Hamilton Falconwatch News
provided by the Hamilton Naturalists' Club
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OUT AND ABOUT

WORLD'S BRAVEST PIGEONS

A FINAL SHOW FOR FALCON WATCHERS

The real excitement began at 7:30 pm with McKeever sitting atop the Homewood Suites sign tearing the feathers off a large pigeon while Judson sat below her, occasionally swooping off the building to snatch at falling bits of prey in the air. This went on for a long while - real Peregrine cinema for the volunteers and visitors below.

At 7:50 pm McKeever delivered the meal to the hungry chicks who flew, calling loudly, to the upper roof of the Homewood building. One chick was especially aggressive in devouring the food while the other waited patiently to feed. More than once, the chicks moved away from the food, but when McKeever approached it, they rushed her, chasing her off.

The day, and our Falcon Watch season, ended with the chicks flying about constantly! They took what seemed like endless short flights around and between the Regency and an apartment building on the south side of Main Street, back and forth overhead. Eventually, they chased McKeever off the Fairclough building and settled down there themselves to watch the sunset together.

Blakely and Stinson appear very healthy and content! In the coming weeks they will continue to learn to hunt, and range even farther afield while doing so. Too far for us to follow. So, our watch comes to an end. A warm 'Thank You' to everyone who came out and watched with us, or assisted in any capacity this summer.

WHAT'S A LITTLE RAIN?

Between 2:30 and 3:15 pm Falcon Watchers were sitting out a very heavy downpour and hoping the chicks would do the same. However this was not to be! One of the chicks flew from a perch on the 17th floor of the Stelco tower to the east window ledge of the Standard Life building and clung there through the rain. The other flew out of sight on the east side of the Fairclough Building. It was a very rainy walk through the downtown core to locate both birds.

The evening hours were similar to recent days, with the chicks moving back and forth between the BDC Building and Fairclough, while the adults hung out on the Sheraton and Homewood Suites. At one point, one of the chicks appeared reluctant to fly and the other repeatedly flew over and around its location calling loudly. This went on for a while until the second chick took off, and then both chicks chased one another around and around in the sky. They even briefly touched talons with one chick flying upside down. They are definitely looking more and more confident in flight. As the day ended, one chick flew from the BDC to an apartment building roof in the Main and Bay St area, while the other remained on the BDC.

PLAY IS EDUCATIONAL

The chicks remained where they were through the morning, and into the early afternoon. Starting around 4pm the chicks became very active. Volunteers witnessed many flights back and forth between BDC, Stelco tower and the Fairclough building. The chicks soared around and eventually began a long series of "dog fights" chasing one another through the air and talon touching. The chicks may think they are just playing, but this activity helps them hone their flying skills.

At 8 pm Mckeever was spotted dressing a pigeon on the Homewood suites, which brought both chicks flying over and calling loudly. The chicks took turns feeding, being fed and trying to steal the food from McKeever (left photo). Eventually, after being chased a few times, McKeever settled down on the railing above the chicks and watched them alternately share and steal the food (right photo). At the end of the night, the chicks settled down on Homewood and the Regency building.

STRONGER FLIGHTS

By 4:30, both chicks had landed on BDC. As in previous days, one or the other of the chicks would disappear into the roof interior, leaving us to wonder if we had missed a flight. At 6:24, we spotted an adult perched on the edge of the BDC roof, and could just see the head of a chick behind it in the roof interior, eating a meal. We missed seeing the adult land, so we don't know if that food was freshly delivered or leftover from other meals eaten in that same location. A few minutes later, the chick chased off the adult (photo), who moved down to the BDC sign below.

After this, all four birds were visible, the adult and chick on the BDC building, and an adult on Fairclough, who took off to join the other chick in a long flight heading east, perhaps for some hunting practice. The chicks seem to be flying longer distances and for larger periods of time each day we see them. We expect more hunting lessons in the coming days. Soon these chicks will be flying and hunting all on their own! This is my last day working as coordinator. The watch will continue, under Matt's guidance, for a few more days. It has been a pleasure watching these chicks grow up. My thanks to everyone who came out and helped.

ANOTHER QUIET DAY

At 2:20 they could be seen on the BDC building eating a meal, with both parents nearby on the Fairclough building. The chicks sheltered from the heat on top of BDC for the rest of the afternoon, only occasionally poking their heads out or taking short hopping flights around the rooftop (photo). Food was again brought to them, still on BDC at 5:50, by McKeever. The chicks then flew to and from BDC and Fairclough. The parents could be seen circling over the Standard Life building together, enjoying the warm winds.

A QUIET DAY

At 3 pm the chick on BDC took off to perform a few high lazy circles above the Fairclough building and hang in the breeze for a moment before returning to the BDC roof. It wasn't until after 6 pm that we located both chicks, hanging out like friends, on the BDC rooftop ledge. No feedings were observed today, but a chick was seen with food at 7 pm. The evening hours saw a few short flights by the chicks to and from the Fairclough building, and up and around the BDC building, in the warm gusty winds. When we left, both chicks had settled on BDC with one keeping watch on the North facing ledge.

HUNTING LESSONS BEGIN

Throughout most of the afternoon both chicks were staying close together on the top of Fairclough, and Stinson seemed especially tired, spending most of her time lying down and napping. Around 3:00 Judson flew nearby the Fairclough building where the chicks were, and Blakeley joined him while Stinson chose to stay and lie down. Judson could be seen flying with prey while Blakeley flew under him - perhaps teaching her how to catch prey in the air, however, both Blakeley and Judson landed on the Fairclough building. Blakeley began dressing and eating the meal, which was later taken by Judson, all while Stinson, who flew over from Fairclough, chose to sit and watch from a few meters away.

As evening came on, the two chicks were seen perched together, occasionally flapping their wings, on the railing atop BDC (photo). Around 7:30pm, a group of vultures flew over the territory, and were chased off by Judson. As our watch ended, the whole family could be seen perched around the top of the BDC building, then two of them (we're not certain whether they were chicks or adults in the fading light) flew over to the Fairclough building and settled there. Another safe and successful day.

BLAKELEY FLIES HIGH!

While Blakeley was resting under our cameras, she would notice each time one of them moved and stare intently at it (left photo). This must have made her curious, because she was seen looking closely at the camera mount several times, and even nibbling on it once or twice (right photo).

At 10:44 Blakeley was brought a meal, which she quickly claimed (left photo). The adult returned at 11:04 to check up on her, and at one point it was chased down into the roof area of the Sheraton (right photo). Around this time, Stinson discovered a leftover portion of food on the Fairclough roof. This tidbit appeared to be incompletely dressed, half feathered and half torn open, leaving Stinson to meticulously pick at it periodically into the mid afternoon hours. The rest of the morning, and most of the afternoon was spent watching Blakeley cavort about or sit ponderously on the southern and eastern ledges of the Sheraton, while Stinson relaxed on Fairclough. At 4 pm Judson calmly escorted a Turkey vulture away to the West.

In the evening things took a turn for the dramatic. Stinson flew all the way to the very top of the Stelco tower to hang out with McKeever before taking a short series of flights and settling down on the Thomson building for the remainder of the evening (left photo). Shortly before 7pm, Blakeley stole the show with an extremely confident flight from the Sheraton towards Fairclough, and then soared, apparently catching a thermal updraft, higher and higher over the City. She then accelerated in powered flight down and around several tall buildings, carving out an awe inspiring path around the downtown core. She finally settled down on the BDC building and gave a few energetic head pumps (right photo). Shortly after 7:05, she made her last flight of the day, over to the top of the Regency building, where McKeever brought her another meal at 8:50. As we packed up to leave, Blakeley was settled on the rooftop ledge of Regency and Stinson was resting comfortably on the south east corner of the Thomson building.

AN EXCITING SECOND DAY OF FLIGHTS

At 10:05, Blakeley was seen flying over to join one of the parents on the old Standard Life building (left photo). Around 10:20 a watcher located Stinson, perched on a ledge two stories above ground level on the north side of the McMaster Tower (middle photo). Stinson seemed quite happy to stay there for the next couple of hours, watching people pass by. At 1:05, she took off and headed towards Standard Life, where she was accompanied by both parents, who were diving towards her, perhaps encouraging her to fly higher up instead of staying close to the ground. She landed on the Standard Life building where she was fed, while Blakeley was separately fed on the other side of the building. At 1:15, Stinson took flight again, and ended up landing on the A.G.H sign on King Street, where she remained until the end of the watch (right photo).

Blakeley spent most of the afternoon perched on or near the south east corner of the upper roof of Standard Life (left photo). Around 6:24 she flew around the Braley parking lot in front of our home base and ended up landing on the top north east corner of Homewood Suites, where she again picked at some leftover food. At 6:57 both adults landed together on the south east corner, one of which was seen preparing a meal. At first, Blakeley patiently kept her distance, but then moved in and chased off one of the adults (right photo - look carefully, you can see the departing adult!). Around 7:17 Blakeley left, and was seen briefly clinging to one of the small diagonal window ledges on the McMaster Tower, before heading back to Homewood for more food.

At the end of the night all birds were close by and visible, Stinson still on the AGH sign, Blakeley on the lower south east corner of the Standard Life building (photo), and both adults on the north west side of the Stelco tower. A busy, eventful day for everyone.

FIRST AND SECOND FLIGHTS

Between 11:15 and 11:30 am several persistent Ring-billed Gulls took turns squawking at and taking some mock dives at Stinson (photo). No response from the adults. McKeever was busy dressing a meal, which she brought to Stinson at 11:39. Stinson seemed unwilling to eat on her own, so she waited until McKeever fed her. A few minutes after noon, Blakeley gave us all a little scare when she attempted to join her sister on the Braley rooftop. Launching from the low angle of the Convention Centre roof, she came in a bit too low, stalled just below the ledge, gave a few panicked scrambling attempts to make it, and turned back towards the Convention Centre. She disappeared from the view of watchers on the ground, but the webcam located her perched on an equipment shed in the middle of the Convention Centre roof, where she would stay for the next several hours.

Eventually, around 4:40, Blakeley tried again, and made a successful dash over to the Braley Centre. The chicks spent a while touching beaks, running up and down the ledge, chasing one another, eating leftovers and taking short flights over the rooftop (photos). At 6:35 pm an adult bird arrived to dress prey on the Homewood building. This seemed to give the chicks a boost of courage to take a series of flights. It was difficult to keep track of them as they moved around and between the buildings. One chick flew to the Standard life building, back to the Braley building and circled north, after which both chicks were seen flying towards the Homewood building. At 8:01 pm we spotted one chick on a ledge high up on the top of the Regency building, west of Homewood. A short time later, an adult arrived to feed the chick. At day's end our last glimpse of the chicks was of them playing atop the Regency.

A big thanks to Charles Gregory for his help locating birds using the cameras today and to our entire corps of dedicated volunteers.

BOTH CHICKS HAVE TAKEN FLIGHT!

ANY MOMENT NOW...

THE ANTICIPATION BUILDS

The next meal arrived at 2:50. In a comic turn of events, Blakeley grabbed the food from Judson, and when she turned around, Stinson was right there and grabbed the food from her (photo). Thereafter, while Stinson was eating, Blakeley was seen running along the ledge and chasing off McKeever whenever she landed on the ledge. There were several other food deliveries today, at 3:27, 4:52, 6:44 and 7:00pm. Several times one or both parents would bring food to one chick, and the other chick would attempt to grab it or take a turn.

Twice today there were intruders over the territory. A high flying Osprey passed overhead at 10:33, which Mckeever ignored, and a Turkey Vulture was chased off around 4:30. The parents stepped up their efforts to encourage the youngsters to start flying. At 9:23am Mckeever landed on the nest ledge with food, and then, after feeding just a couple of bites to Stinson, carried it off to a nearby rooftop and ate it herself. Throughout the afternoon, she was seen making a number of low passes over the nest ledge. The chicks, however, still seemed content to rest and occasionally exercise their wings (photos). At 5:25pm we witnessed some deliberate 'helicoptering'. We are now at a point where we are no longer fearing premature first flights but eagerly anticipating successful ones.

ANY DAY NOW...

The first meal of the day arrived at 6:30am. Just after McKeever finished feeding it to the chicks, Judson arrived with a second meal, which was quickly grabbed and carried off by Stinson (left photo). More food was delivered at 12:27, with Stinson excited to see it (right photo). Both parents were often around in the afternoon, with McKeever hunting pigeons very low over the parking lot right in front of our main base at the David Braley Center. The last meal of the day was brought at 6:50pm. Blakeley tore off a small bit of the meal and fed herself while Stinson was fed by McKeever. The evening was rounded out with some more wing stretching and flapping.

ALMOST READY TO FLY

The chicks spent the rest of the morning alternately resting and spending short periods exercising their wings, with Judson keeping watch from the next ledge over. Their second and final food delivery of the day arrived at 12:13. Perhaps the parents are feeding them less in order to coax them into flying? The afternoon was spent quietly with an adult occasionally dropping in to check up on the chicks. Both chicks have lost almost all of their down, with only a few loose white feathers remaining on their body and little white crests on the top of their heads (photo). They could be seen affectionately preening each other and touching beaks around 2:05.

Around 4:00pm vultures were spotted passing over the Sheraton, and were quickly chased away by both of the parents, while the chicks huddled close to the wall of the inside ledge. After that, and into the evening, the chicks became a lot more active, with more vigorous flapping and running along the ledge. They could start trying to fly any day now. Around 6:30pm, Blakeley finally got around to eating some of that food that had been left on the north east corner in the morning.

Near the end of the evening, watchers had a chance to see a falcon flying up close, as one of the adults flew along King Street just a couple of meters above the ground. It was low enough for us to be just a little concerned about it possibly taking a bad turn. So when it flew out of sight up the street we decided to take a quick look around to see if it landed anywhere. But, of course, it didn't. Falcons are superb flyers. A short while later the two adults were seen again. One up on BDC and the other up on Fairclough. The evening ended with a thundershower, which the chicks enjoyed with more flapping, while the adults rode it out, up on their high perches.

ANOTHER FLAPPING DAY

At 12:15 a pair of Broad-winged Hawks passed by, high over the Sheraton, perhaps late migrants. The adults kept watch, but did not take any action. It was a different story around 2:45, when Judson chased another adult male Peregrine from the airspace high above the Standard Life Building. The intruder left quickly, with no further incident.

There were long periods of quiet in the afternoon, punctuated by occasional bouts of vigorous flapping by the chicks. In the evening, between 5-6 pm Mckeever seemed to be encouraging the chicks to venture onto the ledge and flap about. McKeever would occasionally land on the ledge, but a hungry Blakeley would rush her each time, causing her to take off immediately (left photo). It appears that Judson wanted to teach Blakeley a lesson, literally. So, at 8:13 he dropped off an undressed prey item (which appeared to be a Cowbird or Blackbird). Blakeley grabbed it quickly and took it down into the inner ledge, then spent several minutes puzzling over what to do with food that had feathers all over it (right photo). Each chick took a turn probing at it until eventually a portion was torn open, but the bird was not plucked.

ANOTHER QUIET DAY

The chicks were mostly inactive today, with lots of time spent napping and resting on the ledge of the nest. A few times, you could see them stretching their wings, which are now almost down free, over the edge of the nest. During the evening there was a lot of flapping and wing exercises, monitored by both of the parents nearby.

Both McKeever and Judson stayed very close to the nest today, and could even be seen circling together over top of the Sheraton at 7:22pm. One of them stopped at the nest a few times at 11:42 and 2:06 near westdale. They also made a few stops in to check in on Stinson and Blakeley, around 11:35 they both landed on nearby buildings, and at 3:36 one of them landed on the ledge. Overall, it was a quiet, peaceful and most importantly, a safe day for the Peregrine family.

DAMP DAY

The chicks were fed five times today. At 7:16am McKeever landed on the ledge without food, then retrieved a leftover of a meal from the east corner of the nest ledge and proceeded to feed it to the chicks. Half an hour later she brought fresh food to the nest and fed both chicks. Around 1:48pm, the scene from the early morning was repeated, with McKeever arriving empty-clawed, hopping into the near (east) corner of the ledge, retrieving another bit of leftover food and passing it off to Stinson before quickly taking off again. The last meal of the day was at 7:34pm.

MORE WING EXERCISES

The chicks were mostly resting today, with the occasional visit to the ledge by their parents. There was more flapping, shaking off more of their remaining down feathers. There was a total of five feedings today, with the others being at 12:45, 2:35, 3:42 and 6:27. The last one being a small meal brought directly to the nest by Judson. It was immediately seized and carried away to the other end of the nest by Stinson, who did not share it with her sister. McKeever arrived on the nest ledge seconds later, and maybe had a few choice words for Judson letting that chick take the food from him. After this, Stinson could be seen laying down on the ledge while her sister stood near by. They stayed there until 8:25, and then retreated to the inner ledge for the remainder of the evening. All around a quiet, safe day for the family.

ANOTHER CALM DAY

Around 2:55pm a worker was on the roof of the Sheraton hotel, and one of the parents could be seen running up on the ledge and yelling at the worker from the nest. There were quite a few good shots of this on the webcam. The chicks were fed three more times during the day, at 4:34, 6:34 and 7:10, for a total of four feedings for the day. The last one was quite small and only lasted a few minutes. At the end of the day the parents stayed close to the nest, and both chicks stood on the ledge, flapping off large amounts of down feathers into the air and enjoying the quiet breeze and warm sunshine.

Sad news, and a trigger warning: With the passage of time, it has become obvious that Westdale passed away sometime early Thursday afternoon. Review of webcam archives shows hints that she was ill for a day or so before. Please take note that birds do not think like humans. They will not grieve as we do. Once a chick dies, in their thinking it just disappears, and the body left behind is no longer "family". For wild birds, it is natural for them to take advantage of any food source nearby. Eating deceased young allows for a low effort food source for the whole family and prevents the body from starting to decay in the nest - which could lead to various other health risks. We believe we may have already observed some behavior of the adults and chicks beginning this process. As much as is possible with our human emotions, we try not to feel upset by this. This is quite natural. But if this is something you would prefer not to see, we suggest not watching too closely if you notice any of the other birds in that far corner.

A QUIET DAY

Concern for Westdale: People have expressed concern that Westdale has been staying in the far corner for a long time. We back-tracked through the camera archive, and we found that around noon (Thursday) she seemed to be having trouble moving her bowels, and then around 1pm she moved into the far western corner of the inner ledge, and stayed there for the rest of the day and evening. At various times an adult or her siblings were seen keeping her company, and all three chicks huddled down in that corner overnight. As of this (Friday) morning she is still there. We have no idea how serious this might be. Falcons have very robust immune systems, so if it is some kind of infection we are hoping that this is something that clears up quickly. There is nothing we can do to assist her. With the chicks at their current stage of development, the other two would attempt to fly (too soon) from the nest if we tried to retrieve Westdale. This is nature, and we must simply wait to see it take its course. Falconwatch thanks everyone who expressed concern for our little chick.

WESTDALE GETS FEISTY

Supper was brought to the chicks at 5:42pm, and Westdale was quick to jump up. This time, she tried to steal the food from McKeever and "mantle" it with her wings. She ended up in a tug-of-war with McKeever, and was literally dragged along the length of the ledge (photos)! For a moment, we were worried that she might not let go and get dragged right off the ledge when McKeever took off. But fortunately Westdale either had the wisdom to let go or lost her grip at the last moment. After that, things were relatively tranquil. The last meal of the day was brought at 8:20pm, then the chicks slowly settled down for the night.

THE WATCH BEGINS

At 2:20pm more food was brought, and Westdale was the first to jump up, followed quickly by Stinson. Eventually, all three chicks were seen up on the outer ledge (first two photos). Once the meal was done, Westdale stayed up on the outer ledge for the next hour, with McKeever keeping watch from a nearby ledge. There was some mild excitement, mid afternoon, as the adults chased off intruders a couple of times. First an osprey pair wandered into the territory, then a turkey vulture. In both cases, the peregrines made their displeasure known, and the intruders rapidly departed. In the meantime, the chicks were occasionally stretching their wings. Fortunately, they are doing this in the inner ledge, safe from vagrant wind gusts (last photo). The chicks still have far too much of their white chick down to even think about attempting a flight. But it won't be long before they are up on the outer ledge, seriously exercising those wings. The day ended with heavy rain showers, which saw the chicks huddled together in a corner of the ledge. An eventful first falconwatch day.

WESTDALE AND STINSON HOP UP

JUDSON BRINGS BREAKFAST

About the bands: All peregrine falcons receive a band on each leg. The silver band, has a unique identifying number from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). But, as you can see here, the band is very difficult to read from any distance. So, the dark colored band, with large, easily read letters, is placed on the other leg, so that a bird can be identified with binoculars (or our webcam). Because of the limited space for large letters/numbers, combinations might repeat in different regions of North America, so the silver band is still needed for a unique identifier.

OUR CHICKS ARE BANDED

McKeever made her displeasure known, both vocally and by dive-bombing our climber. He used the pool-skimmer net seen here as a means to fend off her attacks. He was mostly successful, getting just a small rip in the sleeve of his shirt.

BANDING THIS MORNING

MORNING MEAL...

GROWING EVERY DAY

Quite obviously, the fourth egg failed to hatch. This is not at all unusual with a large clutch. We can only speculate that it was not viable, or perhaps got too cold during the icy weather at the end of March. If the egg isn't removed from the nest, it will be collected for scientific study when the chicks are banded. While falcon watchers always feel a bit sad about these things, we should remember that Peregrines don't have the same kind of thinking as humans. For them, all the focus is on the chicks that need feeding. The cup is not just 3/4 full. It is 100% full of three healthy, and very hungry, chicks!

WAITING ON NUMBER FOUR

CHICKS TWO AND THREE

The third egg started cracking around 8:14am, and the chick emerged from its shell around an hour later. You can see it's tiny claw pushing against the shell in the second photo.

FIRST FEEDING

FIRST CHICK

HATCHING HAS STARTED!

VERY SOON NOW...

TWO WEEKS TO GO

FOUR EGGS

THREE...

SECOND EGG

EGG!!!

SPRING IS HERE!

NEW CAMERA!

This camera brings significant new capability to Falconwatch, enabling us to separately track two groups of chicks on nearby buildings during fledging. The spherical design will give us the ability to tilt upwards and look for falcons perched on top of nearby buildings. Something we could not do before. The higher resolution images will help us more easily read leg bands on our birds (and any visitors to the nest).

As usual, McKeever and Judson were flying about, expressing their displeasure at having humans anywhere near their nest. We, on the other hand are very pleased, and extremely grateful to Hanwha, and all the people who helped make this happen! Thank you!

GETTING READY FOR ANOTHER NESTING SEASON

BACKGROUND FOR 2024....

After their second successful year together, fledging four 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 third year at the Hamilton nest, and Judson's fourth.

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 the next year.

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 thirtieth 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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