Windsor's Peregrine Falcon Fledglings & Venus Eclipse

Fredie & Voltaire

Not much happening bird-wise this week. I've had a few brief walks at Ojibway, but the 6 Peregrine Falcons at the bridge are the big story. According to Patrick from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, here are some names/stats for the four new Peregrine Fledglings (summer 2012):

Name	Colour Band	Band ID
Viper (female)	Blue Band	23/W
Twitter (female)	Yellow Band	S/23
General Brock (male)	Red Band	22/V
Eddy (?)	Green Band	S/24

 

What a difference a day makes

This next four or so photos are taken over the span of a week (May 28 to June 6th). Soon they will be learning how to fly, hunt and perform aerial displays at the foot of the ambassador bridge. Six Falcons? Very Cool!

May 28th

May 31st

June 5th  - Twitter (yellow) & General Brock (red)

June 7th - Viper (blue)

It was pretty cool to see 6 Peregrine Falcons today while standing next to the bridge in Windsor. Twitter & General Brock have started flying and are perched about while their parents try to feed all four fledglings.

Twitter dropped part of a dead bird, so parent has to go pick it up.

I feel strange calling one of the meanest, fastest most fearsome birds on earth "twitter". LOL. I read somewhere recently that Falcons are closer (genetically) to Parrots than to Hawks.  Strange no?


A quick walk at the Ojbiway Prairie had nice looks at Baltimore Checkerspots & Orchard Orioles among others. The Baltimore Checkerspot was in the exact same spot I saw it last year! Other birds seen at Ojibway this week are Eastern Towhee, Northern Flicker, Field Sparrows, Indigo Buntings, plus you most common and basic birds. I'm saddened not to see any Eastern Bluebirds. Usually I hear and see them easily at this time of year.

This summer, I will try to pay more attention to Skippers and Hairstreaks. I have a butterfly guide now!

The tiny Least Skipper. Least only in name.

Here is a cool video about Peregrine Falcons and how they kill their prey:




I'd love to go out to Hamilton to see the breeding Prairie Warblers, but I just do not have the time.  I might save seeing a Prairie Warbler for retirement...

Good birding!
Dwayne

Raymond Barlow shot this incredible photo of a Peregrine Falcon. You owe it to yourself to check it out:

http://www.pbase.com/raymondjbarlow/image/142337407

 Or Jerry Peltier's once in a lifetime photo of a Peregrine Falcon destroying a blue-jay in mid air.http://www.mybirdingplace.com/details.php?pic_id=3338



Bonus: Venus Eclipse!

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Hinode spacecraft captured this stunning view of the transit of Venus.