Buffalo Falcon News 2013

[AlisonL]

Two more visits:

[Dumpsterkitty]

http://youtu.be/Ovf3GkhD84o

[~Sage~]

Thanks for catching the screencaps! I was watching then too but my laptop has the hiccups today, I guess I'm giving it too many things to do!

Here's Yankee's bride!  

She showed up early this morning and things heated up fast! What a wonderful show they put on!

Maybe migrating through the area, she may have thought, "hmmm, what's that tower over there?" I bet she thought she died and went to heaven! A beautiful heated condo, a wonderful attentive guy, so she winks at Yankee!

She flew over to the water tower, which BB only did when the fledges went there. He followed. Then they both flew back to MacKay and both entered the nest box! He brought her prey, of course.  He did everything he was supposed to!  He was wearing himself out circling around the tower as she sat on the perch, and sometimes she joined him and they both would circle the tower. What a beautiful sight!

Lots of eechupping! Yankee was clearly ecstatic!

We did check CT and saw two pefas, both quite high on the tower, and on the front side, opposite the nest side. We could not get leg shots, sorry. We're all looking for verification of who these birds are. The problem from my perspective is that Gleig had been sitting on the perch ALL THE TIME until earlier this week. After which, we haven't seen her there. I'll post that pic soon, of both of the tower.

[~Sage~]

Fantastic vid, Ei! Thank you!

I do not know how to capture a vid. 

[Dumpsterkitty]

Fantastic vid, Ei! Thank you!

I do not know how to capture a vid. 

I use a program called Snagit by Techsmith.

[~Sage~]

Thanks! I'll try that.

Here is a CT shot from today and the FBPP post

Two pefas on CT today, near the top of the tower, with their backs to us. Lots of work going on there today. If this is Gleig, lower bird, it's so odd she's not at the nest where she would normally be, with Diamante usually perched high on the nest side also. We have a mystery.

[Kris G.]

Thanks! I'll try that.

Here is a CT shot from today and the FBPP post

Two pefas on CT today, near the top of the tower, with their backs to us. Lots of work going on there today. If this is Gleig, lower bird, it's so odd she's not at the nest where she would normally be, with Diamante usually perched high on the nest side also. We have a mystery.

Could the work being done there be upsetting to them? Not being seen much? Not perching in usual places?

[~Sage~]

It's likely. Contractors are working on both sides and expect to be doing roof work. But there was that chase earlier in the week and some pefas got chased out of town. We still haven't got positive IDs on the birds here now, and these two are not acting like Gleig and Diamante. We spent a lot of time on UB today. We'll keep trying.

[carly]

Any kind of human interference/disturbance or other falcons coming through can have them perching in different places.  I've certainly seen that at Etobicoke many times.

I don't know what kind of work is being done but if humans are around, our guys avoid the nest ledge because their view is limited to one direction from there.  They tend to perch in a more open space  where they get a better view of the territory from all directions and make a quick getaway if need be or if it's an intruder so they don't cornered.

Back in November, both O'connor and Jack spent over a week perched on a building we very rarely see them on and staring North - it was the strangest thing and they didn't go near the nest ledge during that time.  Tracy thought they likely had a challenge for the territory and she certainly knows falcon behaviour from her many years of experience.  And then one day, everything was back to normal as if nothing had happened.

[Kris G.]

I'm surprised they're allowed to work around an active nest-especially at this time of year.

[~Sage~]

carly, yes, that was odd. But coming into nesting season, Gleig had been hanging out at her nestbox, and Diamante would usually perch above where he had a good view. The nest side of the tower also protect them from the fierce winds that roar through the spot, in that the tower stands alone and on considerably higher ground than anything else in the vicinity.

With migrating pefas which would be likely to check out this high spot, they may well be on high alert, but this is mating/nesting season now, not November, which makes me suspicious. We have to confirm the bands, then I'll relax!  

To make matters worse, work in being done on the building, today, on the nest side. which is likely adding to the problem, but this may be a bad year for CT because they will be retiling the whole roof. It may almost be better if they don't nest there this year, yeh, right, because roofing and fledging will not be a good mix.

[~Sage~]

Kris, the building owners can do what they want, and they lose a lot of time waiting for winter to pass! It would be Aug/Sept if they waited for the fledges to go away, because this particular set-up at CT is just a fantastic training base for the kids! So many ledges and nothing to crash into!

[~Sage~]

Here is the view today at CT. I'm not posting in the Diamante thread til I'm sure he's here.

[cshunters32]

A lot of "housecleaning" today - pebbles rearranged, tasting the walls and left perch block. This female has a tendency to hold her folded left wing very high - like a plane vertical stabilizer.  I'm wondering of someone who's more connected to the watcher community could pass along the pic, maybe someone else noted this characteristic?  Anyone else see an identifying characteristic or mark?

Carl

[cshunters32]

Also - from around 1pm.  After housekeeping - it looks like she left a wet spot where she was working and scraping.  Is this a post mating or pre-egg delivery "signature"?  Or is it a optical illusion? Not up on my falcon mating and gestation biology.   It's also in next to a dead zone for the cam so you can't see much else.

Carl