We’ve recently learned that a pair of Peregrine falcons have been nesting at the Toledo Edison’s Bay Shore power plant in Oregon, Ohio. The male, Swifty, was hatched in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His mate is Millie (shown in the picture above), hatched in 2005 at an industrial facility in Port Colborne, Ontario Canada. Millie is the daughter of Freedom and Purity, and Freedom is the son of our very own Mariah and Kaver! (ed. note– in an interesting twist, Swifty’s mother is also named Freedom. What a coincidence!)
Fans of the Kodak Birdcam may recall that 2002 was Mariah & Kaver’s first year together. Mariah’s previous mate, Toronto-born Cabot-Sirocco, failed to return to the nest in the spring of 2002. Freedom and his sister Isis were the first offspring from the Mariah & Kaver pairing.
In 2004 Freedom and Purity began nesting in Port Colborne, but they had chosen a precarious spot for their scrape and all of their offspring were lost that year, blown off their narrow nest ledge by stiff winds. Later the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Canadian Peregrine Foundation installed a nest box at the facility, but it went unused.
In 2005 Mark Nash of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation rescued Freedom and Purity’s two eyases from the nest ledge, fearing that they would suffer the same fate as the previous year’s eyases. In a daring operation they were moved to the much more secure nest box, where Freedom and Purity quickly located them. Both of those falcons survived to fledging. They were named Millie and Ellie for the mills and storage elevators at the facility where they hatched. Millie’s first fledging flight nearly ended in tragedy as she fell into the nearby Welland Canal and had to be rescued by workers at the facility, but both went on to be successful fledglings and in true Peregrine style they struck out on their own later that summer.
In the summer of 2005 members of the Kodak Falconcam and Genesee Valley Audubon Society took a trip to Port Colborne to visit Freedom and his offspring. You can read about that visit here and view a Kodak EasyShare Gallery picture album here.
There was a little drama this year for Swifty and Millie’s two males, Ted and Lucas, as both fell from their exposed nest spot 70 feet up and had to be rescued. They’re both doing well, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife has placed an artificial nest box at the location, to which both of the nestlings were returned after a short stay at a nearby wildlife rehabilitation center. You can read the whole story at the Toledo Blade Newpaper’s website.
It goes without saying that we at the Rochester Falconcam are very excited to receive this news. There is no better reward for those of us working toward Peregrine restoration efforts than to know that the offspring of our local falcons are thriving and spreading across the continent.
Many thanks go to Lisa McKeown of the Rochester Falconcam, who tracked down the information regarding Millie’s identity as well as our fans on the Yahoo Kfalconcam discussion group who tracked down the original news report. We hope to follow the lives of Millie, Swifty and their offspring, and we’ll be sure to bring you any updates as we receive them.
-Jess
