The Canadian Peregrine Foundation

Wednesday, July 1
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Many people visited the Falcon Watch Centre, hoping to celebrate Canada Day by watching one of the chicks fly off for the first time. However, it was not to be. Once again there were many close calls, especially in the late afternoon and evening, but none of the chicks dared leave.
-- The highlight of the day occurred around 3:15 pm. Toby flew in with a starling, and Abby immediately went to take it from him. She walked back to the vents, and started to pick at it. However, she seemed somewhat tentative, and it looked to me like the starling was still moving. Sure enough, Abby stood back for a moment, and the starling flew toward the edge of the ledge, only to collide with one of the male chicks. I can only imagine that Abby must have been thinking "Strange - I don't remember lunch ever fighting back before...". The male chick appeared to be stunned - when the starling collided with it, he just stared at it and didn't move at all. The starling took this opportunity to fly off again, this time heading for the camera, with three of the chicks running along the ledge after it. We next saw it about a minute later as Abby carried it in her beak, still struggling, to the far end of the ledge. She took it into the corner, killed it, and ate most of it herself, although at least one of the males also took part of it eventually.
-- This was a very significant incident - in the past, Peregrines have occasionally been seen bringing live prey to the chicks one to two weeks after having left the nest. Today's event represents the first case we know of where live prey was brought to the nest ledge before any chicks have flown. We will watch closely in the coming days to see whether any more live birds are brought in.
-- In general, the chicks were well fed today. They had a pigeon before 6 am, a half pigeon shortly before the starling, and another pigeon in the evening. As long as the parents keep bringing the chicks this much food, the chicks have little motivation to leave. We may still have to wait a while until the first flight occurs.

Thursday, July 2
Marcel Gahbauer reports: MARCO POLO HAS FLOWN! At 5:45 this morning he was quietly sitting on the edge of the ledge, when without warning he went over the edge and took flight. He was almost immediately joined by Alberta, and together they circled the nesting building and landed on the roof. A strong and safe first flight at age 41 days. For much of the next three hours he ran back and forth on the roof, before finally taking flight again. It is interesting to note that this year's first flight occurred a year to the day after last year's first flight.
-- Over the course of the day. Marco Polo began to live up to his name, exploring the neighbourhood quite thoroughly. He made at least half a dozen good flights, without any problems at all. One of the highlights of the day was seeing Marco and both adults circling around the nest building around 1:45 - his flight was so strong that I couldn't tell him apart from Toby at first. His most frequent perches were the southeast sides of the west and east towers. At the west tower he even landed on Toby's favourite perch (the L of the LAVA sign) as if to prove that he has mastered not only flight, but also tricky landings. Toby appeared to realize that the L was no longer his - at one point we spotted him on top of the A, where we've never seen him before (prompting one volunteer to joke that the Peregrines are learning to spell).
-- It was only after this that Marco finally found himself in a bit of trouble. Around 7:45 pm, he began walking toward the south corner of the west tower. He then continued to the southwest side, and stepped down onto the curved top of the LAVA logo. This clearly spooked him - he frequently flapped to maintain his balance, yet found himself slipping down lower and lower. Eventually he managed to scramble up to an almost flat spot near the top of the sign. Once there he settled down and didn't move again over the next hour. Not the best place to spend the first night away from home, but also not the worst...
-- Back at the nest, things were fairly quiet today. All three chicks did their share of flapping at times, but it was no different from the previous few days. The behaviour of the adults changed, however. Food was only brought to the chicks twice - a partial bird in mid-morning, and a whole unplucked pigeon shortly after noon which took the chicks all afternoon to finish off. In the evening, Toby made several visits to the chicks, but always without food. It looked as if he was trying to get them to follow him away. Alberta too was in on this game - in the afternoon she flew past the nest with a fresh kill, stashed it on the opposite side of the pillar from the camera, and then called to the chicks from there.
-- One final note from this long and busy day: twice in the middle of the afternoon a pigeon landed near the middle of the nesting ledge. The first time the chicks ignored it, but the second time they came running from both sides. Fortunately for the pigeon, it had the sense not to linger on either occasion.

Friday, July 3
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Marco continues to be the only chick to have flown. The other three all flapped quite a lot today, and Ridge in particular looked like he was close to leaving several times, but nothing happened.
-- At first light, Marco flew around from the southwest side of the west tower to the southeast side. He spent the morning and much of the afternoon there, then flew over to land on the roof above the nest. Around 8 pm, he again flew to the west tower. He tried to land on the curved LAVA sign, but slipped off and flew up to the roof instead - the nearly vertical flight showed how strong his wings are. He then moved to the LAVA sign on the southwest side where he spent the previous night, but a minute later flew east to the corner of the condominium facing the nest ledge.
-- At 8:07, Marco landed back on the nest ledge. He immediately started to feed on one of the pigeon carcasses - although he had been fed in the morning, it seemed like he was really hungry. While he ate, the other chicks largely ignored him, and stayed where they had been before Marco arrived. When Marco finished feeding, he walked over to the others. He sat down beside Windwhistler and they tapped beaks a few times, then Ridge came over to them and did the same. Within minutes, all four chicks were lying down near each other, most of them touching. The family is reunited - but for how long?
-- The chicks on the ledge were fed four times over the course of the day. A whole pigeon was brought in around 10 am, then they had a half pigeon in mid-afternoon and another part of a bird in mid-evening. Finally, just after 9 pm, one of the adults dropped off a small (sparrow to starling-size) bird. The chicks had already been settled in for the night, but they came to investigate anyway. By 9:30 all of them were back near the box, lying down side by side.
-- The adults seemed to be much further away from the nest today than in recent times. Toby, for example, flew south around 10:30, and was not seen again for over six hours. Alberta also disappeared for one or two hours at a time. In the evening, I discovered Alberta perched on the corner of the roof of an apartment northwest of Islington and Bloor (25 Mabelle). I've never seen her perched west of Islington before, nor have I heard reports of this from anyone else, although it likely has happened before.

Saturday, July 4
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today was very unusual - we had long periods where the birds were all very quiet (during the periods of rain) interspersed with bursts of activity - including the first flight of Abby.
-- Early in the morning, Marco left the nest again. He returned briefly, and then flew off a second time. Shortly before 8 am, he attempted to land on the glass windows under the nest ledge. He clung to it for a couple of minutes before sliding down and flying off again. He disappeared for a couple of hours, then reappeared and went back to the nest ledge around 11:30. All four chicks remained there together for the next six hours, and were quite inactive for most of this period.
-- The adults again brought pigeons (or parts thereof) to the nest a couple of times. However, in the morning, one of the adults caught a Mallard. It was stored on the southwest side of the nesting building, and over the course of the day parts of this bird were brought over to the nest to feed the chicks.
-- Shortly after the rain subsided, Marco nonchalantly flew off at 5:49 pm. This got the other three chicks very excited. For the next several minutes, they all ran back and forth, flapping madly. Marco made at least two flights past the nest, as if he was teasing them, then landed on the roof above them. His flying skills are really impressive.
-- By 6:03, all three chicks had lined up on the southeast edge of the nest box. They seemed to be settling down, then all of a sudden at 6:04, Abby flew off. She headed southwest, and was soon joined by Toby, who had been on the roof of the nesting building. Toby tried to encourage her to loop back to Bloor by blocking her southward progress - eventually he succeeded and she headed back toward the nesting building. By this point, however, she had already lost about 1/3 of the altitude she started with. Toby flew to the south corner of the Centre Tower, as Abby approached the nest building. She tried to land on the concrete pillar between the windows, but was unsuccessful, so she continued east. Seconds later, she landed on a 15th floor balcony on the west tower of the Kingsway-on-the-park condominiums. Her flight was much less successful than Marco's - her flapping was uneven, and she was barely able to maintain her altitude, let alone climb any higher.
-- We watched her closely until 9:45 pm. Although she flapped a lot at times, she never left, and at last light she was still upright on the balcony railing. For much of the evening, the remaining two chicks were also very active, and we thought they might leave too. Only Marco was quiet in the evening - he spent a couple of hours on the roof of the nesting building, then flew into the nest and spent the night there.

Sunday, July 5
Marcel Gahbauer reports: All four chicks have now had safe first flights. Ridge left home this morning at 5:43, and flew directly east to the roof of the west Kingsway-on-the-park condominium tower, and was accompanied by Marco. Less than an hour later, at 6:35, Windwhistler took off and circled the nest tower, then landed on the wall of the west condominium just below the roof like a bat. He climbed up to the roof without any problems.
-- Abby spent the entire night standing on the 15th floor balcony. For a few hours in the morning she continued to stand there, making us wonder whether she was strong enough to make a good flight away from there. As we debated what she would do, she suddenly took off, flew west along Bloor, looped back, gained altitude, and landed on the southwest corner of the condominium roof. Within a minute, Windwhistler came running along the edge to greet his sister.
-- Over the course of the morning, all of the chicks flew, but Marco was by far the most active. He went to and from the nest several times, then around 8:45 joined his three siblings on the roof of the west condominium. Shortly thereafter Ridge flew over to the Centre Tower. Windwhistler made two more flights after his initial one, but each time he returned to the condominium and landed bat-style. By 11 am all chicks were back on the condominium roof, and they stayed together for an hour and a half.
-- Over the course of the afternoon and evening, all of the chicks flew around from time to time. Marco was always easily distinguishable by his strong flight. Around 2:30, he was flying over Bloor with both parents, and was already being taught how to transfer food from talon to talon in mid-air! Closer to 6:00, he and Alberta did a beautiful flight over Bloor - it looked like he was chasing her, but I think actually she was leading him around and trying to teach him how to cope with different wind gusts.
-- Ridge and Windwhistler continued to have less than perfect landings at times - both often missed their targets and tended to lend on the top of roofs (Ridge) or on walls (Windwhistler) instead of on the edge. However, both of them improved noticeably over the course of the day. After flying to the roof, Abby stayed on the roof of the condominium with Windwhistler until late afternoon, then she made a short, direct, but good flight over to the nesting building, where she landed safely near Alberta.
-- In the evening, there was a burst of activity again between 8 and 9 pm. All of the chicks were flying at this time, as were both adults. Eventually, Abby and one of her brothers returned to the nest ledge. Abby soon took off again, but the other one was remained, and was joined by a second male several minutes later. The third male spent the night on the bottom of the L of the LAVA logo on the West Tower.

Monday, July 6
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today began rather uneventfully, but quickly turned into our busiest day yet on the Falcon Watch.
-- The two males which spent the night at the nest box both left by 5:15 am. At 5:30 three chicks were seen flying around, doing some rather long and impressive flights. A bit later, Alberta flew around carrying prey, and one of the chicks gave her a good chase. The chicks remained very active for the next couple of hours.
-- Around 7:30 am, one of our volunteers was approached, and was asked to help identify "the strange bird sitting on the bench with me". To everyone's shock, one of the Peregrine chicks was standing casually on the concrete ledges at the southeast base of the Centre Tower of the Mutual Group Centre, seemingly oblivious to the many people walking by.
-- A report soon came in that this bird had crashed into the windows above and dropped down to the ground. Fearing that it had been injured, an attempt was made to rescue it, but the bird flew away. It landed on a window ledge on the sixth floor, on the west side of the West Tower of the Kingsway-on-the-Park condominium. It remained immobile on the ledge for hours, and only at 1:40 was it seen walking south along the ledge.
-- Around 3:30, the bird suddenly flew west, and hit the window of the southeast face of the East Tower of the Mutual Group Centre. Again it came to the ground below (actually a third-storey gravel roof). The bird at first appeared a bit dazed, but did not seem to be injured, and soon began walking/running along the edge of the roof. A second attempt was made to catch it, but again the bird flew away before it could be caught. This time it landed on a screen window, and appeared to be stuck on the mesh, but it soon dropped down to the railing outside a window on the fifth floor on the south side of the same condominium where it had been earlier.
-- At this point it was still not clear which chick this was, although it did appear to be a male. Marco appeared on the nest ledge in the evening, indicating that the troubled bird was either Ridge or Windwhistler. Early the next morning we discovered by reading its leg bands that it was Windwhistler.
-- Needless to say, our attention was focussed on this one bird for most of the day, but we did periodically check on the other three chicks throughout the day, and had all of them located most of the time. By last light at 9:30 pm, Marco and Ridge were on the nest ledge and had just been joined by Abby, and all three settled down beside each other for the night. Windwhistler remained on the railing all night long.

Tuesday, July 7
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Our first concern this morning was to find the chick which spent the night on the fifth floor of the condominium east of the nest building. Although it had appeared uninjured yesterday, we wanted to keep a very close eye on it because it was so close to the ground, and therefore at risk of landing on a road or another dangerous place.
-- At first light, the bird was still in the same place, however within half an hour it had disappeared. Volunteers soon rediscovered it on the terrace almost directly below where it had been perched - it would appear it simply dropped down.
-- It remained in this area until just before 8 am. During this time the bird was very alert, but not nervous. It preened, stretched, walked and hopped around, and generally seemed to be in good health. However, by this time the bird was down to just two storeys above ground, and was very close to the rush hour traffic on Bloor Street. The chick was also very tame - in trying to assess its condition, we slowly approached it until we were fairly close. At this point it was possible to read its leg bands, and we discovered that it was Windwhistler.
-- At 7:57 am, he flew across Bloor and landed on the wall of a two-storey building, just below the roof. He dropped down to land on a thick cable running parallel to the roof, roughly 30 cm / 1 foot lower down. After several minutes he jumped/climbed up to the roof. For quite a while he remained in that spot, then eventually began to walk back and forth along the edges of the roof.
-- By this point two things had become apparent. One was that this bird appeared to be unable to make proper landings. It either attempted to land in the middle of large walls (such as the window panes it collided with, or the perches it found on the condominium), or headed for the edges of roofs but pulled up just short, ending up on the walls below them. The other notable point was that it appeared unable to gain much altitude in its flights. Although it did once make it from the ground to the sixth floor in one flight, its subsequent flights were all either level, or only slight increases in elevation.
-- At this age, the chicks are still dependent on their parents for food. Generall this is no problem, as the chicks remain high, and the parents either bring them food, leave caches for the chicks to find, or pass the food to the chicks when flying high in the air. Windwhistler was clearly too low to reach the caches or to participate in a midair exchange. We hoped that the adults would eventually come down to him with food, but it became apparent over time that although they were aware of his location (they looked down as they flew over him, called to him a few times, and dipped down slightly when flying past), neither one was willing to go down that low. Windwhistler already went all of Monday without food, and it appeared that Tuesday would be the same.
-- By mid-afternoon, Windwhistler was becoming more active again. Finally, just before 5 pm, he flew north across Bloor, landing on the roof of the United Church bookstore. This was a short level flight, and the landing was actually close to normal. However, upon landing, he held his right wing out to the side - we could not be sure whether this was a sign of an injury, or simply the actions of a tired bird.
-- After more than an hour on the ledge, Windwhistler became very active again, running back and forth on the top of the wall. Around 6:20, he flew northeast, once again hit one of the condominium screen windows (this time on the fourth floor) before tumbling down 1-1/2 floors and landing on a narrow ledge between a high wall and a dense shrub.
-- At this point we decided it would be best to attempt to catch the bird. Although it still appeared to be outwardly healthy, the three (or more) collisions it endured over the past two days may have caused some internal bruising. Also, it had become apparent that the chick was unlikely to be able to climb high enough on its own to get food.
-- The bird was remarkably calm as I approached it. I walked slowly directly toward it, starting from roughly 20 metres away. Although Windwhistler fixed his eyes on me, he showed no nervousness as I got closer. I paused when I was about 5 metres away to take a good look at it, but saw no signs of fear. It was only when I was within a metre of it, with towel outstretched, that I saw him lean apprehensively back - but even then only slightly. I then quickly covered him with the towel, and he barely struggled.
-- Mark Heaton from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources was consulted during the rescue of the bird, and advised us to hold it in the provided box for his review. We carried Windwhistler back to the Falcon Watch Centre in the box, and left him in a dark quiet area. The bird will be assessed for injuries, and if deemed healthy, will be released from the rooftop of one of the buildings.

Wednesday, July 8
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Mark Heaton of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources arrived this morning to assess the condition of Windwhistler. He determined that the bird was in good health, and that we could safely release it. Windwhistler was transferred from the box to a backpack, and was taken up to the roof of the nest building.
-- As we arrived on the roof, Alberta circled around us, vocalizing persistently. After a few loops around the building, she retreated to the "L" on the West Tower. We proceeded to the centre of the roof, and slowly opened the bag. Windwhistler appeared quite calm, and not at all in a hurry to escape. Mark eventually got the bird on his hand, and Windwhistler stayed perched on his outstretched arm for close to a minute. Finally, he stretched his wings a bit, and then flew off to land on the east edge of the roof.
-- By the time we made it back out to the street north of the building several minutes later, Windwhistler was already squawking loudly, advertising his presence to the others. He soon began walking back and forth, and within an hour he took flight. He went to the west roof of the east building of the Kingsway-on-the-Park, and made a good safe landing. Shortly before 1 pm, one of the adults flew around with food and dropped it off to Windwhistler. He ate some of it immediately, and stayed in that area for much of the afternoon, so he may have been eating off an on during this time.
-- He made four more flights over the course of the day. Most were quite short, but relatively good. The landings on two of them were safe, while in the other two cases he again misjudged and clung to a wall before recovering and reaching the desired target.
-- The other three chicks, especially the two older males, are quickly becoming accomplished flyers. On at least two occasions, chicks were seen pursuing an adult carrying food, and were attempting to take it from them in mid-air. Although they did not appear to succeed, they were getting very close, and will surely improve in the coming days. Marco and Ridge chased each other through the air shortly after 6 pm, diving down and tumbling through the air at times, then almost effortlessly swooping up to gain altitude again. Toby and Alberta also became involved, and for a little while all four of them were performing over Bloor, and it was almost impossible to tell them apart. It's really hard to believe these birds have been flying for less than a week.
-- As darkness approached, the chicks began to settle in for the night. All four had spent much of the evening on the southeast and south sides of the roof of the nest building. At 8:36 pm, one took off, made a short flight over Bloor, and then landed on the south ledge of the nest building. Within two minutes, the other two (Windwhistler excluded) had joined it there. Windwhistler had attempted to land on the southeast ledge a few minutes earlier, but ended up clinging to the wall instead. When he recovered, he flew over to the west roof of the west condominium. Alberta flew past him, calling, but he was not to be enticed off. He eventually walked north along the wall, and settled down on one of the pillars. By the time it was dark, Alberta had joined him, standing on the railing just 2 metres north of Windwhistler.

Thursday, July 9
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Our young Peregrines are really growing up fast. Marco and Ridge were flying around for much of the day, putting on some impressive aerial displays. Not only did they soar and fly on their own, but they often interacted with each other in mid-air too - diving at each other, then flying in tandem for a while. Abby joined in at times too, and every once in a while the adults also flew with them. The gusty winds at times made the flights more challenging, and the birds all performed well.
-- Although even Marco has been out of the nest for only a week, there are indications (in addition to their rapidly improving flights) that they are developing their skills quickly. One of the young birds was seen stooping toward a pigeon in the early afternoon - he missed, but at least he has the right instincts. Also, they are expanding their range. In the first few days, they did not go beyond the west condominium tower to the east and the west tower of the Mutual Group Centre complex on the west. Yesterday they already made it further east to the east condominium, and today they made it north to the apartments on Lomond, north of Aberfoyle. However, they didn't land on the roof - instead the two birds which explored this area touched down on the TV antenna, and after a brief struggle managed to balance themselves there.
-- Windwhistler had a much less active day than his siblings. Until 5:30 in the afternoon, he remained on the same roof where he had been since 8:30 last night. During the day, he walked back and forth quite a bit, stretched, preened, ate, and several times extended his wings and leaned over the edge but pulled back just before the wind carried him away. Probably after all of his experiences the past few days, he was a bit nervous about taking off again. When he finally took the plunge, he circled around over Bloor a few times, hanging effortlessly in the air, then came in for a landing near the nest box. He remained where he landed for a couple of hours, then he walked to the far side of the nest box around 7:30 pm.
-- Shortly before 9 pm, Windwhistler began to pounce on some of the scraps around the nest box, as if he were killing them. A couple of minutes later, Abby landed and walked over to him. For several minutes, they interacted by nipping gently at each other - from head down to feet. A little while later, one of the other males came in. He walked over to Windwhistler first and greeted him in a similar manner, then Abby walked over and all three of them became involved in mutual kissing/preening. They eventually settled down to sleep, while the other male spent the night away from the nest.

Friday, July 10
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Windwhistler's two sleeping companions (Ridge and Abby) both left the nest ledge before 5:30 am to do their early morning flights. Windwhistler, however, did not budge - which turned out to be a wise decision. Just after 8 am, Toby delivered the better part of a pigeon to the nest ledge, and Windwhistler had it all to himself. I doubt that any of the others had such a big breakfast.
-- Over the course of the morning and early afternoon Abby, Marco, and Ridge all made a number of impressive flights, while Windwhistler remained alone on the ledge. Three times between 2 and 3 pm, Alberta landed on the nest ledge near Windwhistler, but was chased off by him immediately on each occasion.
-- Around 3 pm, Ridge landed near the nest box. Windwhistler hesitated for a moment, then walked over to greet his brother. Minutes later, Alberta returned with a whole pigeon. Windwhistler started on it, and ate for about ten minutes, while Ridge picked at a small scrap nearby. Finally he had waited long enough and pulled the pigeon out from under Windwhistler. Ridge continued to eat for close to 40 minutes. During this time, Marco landed on the ledge between the other two males, but made no move for either of them, or for the food. Eventually, long after Ridge was finished feeding, Marco came over to take a few bites, then flew off again.
-- By the time 6 pm rolled around, Windwhistler had not flown in over 24 hours. I was beginning to call him a lazy bird, although some of the visitors suggested that 'energy efficient' would be a nicer term. As the evening progressed, we began to wonder what it would take for him to get up the nerve to fly again. At exactly 8:00 pm, Ridge and Windwhistler were standing side by side on the southeast side of the nest box. Suddenly, Windwhistler hopped down, ran a couple of metres along the ledge, and then flew off. Three minutes later he came back and made a good landing. Half an hour later he took off again, this time staying out seven minutes, and again returned to the nest box.
-- Between 8:00 and 8:30 pm, Marco and Abby were putting on an impressive show of their own. Both of them were kiting (hanging in the air, letting the wind carry them around) effortlessly over the buildings, and alternated this with high speed swoops around the towers. At one point, Abby started flying purposefully to the northeast, and was soon flying in parallel with two pigeons above her. The three of them flew together for a little while, then Abby propelled herself upward, and tried to catch one of the pigeons. It seemed surprised by the attack and just barely escaped her - after this Abby turned around and went back to kiting near the nest building. Abby clearly has the hunting instincts in her - now she just has to learn that she is supposed to dive down on her prey, not approach it from below.
-- Less than ten minutes after this incident, I spotted three pigeons racing east over Bloor. Abby was in hot pursuit, and Marco (who had been near Islington) caught up with them very quickly. This time Abby was far above the pigeons, attempted a stoop, and just barely clipped the left wing of one of the pigeons. Again, she turned back after this, as did Marco. Amazing - less than a week in the air, and already they are on the verge of hunting on their own!
-- Perhaps just to remind us of her youth, Abby tried to land on several windows on the nest building following her hunt. Each time she brushed the window lightly, then powered her way up higher with strong wingbeats. Eventually she made a good landing at the nest ledge, where she fed on the remains of the afternoon pigeon. Like the previous night, she then settled down to sleep with Ridge and Windwhistler, while Marco spent the night elsewhere.

Saturday, July 11
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today was a quiet and fairly uneventful day in Etobicoke. Ridge and Abby both left the nest ledge early in the morning, and Windwhistler followed shortly before 7 am. He flew to the west tower and made a couple of attempts to land on the glass windows, but did not hit them hard and did not seem fazed by his encounters - he simply flapped a bit harder and made it up to the roof. This is a great improvement over his behaviour earlier this week.
-- For most of the morning and afternoon, the birds were seen only occasionally. They may have been roaming farther afield, but I think they were simply hiding in the shade of the ledges, out of sight. In the evening, activity picked up a bit again, with all four chicks flying around. The west tower and the television antennas on the apartment on Lomond were the favored perches tonight. Abby and one of the males spent the night near the nest box, while the other two males were on other ledges.

Sunday, July 12
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today was the last day of our two week dawn-to-dusk fledgling watch. Thanks to the help of over 40 dedicated volunteers, we were able to not only keep the birds from coming to harm (e.g. the Windwhistler rescue) but also to obtain detailed notes on the activities of each bird throughout this period. We observed many fascinating behaviours over the past two weeks, including mutual preening, mid-air food transfers, playful aerial chases, and many other things. We hope that this knowledge is not only of anecdotal interest, but also of use to the scientific community.
-- All four chicks flew around throughout the day. They are beginning to stray further to the north and west already, and there were many times when we could not see all of them at the same time. Over the coming weeks, we expect this to become increasingly common.
-- Although their flight skills have developed remarkably fast, their survival skills still need some work. Over the past two days, we have found three dead pigeons on the ground near the nesting building. The pigeon we found yesterday had a small wound on the back which could have come from a Peregrine attack, but we could not know for sure since we didn't see the pigeon fall.
-- Around 4 pm today, one of our volunteers was walking home when she was nearly struck by a falling pigeon near Aberfoyle and Islington. Another volunteer reported having seen an adult and a chick attempt a mid-air food transfer, which clearly failed. This pigeon was bleeding slightly from the neck, but no other impact could be seen.
-- Later in the evening, around 7:40, I was walking along Aberfoyle when I saw Alberta and two chicks to the west of Islington. They were flying toward me, and I saw that the chicks were trying to grab the pigeon Alberta was carrying. They eventually succeeded in taking it from her, and then flew for a short while with both chicks holding on to the carcass. One then let go, and the other struggled to hold on to the heavy prey on its own. It soon dropped it, and though it made a brief dive after it, could not catch it again. The pigeon dropped from a height of ~15 storeys, and landed in the middle of Aberfoyle. I went to pick it up, and was amazed that aside from a broken neck, it appeared completely unmarked.
-- I can only imagine that after these episodes, Alberta and Toby are scolding their youngsters about wasting perfectly good food. This likely won't last long though - we've already observed several clean mid-air transfers, and with a bit of practice all of the chicks should learn to do this soon. Once they've mastered that, the next step will be for them to hunt on their own.

Monday, July 13
Marcel Gahbauer reports: There's not much to report today. The young birds were difficult to find - either they were seeking shelter from the hot sun, or they were exploring more distant areas. We saw them make a few flights, but never did they stay in view for long.
-- As in the past few days, Alberta returned to the nest ledge in mid-afternoon and explored the nest box. Today, however, she was less active than she has been other times - after a brief session of gravel-pushing, she went to the south corner of the box and stood there for roughly an hour.

Tuesday, July 14
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Again today there was little activity, as the birds seemed to spend much of the heat of the day in the shade rather than flying around or perched conspicuously. Alberta again came to sit on and beside the nest box for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Yesterday night between 8 and 9 pm, all six birds were seen flying over the Mutual Group Centre, and all four chicks were reported to be flying well.

Wednesday, July 15
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Our suspicion that the young birds are beginning to travel greater distances was confirmed this morning. One of our volunteer watchers reported seeing one of the young birds (along with Alberta) flying south over Norseman between Royal York and Islington. We of course don't know how far they went, but I suspect that Alberta probably escorted him down to the lakeshore area - perhaps to the spot where she picked up the sandpiper six weeks ago.
-- Meanwhile, both adults continue to frequent the nest site. Today it was Toby who stayed there for over an hour in the early afternoon, while Alberta dropped in briefly later on. Unlike Alberta, Toby spent most of the time outside of the nest box, right up against the far wall.

Thursday, July 16
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today was another hot and humid day in Etobicoke, and again the birds were not very active. Twice I walked around the block searching for the chicks, but was unable to locate any. Fortunately the camera is still up and running, so I was able to spy on them from inside. Two of the chicks were on the nest briefly between 3:00 and 3:15. One picked at some old food scraps around the nest box, while the other just stood near the centre of the ledge. They both took off within a minute of each other.
-- Unlike the chicks, Toby spent long periods of time at the nest ledge. He arrived between 10 and 10:30 am, and stayed on the southwest edge of the nest box for over four hours. He was gone for a few hours in the afternoon, then reappeared after 5 pm. He stayed for over two hours again. Mostly he stood beside the box, but around 7 pm he walked into the box and laid down as if incubating. This mock incubating seems like strange behaviour in itself, but what is even more surprising is that over the past several days we have now seen both parents doing it fairly regularly.

Friday, July 17
Marcel Gahbauer reports: By mid-afternoon today, neither Alberta or Toby had visited the nest ledge to our knowledge, which is in contrast to their behaviour in recent days. Both, however, were seen on the rooftops and ledges by observers on the street. All four chicks were also visible on the ledges in mid-afternoon. There was a bit more flight activity in the afternoon than other days this week, probably because of the lesser heat.

Monday, July 20
Marcel Gahbauer reports: I received several reports today about the recent activities of the Peregrines. Most agreed that the young birds now spend much of the day away from the area of the nest building, and appear to be heading out in all directions, although south seems to be the most common heading. However, to this point at least, they are all still coming 'home' at night. With few exceptions, they are doing impressive flight displays over the Mutual Group Centre every night, roughly between 8 and 9:15 pm.
-- I also received reports of several attempted but unsuccessful hunts, but I suspect that soon one of them will succeed - if they haven't already. Windwhistler continues to do his trademark 'bat on a wall' landings from time to time, but always recovers easily - it's as if he's doing it for fun.

Tuesday, July 21
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Alberta again spent much of the afternoon perched on the edge of the nest box. Around 3:30 I went out to Bloor to see whether I could spot any of the other birds. Abby and one of her brothers were on the base of the southeast LAVA "L" and another male was on the roof above them and to the right. As I watched, Abby took off and flew east as far as the condominiums, then turned around and headed for the nest ledge. Alberta then joined Abby in the air, and together they flew toward Islington. Alberta kept going southwest, while Abby tried to land back on the "L", but her brother wouldn't let her. After two failed attempts, she flew around to the southwest side of the building and landed on the vacant "L" there. Even though I was standing at the corner of Islington and Bloor at this point, I could clearly hear her calling.

Wednesday, July 22
Marcel Gahbauer reports: As usual, one of the adults came back to the nest ledge in the afternoon. Today it was Toby, who stood against the far wall of the ledge from before noon until some time between 1 and 2 pm.
-- I only went outside once today, around 4 pm. I was fortunate to easily spot all four of the young birds at this time. Abby and one of the males were on the base of the southeast facing LAVA "L", while another of the males was on top of the "L". The third male was on the nest ledge, just to the east of the nest box. I watched them for close to half an hour, but none of them moved, and I never saw either of the adults.

Thursday, July 23
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today for some reason a few of the local pigeons became rather bold. Just before 10 am, one of them was walking around near the middle of the nest ledge. After a couple of minutes it flew off, and less than a minute later one of the young Peregrines landed. I don't know whether this was simply coincidence or if it came in after the pigeon, but I suspect the latter, since I haven't seen any of the young birds come back to the ledge during the morning for over a week now.
-- There was also a pigeon at the nest box after 11 am, but it too did not linger long. Later I received a report of a couple of pigeons on the north side of the nest building which were chased off by two of the young Peregrines. It's interesting to note that in this case they didn't seem to attack the pigeons, but rather simply appeared to be chasing them off their territory. Maybe they still have a little learning to do...
-- Several observers have now mentioned to me that they tend to see the Peregrines flying in pairs rather than alone. Often both are young birds which are simply chasing or playing with each other in the air, but other times it is a juvenile chasing an adult - probably in the hope of getting food from it.

Friday, July 24
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today the nest ledge was occupied for the bulk of the day. Toby was there for a short time in the mid-afternoon. From mid-morning until early afternoon, one of the chicks was there, and seemed to be pecking at some old food scraps. The same or another chick was standing at the nest box throughout the late afternoon.
-- Outside, the two LAVA signs were again the most popular perches. Today for the first time a Peregrine was seen in the middle of the "A" on the southeast side. It was reported to be Toby, which makes sense since I doubt the young birds yet have the skill to land in such a tricky spot (although they've certainly proven me wrong before...)

Monday, July 27
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today was the first time that I saw no birds on the nest ledge between 10 am and 3 pm. Even outside, they were difficult to find - in the morning I saw one on the LAVA sign and another on the southwest side of the East Tower, while in the afternoon I only saw a single bird on the West Tower. Maybe I just wasn't having any luck today, but it could also be that the chicks are beginning to spread out a bit now.

Tuesday, July 28
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Today the falcons were back to using the nest ledge. Shortly after noon, Windwhistler landed right beside the nest box. Seconds later Abby landed further east along the ledge and then ran over to join her brother. Windwhistler was quite active for several minutes, jumping haphazardly in and out of the box and looking rather out of control at times. Abby watched him from near the far wall. When Windwhistler finally settled down to lie in the box, Abby walked over to him and they did some extensive beak-kissing. Following this they stood quietly in the shade for close to an hour before flying off again. While they were both on the nest ledge, both Marco and Ridge were on the LAVA "L"s, so all four chicks were accounted for.
-- Later in the afternoon, both Alberta and Toby visited the nest box for 5-20 minutes each. Over the past few days, there have been few sightings of the adults in the area. It seems that the young birds have chased their parents off so many ledges and rooftops in recent days that the adults have decided to step back a bit and find somewhere else to rest without being nagged by the kids all the time.

Wednesday, July 29
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Everything was very quiet today. None of the chicks visited the nest ledge, and neither I nor several of the regular visitors could spot them outside either. Probably they were just hiding in the shade of some of the ledges. Both of the adults came to the nest again for brief periods later in the afternoon.

Friday, July 31
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The young Peregrines are definitely beginning to get more difficult to find. Yesterday I didn't see any of them during the day, although I did get a report that all four returned to the area of the Mutual Group Centre between 8:45 and 9:00 pm. I also was told that three of them were flying over Norseman and Royal York in the late morning. Clearly they are therefore now flying some distance to the south. I wonder whether they are travelling similar distances in the other directions.
-- Today three of the juveniles were on the LAVA sign in the mid-afternoon, and two were on the nest ledge briefly earlier in the day. Toby and Alberta also made brief appearances at the nest ledge, with Alberta again doing a lot of digging in the gravel. Despite these sightings, however, there were several times during the day when none of the birds could be seen.

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