Terminator's New Home

Had an opportunity today to check out the new nestsite for Terminator and Roosevelt in Grand Forks. Granted, I'm not a peregrine and I certainly don't have their picky taste in real estate, but from what I can see, the site looks very good. Its further away from the Red River than the Smiley Tower (which has been demolished) but its really just down the road a bit and the birds have been to this site to eat in the past. It has a lot of great flat roofed buildings around it for the chicks to use when fledging, it has lots of readily available food for hungry chicks (pigeons) and there are other perches for the adults close by. Met with Dave L who has been taking wonderful photos of T2 and her gentlemen and Tim D who is in charge of the Grand Forks Project. They were wonderful hosts and answered all my questions and helped me to get a good clear picture of Terminator's life in Grand Forks. From what I've seen, she's in very good hands. Hopefully she will think so too when she returns in the next couple of months and we will have more Grand Forks peregrine cousins to read about this year!!

T2 in Grand Forks

Looks like the Smiley Face Tower has cause to smile these days. Though we don't know how many chicks have hatched, from the behaviour of T2 and Bear, they have chicks. The Grand Forks pair, like most peregrine pairs in North America, don't have a webcam on their nest. I know this sounds amazing considering the number of peregrine nest cams there are these days, but in fact most projects and most nest sites don't have cameras on them. Because of where T2's and Bear's nest is located (on a water tower with a smiley face painted on it), its not so easy to get a look inside the nest. I mention this because, it came as a bit of a surprise to some of our webcam viewers, that the cam isn't just an educational tool, but an essential recovery tool as well. Where Trey and Princess nested this year on the eastside of the Hotel is a particularly difficult location to be able to observe/monitor the birds. The Kensington Building across the street is really only place where you can see what is going on, but that means interrupting office staff trying to do their jobs so that I can borrow their window on a regular basis. The webcams - both the spycam and this year's new Falcon Cam, have enabled me to identify the birds when they first arrived, observe courting behaviour and egg laying dates, assess environmental risks (the snow and wind in this case) and in the end to be able to initiate a rescue of the chicks. Without the cam, none of this would have been possible.


T2 (Terminator), 14 June 2008
photo: D Lambeth, Grand Forks, ND

So, getting back to T2 and Bear and their new kids in Grand Forks, without a camera, the Grand Forks project have had to watch for minute changes in behaviour to determine if the eggs have hatched and how old chicks are. One of the things they have been watching is T2 in the box sitting with her upper body quite high. Remember watching Trey "shade" the chicks with his body, basically standing or crouching over rather than lying on (or brooding) the chicks? From that, its a pretty good guess that the chicks are less than 10 days old. Older than that they are able to thermoregulate on their own and are more mobile and would be able to move themselves out of the sun and T2 and Bear would need to "shade" less. As the weather was warm, and she was shading them, the chicks are probably closer to a week old. On the couple of warmer days we had, both Princess and Trey were quite happy leaving their week-old chicks uncovered for short periods of time. I believe Dave and Jackie are looking to band the birds near the end of next week, will keep you all informed on their plans!

Nest Updates

Winnipeg - Radisson - both Princess and Trey are still on-site. They have been observed on the west-side of the Hotel near the nestbox since the weekend. Mother Hen (from the Forum) reports having seen them go in and out of the box a number of times and Dennis Swayze (our official photographer - PhotosbyDennis) has seen them as well roosting on the box and on the low telecommunications towers above the nestbox - a usual perch for Trey when they are using that box. This doesn't mean they are renesting. It is much too early to say that. If (big if) they can/do, we should see something in about two weeks, and yes, I will let you know the minute I see/know anything of interest.

Winnipeg - West Winnipeg - this pair has fallen right off the radar over the last week, haven't been able to find them at any of their usual haunts. Will be going on safari as long as its not raining just in case. Their behaviour up until now has not been territorial or nesting behaviour and so far haven't found a nest or eggs. Will let you all know what, if anything, I find.

Brandon - Holly and Zeus have been hit with the same kind of nasty weather we have had in Winnipeg and are currently brooding three chicks - one egg failed to hatch. They are having lots of rain, but very strong winds as well. I am currently making arrangements to band the chicks about the 23rd of June, but will confirm the date with you all as soon as it is set. We will see about photos or perhaps (perhaps) a video and again, will let you all know in advance. No there isn't a webcam on the box though we have been working on it for the last few months. Perhaps next year!

Lincoln, Nebraska - Alley and 19/K have not tried to renest at the State Capitol Building. Will have to see what next year will bring.

Grand Forks, North Dakota - T2 (the Terminator) and Bear are on eggs and the projected hatch date was June 5th. Haven't had any other updates, but hope to have some soon.

Edmonton, Alberta - pitched battles have been going on at the U of A campus over this nest site. Will post a full chronology on the fun in a separate blog entry today or tomorrow. Currently the female is "Radisson" a 2006 wild-hatch from the infamous ledge at the Radisson. For those of you who watched the Falcon Cam in 2006, she is the only female from that nest and the only chick we didn't have problems at fledging - the Little Daredevil died and Bandit spent more than a month in rehab at the Wildlife Haven. On May 25th (my last update) there were two eggs in the box. More I'm sure more have been laid and by my estimates, they should hatch out after June 25th. The nest has a webcam, so check out the Falcon Cam Forum for more information on links, etc.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - just identified on the Renaissance Tower, a 2005 wild-hatched female named Donna from the McKenzie Seeds nestbox in Brandon.
There has been a non-breeding female at this location for the last few years, so it wasn't until the male was spotted that the possibility of eggs occurred. What they found was that the male is unwilling to let anyone identify him and that Donna is currently incubating 6 eggs. Don't know that I have ever seen a record of six eggs in a single nest before, so will do some research! Paddy Thompson, who has worked with peregrines in Saskatoon for forever (sorry Paddy), reports that he doubts that all six eggs will hatch and he doesn't know exactly when they will hatch but he promises to keep us informed. If I have them, I'll be sending photos of Donna at her banding, so perhaps we will be able to get an adult photo of her for our gallery! There is no website or webcam on this nest as it has been a few years since Saskatoon had a nesting pair. I have offered to post updates/information for them here and on the Forum.

Peregrine Nests - Updates

Winnipeg - Radisson Hotel Winnipeg Downtown - Princess and Trey have been incubating since April 23. Originally 4 eggs laid, but one egg has failed, could have been the two snowstorms, could have been there was a problem with the egg. Estimated hatch date is around May 22nd. CBC Manitoba/Shaw Falcon Cam slated to go live on May 15th.

Winnipeg - West Winnipeg - there have been a pair (identities not confirmed yet) hanging out in the west Winnipeg area (that's Polo Park west on both sides of the Assiniboine River), but they weren't settling anywhere to nest. We have seen less of them in the last few days so we are going to start focussing on individual buildings that we know the birds visit.

Brandon - McKenzie Seeds Building - Holly and Zeus are incubating 4 eggs in the nestbox and so far all is going well with them. Estimated hatch date is around May 26th.

Nebraska, Lincoln - State Capitol Building - Alley and 19/K began incubating 4 eggs on April 4th, but no reports of hatching on their website. If the incubation start date is correct, eggs should have just hatched. Will keep everyone posted on any hatching news. Have requested some photos of Alley and 19/K for our gallery and they have a Webcam for anyone who wants to check it out.

North Dakota, Grand Forks - "Smiley" Water Tower - T2 (Terminator) and Bear look to be incubating as of May 5th but no reports on how many eggs they are on. Estimated hatched date should be around June 4th. Will see if I can get a photo of the water tower for our gallery, Dave in Grand Forks has promised to send us a few more photos of T2 and Bear.