Author Topic: QC / Montréal - l'Université de Montréal - 2009-19  (Read 52318 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline Alison

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,402
Re: U of Montreal - 2010 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #23 on: February 24, 2010, 21:54 »
What injury does she hav3e an can they not trap her and check her out and try and rehabilitate her.

I know trapping is possible

I jsut read back on this. Hopefully she is O.K.

the parents will not harm her and they jsut might let her stay around . I have read wehre sometimes a juvenille has helped out in the rearing..

Not sure if you found the posts from the 2009 thread, Bev. Polly has a serious leg injury (according to the site, a foot injury, but it looks more like an injury further up the leg, or even a hip injury. She has been barely able to get around.

Eve had attempted to catch her, but Polly was not willing to cooperate, so she finally had to give up.

Offline Alison

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,402
Re: U of Montreal - 2010 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #22 on: February 24, 2010, 21:51 »
I would be inclined to think that if she has been with them since hatching, she may not be seen as a rival when the nesting hormones kick into gear in a month-ish, could mean, if she has the good sense to be low-key, that she will be able to stay through the summer on her parents' territory.  Will be interesting to watch!!!

I hope you're right about this, TPC! Spirit and Roger seem to be comfortable with Polly there for now. I hope she stays. I wonder if she is hunting for herself, or if Spirit and Roger are allowing her to share their food.

Offline The Peregrine Chick

  • Administrator
  • Old Bird
  • *****
  • Posts: 11,630
    • Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project (Manitoba)
Re: U of Montreal - 2010 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #21 on: February 16, 2010, 10:59 »
I would be inclined to think that if she has been with them since hatching, she may not be seen as a rival when the nesting hormones kick into gear in a month-ish, could mean, if she has the good sense to be low-key, that she will be able to stay through the summer on her parents' territory.  Will be interesting to watch!!!

Offline bev.

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,593
Re: U of Montreal - 2010 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #20 on: February 15, 2010, 08:33 »
What injury does she hav3e an can they not trap her and check her out and try and rehabilitate her.

I know trapping is possible

I jsut read back on this. Hopefully she is O.K.

the parents will not harm her and they jsut might let her stay around . I have read wehre sometimes a juvenille has helped out in the rearing..
« Last Edit: February 15, 2010, 08:38 by bev. »

Offline carly

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 4,399
Re: U of Montreal - 2010 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #19 on: February 13, 2010, 07:55 »
Wow..she's still there?  And they are ok with it?  I hope they let her stay once they start courting and nesting.  Perhaps like over in the UK a few years ago, she will help her mom raise the young?!

Offline Alison

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,402
U of Montreal - 2010 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #18 on: February 12, 2010, 22:12 »
2010 NESTING SEASON

Polly, the female juvie born last year, is still at the nest with her parents. I'm not sure whether she is able to manage better with her injury at this stage.

The nest box has been cleaned out, and new gravel provided. Two new webcams have been installed, which should provide good views of Spirit, Roger and their family this year. After all this work a gift of quail was left for the falcons, to entice them to come and see the new modifications. The cams are not live yet, but it should not be too long.

Photos by Eve Bélisle.

Roger and Polly:



Roger:



Polly at the nest:





Offline Alison

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,402
Re: U of Montreal - 2009 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #17 on: December 18, 2009, 19:31 »
Thank you for your thoughts on this, TPC. I am still hoping that Polly's leg may heal completely with time. I also remember Gahastey, one of Mariah and Kaver's daughters in 2004, when she was just a juvie. Later that summer she too sustained a serious leg injury -- the leg was just dangling when she was in flight -- but she made a complete recovery. She moved to Ontario; sadly, she was killed in October of the following year in a collision with a jet at Niagara Air Force Base.

And I always think of the remarkable Dundas, born in Hamilton in 2004, who lost a leg when he was only a few months old. He survived and became an extremely skilled hunter, and had two different mates. He had so much courage.

Offline carly

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 4,399
Re: U of Montreal - 2009 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #16 on: December 18, 2009, 17:55 »
I hope she does.  Thanks for your words of encouragement.  Coming from you given all your knowledge and experience - I can be hopeful her chances of survival!

Offline The Peregrine Chick

  • Administrator
  • Old Bird
  • *****
  • Posts: 11,630
    • Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project (Manitoba)
Re: U of Montreal - 2009 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #15 on: December 18, 2009, 12:01 »
Polly may do quite well despite her disability.  Since she has lasted this long hunting for herself she may have figured out what she can and can't do.  The first year is the toughest bar none, and she is only a few months to making it past year one! 

For hunting, she needs to be able to fly more than use her feet.  So long as she can kill and subsequently get to her prey, she could do well.  She may never be able to catch and carry heavy items, but she there are lots of smaller birds she can catch and carry.  There are lots of larger birds she can catch, kill, eat on sight, or dismember into small pieces if she needs to transport/cache.  More work, but it sounds like she's adapting well.  Or she might have the strength, just not the dexterity in that foot, in which case she will simply compensate with the other one. 

Of more interest is her ability to breed.  She needs to be able to support herself and her mate during copulation, tends to be a quick act but they are rather, umm, "busy" in the spring so it may be a question of endurance for her.

As for leaving, she may decide not to ... she knows where she is and can hunt her safely/effectively and that may be enough to keep her there.  Other birds stay to defend territories year-round, other young birds (think New York City) and there is no identifiable reason why they decide to hang around.  And there will be plenty of food for her year-round in Montreal if she stays. 

Offline carly

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 4,399
Re: U of Montreal - 2009 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #14 on: December 18, 2009, 05:03 »
Wow...I hope Polly makes it and I'm glad the parents are tolerating her presence.  

Offline Alison

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,402
Re: U of Montreal - 2009 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #13 on: December 18, 2009, 00:11 »
An update from December 1:

I have not seen Algo since mid-October. It seems that he has left his parents' territory, or at least he no longer visits the Tower.

On the other hand, to my great astonishment, young Polly comes to perch on the Tower regularly. She still has the problem with her right foot; however, I see a slight improvement when she is in flight. At first her foot hung down like a dead weight, while now it is bent back a little. She can also move her toes and use them a little bit, as you can see in this video taken on November 19.

It seems clear to me that her handicap has slowed down her ability to learn to hunt, and thus her departure has been delayed . . . I am nevertheless hopeful that she will be able to fend for herself during the next few months, because she seems to be in good condition. I am fairly sure that she is now able to catch prey for herself.

Roger and Spirit show absolutely no aggression towards her, but neither do they show any particular interest in her . . .


As before, any errors in translation are mine.

http://fauconsudem.blogspot.com/



Offline Alison

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,402
Re: U of Montreal - 2009 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2009, 23:55 »
This Canadian nest has been somewhat neglected -- I'm not sure why.

There were two chicks this year; one male and one female were banded. The male was named Algo and the female was named Polly. There are some beautiful photos of them on Eve Bélisle's blog.

Later, Polly was injured somehow:  :'(

From August 17:

As I mentioned last week, poor Polly still has an injured foot. I have made several attempts to capture her with the intention of taking her to the rehabilitation centre for birds of prey at St-Hyacinthe, but without success. Still, I have not given up . . .

From September 19:

In spite of numerous attempts to capture Polly and have her cared for, my efforts failed and I have had to give up on the idea, due to lack of time. The good news is that she seems to have adapted to her handicap fairly well, since she has managed to survive so far. I see the juvies less and less; I am really quite surprised to see them still in the area. I would have thought that they would have left long before this!

There is a video of Polly on the blog. She can barely manage to get around at all, as of September. It's hard to tell, but this looks like a leg fracture or possibly even a hip fracture. Poor little Polly -- I hope she will be okay. I think about Mariah in 2006. when she had a serious leg injury, and she made a complete recovery. Hoping for the same for Polly.

Any errors in the translation from the French are mine . . .

http://fauconsudem.blogspot.com/

Offline Alison

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,402
Re: U of Montreal - 2009 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #11 on: May 20, 2009, 16:34 »
From the blog on May 19:

"This morning, I was able to see two pretty little white heads in the nest box. Spirit fed the babies once again with a pretty yellow goldfinch. What can you do, the babies have to be fed!" (translated by me, not by Google)

Offline Alison

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,402
Re: U of Montreal - 2009 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2009, 23:04 »
It seems there is more than one chick in the nest, but I'm not sure how many. According to the blog, the chicks are well fed.

Offline allikat

  • Phanatic
  • Old Bird
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,385
Re: U of Montreal - 2009 / Roger & Spirit
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2009, 21:00 »
Great news!!!  One is better than none!   ;D