After 7 years at Hamilton's Sheraton Hotel, Lily the peregrine falcon dies

A falcon who made downtown Hamilton her home for the past seven years died on Sunday evening.

Pat Baker, a senior monitor with the Hamilton Falconwatch, says someone called animal control on Saturdayabout a sick falcon on street level, against abuilding at the corner of Bay and York in the city's core.

That falcon was Lily the 11-year-oldperegrine falcon who ruled the roost on a ledge atthe SheratonHotel since 2015 withher mate Ossie. She was also a longtime star of afalcon webcam.

By Saturday at roughly 6 p.m., Lily wasat theOpen Sky Raptor Foundation in Grimsby.

Carol Ricciuto, an authorized wildlife custodian who runs the foundation, said Lily was in bad shape.

The falcon was "extremely emaciated," weighing more than 100 grams less than a healthy weight for a female.

Lily was clenching her feet and had a stiff right wing,which Ricciuto said werelikely signs of hypothermia.

The falcon also had a wound on her right eye, which indicated she collided with something, but Ricciuto said she didn't find any broken bones or brain damage.

Ricciutosaid she tried hydrating Lily with warm fluids and put her on a heater. She also noticed some food in the falcon's crop, a sac in the neck where the food sits and normally dissolves.

"She seemed to be stabilizing on Sunday," Ricciuto said.

Don't feed emaciatedfalcons

Ricciutotransferred Lily to the Owl Foundation near Vineland at about 3 p.m. on Sunday.That facility is better equipped to help, she said.

But by then, Lily's condition worsened and she started drooling.

Annick Gionet Rollick, a senior wildlife rehabilitatorat the Owl Foundation, said Lily had lost even more weight and was struggling to breathe.

The biggest issue, she said, was all the food in her crop.

"When a body is emaciated, the first step is to rehydrate the body and not provide solid food,"Gionet Rollick said.

Lily was too weak to break down the food, andGionet Rollick said it started rotting inside of her.

"We think she went septic,"Gionet Rollick said.

By 4:45 p.m., Lily was dead.

Gionet Rollick said winter can be tough for many birds because their bodies haveto work harder to stay warm and there's less food available. And all that becomes even harder if the animal collides with something the way Lily may have.

The 11-year-old falcon will undergo a necropsy to determine the cause of death. The results generally come aftertwo to six weeks,Gionet Rollick said.

Data from the U.S. shows peregrine falcons are known to live for 13 to 19 years.

Potential for brand new falcon family

Bakersaid since Lily's death, a falcon that appears to be female seems to be occupying the ledge.

It's unclear if there was any kind of territory battle between the new falcon and Lily.

Baker said theFalconwatch is trying to find out if the falcon has a band that would tell them how old it is and where it's from.

Also, no one has seen Lily's longtime partner,Ossie, in more than a year. It's unclear what happened to him, though there's speculation he lost a territory battle.

Judson, a male falcon, took over his spot in 2021, but never tried mating with Lily because she already produced eggs, Baker said. Those eggsjust didn't hatch.

With Judson and a potential mate, there's a chance Hamilton will see a brand new falcon family.

"That may be the silver lining,"Baker said.