Hamilton Falconwatch News

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FOUR EGGS

Sunday, March 24, 2024 - Just after 1pm today, McKeever laid her fourth egg of the 2024 nesting season. Given the fact that she has begun to steadily incubate her clutch, this will likely be the last one she lays. But, just the same, we will keep an eye open on Tuesday, just in case she decides to go for five! Note: The scrape is deep enough to completely hide an egg. So, don't be surprised if you sometimes only see three eggs.

THREE...

Friday, March 22, 2024 - As dawn broke this morning, we caught sight of McKeever standing proudly over three eggs. The fact that she is not yet brooding constantly strongly suggests we might see a fourth sometime Sunday.

SECOND EGG

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - Shortly after 6pm this evening we spotted the second egg of the 2024 nesting season. Peregrines lay their eggs roughly two days apart, so with the first egg having appeared Sunday morning, eager Falcon Watchers were keeping a close eye on the cameras today. The usual late season snow didn't seem to bother McKeever at all. She has not started full time brooding just yet. Falcons deliberately keep the first couple of eggs cooler to start, slowing their development, so that all of their eggs will hatch within a day of each other. This behavior tells us we can expect to see another egg sometime Thursday evening.

EGG!!!

Sunday, March 17, 2024 - This morning McKeever was seen settling in the scrape at the far end of the ledge, looking like she was keeping an egg warm, but when she left, there was nothing to be seen. It turns out the scrape really is that deep. Judson popped into the scrape a few minutes later and rolled the first egg of 2024 into view! Briefly. Most of the time we still can't see it. In some photos we can see just a glimpse of brown. In others it is not visible at all. But it is there. This is the earliest that eggs have ever been laid at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel, beating the old record of March 18, 2020.

SPRING IS HERE!

Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - For the last few weeks we have been observing increased courtship behavior from Judson, bringing meals for McKeever. This morning we captured these photos. In general, we can expect to see the first egg within two weeks of mating. So this could be a new record for earliest start at the Sheraton Hamilton nest. Where will McKeever lay her eggs? As in previous years, the pair have been seen poking around in both ends of the nest ledge. We keep hoping that maybe she will pick the original scrape at the far end. But so far she keeps choosing the near end of the ledge. In a few weeks, we'll know.

NEW CAMERA!

Tuesday, February 20, 2024 - The Hamilton Community Peregrine Project is pleased to announce that we have received a generous donation, from Hanwha Vision, of a new Wisenet HD video camera, replacing the old stationary Camera #2. The camera was installed today 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 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

Monday, February 19, 2024 - As usual, McKeever and Judson have been seen around the nest ledge from time to time over the winter. It's not quite time for them to start nesting yet, but the Hamilton Community Peregrine Project has some work to do to get ready for the coming season. Tomorrow (Feb 20) the fine people from Hamilton Video & Sound will be servicing our cameras. You may see some activity, or odd positioning of the cameras, and both cameras may go offline for a while. Don't worry, the end result of all this work will be some serious improvements. We'll tell you all about it once we're done.

DONATIONS NEEDED - Now is the time to show your support for our Hamilton Peregrines! 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!

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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