Canadian Peregrine Foundation -- Etobicoke Archives: January

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January - February 2001

Sunday February 25, 2001
Tom Moreau and Diane Brockman report: Today, the winds were out of the west, gusting to 36 knots. At 17:00, we saw Angel in one of the northeast slots of the nest building, having her supper - a rust-coloured pigeon. We returned at 17:25 to see her continuing to dine but this time Marco was looking longingly at the entree. At 17:28, she left the ledge, leaving Marco the leftovers. She continued to fly around the area.

Wednesday February 21, 2001
David Pfeffer reports: Margaret van Every reported that she has seen Marco on two occasions bring a small amount of food to the nest ledge. Angel promptly jumped off the camera and took it from him. These exchanges took place with a lot of vocalizing and flapping. Sounds like tough love to me! These exchanges have taken place over the past couple of weeks.

Margaret has also regularly seen the peregrines on the nest ledge in their respective spots, (Marco on the nest tray and Angel on the camera).

On Feb. 19 around 3:30p.m. I saw Angel take off from a north ledge of the nest building and go into a stoop. The pigeon was frantically trying to get away but it was really windy. The two birds came around the condo east of the building and crossed Bloor Street. Angel quickly gained altitude and did two quick stoops over the pigeon. I am pretty sure she raked it good on those stoops as the pigeon's flapping started to look pretty laboured. In fact when Angel came back up after the second stoop she had to put on the brakes as she almost flew right passed the bird! She caught the pigeon right at the intersection of Eagle and Bloor. She then flew over the Bell building and briefly hovered to snap the pigeon's neck and then proceeded to gain altitude to get back to the north ledge to eat. This was quite difficult as the wind was really blowing. In fact, she almost bumped into a window while trying to get around the condo. Finally, after three attempts she made it to the ledge. On the last pass before reaching the ledge she must have been getting frustrated as she was really vocalizing. After ten minutes to catch her breath and look around she started eating.

This hunt has some significance. That morning thirty five pigeons were found dead on the Islington overpass. Likely cause of death was poisoning. We (CPF) do have two pigeons that are going to be tested. We are also keeping a sharp eye on Marco and Angel and hope they didn't come into contact with pigeons that are contaminated. Margaret van Every did spot both peregrines on the nest ledge about a half an hour before I arrived at the nest site. Needless to say any sightings are very important at this time until we can confirm what killed those pigeons and that the peregrines are not showing any symptoms of poisoning.

Monday February 19, 2001
Tom Moreau and Diane Brockman report: We found both Angel and Marco on the northeast side of the nest building. Each bird was in its own slot, preening. The relative size of the two birds was quite evident, making it easy to distinguish the two.

Thursday February 1, 2001
Diana Karrandjas reports: Spotted a peregrine on corner of nest yesterday around 8:30 a.m. It was pouring rain.

Monday January 29, 2001
David Pfeffer reports: Around 4:00p.m., Joan Boardman and I spotted a falcon on the
"ADP" sign. Or to be more precise on the "D". It makes sense for them perch there as this falcon had direct sun on it. The sign faces west and the sun was beginning to set.

Sunday January 28, 2001
David Pfeffer reports: Joan Boardman spotted Marco on the nest box with his back to the street. His head was turned 180 degrees as he was looking back at something. He was really agitated. He then turned around to face whatever it was. It must not have been too serious as he calmed down. Joan noticed that he had a full crop. She also was able to see his leg bands. This all happened around 4:00p.m.

Around 8:30a.m. on the same day Margaret again spotted Angel on the camera. She also saw Marco on the nest box through the camera. She noticed that he had a full crop. He must have eaten very well that day!

Saturday January 27, 2001
David Pfeffer reports: Saturday Jan. 27th, Margaret Van Every spotted Angel perched on the camera around 1:00p.m. This really does seem to be her favourite spot as I have also seen her there quite often.

Saturday January 20, 2001
Marcel Gahbauer reports: I have not received any reports of sightings in Etobicoke over the past couple of weeks, but the peregrines are certainly still in the area. David Pfeffer visited the site today, and told me that a good number of pigeon remains are scattered along the Bloor Street side of the Clarica Centre, underneath the nest site. So, at the very least, the local "dining room" remains active.

Monday January 1, 2001
Tom Moreau and Diane Brockman report: At 09:30 AM, we heard a peregrine vocalizing and observed a falcon in flight near the nest building. It was shortly accompanied by another and then a third raptor. Upon further observation, the 3rd raptor was not a peregrine but likely a hawk, based on wing shape and size. What followed was an amazing display of aerial dogfighting. Both falcons, likely Marco and Angel repeatedly attacked the hawk in a series of swoops. The hawk swerved to avoid collision and climbed rapidly. The pair persisted relentlessly, driving the hawk further south. One of the peregrines returned to the nest building once their territory had been successfully defended.

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