks begin hatching.

I will post launch date when we have one.

[moka]

TPC, when do you expect the eggs to hatch at the Radisson?

[Feather2Fin]

Thanks for the information on the pellets.  Good to know.

I am not sure that the female is alone anymore.  This morning I saw two falcons flying to the roof. I'm concerned that they may try to nest on the roof. I'm not sure how keen the mangement of the building will be about a nest on the roof.  Also, they are doing some work on coating balconies which requires scaffolding from the roof.

What is the legislation about discouraging nesting or interfering with the nest of an endangered species? 

[The Peregrine Chick]

A couple people have commented on the "pellets".  There is a huge second pellet from the most recent visit.  The first one looked like she had horked (is that even a word?) up a dehydrated mousey, bird alien.  Is this falcon poop?  I am used to seeing the whitewashing of walls so I wasn't sure which end this came out of.

"Horked" is very apt.  Pellets are peregrine versions of cat hair balls except where a hair ball is a cat's own hair, the pellets are the undigested remains of meals - feathers, bones if birds, if bugs like grasshoppers or giant water bugs, wings and carapaces.  So yes, "horked up a dehydrated mousey bird alien" works.   

[Cooper]

Horked is s very apt word for pellet expulsion. The first time I saw it happen I was horrified. I thought I was watching the bird choking to death on something. I was so relieved when I saw what was actually produced after all that effort.