The Success of the Reintroduction Locally and Nationally 
As far as we know, peregrines have not yet started to nest 
regularly in the Lower Ottawa Valley region. There have been 
some impressive attempts, however. In 1983, a pair of falcons 
(both released from Hull) produced two young in Arnprior (Ridgen 
and Lang-Runtz 1984), but unfortunately the female was shot that 
summer. The male has returned to the site each year since but 
has failed to attract a mate. In 1984, another pair (origin 
unknown) laid eggs on the roof of a Hull office building but 
abandoned them before they hatched; the site has not been used 
since. Adult peregrines have been seen with increasing regular¬ 
ity in Ottawa and Hull over the past several breeding seasons. 
In May, 1986, a Toronto-released female was found dead on Par¬ 
liament Hill in Ottawa. At least one male has been seen regu¬ 
larly in western Ottawa and may actually have established year- 
round residence. Elsewhere east of Manitoba, known successful 
peregrine nestings were non-existent until the summer of 1986, 
when three were observed. In addition, pairs maintained terri¬ 
tories at several other former nest sites, where they may breed 
in 1987. So, while in general progress has been spotty, pros¬ 
pects are now brightening. 
One fact is emerging which bodes well for the future; the 
released peregrines are far more mobile than formerly thought 
and can end up mating and nesting far from their release site. 
For example, birds released in the northeastern United States 
have attempted to breed in southern Quebec. A bird released in 
Toronto paired with an American bird in Boston in 1985, and a 
Montreal-released bird established a breeding territory in Win¬ 
nipeg in 1986. 
The Future Direction of the Reintroduction Program 
Peregrine recovery has occurred more rapidly in the eastern 
United States, largely, it is thought, because American biolo¬ 
gists have released about twice the number of birds in that area 
alone than have been released in all of Canada. Because young 
peregrines suffer high mortality (about 75%) in their first year 
and do not become sexually mature until two or three years of 
age, it has become evident that concentrating releases in a 
small area is the surest way to establish a breeding pair. A 
national Canadian plan for the recovery of the peregrine, which 
was adopted in 1986 by federal and provincial wildlife agencies, 
recognizes that, although our lower success may be due partly to 
residual contaminants and other ecological problems, it could be 
mainly due to our "far-flung" release program. Consequently, it 
advocates fewer, larger releases. For that reason, we have 
become interested in increasing the number of birds released in 
the Ottawa/Hull area to at least 15 per year. Once a nesting 
pair is established, we can discontinue hacking and shift to 
fostering captive-raised young to the pair if necessary. To 
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