Two falcons were born on Sunday at the top of the tower of the Roger-Gaudry pavilion at the University of Montreal. Internet users can also follow this brood of peregrine falcons live thanks to a camera that transmits live images of the chicks, their mother and the two other eggs that have not yet hatched.
The female peregrine falcon, named “Eve”, laid her four eggs between April 16 and April 23, and the first two falcons were born on Sunday. The chicks, which are barely covered by down, remain for the moment huddled under their mother’s belly. Two more could follow in the next few hours or days.
Over the years, around 30 falcons have been born atop the tower, which has so far hosted two breeding females since the nesting box (a simple wooden box with gravel) was installed in 2009.
As for the young people born on the grounds of the Université de Montréal, we cannot always know what became of them afterwards, even if they are all provided with a ring to identify them. Some nested in the Turcot Interchange area and one of the young falcons was found injured in New York State and later released.
Peregrine falcons also nest on the structure of several bridges in the Montreal area. This is particularly the case for the Jacques-Cartier and Honoré-Mercier bridges. On this bridge, falcons were born earlier this month.
Revival of the Falcons
The fact of being able to observe peregrine falcons at the University of Montreal, or in other urban sites, notably in Quebec, would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. In the past, the peregrine falcon has indeed been decimated, mainly due to the massive use of DDT, a highly toxic pesticide that has caused chronic reproductive problems in these birds.
Even though DDT was banned in Canada in 1972, the situation of the peregrine falcon remained critical for several years, in particular due to the persistence of the pesticide in the environment.
The first inventories carried out in Quebec, in the St. Lawrence Valley, indicated, for example, that the species was, so to speak, wiped off the map, before it began to gain a few rare breeding pairs in the 1990s. of these raptors ended up increasing, in particular because of their ability to adapt to urban environments.
The species is no longer at risk, but it still faces certain threats, including collisions with power lines, cars or building windows, disturbance by climbing (the falcon nests often on the side of a cliff) or hikers, as well as wind turbines.