Author Topic: Radisson - 2015 / Smiley & Princess  (Read 103339 times)

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Offline wpgfan

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #110 on: April 06, 2015, 12:55 »
wow I also didn't know they had such a variety of meals. No wonder the easter bunny didn't come to my place  ;)

Offline Kinderchick

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #109 on: April 05, 2015, 22:06 »
The hind quarter of a cottontail rabbit?! Really?! Are you kidding us, TPC? I thought PF's didn't chow down on furry mammals. Sure hope it wasn't the Easter Bunny! :o  

Nope, not kidding.  I thought the timing was ironic too...

Holy moly! Well, I just learned a whole lot of new stuff about the eating habits of a variety of peregrine falcons. Thanks for your most informative post, TPC. :-*

Offline Liz

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #108 on: April 03, 2015, 17:26 »
Yes, it does.  If he sticks to the park areas, he should be safer I guess. 

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #107 on: April 03, 2015, 13:21 »
Smiley & his exotic takeout



sure looks like a rabbit foot to me ...

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #106 on: April 03, 2015, 13:15 »
The hind quarter of a cottontail rabbit?! Really?! Are you kidding us, TPC? I thought PF's didn't chow down on furry mammals. Sure hope it wasn't the Easter Bunny! :o  

Nope, not kidding.  I thought the timing was ironic too.

Some populations of peregrines include mammals in their diet - tundra peregrines most certainly do because there are often more mammals than birds to eat in an area.  Some populations in arid areas will include snakes for the same reason.  Peregrines who nest near bat hibernacula will prey on them because of proximity and the large number of bats rather than lack of birds - but that is not a population, those are individual birds.  Anatum peregrines on the Prairies and US Midwest are a population, and as a subspecies and as a population they are bird killers - waterfowl and water birds primarily, which makes sense because this area is the continental breeding grounds for a huge number of these species - proximity and an exceeding large number of prey species defines what they prey upon.  But like the individual birds that hunt bats - there are always outliers who will not be exclusive and it looks like Smiley is one of those.  

It may be that Smiley spent time where small mammals were more abundant than birds and he got good at hunting for them.  Hunting for small mammals in an urban environment is not an easy or safe thing to do for a peregrine - getting close to the ground at the speeds they hunt at is more than a little bit dangers.   It has occurred to me that perhaps hatching/growing up in Grand Forks gave him many more opportunities to hunt "low" safely.  Would be interesting to know if other Grand Forks offspring do the same, but not many of his sibs have survived to nest elsewhere and I'm not sure if any of them are at a nest with a camera - I most certainly wouldn't have known what he can hunt if I hadn't been able to watch on-camera.  

Smiley may be our most interesting hunter, but other pairs do/have had personal preferences as well - Madame wouldn't eat pigeon during the nesting season, she'd feed her kids pigeon but she wouldn't eat it, I think because she was here year-round and in the winter had to eat them.  When we used to have peregrines nesting in south Winnipeg near St Norbert, the largest part of their diet was seagull off the river.  When we had a pair nesting at the Provincial Legislature (only happened once, they couldn't handle the stress from the Radisson) Blue-winged Teal off the river were their primary prey.  And both Beau & Jules and Beau & Beatrix have been dining heavily on blackbirds in the last two years.  And RCF can attest that sora rails and pied-billed grebes are very popular at McKenzie Seeds - more so than at other sites in the province - they are hunting them off the floodplain and the nearby marshes (i.e., Douglas Marsh)

Offline moka

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #105 on: April 03, 2015, 12:50 »
Princess yelling at Smiley, yup, sounds just like our lovely peregrine mama. ;D

Offline Kinderchick

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #104 on: April 02, 2015, 22:53 »
1655h CDT

Well, Smiley is once again providing unusual food ... looked like the hind quarters of a cottontail rabbit...

The hind quarter of a cottontail rabbit?! Really?! Are you kidding us, TPC? I thought PF's didn't chow down on furry mammals. Sure hope it wasn't the Easter Bunny! :o

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #103 on: April 02, 2015, 16:58 »
1655h CDT

Well, Smiley is once again providing unusual food ... looked like the hind quarters of a cottontail rabbit ...

Princess was under cover in the nestbox and didn't come out until he had eaten most of what he'd brought then she took it from him and left the box ... I assume to eat it but ...

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #102 on: April 02, 2015, 15:25 »
1525h CDT

Been having a wee look at some video from this morning and I think the nestbox is pulling ahead of the nestledge in terms of appeal this year.  Princess actually got into the box just after 11:30am and has been there most of the time since.  Mostly she's just been napping out of the wind but she's also been playing with the scrape and picking at pebbles (sound familiar?).  She left for about a half hour and in came Smiley and he just nestled himself into the scrape that I rewound the tape to make sure there wasn't an egg there ... there wasn't but you'd never be able to tell by his behaviour.  Keeping his scrape warm?  If it works to keep Princess in the nestbox for her family, have at it Smiley!!  When Princess did come back she yelled at him (that sounds familiar too doesn't it?!) and ran him out.  She played with the scrape a bit more, rearranged some more pebbles then came down to the camera end to nap again.  And now she's out from under again and perched on the box edge.  

I'll see if I can find some time to download/upload some video in the next day ...

Offline bcbird

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Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #101 on: April 02, 2015, 15:13 »
You just stay in that lovely penthouse, Princess. 
it has been said before, Nest on the West!

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Radisson - 2015 / April
« Reply #100 on: April 02, 2015, 15:06 »
1500h CDT

Princess is in under cover in the nestbox out of the snow ... she did this last year too and the year before when she got into the big fight with Joli.  Why is this so noteworthy you ask?  Princess prefers the great outdoors.  All our males spend time in the nestbox during and after the breeding season - Ivy most of all.  Princess is fine in the outside part of the box but she has never shown much desire to get under cover.  Last couple of years she's been doing it - in fact has slept in the box overnight - particularly after the fight and I chalked it up to her feeling a bit vulnerable.  May also be that she's figured out that she's old enough that she doesn't have to get cold or wet if she doesn't want to.  And today, she doesn't want to.

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / Jan - March
« Reply #99 on: March 31, 2015, 14:50 »
Early days yet and he does very much prefer the box ... with luck Princess will decide at her age she doesn't need to be nesting on something so hard (there is almost no gravel there) and open.

Offline moka

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / Jan - March
« Reply #98 on: March 31, 2015, 14:29 »
east nest ledge,  ??? who wants a cheap motel when you can have the penthouse...

Offline sparkster

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / Jan - March
« Reply #97 on: March 31, 2015, 12:38 »
I guess there really is something wonderful about the east nest ledge - or at least wonderful to peregrines because Smiley, who grew up in a box on a water tower is diligently making a scrape on the nest ledge.   ::)  He does seem to prefer the nestbox however and he guards it off and on through the night and first thing in the morning.

Princess has been to, and into, the nestbox quite a few times for this early in the nesting season and he does have one delightful scrape there so it is much too early to tell for sure, but think happy western thoughts just in case!

Wonderful that Princess has returned, but the east ledge? This is *not* good news. The west penthouse nestbox is much more luxurious, Princess, and you can't beat that lovely afternoon and evening sun (never mind the roof to protect the babies)! 

Offline Alison

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Re: Radisson - 2015 / Jan - March
« Reply #96 on: March 31, 2015, 12:25 »
I am so happy to read that Princess has returned. Wonderful news!