Early birds trump whirlybirds

They’re tiny, all fluffy white and cute as bubble bath toys, kind of like Angora kittens with beaks and wings but, as the 427 found out the hard way, they can stop an army.

You’d think they were fictional Millennium Falcons, not actual “post-millennial” (as in born after 2004) falcon babies — the four chicks were hatched in early May.

How tough are they? In what seemed like a colossal mismatch they got a squadron of military grade helicopters to stand down. The Canadian Armed Forces 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron did the right thing.

Let me explain. The falcons didn’t actually take on the helicopters; they didn’t have to. The helicopters were not the least interested in harrying endangered birds. They were flying around the Stelco Tower on military exercises, after ample notice, land clearances and approvals were given.

But a citizen complained by email through the City of Hamilton, saying the sound of the helicopters was distressing the young birds, whose nest is on a ledge of the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel. The Canadian Armed Forces has a very clear policy on this, says Capt. Jamie Donovan.

“Once the information (the citizen complaint) was elevated to the appropriate operations staff, in a very short period of time, the determination was made to cease and desist,” says Donovan.

“We have a very clear directive about the disturbance of wildlife.” It isn’t done.

Donovan said the squadron, flying CH-146 Griffon rotary fleet aircraft, had training objectives they were aiming to meet over their several days of exercises over Hamilton.

“To some degree we met those objectives (before the exercises were called off ),” he said, noting that the idea was to give pilots experience and “build proficiency” in a “complex urban environment,” especially as part of counterterrorism training.

Mike Street, senior monitor with the Hamilton Community Peregrine Project, said he knew nothing about the complaint or where it came from. “Lily (the falcon mother) gave the helicopters the old hair eyeball, but the chicks didn’t seem to be bothered.”

The chicks have been doing great, he added, with strong appetites. Falcons are considered a threatened bird in Ontario.