Ancaster

Three weeks ago, we saw this chick

For a couple of weeks we knew that she would be an only child, though no-one knows why the other three eggs didn't hatch.

Earlier today, the chick was picked up and weighed and banded and named.









At 953grams, she is a big youngster. She has a red band on her right leg for easy identification. 

Meet Ancaster, named for the city (now amalgamated with Hamilton) that was settled in 1792. I'm not certain, but I believe she is the 48th hatched peregrine from the Sheraton Hotel.

feeding baby

The peregrine falcons have once again nested at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Hamilton. This year there are four eggs! This little one hatched on April 28th; still waiting for the other three siblings.

Unfortunately for us, Lily has for the second year, chosen the wrong end of the ledge to set up her nest. The other side would give the camera a perfect view of the eggs and hatchings.

And, unfortunately for Lily, there was snow in early April, but she  endured and stoically keep her eggs warm.

There have been peregrines nesting on the 18th floor of the hotel since 1994 and I became addicted to the falcon cam around 1999. Finally, with more flexible time on my hands, I thought I'd volunteer for FalconWatch where groups of people keep watch over the fledgling chicks to keep track of their movements and feedings, and most importantly are on hand in case something goes wrong and a chick needs help. They are navigating a busy downtown core of a large city after all.

I thought a two hour shift once a week or so. After the first outing, I was hooked and ended up going several times a week and was almost sad when it ended once the chicks were flying and feeding well on their own.

I was rather grateful that last year there were only two chicks to keep track of. 
But with the possibility of four... well, I'll keep you informed!
linking with Our World Tuesday

a view with the falcons

Falconwatch is winding down. I've been one of several volunteers keeping an eye on the new family of peregrine falcons in downtown Hamilton (see this post) This is the building where they like to spend much of their time. It has been a favourite for several of the falcons over the years. It's hard to see, but Ossie (dad) is sitting on his favourite perch, what we call the 'squiggle', and up on the far left on the roof by the cell phone tower thingies are the two youngsters

below are some screen shots from the webcam

Lily (Mom)

Barton (Daughter)

Both of the girls, McMaster and Barton, are strong fliers and there was no crashing into glass windows, or falling off perches or dive bombing into traffic. Thank goodness, because no-one really wants to do a rescue. As soon as the chicks have mastered catching their own food, they will start flying higher and farther away to find their own home. Originally, I thought I'd volunteer for maybe one two-hour shift a week. But the first week I did three days and after that, I was hooked and covering four days for sometimes four hours at a time. Some days nothing happened as the girls rested and other days I didn't want to leave when my shift was over and hung around with the others, just in case some exciting flying or talon touching happened.

I had a chance to go up to the 24th floor of the Stelco Tower, where the falconwatch co-ordinator sits for an in-the-sky view of the birds.

After Stelco went under several years ago, the top floor where the offices were were emptied and have stayed so ever since.

The views out over the city are spectacular 

(although, it is true that Hamilton is not the most beautiful of cities)

looking north (above) and south-east (below)

and east down below at Gore Park

sharing with Our World Tuesday

and image-in-ing for Wordless Wednesday

falcons

This is where I've been spending many of my afternoons and evenings the past couple of weeks. In a parking lot, in downtown Hamilton.

Volunteering my time to look up, mostly towards the Sheraton Hotel, because that is where we have a family of peregrine falcons. That ledge under the 'N' has been a nesting site for about 20 years now, though this year there is a new pair of parents - Lily aged 5-ish and Ossie aged 3-ish. We think because of his age this may be Ossie's first time as a father. He's doing a great job. They have two young ones named McMaster and Barton (following a tradition of naming the chicks after local landmarks). There are cameras positioned so everyone can get a glimpse of the family... until the chicks are ready to attempt to fly, at least. Which they did this week.

If you look closely up at the top left corner of the Sheraton you can see what looks like two birds









but, actually it is only one falcon (in this case McMaster) and what we have begun to call 'the iron falcon'. From a distance, it fools everybody!

Next door at the top of the Standard Life Building, on a pole contraption that is used for the window washers, sits Barton.

They don't fly too far away at first and are still being fed by the parents. At one point a stupid pigeon flew right up to McMaster. We could hear some squawking, but she didn't really pay much attention to the pigeon. Eventually Mom caught sight of it near her baby and chased it away. I guess Mom wasn't ready to catch dinner and baby hasn't yet made the connection between a live bird and food!
Also keeping watch (but with a high powered scope as well as binoculars) inside the Stelco Tower is the falconwatch co-ordinator. I hope to get to go up and see the view that she sees next week. But she can't see everything, which is why we are on the ground. 
Because, also sticking close to the chicks are the parents, one of whom is sitting at the corner of the Stelco Tower right below where she is. This is my first year volunteering, but already, especially when the light is right, it is getting easier for me to spot them. 
Here's hoping for safe flights and no dangerous crashes or falls onto the traffic below. We have a rescue box handy, but none of us really wants to have to use it.
something for Saturday's Critters
and Our World Tuesday

free entertainment

I'm not entirely sure what "freeview" is 

(I believe it's some sort of digital channel out of the UK) 

and I'm even less certain how the advertising team came up with this idea, but it's brilliant! )

birds of prey

This weekend is the big stamp show and sale in Toronto. I had been looking forward to it since, well, since last year. But, seeing as I still haven't organized the many hundreds of stamps I already have into the books I bought for them (most of them are still in little boxes and envelopes) I decided to not overwhelm myself further. The temptation was strong though and only tempered by the annual postcard show and sale being held today.

Also, I was afraid that I might end up buying more of the same stamps I already have (as I've already done). One of the topical stamps I collect is birds, but of all the birds out there perhaps my least favourite are the birds of prey.  We have a pair of peregrine falcons who return to nest each year on a ledge at a downtown hotel and I am among the hundreds of people who eagerly watch the webcam and follow the progress of the eggs and eventually chicks as they grow and learn how to fly and catch their own food before finally fledging out on their own. While I greatly admire their skills, there is something about their inherent aggressiveness that is not so attractive. And they are scary looking. I guess I just like the crafty, colourful, cartoonish looking birds best.

This 2013 set of falcoaria stamps for the Portuguese Association of Falconry are gems. They illustrate not only the birds standing on an outstretched (and seriously gloved) hand as well as in flight, but also some of the equipment used in the art of falconry

Clockwise, we have a Peregrine Falcon and a hood, followed by a Goshawk and a haversack, then a Golden Eagle and a falconry glove, and finally, a Hawk with a roster. 

this is a Stellar's sea eagle from China. these birds feed mainly on fish, favouring salmon and trout.

below is a kestrel, one from The Netherlands issued 1995 and the other from Viet Nam, issued 1982.

they have an unnerving ability to hover in the air


...and speaking of flying (sortof) have you seen this video?



for Sunday Stamps

se-tenant stamps

I was quite thrilled to find this block of stamps. 

birds are a particular favourite of mine 

especially waterbirds.

It also helps that the latin names are included on the stamps.

Myophonus insularis -  Taiwan Whistling Thrush
Cinclus pallasii -  Brown Dipper
Aix galericulata -  Mandarin Duck
Nycticorax Nycticorax-  Night Heron
Egretta garzetta -  Little Egret

Rhyacornis fuliginosa -  Plumbeous Water Redstart
Enicurus scouleri -  Little Forktail
Motacilla cinerea -  Grey Wagtail
Alcedo atthis -  Common Kingfisher
Motacilla alba -  White Wagtail

this is a set of se-tenant stamps for Sunday Stamps

edited to add a link to the whistling thrush call

cranes

This 1990 stamp series from Mongolia features the white-naped crane (grus vipio pallas), the fourth rarest crane in the world. It breeds in Mongolia at the borders of Russia and China and winters along the Korean peninsula around the DMZ of South Korea and also in Kyushu in southern Japan. It is threatened mostly by development and loss of wetlands. Agricultural expansion and the demand for water at both the breeding and wintering grounds is not helping, Neither is the prolonged drought that is expected to last until 2015 helping. Their preferred breeding areas are marshes, wetlands and flooded meadows. In winter they live in rice paddies, mudflats and brackish marshes. Apparently the switch from spring to autumn ploughing of rice paddies in Korea has affected their foraging. Grass seed, rice, wheat and insects, worms and grubs are what they like to eat.

The male and female look the same with a slate grey body, white throat and vertical white strip from their crown down the neck, all set off with a prominent red face. Their most distinguishing feature is their pinkish legs (no other crane has this).

They can grow up to 4' and weigh 12 lbs and there are less than 5,000 of them left.

SundayStamps

Chantry Island Lighthouse

In anticipation of this week's stamp theme of lighthouses, I thought I would share something about the Chantry Island Lighthouse.

I have hundreds dozens of photos. Every time I see it with the light shining on the white limestone, I have to take more photos. Just in case. One of them will be the perfect shot and then I will stop. But it is located about a mile off the shore at Southampton on Lake Huron.

And it is always windy (at least when I have been there, it is. I have been told that some days the lake is like glass, but I find that hard to believe)

Anyway, I need to practice with my zoom lens











Six of these Imperial Towers were commissioned by the government and built by John Brown between 1855-59.
All are pretty much identical with an 80' conical tower with a small cottage for the keeper

and all are strategically located on Lake Huron. This particular area is home to at least 50 known shipwrecks.

The lens in the lighthouse was a Fresnel, imported from France, this one in the Bruce County Museum
and the first fuel used was sperm whale oil and later colza oil, coal oil, kerosene, acetylene and electricity until the current solar power. No wonder there were so many fires. It was a dangerous job. And you were on your own.


The lighthouse has been operating ever since it was built but it was automated in the 1950s,  and eventually with no caretaker the abandoned buildings fell into disrepair.  But by the late 1990s, a group of local lighthouse enthusiasts (now known as the Southampton Marine Heritage Society, but at the time was Supporters of Chantry Island) worked tirelessly at restoring the house. You can read more here if you are interested.

Now there are tours run by volunteers and you can climb the steep and narrow 115 steps to the top of the tower and also wander through the restored cottage and see it as it might have been furnished in the 1900s. Since the island is also a bird sanctuary you cannot wander freely, but, the noise and smell from the various cormorants, egrets, herons, gulls can be a little overwhelming, even from a distance!

a view of the restored privy

some of the thousands of cormorants

and at left, some egrets

and, far off in the distance....

the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant

birds

I really enjoy getting bird postcards. I dream of being able to take such clear shots of them in all poses. And in some cases of simply seeing them!

Here we have the early arrival spring favourite, the robin. Except this one looks very different from the robins we are used to seeing. The European robin has been knocked out of the thrush family and is now classified as a chat. I had to look that up, and immediately got lost in the taxonomy. Our (American) robins are considered true thrushes.

But the good news in these parts is the Bald Eagle new parents nesting nearby in the Royal Botanical Gardens. There have been sightings of two little white tufts in the nest! These are the first bald eagles to hatch on Lake Ontario in decades and there is great excitement at the arrival of the newcomers. You can read more about the Bald Eagle Project here. The adult pair have been nesting for a few years and have chosen a site that is viewable from the boardwalk. Unfortunately, I have no good photos and haven't seen the babies. The aerial views of mom and pop have been a sight to see, at least!

Postcard Friendship Friday

make friends with an owl

Owls have been making a big rerun, much as they were back in the 1970's. Everything that could have an owl design, or owl shape is available (if you don't believe me, check out your local Winners or HomeSense, or any kitchen/home decor store).

I think they are cute and have started a modest collection of vintage and retro owls of my own.

The owl came into our Hallowe'en traditions much like the bat. As a hunter of bats, owls would often be seen near the Hallowe'en bonfires searching for food as were the bats. As they flew silently through the night sky and often lived in the hollows of trees where they could not be easily seen, they had a disconcerting habit of scaring travellers. When they screeched, it filled people with apprehension and made them think something evil was about to happen. Some believed that witches could change themselves into owls where they might then drink the blood of babies. In time the screeching reminded people of the cackling of a witch.

The owl was the favorite creature of Athene, the Goddess of Wisdom. The Greeks believed the owl to be a protector, with its magical ability to see at night. To have an owl fly over an army before battle was sign of impending victory.

The Romans, however, believed the owl was a creature from the underworld and a portend of impending doom. To hear the hoot of an owl meant that there would soon be a death. 

The English adopted much of their owl folklore from their Roman conquerors. For them, the owl was a sinister creature. It hunted in the night, a time closely associated with death and evil. 

It's interesting that in the northernmost parts of England and in Scotland where the Roman armies did not conquer, the local inhabitants considered it good luck to see an owl.

This postcard for Postcard Friendship Friday was sent from Vivienne in Hungary

Sunday Stamps

Once again we could choose whatever theme we wanted, and with this absolutely wonderful spring-like weather we have been having these last few days, I have spent much time outdoors listening to the lovely sound of the birds that have returned.
We don't have the spring blossoms that are included in this stamp from China, but at this rate it won't be long.....

alcedo atthis or as they say in Austria, an Eisvogel 

with another Kingfisher from Hong Kong and a Collard Scops Owl as a bonus

this stamp celebrates 100 years of the Vogelschutzwart Seebach a bird observatory in Germany

Viridian's Postcard Blog has many more stamps so visit what others have found.
For me, I'm heading back outside to enjoy the 23C sunny weather... see you all later.

Sunday Stills - people

Taking photos of people is not my forte. For some reason, I find it uncomfortable. I don't really know why. Maybe it is because I hate having my photo taken.
Pictures of street scenes look much more lively with people in them, but somehow, mine all end up looking a little... flat. I checked my archives and spent hours studying them to see where I was going wrong.


Then I went out and tried to get some people.

I decided to work on getting over my self consciousness about it by starting with something familiar.
Like a duck,
with some random people sitting at the cafe
(apparently oblivious to this duck in the pool)













then I moved on to some geese, with a random guy on a park bench reading...

this was getting easier. 

I moved on to focusing on these people using the binoculars and ended up with a random gull

I did manage one without any avian distractions... this one, taken last Sunday at the Elora Gorge (before I knew the theme) of a man who climbed over the wall, risking life and limb for a good shot. 

(he said he does it all the time and felt quite safe. I was holding my breath trying to capture his foolhardiness)

as a bonus,

feeling a little more confident

I was with my niece and we visited friends with a rescued kitten.
this adorable little thing was abandoned by her mother after her siblings died. we think she is about 4 weeks old. we also think she may be a boy, but somehow we all persisted in referring to him as she.

all taken for Sunday Stills and as usual, images will embiggen with just a click