One of three peregrine falcon chicks nesting in downtown Hamilton has died, according to volunteer group Falconwatch.
Westdale, roughly a month old, died late last week.
On May 29, Falconwatch posted on its website, acknowledging community concern for the chick.
“She seemed to be having trouble moving her bowels, and then around 1pm she moved into the far western corner of the inner ledge, and stayed there for the rest of the day and evening,” read the post.
The volunteers said there was nothing they could do to help because of how developed the chicks are.
“With the chicks at their current stage of development, the other two would attempt to fly (too soon) from the nest if we tried to retrieve Westdale.”
‘It is heartbreaking’
Facebook users posted comments hoping for the best.
“I think this makes it even more difficult because they’ve already been given names. It makes it easier to identify with them … it is heartbreaking. All we can do is watch and hope. Thoughts and prayers to the little ones,” read a comment from a user named Roswen Gibbon.
On May 30, the website posted news of Westdale’s death, saying the chick likely died that afternoon.
It also warned viewers of the webcams that the other falcons would likely eat Westdale’s remains.
WATCH: Hamilton peregrine falcons are banded and weighed
Mark Nash from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation describes the process of weighing falcon chicks to determine their sex, and banding them for conservation.
“They will not grieve as we do,” read the website post.
“Eating deceased young allows for a low effort food source for the whole family and prevents the body from starting to decay in the nest … as much as is possible with our human emotions, we try not to feel upset by this.”
Westdale’s sisters, Blakeley and Stinson, are healthy and will soon be ready to fly.
Their parents, McKeever and Judson, previously raised eight other chicks — Auchmar, Balfour, Dundurn, Wynnstay, Delta, Gibson, Kirkendall and Stipley.
‘Fly free, young baby bird’
Falconwatch member Charles Gregory said an intestinal blockage is likely the cause of Westdale’s death.
“Experts from the Owl Foundation have said that if it was an infection the other chicks would have shown signs by now, so we’re thinking that it was some misfortune of eating something perhaps a bit too large for her immature digestive tract to handle,” he said in a comment on a Facebook post about Westdale’s death.
People on Facebook shared their condolences.
One Facebook user named Jasper Connelly posted art work in memory of Westdale.
“I live in Westdale so obviously he was my favorite. Fly free, young bird baby,” read a comment from a user named Lynn France.