McKeever and Judson, the pair of falcons nesting at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Hamilton, have welcomed three new chicks. The first chick hatched on April 30 around 7:30 p.m., followed by two more overnight. Mother McKeever fed her chicks for the first time around 6:30 a.m. on Friday, while one egg was still awaiting hatching as of Friday afternoon.
The Hamilton Falconwatch, a volunteer group overseeing the falcons at the nest since 1995, uses a webcam through the Hamilton Community Peregrine Project to monitor the birds. Volunteers are on standby to assist the chicks once they start flying by roaming the downtown streets in shifts to prevent any mishaps.
Pat Baker, the senior monitor of Falconwatch, mentioned earlier this year that the group has successfully aided in the fledging of over 75 chicks. Typically, the group bands the chicks in late May for conservation purposes. This process involves attaching markers to the birds’ legs inside the hotel. The chicks usually take flight in June, marking the peak activity period for Falconwatch.
McKeever and Judson have been nesting on the 18th floor of the hotel since 2022, raising a total of 14 chicks so far. McKeever was born in Windsor, Ontario, on the Ambassador Bridge in 2019, while Judson fledged in Buffalo, New York, in 2018. Peregrine falcons, known as the fastest birds globally, were previously endangered in Ontario due to the pesticide DDT but are now classified as a species of special concern.
The Ontario recovery strategy for peregrine falcons emphasizes community monitoring, with groups like Hamilton’s Falconwatch and Windsor’s playing crucial roles. In 2024, the Canadian Peregrine Foundation highlighted the impact of such groups in urban peregrines surpassing their rural counterparts in breeding success.