Hybrid

May 29th

Decided to get out early to check up on some sites that have been rumored to hold Peregrines and also visit some known sites in East London.

I arrived at my 1st port of call around 4.45am and found a Tiercel on territory, I 1st saw this bird about 2 months ago, initial thoughts were it must be a visiting Tiercel favouring the location due to the density of the local feral pigeon population. Since then I have seen him a number of times and have confirmed that he is a single bird, as yet with no mate, holding to this particular structure.

Tiercel (click on photos too enlarge)

Looking at him showed he already had stashed prey on a ledge, so I left him in peace and moved on.

Next stop was a Church that might have Peregrines on it, this was the 1st time I have visited this site, a bit low, but looked ideal for Peregrines. Although there was no guano staining or prey remains aloft or lower down I made a note to keep an eye on it In the future, it was also bang in the middle of pairs east and west.

There are some sites, especially past breeding sites that I always visit whenever I pass them, this was the case today when I found the hybrid.

As I arrived at the location I could see the bird straight away and realized it was not a Peregrine, its colour also gave it away, a very striking looking bird with greyish plumage. On looking through the scope, my 1st thought was Merlin/Peregrine hybrid, the head especially reminded me of Merlin, its size was equal to a Tiercel Peregrine, possibly a tad larger.

Hybrid

The white undertones to the chest pointed towards Peregrine but the small feet and talons seemed more suited to Merlin, the moustachial sideburns also looked good for Lanner/ Merlin. Additionally the grey plumage may point towards Lanner Falcon.

The barring to back and mantle area showed Peregrine heritage, have to say, although a hybrid it was a cracking looking bird, just a pity I did not get to see it fly, would have been good to get the wing shape and colour.

Would welcome any thoughts on its Id, and also if anyone has seen it around before.

It was also interesting that the bird was at an ex – peregrine site, coincidence or could have possibly followed a peregrine in.

Parliament Pair - Ringing

May 28th

Good news in the fact that not only have the juveniles been ringed, 2 males and a female, the camera position has also been moved, the footage is now a lot better with adults coming and going being observed. As I write this at 3.30pm, I have just been watching the Tiercel feeding the juveniles.

The footage is great and shows how all 3 juveniles are given an equal share, when they have had enough they simply reverse up or turn there back. They are now getting very big , exercising small wings is becoming very important now as they grow towards full size.

Old camera position - young now getting very big.Photo Nathalie Mahieu

For those not aware of fledging Peregrines on there 1st flight, they have a habit of grounding, in particular on days with not a breath of wind, they need this to give them uplift on there maiden flight. Last year at least 5 people covered the site at different times of the day from dawn to dusk, although 1 or 2 of the juveniles came down low, they eventually found there way back up after a day or 2, hunger is a great motivator. This year will be no different and a watch will start around fledging time, probably around the 2nd week in June.

I have picked up a few juveniles over the years that have grounded as have members of the London Peregrine Partnership, we have returned them to high points near the nest, without assistance many will fall prey to urban foxes or become road casualties. In the wilder rural areas many juveniles are lost on grounding and the mortality rate is around 30%.

With the new camera position, it will also give us an insight on prey species, although predominately feral pigeon in London, this time of year produces hordes of juvenile Starlings, I was at a site this morning and the Tiercel bought in 2.

Falcon bringing in prey at another site.

Parliament Pair

May 24th                                                                                                                             

The young are growing very fast now and are becoming mobile, they are now  around 18 + days old. I have been watching the CCTV quite a bit lately, it is a bit frustrating as much of the behavior and actions are being missed due to the nest scrape position.

The above footage shows the young hatching with prey stashed nearby.Courtesy of Nathalie


I would like to give updates and photographic progress from outside, on ground level, but this will unfortunately draw attention to the birds, also it not an ideal area to walk round with equipment. I will wait till they fledge and return to Parliament, last years return date was July 10th.Having spoken to a number of people at Parliament, it looks like there return is quite eagerly awaited due to the spectacle and noise of up to 6 Peregrines gracing Parliament. I must admit it is a spectacular sight to see 4 juveniles buzzing Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Victoria Palace, even amongst all the traffic and noise they cannot be ignored.

The young flat out in the sunshine, around 12 days old.Photo - Nathalie Mahieu

The CCTV camera has been down over the weekend and Monday but is now up and running, unfortunately the juveniles have covered it as per last year with guano. Obviously due to licencing restrictions it cannot be cleaned, hopefully if they are to be ringed, the camera can then be cleaned.

Parliament Pair

May 7th

3 eggs have now hatched, the 4th hopefully will follow very shortly. The 3rd egg hatched between 12.00 and 4.00pm on Thursday May 5th and was recorded by Nathalie who has kindly forwarded the info.

Watching the web cam this morning at 5.56am gave occasional glimpses of the freshly hatched juveniles, but positioning of the scrape makes it hard to see and record the comings and goings of adult birds. I could see by reflection this morning, an adult was feeding the young, as the juveniles get bigger and more mobile, usually around 10 days, behavior and feeding will be recorded a lot more in front of the camera.

Hopefully as the young get bigger we will not have a repeat of last years guano plastering of the CCTV camera.

Parliament Pair

As I write this the month has flown by and we are nearly into May (tomorrow), I have obtained the web cam address so the pair can now be followed right up to fledging. She is still sitting tight on her nest tray on the 4 eggs, I expect that they will hatch very soon looking at the dates given earlier in the diary. I have been watching quite a lot over the holiday period and as yet I have not been able to see if any have hatched as yet.

The best bet is when she stands up to shift position, having witnessed this a few times I am still none the wiser, she seems to stay too low, hopefully over the next few days I can confirm if any have hatched.
Address of web cam is http://www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature/146957-peregrines-at-the-tate-modern

April 10th

There is a Peregrine site in London that I visit pretty regular, obviously more so in the breeding season, the pair are in a relatively unique habitat, there are so many feral pigeons in and on the main structure, the pair have little need to hunt further afield.

At my last count, 650 left the roost starting at dawn, departing over a period of an hour with the main surge happening in the first 30 minutes, at the moment it is the Tiercel who is doing the hunting from the structure, it is truly spectacular to observe.

With this many ferals inside, year round breeding takes place, even in mid winter, recent events have shown that the Peregrines have not only adjusted, learnt and taken advantage of another food source, but have also exploited it.

In 2010 I observed the Tiercel fly into the inside of the structure and he then landed on a girder, I did not think at the time, that his positioning was deliberate and intentional, he had already fed and was going to lay up. By coincidence there just happened to be a feral pigeon nest about 2 metres away at the junction of a girder, inside were 2 ¾ grown juveniles. I expected him to lay up as his crop was full, instead he reacted to the presence of the juvenile ferals. He quite simply waddled over to the nest and grabbed one, it was quickly dispatched and then taken to a stash point, obviously for later feeding or prey for the Falcon.

At the time I thought that it was a one off but recently I have seen him flying round the structure, sometimes low down and landing near likely pigeon nest sites, ie – holes, niches and ledges, he was searching, in short, it looks as if he has learnt to exploit it. Carrion Crows, even Magpies I know have this level of intelligence but never suspected Peregrines could learn and adjust there hunting behavior to take advantage of an easy food source.

Recently after observing a nest relief very early a.m, I watched the Falcon emerge and then for 10 minutes she preened, at the end of this she started to head bob as they do, intently looking around, behavior was obviously looking to hunt. I presumed there was no stashed prey available so suspected that she would go up and hunt. As I watched her she took off and disappeared round a corner, and then emerged 2 minutes later with a ½ grown feral pigeon juvenile, she then landed on a wall. The prey was intact and was not already plucked and half eaten.

This made me think, has she learnt from the Tiercel, or vice versa, the area where she retrieved the prey was not a known stashing point of the Tiercels, they have there points which they use regularly. In short, I do not think she retrieved stashed prey so it is possible that she has adapted to an easier food source also.

Certainly very surprising and I cannot recall hearing of this before, as I have said before, no 2 pairs behave the same and they can be totally unpredictable. New behaviour is coming to light all the time in urban pairings, a few years back, who would have thought that they regularly hunt at night to exploit a food source?

Breeding

The pair are now on territory on last years nest site and are on eggs, information has very kindly been forwarded to me by Nathalie Mahieu www.nmahieu.blogspot.com who has been watching developments and there progress.

As you have gathered they are on web cam and until today I have not been able to access the site, there is nothing wrong with the link, it is my lack of knowledge when it come to computers, I suddenly hit a brick wall, unfortunately you cant teach an old dog new tricks.

Nathalies progress report is listed below.

March 25th – 1st egg laid at 8.30pm, this was witnessed by Lyndon Parker

March 28th – 2nd egg was revealed at 1.00pm

March 29th – still 2 eggs

March 30th – 3 eggs seen at 8.35pm

April 1st - 4th egg laid

There possibly may be more, unless you can see a nest relief or either bird changes position whilst incubating it is very hard to see. Well done to Nathalie for putting the time in and witnessing it. Hopefully everything will go smoothly as per last year.
Last year the 1st egg was laid on April 1st so we are just under a week early, there seems to be no reason for this as other pairs in London this year are late.

I was present at the site on Sunday April 10th and the Tiercel had his hands full with the local Carrion Crows, when a Raptor, especially a large one appears, Crow squabbles and territorial disputes are all forgotten, and mob mentality takes over. None will challenge him in the air near the nest site, being intelligent, they know this is dangerous, if he lands on a building they will land near him and try and intimidate him with numbers.

If all goes well will shortly be putting the webcam on the Blog.