Interesting Neighbors

Posted on by

photo courtesy of Dennis Swayze

As of late I’ve noticed that a pair of Merlin’s are expressing great interest in a pine tree close to me and doing all the right things. Not being nest builders they tend to use abandoned Crow’s nest from the previous year.
Females are dark brown and larger than the gray-blue males and about half the size of a Peregrine.
The prolonged kee,kee,kee,kee calling is unmistakable…some may find the sounds annoying along with the fact that their main diet consists of small birds.
Hopefully they won’t be chased off by Crows as I’m looking forward to the possibility they may nest.
Time will tell.

Peregrine Fly By

Posted on by

photo courtesy of Dennis Swayze

When it comes to identifying individual birds it can be difficult and confusing…oh thank heaven for bands that gives us a positive ID on a specific bird. The bands have two sets of identical numbers and are a combination of a letter and numbers.
In this case it’s easy to see both the front and back edge of the letter and numbers…confirming it’s Pip.
Without seeing his band it would be a I think its Pip as he has a very white breast and his cere/base of the beak is much whiter than others.

On a side note…First Egg was laid at the Radisson April 17th.

Territories Now Sorted Out

Posted on by

photo courtesy of Dennis Swayze

Winnipeg Peregrines have now sorted out their territories without any major disputes that we are aware of. Hart and his mate Esme now back at the West Wpg site and Pip and Ella have settled into the Radisson.
There seems to have been a slow return of birds this year with only ten/ five pairs that have been confirmed so far…I believe this could all be weather related and when conditions improve may have more returning birds.

Just prior to our Mid-April Storm that has blanketed Manitoba we re-introduced ourselves to Pip & Ella at the Radisson for some last minute nest box and camera cleaning.
As per usual it didn’t take the pair long to greet us…we were the ones trespassing on their territory.

Cheers !
Dennis