QC / Montréal - l'Université de Montréal - 2009-19

[Elaine L]

Alison, those photos of Spirit's family are fantastic!  Most photos posted on this site I never get to see because of the firewall here at work, but there was no problem at all with these stunning photos.  Thanks.

[carly]

7:55 am and Polly is in the nestbox trying to incubate the eggs again  

Edit:  She's decided laying next to them in the sun is better  

[Alison]

An article in the Montreal Gazette today on Spirit, Roger and Polly:

Like a lot of teens, Polly is a little slow to leave the nest
 
Université de Montréal falcon pair may have to evict their daughter
 
By DAVID BIRD, Freelance
April 21, 2010
 
Welcome to Montreal's newest Internet reality show, Mind Your Own Falcon Business, starring Spirit, Roger, Polly and Eve. Who needs soap operas when you've got the real thing on your computer?

I have studied and written about peregrine falcons for more than 30 years and I thought I had seen it all. But this year takes the cake.

It all started in 2007 when Eve Bélisle, a programmer in the chemical engineering department at École Polytechnique on the Université de Montréal campus, contacted me about a pair of peregrines hanging about the 26-storey tower there. The following winter, we installed a comfortable nesting box on the 23rd floor and, lo and behold, right around Mother's Day in 2009, the birds produced two young, a male and a female.

From reading her leg band number, Eve discovered that the mother's name is Spirit and she fledged from a bridge nest in Ohio in 2004. She gave the name Roger to the father in honour of Roger Gaudry, the man the tower is named after. The two nestlings were called Algo (after Alain Goulet, owner of the Centre de conservation de la faune ailée, a nature store in the east end, and the financial backer for both the nest box and the web cam) and Polly, a former name for Spirit. And Eve, of course, is now the official voyeur. So now you know all the players in this fascinating drama.

After the usual rescues of both nestlings from the ground when they made unsuccessful attempts to fly, both kids hung around Mom and Dad for quite a while.

Algo eventually disappeared and will hopefully show up as a breeder at around 3 years of age - a very natural thing for young fledged peregrines to do. But here is where our story gets quite interesting.

Polly became the child who wouldn't go away; she stayed with her parents through the entire winter. Eve had noticed that Polly had sustained some form of permanent leg injury, which, to a peregrine used to nailing their prey with their feet in the air, can be a handicap. Thus, it is conceivable that Polly remained with her parents throughout the winter with the thought that she could garner the odd food handout for old time's sake.

Spirit and Roger are now sitting on a clutch of four eggs in the nest box. The episode titled The Trouble with Polly started during egg-laying. Polly just couldn't keep her little beak out of Mom's business. Every time Mom or Dad would enter the nest box, Polly had to be there, too. You see, some bird species like crows and scrub-jays welcome assistance from helpers in the form of youngsters from previous years, but not falcons, at least not to my knowledge.

For the rest of the article:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Like+teens+Polly+little+slow+leave+nest/2932137/story.html

[Alison]

Polly was back at the nest today, but things were peaceful and she did not harm the eggs in any way. Eve has posted a new video on the blog.

A look at Spirit's family: all photos are by Chad and Chris.

Her Dad, the charismatic Buckeye, whom we lost in April 2007:







Her Mom, Hillary, who was very young when she first came to this site, still in her juvie plumage:







Spirit's brother, Pulse, just after fledging in 2004:



Spirit as a juvie in 2004:

[Kinderchick]

Very interesting, this trio with eggs in the nestbox. Had not heard of such a thing happening. Parents have been very tolerant of Polly hanging around.

[Alison]

I really liked the photos Eve posted of Polly and Roger in the nest box together. They look so peaceful.





Incubating today:

[Elaine L]

Gosh, having these webcams is just the beginning of what scientists can learn about falcons.  Before, alot of what they studied was observation when possible, conjecture, and past studies; now, the technology is doing something good, I think, in opening up a world of falcon behavior.  This can make such a big difference to our knowledge base, I hope for the benefit of our birds of prey!

[carly]

I've been researching some falcon studies papers and I came across something last night that indicates that this situation may be more common than previously believed.  A group of biologists did a study on it recently and I read a synopsis on their published findings.  Apparently this type of thing may occur more often than believed however due to lack of observation - it's not being documented as much.  Their current findings suggest about 3% of all raptor species may be nesting in 'trios'.  Some they found are young that have delayed dispersal and in some cases they found a subadult that wasn't related to the breeding pair! 

This last point is interesting because the first 'Angel' at my site that showed up a decade ago kind of invited herself into the nestbox of the existing pair at the time and was tolerated for quite awhile and then the next spring the resident female vanished never to be seen again and was replaced by the young upstart 'Angel'.  At the time of course they didn't have the webcams so no one knows what really happened, did she end up battling the female in the end or did the resident female meet another fate and the subadult took over.

It's quite fascinating and obviously the Montreal situation gives them an opportunity to study a situation on cam.  From what I read their report was based on observations in the wild.

[Elaine L]

Well, I guess this threesome have worked it out; but, it is not very often you see two falcons resting in the nestbox with the eggs!  Somehow, Polly has managed to make herself accepted, and so we have three falcons taking care of these eggs.  I hope when the chicks are hatched, that Polly continues to be cooperative and helpful to her very understanding parents.

[bev.]

Yes, yesterday they wre all learning to get around each other. Hope this keeps up.
but not good for next year, I would think. But one step at a time

[Elaine L]

Well, Polly is still around, and it seems that her parents cannot convince her to leave, but from what Eve says on this site, if my understanding of the French is correct, Polly can possibly turn into a first-rate babysitter, when the chicks are hatched.  So, although there is still worry and concern about Polly's behavior, she may eventually be a welcome addition to chick-sitting duties.

[carly]

More drama here today.  Eve has a new video up, polly forced her mom off the eggs and out of the nestbox today and prevented dad from coming in.  Eggs were uncovered for an hour - fortunately it was 23c outside so that should be ok.  Finally mom came in and took over.

Not going to end good if they don't Polly under control.

[carly]

Wouldn't imagine birds could get expressions on their faces, but they certainly do. Is there any danger Polly would damage the eggs?

She could accidently step on them for sure and I agree the expressions were what got me!  

YOu have to wonder if they don't sense something about Polly that is not obvious to us as they are extremely patient and tolerant of her.  Eve has seen her chasing prey but not seen her actually catch anything so perhaps she truly couldn't survive on her own is what I mean.  Maybe that is why they are hesitant to push her out?  It sure is an interesting situation to study.

[sami]

Wouldn't imagine birds could get expressions on their faces, but they certainly do. Is there any danger Polly would damage the eggs?

[carly]

Lol..Polly is back today after an absence of a few days.  She promptly bullies a parent out of the nestbox and examines the eggs - love the expression on her face...great video of the episode.  Eggs are intact and dad back on eggs by the end! 

http://fauconsudem.blogspot.com/