Backyard Peregrine Falcons still hanging around

Photos by A. Wallace-Parekh

My daughter, who lives near Ottawa has sent a couple more photos of the four Peregrine Falcons (a mother and three youngsters) who have been occupying  a large dead tree in her backyard.   Pictured above are the three young birds awaiting their mother's arrival with another meal. In the picture below, all four of this family unit are seen in the same photo.   This is quite unfair, as I am the avid birder in my family and do I have four Peregrine Falcons in my backyard?   Nooooo!   Lucky you my dear and thanks for sharing your photos.          

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BtheB

One of four backyard Peregrine Falcons

Photo by A. Wallace-Parekh

Here is a photo of one of three immature Peregrine Falcons in my daughter's backyard, near Ottawa, and which I mentioned in the previous blog.   It certainly appears to be keeping a sharp eye on her as she takes the photograph.   Apparently four of these marvellous birds staring down upon her at the same time is very unnerving.

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BtheB

Four Peregrine Falcons in backyard

Photo by Greg Hume/Wikipedia

The younger of my two daughters lives in a pleasant little village about 20 minutes south of Ottawa.   She and her family have a large backyard bordering on nearby wooded areas.   This summer had been fairly quiet around their home, bird-wise.   That's all changed however with the arrival of four Peregrine Falcons (a mother and three fledged offspring) into a dead pine tree in the backyard.   They came from the nearby wooded area and use the new perch of bare pine limbs, as the perfect spot for the mother to feed her large youngsters.   When she does show up with some dispatched feathered creature, all hell breaks loose.   There are huge noisy

greetings and then demands from the youngsters to be fed.   There is great commotion as hungry birds frantically jostle for position.   The feeding frenzy goes on noisily for quite some time.   Underneath all the feathered fury, my daughter and her one-year-son are going about their backyard business, while keeping an eye to the sky.   The falcons are become intimidating with their hovering and screeching behaviour at mealtimes, which are apparently quite frequent.

My daughter quickly lost her fascination with these interesting creatures and looks forward to when they take their rude behaviour elsewhere.   Now, if I can just get her to take some pictures, which of course I will publish in this space.

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BtheB   

18 swallow nests at King Township house - down from 63 last year!

One of the homes on Sunday's Nobleton-King City Garden Tour was that of Kathryn and Craig Corcoran, on the 15th Sideroad.   One expected to be impressed with the outstanding grounds and gardens, but for me the highlight was discovering the Cliff Swallow nests under the eaves, around the house.   In the top photo, you can make out one of the Cliff Swallows in the left gourd-shape mud nest.   In the second photo, there are 12 nests see above a garage door.   Around a corner, are six more of these nests, for a total of 18.   Kathryn told me that last year, they had 63 nests, under the eaves, encircling the house!   The Corcorans are leaving King Township in the near future and I couldn't help but wondering to myself how a new owner will react to the swallows' fascination with this special country residence.   Hopefully they will be wild-bird fanciers.

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BtheB

Osprey at King's northern tip

I took the photos below at King Township's northernmost tip in the Holland Marsh today.   The end-of-road site on Bathurst Street, at the West Holland River, is one of three Osprey nest locations in King Township that I have been visiting this year.   One of the other sites is located at Temperanceville, on the south-west corner of King Road and Bathurst Street atop a huge communications tower, and the third site is on the north shore of the lake at the Ranch Wake Park on Keele Street, north of Hwy. 9.   Unfortunately, while the first two locations have Ospreys on nest, the Ospreys at the Ranch Wake Park have abandoned their nest.   This has been a site occupied for many years by these magnificent raptors.   I saw an Osprey at the nest in the early spring.   One of the operators of Ranch Wake Park confirmed to me today that none of the big birds have been seen for several weeks.       

Photos by BarrytheBirder

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BtheB

Wrens fledge - hummingbirds return

PhotobyBarrytheBirder

Now that our first-ever House Wren babies have fledged, some peace and calm has returned to the backyard.   For the past month and a half, the very loud male wren has stormed about constantly and warned everyone, in an extremely loud voice, that the backyard is his and anyone else in the vicinity ventures there at their peril and under his permission.   The wrens have been a wonderful addition to our backyard but it is also nice to see all the other birds a little less harassed, especially the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds...those jewels of the garden.

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BtheB 

Female Rufous Hummingbird

Photo by Dave Kemp

My friend Dave Kemp's hummingbirds in British Columbia are now 11 days old.   They will fledge at 20 to 26 days.   I am looking forward to see Dave's photos of the mother bird feeding her two youngsters when they out of the nest.
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BtheB