Canada Falcons: All but those hatched in Rochester

[patsy6]

Wow, the situation at Etobicoke is very interesting. And sad if it's not O'Connor. It looks like a different bird to me, but as you said, the angles and the lighting are not quite the same.  It would be quite a coincidence if the nest was taken over by another black over green banded bird who gets along well with Lucky and whose whole takeover was off-cam. I guess stranger things have happened, though. If it's not O'Connor, I hope she's okay wherever she is.

[AlisonL]

The bird in the screen shots - some days the USFW looks silver, some days lilac and some days black and yes even yellow once or twice.  That's the reflection of the light which makes it hard to get a good match on.

The girl in the tree - the real photo - I cut off her bands as I didn't want it to influence you.  And yes she is Ivy, Jersey City Ivy who came here 2 years ago and tried to oust Erin but got pushed off by Stormin.  She would be 4 years old now and has been seen around the lakefront area as recently as last year.  Her USFW is 'black' though but in some of the photos I've seen it was rubbing off in some spots and you could see the silver underneath. 

The reason I posted her photo is for days I couldn't let go that something about her was familiar and it wasn't until day before yesterday I realized that she reminded me of Ivy.  That being said, this new female - if not OC - could be anyone.  We get Rochester, New Jersey and Michigan birds here and they are black/green so who knows.

I too have seen all the colors you mention on the right leg band at different times and in different lighting conditions on the webcam.

The bird on the webcam does look quite a lot like Ivy, whom I watched grow up in Jersey City. She is a real beauty, and I have wondered what has happened to her since she was last sighted in the Toronto area. Whether this turns out to be Ivy or not, I hope she is doing well.

[carly]

Wow, the situation at Etobicoke is very interesting. And sad if it's not O'Connor. It looks like a different bird to me, but as you said, the angles and the lighting are not quite the same.  It would be quite a coincidence if the nest was taken over by another black over green banded bird who gets along well with Lucky and whose whole takeover was off-cam. I guess stranger things have happened, though. If it's not O'Connor, I hope she's okay wherever she is.

Interestingly Ivy has been down by the lake in various parks and so has Lucky (he likes to hang out there off season) over the past two years - both have been photographed there on separate occasions by Rob (who took that Ivy photo I posted) and other bird enthusiasts in the city.  Soooo..perhaps they've met before.

[patsy6]

Wow, the situation at Etobicoke is very interesting. And sad if it's not O'Connor. It looks like a different bird to me, but as you said, the angles and the lighting are not quite the same.  It would be quite a coincidence if the nest was taken over by another black over green banded bird who gets along well with Lucky and whose whole takeover was off-cam. I guess stranger things have happened, though. If it's not O'Connor, I hope she's okay wherever she is.

Interestingly Ivy has been seen in Downsview Park and so has Lucky (he likes to hang out there off season) over the past two years - both have been photographed there on separate occasions by Rob (who took that Ivy photo I posted) and other bird enthusiasts in the city.  Soooo..perhaps they've met before.

Oooo, the plot thickens.

[carly]

I changed it to 'various parks' as Lucky gets around, found another reference to him at Humber Park..so as not to start falcon rumour..lol..they could have met at the lakeshore area somewhere given Ivy had no nest site..she's likely roaming around.

Anyway we're getting ahead of ourselves since we don't know who we have up here yet

[AlisonL]

I changed it to 'various parks' as Lucky gets around, found another reference to him at Humber Park..so as not to start falcon rumour..lol..they could have met at the lakeshore area somewhere given Ivy had no nest site..she's likely roaming around.

Anyway we're getting ahead of ourselves since we don't know who we have up here yet

I guess we have to wait and see . . . I hope O'Connor is still there, but if not, I hope she is safe somewhere. She has always been a very strong falcon. Interesting that Lucky and Ivy may know each other; makes it even more difficult to determine who is at the nest.

[carly]

O'Connor left William Osler under similar circumstances - construction.  She's not a fan of humans, not that any falcon is, but it's possible she may just have had enough.  You are right, she is very strong so I can't see her just going quietly into the night unless something happened to her offsite.  Falcons have accidents, we've seen that even with the most experienced birds.  Or maybe she decided to go on holiday while the work is going on and she'll be back when it's done.    

As for Lucky and Ivy knowing each other - that's just me speculating and responding to the comment about her getting along so well with Lucky .  Many falcons go hunting all along the lakeshore here - we are quite close to Lake Ontario (can see it from the office) - so I expect many of them run into each other and may be familiar with each other.  I don't expect once they are off territory hunting down there that they fight over the area as it's not part of their territory.  Look at Tommy Thompson Park and how many of the young ones are caught and/or sighted hunting there...

[AlisonL]

O'Connor left William Osler under similar circumstances - construction.  She's not a fan of humans, not that any falcon is, but it's possible she may just have had enough.  You are right, she is very strong so I can't see her just going quietly into the night unless something happened to her offsite.  Falcons have accidents, we've seen that even with the most experienced birds.  Or maybe she decided to go on holiday while the work is going on and she'll be back when it's done.    

As for Lucky and Ivy knowing each other - that's just me speculating and responding to the comment about her getting along so well with Lucky .  Many falcons go hunting all along the lakeshore here - we are quite close to Lake Ontario (can see it from the office) - so I expect many of them run into each other and may be familiar with each other.  I don't expect once they are off territory hunting down there that they fight over the area as it's not part of their territory.  Look at Tommy Thompson Park and how many of the young ones are caught and/or sighted hunting there...

I can't fault O'Connor for not liking humans. Very few peregrines have any reason to do so, except maybe those who have been rescued and treated gently and well in rehab.

There have been cases in which peregrines have been driven away from their nest by construction. Usually they do not abandon their nest site unless they are harassed in some way by humans. At the Waukegan nest, back in 2015 there were large cranes very close to the nest. For some reason, the cam went down around that time, and when it came back up the birds were no longer at their nest. The following year, they did not return, but raised one chick in a makeshift nest elsewhere. This year, they still did not return, so construction can certainly cause a lot of problems for peregrines.

I would not be surprised if Lucky and Ivy had run into each other outside of the breeding season. Tommy Thompson Park seems to be a very popular place with peregrines.

[AlisonL]

Etobicoke

A few pics from today:

[carly]

So new female was just on cam eating in full view, such nice views of the band but when I zoom in I get pixels.  Today a friend came down and for an hour we watched through a scope and I can say with 100% certainty this is not O'Connor which if you watched her eating just now you'd have no doubt about.  The bands couldn't be read, the scope was strong but not enough to get a read.  The USFW is Silver - no doubt about that either.

She is dark, long skinny legs, what looks peach on cam looked 'golden' through the scope in the sun.  Gold under her neck and on her chest, she's really lovely and young I think.  And she can fly and she dives like no ones business...she hunts non stop, she's a hungry girl.  After seeing her through the scope...I'd say she reminds me a lot of Cadence too in many ways.  Yesterday she flew over my head with a 'live bird' in her talons...that woke me up!

Here are just two of the photos I got just now on cam:

[carly]

Posted to CPF Facebook this morning:

Canadian Peregrine Foundation
4 mins ·

It is with sadness that we must report a change in the resident female at the Etobicoke nest site today. O'Connor is no longer present. A few weeks ago now, a cam watcher noticed that the female on camera at Islington and Bloor that did not look like O'Connor and had what appeared to be a silver USFW band rather than the anodized purple that OC bears. We did not want to post any news regarding this until the situation could be confirmed by one of our great volunteers and Lucie took up the task along with Kathy to ferret out the truth of the matter. Kathy continued to monitor the oddities in the pairs relationship and Lucie came down with camera and scope in hand. We can now confirm that the resident female currently on site is Aria, banded black / green 85/BA from Rochester, New York, daughter of Beauty and DotCa. While we welcome Aria to Canada, we also are thinking about our fabulous O'Connor. It is important to note that this is not the first time O'Connor has abandoned a site as a result of pressure. Lately there has been workers on the rooftops of all three Etobicoke towers as well as this young female on the fringes. This is a carbon copy of what happened in 2011 at the William Osler site that O'Connor used to call home. She left Osler as a result of the exact same pressures and headed south to ESL where she took over the site from Angel, the long standing unbanded female there. We may see O'Connor return to ESL in the spring or even re-emerge at another site in Ontario or beyond, her lack of presence not in any way confirmation of her demise. We hope to see her again some day. Thank you to all who alerted, monitored and participated in this recent discovery. I apologize for not publishing sooner but we will never post something of this magnitude without confirmation from the ground first as this is a serious change. Once again, thanks to all for your help in this.

[MAK]

     This is quite a development! I sure hope O'Connor is okay and yay for Aria. Our local falcon watcher Jeanne, named her. Thanks for the update Carly! 

[carly]

  This is quite a development! I sure hope O'Connor is okay and yay for Aria. Our local falcon watcher Jeanne, named her. Thanks for the update Carly!  

hi MAK    

She looks very similar to her big sister Cadence and mom Beauty and she flies like DC.  We'll have to keep an eye on our other sites for O'Connor.

[patsy6]

HOLY MOLY ME!!! GO ARIA!!!!  I wonder if she knows she just took over the place where her daddy was born?

[jeanne]

OMG!!!!!!  I am teary at the thought that Aria is alive and doing well.  But I have always loved reading about O'Connor.  She so reminds me of our Mariah.  I hope she is ok.  I hope no battles.  Aria, omg!!!