Hamilton Peregrine Falcons 2012
 

Well I am a bit late posting this but we are off to an early start in the pergrine world!

Madame X and Surge have 2 eggs in their nest already! This is Madame X's 12th year and Surge's 7th.

Here is a link to the web cam and updates. We have a newer camera and it is much better!

Enjoy!

[url]http://falcons.hamiltonnature.org/[/url]

Super!!! 12 years! Yay for Madame X! :highfive:

Thanks for posting the link, Winston!

woo hoo 3 eggs now!!

Hooray!!! Do they normally lay this early or are they ahead of schedule...like just about everything else? :o

That's cool - thx for sharing that!

Wow! Four eggs! :highfive:

Winston,that's great 4 eggs!
I was thinking of the Falcons in Hamilton today and I am glad you are doing this for us once again.:grouphug:
Mom is gorgeous and such a good mom.

If all goes as planned we will have chicks for Mothers Day! Madame X is always on schedule and this year appears to be no different. They are both awesome parents! :thumbs up

NUMBER ONE IS HERE!!!!

Friday, May 4, 2012 evening - around 19:35 this evening Lead Monitor Dria McGraw noticed a change in the picture from the nest. It was a bit subtle but proved to be what we've been waiting for - a broken eggshell! It took another hour to get the image at left - 2012's first Peregrine chick is the pinky-white scraggly thing at the bottom right edge of the picture. The white blob at left is half of the shell. Observant falconwatchers will notice Madame X eating the broken shell. This is to help restore calcium to her system. Stay tuned!! With luck chick number two should be here by Sunday.

[I]whoot whooot!!!![/I] Congratulations to the happy couple!!!! :highfive: :D

AWE! :thumbs up

Aww Winston,what a little wonder:lovestruck:
I see on thw web-cam,mom has her head down in the gravel,maybe cleaning up the baby,I don't know if they do that???

Baby no 2:thumbs up Great to see,mom is so very beautiful.
Is dad looking after them?Bringing food?

Dang. Having trouble with my connection today so I can't pull up the site! :frustrated: But 2 hatched, 2 to go! :thumbs up Any prediction on when the next one is due to hatch, Winston? Do they usually follow one a day?

Aww Baby number 3:thumbs up
It says the 4th egg might not hatch,but I hope there'll be a 4th baby:pray:

Cute pix - thx again for the share.

I wonder if the parents remove the egg eventually if it doesn't hatch, or if they consume it? Ack...old egg... I hope they just remove it.... :o

Winston,just checked the site again,those 3 chicks are growing fast,so cute:lovestruck:

update

Sunday, May 20, 2012 - The photo at left was captured at 9:38 this morning, just as Madame X finished feeding her three chicks. Bulging crops (the "bald" patches on their breasts) show that the meal was ample, and assures that the chicks will continue to grow healthy and strong. You may view the full size version of this photo, along with other recent photos, by clicking the Gallery link above, then clicking the link to the 2012 "Webcam Favourites".


Hazel yes they sometimes eat it or discard it. :yuck:

I suppose it could be a good source of calcium for Madame X but ick!! :eek:

The three chicks are growing so quickly!! So much fun to watch them and what a lovely portrait of Mom and the kids. :D

The natives are restless tonight!

Tomorrow is their big day! Its banding Day!!! between 9:30am - 12:00 they will desend upon the nest, gather the eyas's up, defend themselves from Mom & Day and they will come back with some new BLING!! The crew look small to me this yr so I am suspecting 1 girl and 2 boys but we shall wait and see. Its interesting to watch on line as well aso if you have time its tomorrow.

Hazel they will reemoe the egg for testing if Madam X doesnt beat them to it.
Cindy

Our babies are growing so fast! Ready for some bling already! LOL

Mom feeding the babies before their BIG TRIP...:laughing:

Any word on how the banding went?

Update

3 little boys! OMG Madame X is in for a busy season with boys! :thumbs up She stayed true to her previous behaviour attacking the interlopers in her nest!

Sheraton falcon chicks get their bands

MADAME X Madame X takes aim at a volunteer climber gathering her chicks.
Steph Crosier/The Hamilton Spectator
Related StoriesLINQ: Hamilton falcon chicks get identified
Ministry and local rock climbers approach nest downtown at Sheraton Hotel
.Peregrine falcon chicks on the Sheraton hotel were banded Thursday so naturalists and conservation officers can track the threatened species.

Rock climber Brian Thomas rappelled from the top of the Sheraton Hotel to gather the three chicks while their mother, Madame X, put on a full assault.

Madame X was driving so close she even caught the back of Thomas’s shirt and ripped it leaving six holes and a small scratch.

“She’s be far the most ‘active’” laughed Thomas comparing her to the other mothers in the area.

Madame X has three little boys. All of them were healthy and Anne Yagi, management biologist for the Ministry of Natural Resources, was pleased.

The birds are 26 days old and were named after local water falls in the Hamilton area; Beckett, Felker, and Tiffany.

They named a boy "Tiffany"?!? OMD, he's gonna grow up with a complex! :laughing: Cute name, though! How do they keep track of who's who as they grow?

Madame X is such a good mom, defending her babies like that. You'd think she'd remember from year to year that humans intrude like that, but also that in the end her precious babes all come back to her. :o Or maybe she [I]does[/I] remember and just wants to make sure the Hoomanz suffer for their impertinence! :laughing:

This is fun to watch - thx for sharing the updates.

Hazel they are banded and it is recorded with our Ministry of Natural Resourses. This is how they are identified in the wild. I think in the USA they are recorded through DEC?? not sure if thats the correct name or not.

I think its wonderful because many of the Canadian Falcons have taken up nests and are monitored like ours in Hamilton. If your interested in checking out some other web cams you can go to this link and select "latest news" and further down the list there are lots of web cams to view.

[url]http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/[/url]

Enjoy all!

I was close on my guess..I had said 1 girl 2 boys! :thumbs up

But can they see those bands and easily identify which chick is which? So, for instance, they'd know this is Tiffany cuz of ... color combination of bands? or ?? I'm just curious what they band with. I know the puny little bands we use here can't be read unless you have the birds in-hand and I can't imagine that would be pleasant for either party when you're talking about something as big and powerful as a peregrine! :laughing:

Here I think banders are licensed through Fish and Wildlife, but you report bands to the US Geological Survey (part of the Dept of Interior)

[QUOTE=Winston;1039311]AWE! :thumbs up[/QUOTE]

How cute!! Thanks for posting the link . I love to watch the birds care for their baby. I saw a hawk flying with a snake in it beak to feed to it babies. I wish I had a camera.