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Hamilton Falconwatch News
We need volunteers to come downtown and watch the birds SUNDAY (June 15), 1pm-3pm. We have only one volunteer for this shift. And we are short of volunteers most of the day. If you are already registered, please use the online sign-up to let us know you are coming. If not, please send an e-mail to volunteer1@falcons.hamiltonnature.org. Thanks!
SIMCOE RESCUED, LAWFIELD RETURNS
Friday, June 13, 2025 - 10 am update: Simcoe tried to fly again early this morning, and came to ground. She was rescued, and has been taken out to the Owl Foundation for assessment. All this just before Lawfield returned from their tender care, and was releasd onto the roof of the Sheraton. He is now moving about the inner roof. He was seen snacking on a bit of leftover food, and stretching his wings.CHARLTON FLYING WELL
Thursday, June 12, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinator Lisa Millar reports: A morning of mixed weather saw much flapping, helicoptering and many feedings for Charlton and Winona on the nest scrape at 6:42, 6:53, 8:14 and 8:27. Simcoe remained on the north east corner of the AGH. She paced and occasionally ventured into the middle of the roof out of sight. After a light morning rain, Charlton took another successful flight over to the Fairclough building. McKeever and Judson took turns feeding Charlton at 9:46, and Winona at 9:10 and 12:03. After the feeding, an adult flew a few times over Sheraton as if enticing Winona to fly.At 12:44 Charlton had another fantastic flight all of the way to the Regency building (photo), a block away on Main Street. After a few minutes, he made another strong flight to the north east corner of the upper roof of the Sheraton. First flights are hungry work and Charlton was brought food at 2:45, 4:30 and 4:45. At 4:57, Charlton flew towards Fairclough, did not successfully land, but kept on going and eventually landed on City Hall. At 5:45 Charlton flew from City Hall to the top of Standard Life for 5 minutes and then flew a few circles around the Sheraton and landed back on Standard Life. At 7:10 Charlton flew back to the Sheraton, attempted to land on one of the ledges west of the nest, below the "S" in the Sheraton sign, but came in low, and instead landed on a window just below it. He spent the rest of the evening there.
Simcoe did not try flying again, and, did not receive any visits or food from the parents. Finally a parent dropped off an undressed meal for Simcoe at 7:15, but apparently she wasn't hungry enough to pluck all those feathers. After snatching the meal, she soon rejected it, and tried to bother McKeever about it, which drove off the adult. Half an hour later, McKeever picked up the meal and ate it at the nest scrape without Winona participating.
Towards the end of the evening Judson was seen on the corner of Standard Life being very vocal, but we could not determine the reason. In the strange way falcons think, he might have an awareness that one of his chicks hasn't been heard from all day. That chick, Lawfield, was at the Owl Foundation, gaining strength, and getting ready to be returned to the Sheraton on Friday morning. Watch for more exciting and successful flights to come and please volunteer. We need feet in the street.
CHARLTON AND SIMCOE FLY
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinator Matthew Mills reports: It was a very eventful day at the Falconwatch with 3 different fledglings flying around. Early in the morning Lawfield was nowhere to be seen. Charlton made a strong flight to the corner of the Sheraton at 6:42 am, and, fifteen minutes later he was rewarded with a meal (photos). Shortly after 11 am Lawfield was located low on the CIBC building northeast of the Macnab transit terminal. He remained there until 4:15 pm when he flew across King St. and over the Jackson Square rooftop plaza before settling on the lower section of the Sheraton Hotel. After another unsuccessful flight he came to ground and was rescued. As a precaution, Lawfield was taken out to the Owl Foundation for an examination. He appeared to be in good health and spirits. Partly due to the late hour, it was decided to keep him there overnight.Simcoe and Winona remained on the nest and were fed at 11:05 and 3:25. After spending most of the day perched under our cameras (first photo), at 7:10 Charlton made the short flying 'hop' from there back to the nest. Five minutes after that Simcoe appears to have slipped (or perhaps was bumped by Winona?) and left the nest. She flew across King Street, landing in the center of the Art Gallery Hamilton roof. She then went for a long, rapid walk, and ended up at the northwest corner, overlooking King Street (second photo), where she settled down for the night.
LAWFIELD FLIES AGAIN
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinator Lisa Millar reports: It was a cool and sunny start to the morning. All four chicks were on the scrape, flapping and pancaking. McKeever and Judson landed occasionally without food but breakfast eventually served at 8:09 and 9:27. Once the chicks were fed the parents were seen flying together, sharing a meal that Judson had dressed on Homewood. More food was delivered at 1:10 and 3:59. The latter meal was not dressed but Winona grabbed it and started dressing it like a pro with feathers flying. The final meal for the four of them together was at 4:28. The rain this afternoon brought much flapping and helicoptering. At 7:19 Lawfield decided to fly again, this time landing on the roof of Standard Life. He paced along the front and then settled on the southeast corner, with a clear view of the nest, playing peekaboo with watchers on the ground by popping up and down in the same spot all evening. At 7:45 McKeever appeared to be demonstrating flying to Lawfield by circling several times. At 8:04 a meal was brought to the nest scrape for the three bewildered chicks who kept looking towards Lawfield. At 8:13 McKeever brought Lawfield a meal and he chased her at first until finally accepting that meal and another one at 9:13. Hopefully Lawfield has settled in for the night after another exciting and successful flight.LAWFIELD HAS AN ADVENTURE
Monday, June 9, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinator Matthew Mills reports: The day began with the realization that Lawfield had left the nest sometime overnight. After several hours of searching, around 10am he was discovered by workers on the NE corner of the lower roof of the First Ontario Centre (Formerly Copps Coliseum). He was in good health and alert and a rescue from the ledge would have been unwise or impossible. Lawfield wandered to the south rim of the ledge and sat their preening, resting and flapping for much of the day, to the delight of Falconwatch volunteers, construction workers and other folks passing by on the Jackson Square Plaza.Early in the evening Lawfield took flight and came to rest on the east side of the lower roof of the Thomson building. He stayed there for a while, then jumped down onto the plaza, and scooted to a ledge overlooking King Street. Concerned for his safety so close to the road, the Falconwatch crew rescued him. After a quick checkup to verify Lawfield was in good health, he was released onto the roof at 8:40 pm (photo). He took a moment to get his bearings, then dashed across the interior of the roof and found his way up the angled support of one of the old window-washing brackets, and perched there for about ten minutes, then hopped down onto the south edge of the Sheraton roof. He was there for 20 minutes when McKeever delivered him an evening meal.
Once he finished his meal, Lawfield walked westward along the roof edge until he was right under our camera. He spent several minutes there, obviously considering whether he could make the short hopping flight back to join his nestmates, and at 9:21 he did just that. So the day ended happily, with the four siblings reunited.Falconwatch wants to thank all the volunteers who helped search for and watch over Lawfield on this journey. This is the very reason for our watch. We couldn't do this without you. We have three more chicks who have yet to make those risky first flights. We need lots of volunteers, particularly this week. Please sign up for shifts if you have not already done so. Thanks!
LAWFIELD LEAVES THE NEST
Monday, June 9, 2025 - As watchers arrived early this morning, they quickly noticed that one of the chicks was missing from the nest ledge. It appears that Lawfield flew (or slipped?) from the ledge sometime around 11pm last night. After several hours of searching he was located, on the northeast corner of the roof of Copps Coliseum. He appears to be in good shape, so, based on this and the distance travelled, we would suspect he had a gliding first flight, and landed gently. Sometimes chicks will then stay in the same spot for a day or more, until it feels strong enough to try flying again. But Lawfield had other ideas (see above).ANOTHER FLAPPING DAY
Sunday, June 8, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinator Lisa Millar reports: It was a cool and windy start to the day which brought about much preening, flapping, napping, beak touching and helicoptering with the occasional pancaking -all preparation and strengthening for flights to come. Today McKeever and Judson dropped off food parcels at regular intervals at 7:30, 10:30, 12:40, 3:40 and 7:12. The final feed of the day saw Simcoe grabbing one of two small food parcels from the adult and taking it into the scrape, whilee Charlton ate the second one up on the ledge. Winona claimed the leftovers. Entertainment for the chicks included a few Turkey Vultures chased off by parents and watching the seagulls riding the winds high above their heads. At one point Judson landed on the ledge only to be chased off by Lawfield. They have certainly lost any fear of the edge of the ledge and FalconWatchers were on high alert all day. The evening ended with all four chicks together on the west side of the ledge as the sun set.IMPATIENT FOR FOOD
Saturday, June 7, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinator Lisa Millar reports: A beautiful sunny day with a light breeze leant itself to much flapping and more talons hanging over the edge of the nest ledge. The last of the white fluffs are being knocked loose by the vigorous flapping (first photo). We had a number of feedings this morning at 6:45, 7:46 and 11:55. Judson brought an undressed (not plucked) meal to the nest around 11 am, probably intending to pass it to McKeever, but the chicks grabbed it from him. They took turns pecking at it, but didn't quite know what to do with an unprepared meal (second photo). McKeever dropped in at 11:05 and took the prey away to dress it, not returning until 11:55. Warmer temperatures in the afternoon found most of the chicks hiding from the sun (and our cameras) under the overhang at the back of the ledge. McKeever joined them for a few hours, providing shade for one of the chicks. At 8:04 McKeever slowly dressed a meal on Standard Life that was soon greeted by four hungry young falcons. It was a small parcel of food which was grabbed by Lawfield, stolen from him by Simcoe (photo), stolen back by Lawfield, then shared between the two. When they were done, Winona grabbed the meal and finished it. After watchers left for the day, there was a final food drop seen on the webcam at 9:35 pm.SIBLING BONDING
Friday, June 6, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinator Matthew Mills reports: Overall it was a quiet day. The weather was sunny, calm and warm, but a blanket of smoke from western wildfires filtered through the city. There was a feeding at 8:06 am and 5:56 pm. There were occasional instances of the chicks helicoptering closer to the edge, making falcon watchers a bit nervous. Around 6:15 the webcams caught a sequence of pictures of Charlton attempting to pluck pieces of white chick down off of Lawfield, and some beak-touching between the two. This is normal sibling bonding behavior in Peregrines. At 7:05 pm the chicks had their final meal of the day. All four then sat quietly up on the ledge as the sun set.DONATIONS STILL NEEDED - If you have not already made a donation to Falconwatch, it is never too late to do so. The Coordinator daily reports, the camera images and on-street Falconwatch equipment are all made possible by your contributions. Grants only pay for so much (and some years they are less than others). Please click on the yellow 'Donate!' button above to make an easy tax creditable donation. We and the birds Thank You!
STRETCHING THEIR WINGS
Thursday, June 5, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinators Matthew Mills and Lisa Millar report: In the morning there were feedings at 7:19, 8:01, and 8:15. Parents exchanged food at the ledge at 12:55 and fed the chicks shortly after 1pm. A turkey vulture cruised low over the Sheraton on two separate occasions and got the adults calling loudly, but there was no pursuit. Early afternoon brough some rain showers, which the chicks enjoyed with vigorous flapping (photos). Feedings continued throughout the day with meals at 2:34 and 5:52. The chicks spent much of the day flapping, checking out the ledge edge and pancaking. Skies were blue for the final meal of the day, which was dressed on Standard Life at 7:46 and served in two courses at 7:49 and 8:24. McKeever ate the leftovers and took away some debris. All four chicks were satiated and less energetic as the sun went down, revealing their ever-decreasing white fluff.FREQUENT MEALS HELP GROW FLIGHT FEATHERS
Wednesday, June 4, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinators Matthew Mills and Lisa Millar report: The day was hot and windy. Luckily the damaging winds that were forecasted never materialized. The chicks spent most of the day quietly in the nest. On occasion they were very active helicoptering along the ledge. Feedings happened at 8:28, 11:23 and 4:06. At 4:47 Judson brought a meal to the ledge, and it was quickly grabbed by McKeever (left photo), who carried it away, dressed the meal, then returned at 4:52 to feed the chicks (right photo). Some of the young peregrines were more eager to eat than others in this heat. After about ten minutes McKeever left the meal for the chicks to pick at. She returned a couple of minutes later, fed a few last bits to Lawfield, then removed the remains of the meal from the nest. At 7:45 preparations for the final meal of the day began on top of Standard Life and feathers were flying as dinner was dressed and then served at 7:52. All four chicks ate heartily as temperatures cooled down. Much flapping and curious glances over the ledge were observed throughout the day as we slowly progress towards first flights.A QUIET DAY
Tuesday, June 3, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinator Lisa Millar reports: The second day of the watch began with hazy skies and early morning feedings at 5:17, 6:30, and 7:00. After eating, the young peregrines relaxed in the nest scrape, occasionally exploring the ledge. At 9:20, a turkey vulture appeared but was quickly chased away by McKeever, who stayed vigilant on the Sheraton's lower ledge for much of the day. All four chicks were seen on the ledge around 12:20. A small food delivery at 3:30 was eagerly eaten, followed by a more substantial feeding from Judson at 3:40 and a final feeding at 6:03. McKeever remained nearby through much of the evening, observing her young and the skies as they flapped and played until sunset, marking another successful day.THE WATCH BEGINS
Monday, June 2, 2025 - Falconwatch Coordinator Matthew Mills reports: It was a beautiful sunny, calm day for the first day of Falconwatch 2025. Volunteers were treated to views of several feedings by the adults on the nest ledge. One adult visited the nest with food shortly before 8 am. At 10:30 am there was a prey exchange between Judson and McKeever at the nest, after which McKeever fed the chicks on the ledge. Charlton got feisty and grabbed the last of the meal and dragged it down into the inner ledge (photos). At 12:15 we witnessed the adults killing, circling with, and both feeding on a pigeon on the old Standard Life building. The chicks weren't fed at this time. At 3:35 pm a small bird, maybe blackbird sized, was delivered to the nest and one of the chicks snatched it, and again took it down into the inner ledge. At 6 pm there was a final feeding for the watch, after which all 4 chicks popped up on the ledge in the evening sun.TWO MORE CHICKS HOP UP
Wednesday, May 28, 2025 - McKeever continues to use food to lure the chicks into hopping up on the outer ledge (or perhaps there just isn't enough room to feed them down in the scrape any more?). Yesterday afternoon, Lawfield was seen hopping up on the ledge beside her. He was up again this morning, followed quickly by Charlton.WINONA HOPS UP!
Monday, May 26, 2025 - In the last couple of days, McKeever has started feeding the chicks from up on the ledge. This has had the usual result. As the chicks develop their flight feathers this will become a common sight.CHICKS HIDING FROM THE SUN (AND US!)
Monday, May 26, 2025 - As the chicks become more mobile, quite often one of them will hide from the sun in the near corner of the ledge. At times they will not even be visible on our cameras. If you are concerned that you are not seeing all four chicks, go to the Gallery section of the website and work your way backwards through the Full Webcam Archive. At some point, possibly hours earlier, you will see them walk into that corner. Or, if you are lucky, they briefly stick their head out when McKeever checks up on them (photo).The edited video of Saturday's banding is now available in the Gallery section (or click here).
THE CHICKS ARE BANDED
Saturday, May 24, 2025 - Shortly before 10 this morning, our climber descended to the ledge. McKeever proved to be quite aggressive, but we were prepared with pool nets and brooms, so the climber stayed safe while gathering up the chicks (photo). The chicks were taken inside, weighed and banded, with colored tape attached to their right leg bands so we can easily identify them at a distance. Their names are: Lawfield (male, yellow tape), Winona (female, red tape), Charlton (male, blue tape), and Simcoe (female, white tape), named after Hamilton neighborhoods. All four were in excellent health, and quite feisty and vocal.COMPANY IS COMING!
Saturday, May 24, 2025 - Around 9:30 this morning (possibly a bit later) the nest will be visited by our climber, who will retrieve the four chicks, place them into a specially designed carrier, and they will be taken inside the Sheraton to be weighed (which will help us determine their sex) and banded. If technology cooperates, members of our facebook group will be able to watch the proceedings live (click the facebook button above). We will also be recording video of the banding, which will be edited and uploaded to the website later. The chicks will be returned to the nest quickly, and, after an hour or so, the agitated adults will calm down, and everything will get back to normal.FOUR CHICKS IN HALF A DAY!
Saturday, May 3, 2025 (late afternoon update) - In what falcon watchers are quite sure is a new record, McKeever managed to time her brooding so perfectly that her four eggs, which were laid over a period of a week, all hatched within just 13 hours of each other. The last egg cracked around 3:30 this afternoon, and, over the next fifteen minutes, the chick broke its way out of its shell (photos).MAKE THAT THREE!
Saturday, May 3, 2025 (afternoon update) - Shortly before 2pm, the third chick hatched. You can see the small pink/damp chick at bottom right. We will hopefully get a better look when the next feeding happens.TWO CHICKS!
Saturday, May 3, 2025 - Around 3am this morning, a sharp-eyed falcon watcher caught a glimpse of a newly hatched chick. For the next 6 hours McKeever kept it mostly out of sight. We got our first decent look shortly after 8am. Then, at 9:38, a proud momma left the nest, and we got to see that a second chick had hatched. Based on the still-drying feathers, we would say it hatched within the last hour. Barely a minute later, McKeever was back. Rather obviously, Judson had been hunting, and so the chicks enjoyed their first meal. We expect to see the other two eggs hatch within the next day or so.WATCH THIS SPACE!
Friday, May 2, 2025 - We are noting some increased activity from the adults in the nest, inspecting the eggs more often, which we see in the 24 hours before hatching begins. We think that the adults can hear small noises from the chicks in their shells. A sure sign that hatching is not far off! Don't be fooled by the white mark on one of the eggs. It has been there several days.DUNDURN SEEN IN GALT
Monday, April 14, 2025 - While we are waiting patiently for McKeever to incubate her eggs, we are delighted to report that one of our 2022 chicks, Dundurn, was seen in the town of Galt, located near Cambridge, Ontario, around April 8th. He was seen in the company of another Peregrine, but there are not (yet) any indications that they are nesting. They may be looking for a suitable location. Our thanks to Rose Marie Osborne for capturing these photographs and sharing them with us.FOUR ON THE FLOOR
Monday, March 31, 2025 - As expected, McKeever laid her fourth egg sometime late last night. We caught our first glimpse of it this morning. While we can't rule out the possibility of her laying a fifth egg, four is her usual number. Also, we must remember that, as clutches get larger, the chance of one or more eggs not hatching increases. If a fifth egg is laid, it is quite likely that not all five will hatch. We have never had five chicks in the Hamilton Nest. So, in our opinion, the countdown to hatching starts today. Roughly 35 days from now we should see our first chick!WHAT'S A LITTLE RAIN? EGG #3 IS HERE!
Friday, March 28, 2025 - Despite, the cold, wet weather, McKeever laid her third egg around 6:30 this evening. You can tell that the egg is freshly laid by its dark red color. It has not yet acquired a brown coating of dust. Don't be concerned if she doesn't sit on it right away. It has been warm inside her body all day, and, as mentioned in previous posts, she will let her eggs stay cool until she has finished laying. The chances are good she will lay a fourth. Look for it late Sunday night or early Monday morning.RIGHT ON TIME
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - McKeever laid her second egg of 2025 shortly after 2:30 this afternoon. This is perfectly on time for Peregrines, with eggs being laid at intervals of slightly more than 2 days. Sharp-eyed watchers will note that McKeever is not yet brooding the eggs full time. This is done deliberately, so that the first 2 or 3 eggs will be cooler and develop more slowly. This will result in most of the eggs hatching within a 24-48 hour period, insuring that the chicks are all the same size as they rapidly develop. There won't be any issues with a smaller chick struggling to keep up with its siblings. Peregrine clutches typically range in size between 3-5 eggs. How many will McKeever lay this year? We will just have to wait and see. The next one should appear early Friday evening!EGG!!!
Monday, March 24, 2025 - This morning, at roughly 11:30am, McKeever laid her first egg of the 2025 nesting season at the Sheraton Hamilton hotel! She held off until the very last minute to choose whether she would lay her egg in the near or far corner of the ledge. On our webcams we saw her check out the near corner one last time, at 11:15, then walk up to the far corner. Roughly fifteen minutes later the egg appeared. We are happy she chose that corner again, because it provides a little more shelter from the elements, beneath the end of the Sheraton sign.SPRING IS HERE!
Thursday, March 20, 2025 - It is the first day of spring, and for the last week we have been seeing increased courting activity, with Judson bringing meals to McKeever. It won't be long until we see the first egg of 2025! It remains to be seen whether McKeever decides to lay her eggs in the far end of the ledge or return to using the scrape at the near end. The Peregrines have been seen poking about at both ends of the ledge, though it seems the far end is getting a bit more attention. If an egg is laid there, that scrape is deep enough we might not see it right away. So we will need to keep a close eye on how long McKeever spends 'sitting' in that scrape.BACKGROUND FOR 2025....
After their third successful year together, fledging two chicks, Judson and McKeever are spending the winter in Hamilton, where there is ample food, and warm spots to shelter from the worst of the winter weather. This will be McKeever's fourth year at the Hamilton nest, and Judson's fifth.
Judson arrived in Hamilton at the end of the nesting season in 2021. He came to us from Buffalo, New York, where he fledged from the Richardson Complex in 2018. In a delightful turn of events, one of his parents is Felker who fledged from Hamilton in 2012. So the prodigal (grand)son of Madame X and Surge has returned. He arrived too late to mate with Lily, who, sadly, fell ill and died early in 2022, so, apart from a brief time keeping Lily company on the ledge, his first and only mate has been....
McKeever, fledged from a nest on the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, in 2019. She is named in honor of Kay McKeever of the Owl Foundation. Her arrival was first noticed on January 22, 2022, when we observed that there were still two adults landing at the nest ledge while Lily (the previous female) was being cared for at the Owl Foundation. A quick check of our webcam archives showed that McKeever had been present for a few days by that point. We don't know if she had a territorial battle with Lily which resulted in the latter being too injured to survive, or whether Lily had taken ill and this newcomer had simply filled in the void left by Lily's absence. In any event, McKeever was quickly accepted by Judson, and the pair produced four chicks their first year together, and four more in 2023. Last year, three chicks hatched, but, sadly, one of them died from an unknown illness before fledging. The remaining two chicks fledged strongly without any need for rescues.
2024 also saw a significant upgrade to Camera #2, with a new, Wisenet HD Camera being donated by Hanwha Vision. The camera was installed in February by Eric Luehmann of Hamilton Video & Sound. Major funding for this work and additional equipment, was provided by a Hamilton Ward 2 community grant, obtained through Councillor Cameron Kroetsch. This camera significantly improved our ability to monitor the fledglings as they flew from rooftop to rooftop. HCPP Thanks all these organizations for their generous support!
While peregrines are normally a migratory species, sometimes they choose to spend the winter in their nesting territory if there is enough food to last through the winter. Many bird species exhibit a trait called 'site fidelity'. If at least one of a pair that used a nest site in the previous year returns, and if there have been no significant physical changes to disturb either the nest itself or the birds generally, they will use the same nest site year after year. Peregrine Falcons are known for this trait. This will be the thirty-first year the same nest site on the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel has been used.
To read FalconWatch Reports from previous years, click on the History button above.
Thank you to all our visitors and supporters for your ongoing encouragement.
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Web page created by
Charles Gregory
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