Falcon who nested several years atop Hamilton hotel has died

A noted female peregrine falcon that made her home atop Hamilton’s Sheraton Hotel downtown has died, according to observers.

The Hamilton Community Peregrine Project (HCPP), which had been showing glimpses of couple Ossie and Lily for a number of years, reported the passing on its website Sunday.

“It would seem that her dehydration and frostbite were more severe than they first appeared,” the project said in a post.

“This together with the injuries she sustained from some kind of collision were too much for her aging body.”

Earlier in the day, the observers reported that Lily had to be rescued from the ground near the corner of Bay Street and York Boulevard and suggested it may have been due to a collision with a building or a vehicle.

Observers have been tracking the exploits of the falcon couple and their mating cycles over past seven years with the successful hatchings of a number of chicks over that time.

Lily has been tracked since being banded in 2010 at the Grand Haven Board of Light and Power plant, in Michigan.

The two couple produced their last known set of eggs in June 2020, hatching another pair of chicks.

The Peregrine Falcon is one of Canada’s most well-known species at risk.

HCPP says the potential good news to offset their sadness is the discovery of a new female falcon that may have seized the opportunity to move into a new nesting territory.

“So, despite the sadness, it looks like we will not have to worry about having a female for the coming nesting season,” the agency said.

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