Red Deer Peregrine Falcons Fledge

         Around the end of April a link was put on this blog to a web cam the Red Deer River Naturalists(RDRN) had put up on the Telus tower in conjunction with Telus and Canadian Wildlife. Many people from around the world have checked in to watch the activities of the peregrine falcons.

         First, they took possession of the nest. They laid five eggs over more than five days. They began incubating. There wasn't much to watch during this phase. Two eggs mysteriously disappeared about mid incubation. Finally, the three eggs hatched over about five days. This left one bird very small. Viewers were constantly worried about the smallest bird.

         Two days ago, July 13, the birds left the nest. What excitement! They are still coming back at night to the nest.

       Now in a few days the web cam will be turned off. We have to think it was a tremendous success. Many people learned about peregrines as well as other topics on the chat line with the web cam. We(RDRN) enjoyed the experience.

      We (RDRN) are left with planning for next year. We hope to be able to put the web cam up again next year with the partnership of Telus. We also want to have a web cam placed outside the box so that we can observe what goes on out side the box. If you have suggestions or comments please make them so that next year can be even more successful.

Dr. Gordon Court: Return of the Peregrine

         The Red Deer River Naturalists(RDRN) were very fortunate to have Dr. Gordon Court give a presentation on the peregrine falcon and it's return from near extinction.

        Historically peregrines have been of interest to humans as they have been used by hunters to hunt other birds. Humans are fascinated by the tremendous speed of a falcon's flight. The peregrine has been clocked at close to 400 km/hr in a dive. Pretty spectacular.

        Gord was a kid in the late sixties when DDT decimated the peregrine falcon population. Today the peregrine has made a remarkable come back so Gord feels that it is a good story. He should know. He was the overseer of the recovery program that was put in place to save the peregrine from disaster.

       In Gord's talk he began with DDT and how it affected the peregrine's reproductive system. He then told us about the recovery and all the good and bad luck involved as no one had done anything like this before. The eggs were not fertile when the peregrine's bred in captivity so they had to use artificial insemination. Much of he technology was learned by experience. Finally enough birds were raised so that they could release some back to the wild. Again this was another of those activities which had never been tried before so everything was experimental. To their surprise the birds migrated and returned the next summer and began breeding. The birds chose cities for nest sites as the tops of buildings provided nesting material...pebbles.

     Gord also gave an in depth description of what peregrines are like . He's an expert as he has raised many. He had an injured bird with him to demonstrate. He fed the injured bird at the end of his talk.

     So we were treated to a fascinating presentation on a very interesting bird.