The female peregrin falcon nesting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel is expected to lay her eggs within the next week or two.
Opportunities for Centretown residents to appreciate the city’s wilder side abound for International Year of Biodiversity, with activities scheduled this month for Earth Day and a new Ottawa-based program to protect endangered species.
For Earth Day, April 22, the Canadian Museum of Nature will offer activities for children to learn more about flora and fauna.
A tree will be planted outside the museum, to honour renowned artist and environmentalist Robert Bateman’s longstanding dedication to nature education, says Chris Sutton, of Nature Canada, which is organizing the event.
The planting will launch this year’s edition of the Robert Bateman Get to Know contest. To participate, Canadians under 19 have until May 28 to submit artworks, writing or digital photography entries “based on real life experiences with nature and their neighbours of other species,” says Jaime Nowell, spokesperson for the Get to Know program.
She says participants are encouraged to search for wildlife in their backyards and beyond, taking time to learn about the species and their habitat.
Sutton says the contest helps young people connect with nature in a meaningful way.
“So many of our children today don’t get to experience nature,” he says. “We want to get them thinking about the natural world around them.”
At the mammal gallery of the museum, Bateman’s eldest son Alan, who is also an artist, will be giving an art class to children. Afterwards, museum staff will be giving a special tour of the mammal gallery, during which children will learn about bisons, muskoxen and other Canadian mammals.
While Centretown is not home to such big animals, some notable threatened species can be found here, including Ottawa River’s lake sturgeons, which can weigh as much as 100 kilograms, and the pair of peregrine falcons living at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Named Connor and Diana, the falcons live at the northwest corner of the Lyon Street hotel, their nest in a maintenance ledge under the penthouse, says Eve Ticknor, Peregrine Falcon Watch co-ordinator.
The birds often can be seen from the street level and Diana is expected to be laying her eggs soon. “It’s usually somewhere around the second week of April,” says Ticknor.
The eggs are expected to hatch in early May and in June a team of volunteers will monitor the peregrines daily.
“We ensure their safety when the chicks first start to fly,” says Ticknor. “If they come down in the middle of the street, we are ready to go out to rescue them.”
David Browne, Canadian Wildlife Federation’s director of conservation, says peregrines used to be endangered but are now considered a “special concern” species.
“It’s kind of a success story,” he says.
“They made a comeback and now they’re expanding across Ontario, nesting on high points in cities, feeding on pigeons in the summer.”
For Biodiversity Year, the CWF just launched a million-dollar initiative called the Endangered Species Program.
It will fund research, especially on aquatic and iconic-like orcas, says Browne.
In the Ottawa area, efforts will focus on spotted turtles. They are endangered because of habitat loss and because people collect them and sell them in the pet trade.
For this reason, the turtles’ exact location will not be disclosed.
The Endangered Species Program’s educational dimension will provide schools across Canada with teaching tools about wildlife, says Browne. CWF will also be a partner in various initiatives like the Get to Know contest, to engage people in conservation issues.