Nutrien This is a hard report for me to write. I did not keep up with reporting here as I was noticing, the facts were being twisted elsewhere.
But this report is factualIt has been a wild ride here this year. but this is the way it is in the life of a falcon. It is all about the site. They do not choose their mates, they choose the site. Like it or not it is survival of the fittest or in a lot of cases just ousting.
When things settled down this year , we were off to a late nesting. When Emyrauld and I discovered, through a lot of had work, who was nesting here, we were excited. But we knew we had a young pair and would have to carefully monitor. Sometimes having recorder on for 24 hours ( we do have lives LOL)
this is why reliable cams are so importantThis pair proved to be excellent. They took turns incubating. The male brought in small prey and even our female brought in prey at times, while incubating. Learning
She hatched out each chick without any problem. As with any young female, it took her a few feedings to figure it out , but she did. The male always had prey for her . When she left the box, the male was there to oversee the chicks.
As they got older , the male would take his turn at feeding. Because there was usually enough prey , every chick got fed well. Sometimes one would miss a feed, but this is normal.
The kids matured and all was well. WE monitored carefully.
On july18- we noticed , that at 4:29, adult male came in to box with prey to feed. ( kids starting to steal LOl). which was normal , but then he came in again at 5:41pm and at 7:10pm and at 7:45pm and at 8:43pm . Each time he fed. Where was our female. This was not normal
We had not seen her since 11:36am that morning,
Then July19- male was in at 6:41 to feed but only stayed a few minutes , but left prey there. Something was wrong. Our female would not just leave. She would be there if she could.
But what was even stranger is that our male came to box at 9:43 and left.
we had our cams recording 24 hours ( thank goodness we did)
July20
7:56am - no sign of our male. he had been gone since 9:43am the day before. Now remember , we cannot see beyond the box and it is Saturday. the chicks are 22 day old and one 21 days old .
After 8am- the decision was made to remove the chicks. They had not been fed since 6:43am the day before. They were feeding from leftover prey. Some could crack it , some could not. The risk could not be taken as they needed hydration, and it would get hot in box.
RFO Falcon went to site and Peter met him there (it was a Saturday morning). No sign of male, and chicks were removed. Thank you RFO falcon. Peter brought the chicks home and we carefully fed them as they were somewhat dehydrated, till Dr. Court could retrieve them later that day.
The chicks were too young to be taken to hack site so they are with another adult female who has one chick . The next best case scenario
They will be taken to hack site when they are old enough.
And yes they were banded , we have one male and 2 females
July 21- male came to box after 3 Am and slept in box till he left at 7:17am . He did try to feed off wing about 5 am and then went back to sleep . we have not seen him on cam since.
We continue to monitor 24 hours a day.
I have never come across this situation in all the years I have been monitoring. YOU will sometimes lose one parent, and the other can take over, . This is a good male and a good female , so it is puzzling.
We have had fierce electrical storms and continual rain. , so one never knows. One thing for sure, the male would have been there if he could have. ( and most certainly, the female would have been also).
So we manged to save 3 chicks. and this is the males site, so he will retain it if possible. There is no reason for him it come to box at present , but if he is there, he will eventually. That is why my cam is recording 24 hours a day. And maybe RFO falcon will see him when he is out and about. He will let me know.
So the monitoring will go on for the next while with hopes of one or both falcons returning. A big thank you to Emyruald and RFO Falcon and Peter for all their help and efforts. Should there be any news, I will update all of you.
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