Peregrines surprise me again.

One of the five chicks born at the Gulf Tower in 2006 nested at the Burlington Lift Bridge in Ontario this spring.  His band numbers are 3/K.

Shown here are some of his “baby” pictures from the Gulf Tower webcam.  Count the heads in the top picture, the tails in the bottom one.  He’s somewhere in the crowd.

3/K and his mate raised four chicks to the fledging stage without incident this year.  Then observers noticed he wasn’t as attentive as usual and soon discovered the reason why.  He was seen chasing a male peregrine intruder and he didn’t come back for a while.

When he returned he was seriously injured.  The intruder really hammered his chest and everyone thought he’d surely die.  To see how he looked on June 27, about five days after the battle, click on the “baby” picture.

3/K’s mate helped him recover.  She did all the hunting and brought food for the fledglings – and sometimes for him.  Within a week he was able to hunt again.  Amazing.

3/K has recovered well though it is still unclear whether the intruder male will ultimately win the site for next year.

To read the complete story of 3/K and his family, click here.  (Note that the Burlington Home Page scrolls and their blog scrolls within it.  There are two scroll bars.)

p.s.  For those of you following peregrine news, there is an update on the Virginia peregrines at the end of my August 1st post.