Welcome
I would like to welcome you to my Bird Page!!
Birds of Prey
These birds are beautiful!! I just love their majestic flights. Beautiful , Graceful and endangered :o(!!!!
The Peregrine Falcon
Status: Endangered throughout Canada. Populations in southern Canada were established with captive-bred young and remain small. Twenty years ago there
were no breeding pairs in southern Alberta. Now there are 30 pairs across the province.Appearance: Slim birds with a small head and long, thin, pointed wings. Similar in size to crows.
Food: Peregrines can reach speeds close to 320 km-h in a downward dive. They use their speed and agility to catch birds in mid-air. Their prey range in size from sparrows to large waterfowl such as ducks.
Breeding: In Alberta, they nest on ledges on steep cliff faces or high office towers. A male will fly complex courtship flights for his mate. In mid-May females usually lay four eggs. Both adults help incubate the eggs which hatch in mid-June. The young birds begin to fly 35-45 days later. Due to their inexperience flying and hunting, over 60 per cent will die before the next spring.
Lifespan: Up to 13 years. A falcon named Arrow nested and bred in Edmonton's AGT Tower for 11 years.
Risk factors: Agricultural and industrial use of pesticides has caused a worldwide decline of peregrine falcons. Pesticide use is closely regulated in Canada and the U.S. but not in Latin America where peregrines winter.
Pesticide residues remain in the environment for many years. They're picked up by a variety of animals, then passed on up the food chain to birds of prey. The residues collect in the birds' fat and eventually interfere with reproduction, causing thin eggshells and dead embryos.
Management and Outlook: Population recovery in Alberta is slow in spite of intensive management programs and reduced pollutant residues in falcons and their prey.
Each year since 1992, wildlife agencies in Alberta have released 45 captive-bred falcons. They use a technique called hacking, where 30-day-old birds are placed in hack boxes on cliffs or tall buildings. The box protects the young birds from the weather and predators. An attendant provides food through a tube until the birds instinctively master flying and hunting several weeks later.
The Canadian Wildlife Service also has a breeding facility near Wainwright. The eggs or young from these captive birds are fostered with wild falcons to supplement natural reproduction.
Programs like these should maintain the current breeding population and may increase it to a self-sustaining level in the future.
It is illegal to kill or disturb peregrine falcons or their nesting areas in Canada and the U.S.
Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalusDescription: Large, dark brown, adult has white head, immature head is brown. Wingspan 80" (Bird in photo is immature)
Occurrence: Winter resident found near lakes and the Colorado River. The Lake Mary and Mormon Lake area south of Flagstaff are good places to see wintering Bald Eagles. Winter resident on Lake Powell and in the Colorado River corridor of the Grand Canyon.
Golden Eagle
Aquila chrysaetosDescription: Very large dark brown bird. Back of neck yellow-brown. Seen from below immatures have white patches on wings. Wingspan: 80"
Occurrence: Common resident year round. Most often seen perched prominantly in open country.
Burrowing Owl
Status: In the late 1970s there were about 2,100 breeding pairs left in Canada. By 1987, the population had dropped by half, with 700 pairs remaining in Alberta.After continued decline, burrowing owl status was upgraded from threatened to endangered this year.
Behavior: Burrowing owls only spend the summer in Alberta. It's not known exactly where they winter, but they probably migrate to the southwestern United States or Mexico.Unlike most owls, these ones live in burrows in the ground, are active during the day and prefer to eat insects. In some populations, breeding pairs live close together in colonies. They take over and modify abandoned burrows of badgers, gophers or foxes.
Appearance: Burrowing owls look like short, fat owls on stilts. They often stand upright on long, thin legs to see farther over the prairie.Food: Mainly insects, some rodents, toads, small birds, dead animals.
Breeding: Courtship displays include flashing white markings, cooing, bowing, scratching, nipping and repeated short flights. The male prepares the burrow by lining it with dried plants, feathers and cow dung. The female then lays 6-12 eggs and stays
underground to incubate them for about four weeks. The young birds begin to hunt for themselves after seven to eight weeks.Risk factors: Cultivation and development have significantly reduced the owls' habitat. Burrowing owls require open areas with low ground cover, existing burrows and abundant food -- all of which are threatened on the prairies. Owls rely entirely on burrowing animals for their nests, and many of these animals are exterminated as pests.Burrowing owls have also been killed accidentally as a result of poison programs aimed at pests and insects.
Management and Outlook: Alberta Environmental Protection's wildlife management division aims to increase the burrowing owl population to 1,000 breeding pairs.Through Operation Burrowing Owl, farmers have agreed not to cultivate more than 50,000 acres of grassland in known owl habitats. Careful livestock management will also increase the amount of food available for owl pairs and the number of young they produce.In the four western provinces, it is illegal to kill or disturb burrowing owls or their nests.
Every Bird is beautiful in diffrent ways. These birds have to be kept alive. I hope from these facts, that people will understand the need for these birds of prey and their place in the world. They are needed on the planet or they would not have been here in the first place.
Please feel free to copy or save these pictures.Thank You.