Hamilton Falcon watch ends season with mixed emotions; peregrine chick presumed dead

Griffin is gone and it seems unlikely he survived, said a lead monitor with the Hamilton Community Peregrine Project.

We have to resign ourselves to the fact that one of our two chicks did not survive," Patricia Baker wrote on the falcon watch website log.

The young bird, one of two born this spring to parents Lily and Ozzie at their nest at Sheraton Hamilton Hotel, was last seen the day after returning from a stint at rehab.

Griffin got into trouble June 12, the same day his sister, Whitehern, took flight for the first time. He was rescued by falcon watch co-ordinators and volunteers after colliding with a building and was sent to The Owl Foundation in Niagara Region to recover.

But the day after his return to downtown Hamilton on June 21, the young raptor vanished.

Falcon watch monitors and co-ordinators spent days searching on building tops and peering into the sky with binoculars. There were some possible sightings, but the team grew concerned when they weren't seeing all four peregrines together.

We've looked everywhere," Baker said. But sometimes you don't know what happens."

It's possible that Griffin didn't survive a June 22 collision with a building, despite the initial impression that he flew away," the falcon watch website says.

The good news, Baker says, is that Whitehern was flying so very, very well."

She said it wouldn't be surprising if the young peregrine starts to feed on her own soon.

Baker recalled Whitehern's second interaction with larger birds of prey on June 25, believed to be juvenile eagles or osprey.

Whitehern was starting to take advantage of thermals, June 25, when two larger birds showed up.

For almost 10 minutes the young falcon was seen way up into thermals" interacting with the bigger birds until she disappeared from view.

It looked like they were playing, Baker said, there was no aggression."

She's an extremely vocal chick," Baker said, which may have made this unusual falcon watch season a little bit easier.

Baker is amazed at how we were able to do it given all the restrictions."

The team is thankful for downtown building managers for giving them access during the COVID-19 pandemic and they are looking forward to starting again next spring.

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com