Hopes for a new falcon family soar as nesting bird at Hamilton's Sheraton Hotel lays first egg

Fresh off the heels of the peregrine falcon being elected Hamilton's unofficial city bird, the falcon nesting at the city's Sheraton Hotel downtown has laid her first egg.

However, even for those who watch the popular falconcams, the eggs aren't yet possible to see — or count. 

"This bird is, unfortunately... using the east end of the ledge and there is no way we can have a camera [looking] down into that part," said senior monitor at Hamilton Falconwatch, Pat Baker.

The city's newest falcon, McKeever, was confirmed to have laid her first eggs on Sunday, on the same side the previous female, Lily, who died earlier this year, used to.

Because of this, the Hamilton Falconwatch team won't be able to count the eggs.

"We were hoping she'd go back to the other end, which the other females had used. We may not know, even until hatching how many chicks we're going to get."

The process from laying the egg until hatching takes 33 days, according to Baker, but since the eggs are not visible, she is unsure of when the eggs will hatch.

The eggs were confirmed after McKeever was spotted performing some "very particular wiggling motion." 

"There is only one thing we can think of that would make a peregrine falcon sit out in the rain and snow, rather than find a nice shaded perch," said a post on social media. 

McKeever arrived to the area earlier this year shortly after Lily's passing, giving Hamiltonians hope for a new family. 

Hamilton Falconwatch looking for volunteers

Baker, who has been with Hamilton Falconwatch for over 20 years, hopes that this new family will bring volunteers to the cause. 

"I came because we had a house that used to have to be netted with chicken wire every spring to stop the pigeons, and then I read in the paper that falcons were there."

"They were looking for volunteers and I thought 'I can do two hours a week. Now I've ended up being around for a while." 

She said once the chicks get active and there's signs of first flight is when "it gets interesting."

"It's very interesting to watch because the adults teach them how to hunt and how to handle food and everything."

Baker added that volunteers don't have to know anything about birds to sign up. Anyone can sign up to be a volunteer on the group's website.

"[Volunteers] don't have to be an experienced birder at all. We have a training session. We have everything set up for people to watch and they just need a pair of binoculars."