There’s some new residents at the Université de Montréal that are drawing a lot of attention. The male peregrine falcon is Tadi and the female, Ziva, have added three new chicks to the nest. “It’s a luxury condo for sure... because in the wild, in the natural environment, they would nest on a cliff,” said Eve Belisle, research professional at the Université de Montréal. “Some people think they’re kind of on the ugly side. But I think once they dry up and they become this little, you know, white fluff, it’s pretty cute, don’t you think?” Falcons have been living here at the university for nearly 20 years, but it’s only since the webcams went up that they started to garner a lot of attention. “People watch that all day long. And I think it’s also some kind of relaxation for them to see those falcons,” she said. Belisle set the webcams up years ago, documenting the lives of these birds, including some growing pains. “One year we had one of the babies jump in a classroom. They just, you know, flap their wings just to build their muscles and then whoops, they go down,” she said. It’s Tadi’s and Ziva’s first year here. The chicks have yet to be named and that decision is up to a vote. “I bet some of the hockey names will come out this year. It depends how far the Canadiens can go,” Belisle said. It’s a way for the public and this amateur ornithologist to learn about the birds. They’ve also taught her some lessons. “Patience, because, you know, for them, time is not like us. We always look at our watches and we have somewhere to go. And we’re always looking at the time. But for them, they sit on eggs for like five, six, seven hours,” she explained. Now, she can speak a bit of falcon. “I impersonated the mother, I was trying to get it to open its mouth and it worked!”
