Thread by @mr_lois_lane

🦅🏨 🪶For more than 25 years, peregrine falcons have nested on a ledge on a downtown #HamOnt hotel. Throughout that time, a group of dedicated volunteers has protected them. I spoke to current and former members of Hamilton's FalconWatch about why they do it. [1/11]

The nest in question is on the south face of the @SheratonYHM (just under the 'n' in the photo). The Hamilton Community Peregrine Project, or FalconWatch, monitors the nest, bands chicks for identification, tracks the birds’ comings and goings, and helps those in distress. [2/11]

Peregrine falcons, the world's fasted animal, were previously endangered due to the use of DDT pesticides but Ontario now considers them a "special concern." (ontario.ca/page/peregrine…) Some peregrine falcons have adapted to urban living, which has its ups and downs. [3/11]

Urban areas provide falcons with perches to use and pigeons to eat, but tall obstacles and busy streets mean they're dangerous places for those learning to fly. Only 30 per cent of peregrines live more than a year. Knowing the risks inspired the local falcon watch to form. [4/11]

The watch started in 1995 and is managed by @HamiltonNature. Today it has about 30 active volunteers.
One of the ways it works to protect falcons is through banding, a process by which identifying markers are placed around chicks’ legs so they can be tracked.
[5/11]

As chicks can run into trouble when learning to fly (falls are not uncommon and some chicks get stuck), the group organizes “feet on the street” shifts: coordinators and volunteers work as long as the sun is up, monitoring where chicks go and calling in help if needed. [6/11]

If volunteers see falcons in need, they call the watch’s rescue team, which takes them to safety or medical care. Since '94, 64 chicks fledged at the Sheraton nest. The watch conducts an average one rescue per year and estimates it has saved the lives of about 12 birds. [7/11]

“One peregrine saved, for a species in recovery, can make a huge difference. And it has,” says Mark Nash, director of the non-profit Canadian Peregrine Foundation. His organization works with about 12 watches in Ontario (Hamilton's is independent). [8/11]

Nash, and Anne Yagi, who bands falcons with the CPF and Hamilton FalconWatch say we know from banding records where birds go and what their family trees are. Nash knows of birds who volunteers saved that ended up travelling the continent, and had chicks and grand-chicks. [9/11]

There were no new chicks from the resident female (Lily) in Hamilton this year, but volunteers have been keeping a close eye on the falcons through a webcam stationed at the nest. The feed is live on the FalconWatch website (falcons.hamiltonnature.org) [10/11]

Founding watch member Mike Street says, “the falcon watch comes down to keeping an eye on the birds and enjoying birds.” That and the successful fledging of all the chicks. "That's the reward for doing this.”

Article here (with waaay more detail): tvo.org/article/how-ha… [11/11]