Canadian Peregrine Foundation -- Etobicoke Archives: 1998

The Canadian Peregrine Foundation

Etobicoke

Daily Reports - August 1998

Tuesday, August 4
Marcel Gahbauer reports: After three aways from the nest site, I was curious to see where the birds were when I arrived this morning. The only one I could see was Alberta, and a second walk around the block later in the morning yielded the same result. I began to think that maybe the young birds had dispersed over the weekend.

Early in the afternoon I finally spotted Abby circling around the nest building and heading off to the southeast. I then heard another Peregrine screeching incessantly, and soon found it (presumably Windwhistler, given the noise he was making) on the north side of the nest building. It then flew off to the west, at the same time a pigeon was flying east. I thought I was about to see a hunt, but instead the two of them flew toward each other until the last moment, then BOTH of them turned away. I would have thought I was imagining things, but both Windwhistler and the pigeon circled around and flew toward each other two more times! Obviously Windwhistler's hunting instincts are still somewhat lacking, and I'm amazed that a pigeon as bold as this could survive in this neighbourhood.

Around 5 pm, the three males were playing together, diving at each other at high speeds while over Bloor. Over the course of the day therefore all four juveniles were accounted for, as well as Alberta. Although I didn't see Toby today, I'm sure he was around at one time or another - there were long periods when I wasn't outside watching.

Wednesday, August 5
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The birds were not very active today, althought they certainly were vocal. Around noon I took a walk around the block and heard one or two of the Peregrines calling at almost all times. No matter where I went, however, I couldn't spot them - they must have been somewhere on the rooftops. There were two others (Abby and a brother) on the southeast LAVA sign, but the noisemakers were definitely somewhere to the east of them. When I checked again later in the afternoon I couldn't find anything but pigeons.

Friday, August 7
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Another soggy day in Etobicoke. Like yesterday, I didn't look around for the chicks very much, and as a result I only spotted two of them over the course of the day. Alberta again returned to the nest box, and today stayed for at least six hours, from 9:30 in the morning until mid-afternoon. Toby doesn't seem to be using the nest ledge anymore.

Monday, August 10
Marcel Gahbauer reports: What started out to be another slow day in Etobicoke ended up being one of the most exciting in quite some time.

By 3 pm, the only Peregrine I had seen was Alberta, who had been on the nest box briefly around 10 am. At 3:30 she returned briefly, but soon disappeared, just before one of the male juveniles landed in the middle of the ledge. The leg bands were not visible, but based on his colouration (as well as his incessant vocalizations after landing), I would guess that it was Windwhistler.

At first he faced away, but when he turned toward the camera, we could see that he held a small bird in his talons - it looked like a sparrow. Given that the adults stopped hunting sparrows when the chicks were a couple of weeks old, this suggests that the juvenile caught this bird itself. Although we assumed that the chicks had started to hunt on their own within the past couple of weeks, this is the first evidence of any kind that we have had to support this theory.

For more than half an hour he stood on the ledge, alternately feeding and mantling his wings over the kill to hide it from prying eyes. Finally around 4:15 Abby landed beside him. He took off with his kill and she followed right behind him. Half an hour later, a different male landed on the ledge with a slight thud. He was carrying prey too, and seemed to misjudge his landing, hitting the vent as he arrived. For a while he stood there not doing anything, but then he went to work plucking and eating his kill, which appeared to be a pigeon, albeit a rather small one.

The most incredible sight was still to come. Around 5:30 pm I went outside to see how many of the Peregrines I could locate. Almost immediately, I saw a Kestrel flying above me, repeatedly approaching several points on the west tower, hovering, and then retreating. I was too close to the base of the building to see, but I assume that it has buzzing the young Peregrines sitting on the roof. After several attacks, the Kestrel retreated to somewhere over the centre tower. I crossed to the south side of Bloor at this point, and the next time I looked up, I saw Alberta hurtling out of the sky down toward the poor Kestrel that was frantically trying to fly to the south. Just before they went out of sight, I saw Alberta hit the Kestrel in the back with full force, and heard a loud mouse-like squeal from the Kestrel. I don't know whether she killed it or not. It took me close to a minute to relocate Alberta, and when I did see her, she was circling over Eagle Road and Bloor, without anything in her talons. There was no sign of the Kestrel anywhere. As far as I know, this is the first time this year that a Kestrel has been near the Etobicoke nest. If it survived today's attack, I'm sure it won't be coming back.

Tuesday, August 11
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Some of today's events seem to suggest that the pigeons and peregrines are playing games with each other. Around noon, I watched one pigeon make at least a dozen loops around the west tower, as if taunting the peregrines on the roof. The pigeon made very tight corners as it flew, and I don't think it was ever more than a metre away from the building -maybe it thought no peregrine would chase it so close to the building.

In the evening, Abby was kiting northwest of the east tower, and then went to perch briefly on the TV antenna of 8 Lomond. Around 8 pm she took off after a pigeon, but was screaming loudly the whole time, and the pigeon had plenty of time to make an easy escape. By now the chicks are hunting on their own - surely this isn't Abby's typical hunting mode? This seems more like a game between pigeon and peregrine, much like the aerial ballet of Windwhistler and another pigeon observed a week ago today.

Friday, August 21
Marcel Gahbauer reports: For the past week and a half, at least some of the peregrines have been seen on a daily basis, but rarely for long. The young birds can still be seen at times on the LAVA sign, or even on the nest ledge, but seem to be spending most of their time away from this area. Generally when they are around, there is a lot of vocalizing, and often two or three of them fly together over Bloor, putting on an aerial show for watchers down below.

Local observers report that each evening at least two or three birds are seen flying together in the hour before dusk. Since the adults stopped flying with the chicks weeks ago, these are likely always groups of immatures. It may be that the same few young birds are seen each night and one of the others has already headed off for independence, or possibly all four are still in the area, but one or another is later in returning on a given night.

The most reliable of the peregrines recently has been Alberta. She has come back to the nest box at least once a day (most commonly in the afternoon) and often stays for at least an hour at a time. Generally she just stands on the box, but on almost every visit she also briefly steps into the box and crouches down low while pushing gravel around with her legs. Toby has also come back to do this within the past 10 days, but seems to be spending much less time around the neighbourhood than Alberta.

Tuesday, August 25
Marcel Gahbauer reports: This morning Alberta surprised us by landing at the nest box with a starling leg in her talons. This is the first time we have seen her bring food back to the nest ledge since the chicks first took flight in early July. Alberta ate a bit of it, then stood quietly on the box, as she had done for several hours yesterday afternoon.

Around 11:30, Alberta left and within seconds Abby landed beside the nest box. She stood at the edge screaming, then jumped up to the box, ran across it, and toward the camera. This was exactly the same behaviour she exhibited yesterday afternoon. Abby seems to be trying to wrestle the title of 'noisiest chick' away from Windwhistler.

The nest box was occupied for much of the afternoon. Alberta was there from 1 to 3:30 pm, mostly just standing there but again briefly getting into the box to push around the gravel. Minutes after she left, one of the young males arrived and stood motionless on the far side of the box for well over half an hour before flying off again. Alberta then returned before 6 pm and stayed well into the evening.

Thursday, August 27
Marcel Gahbauer reports: At least until the late afternoon, today unfolded like many recent days. The nest ledge was empty during the morning while the hot sun shone on it, and the birds were also difficult to spot outside - the only one I saw all morning was one of the young males on the LAVA sign.

Just after 1 pm, Alberta made her usual early afternoon appearance. Over the next three and a half hours she remained at the nest box, alternately sleeping and preening extensively. Only twice did she interrupt either of these activities. The first time was to do her daily gravel-pushing routine in the box. The other time, she seemed to be watching something on the ledge near the camera. She tilted her head nearly upside down to look at it, and seemed on the verge of taking off, but settled down again and soon went back to sleep.

Around 4:45 a very interesting incident took place. With Alberta still standing on the southwest edge of the nest box, one of the young birds came in to land on the northeast edge. Immediately Alberta rushed across the box to chase it off - this happened so quickly that I had no time to see who it was that she was chasing. After it had flown off, Alberta remained standing there for close to a minute with hunched shoulders, looking intently out over the street. She then took off, and returned to the nest box less than a minute later. Although I did not hear reports from anyone out on the street, I assume she took off to chase the bird that had been on the nest.

This is a significant development. Up to this point, the young birds have regularly been seen displacing both of the adults from perches with ease. This is the first time that the tables have been turned. It would appear that Alberta has decided that the nest ledge is her territory, and that it is time the kids learn to find their own home elsewhere. It will be interesting to see whether this behaviour is repeated in the coming days, and whether the young birds will respond by heading south.

Friday, August 28
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The behaviour of the adults today was quite peculiar. Alberta spent most of the day on the nest box, arriving at 9:45 am and taking off only at 5:15 pm. Although she has often been at the nest for a couple of hours at a time in the past two weeks, this is by far the longest she has been at the nest since the chicks were very young.

Most of the time Alberta simply stood on the edge of the box, looking out over the street. However, on four separate occasions she stepped into the box and performed the bizarre leg-stretching / gravel-pushing routine that she has done sporadically since the chicks started flying. Each time, she pushes her head down into the gravel, spreads her wings slightly to the side to support herself, and then pushes backward with her legs, moving the gravel away from herself. She then usually turns 90 degrees and repeats this behaviour. After two or three turns, she stands upright again and returns to the edge of the box as if nothing has happened.

In the past, we have seen her do this once or at most twice in a day. It was surprising that she performed this behaviour four times today (possibly even more - she may have come back again in the evening). Equally odd was the fact that on previous occasions she usually stopped after one or two minutes, but each of the "performances" today lasted at least five minutes.

Just minutes after Alberta finally left in the afternoon, Toby landed at the nest box. He immediately climbed into the box, and went through exactly the same moves as Alberta had. Unlike her, however, he did not linger. As soon as he had finished the routine he flew off again. It seems he had learned his lesson from earlier in the afternoon - at around 1 pm he landed on the far side of the nest box and was chased off by Alberta. She has become remarkably territorial again - in fact she is behaving much as she did during incubation, when she barely tolerated Toby's presence, and regularly chased away her previous offspring.

Monday, August 31
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Alberta today served notice that she will not tolerate any intruders near her nest. For the first time this year, the window washers came to clean the southeast face of the nest building. They started on the right-most of the three panels of windows (whereas the nest is above the left-most panel). Before they were finished with this column, Alberta had twice attacked them. Although she did not actually hit any of them, she was "close enough", in the words of one of the men on the platform. At some point next week they plan to do the windows directly under the nest - it will be interesting to see how Alberta reacts to that. I have a feeling all of the window washers will show up wearing hard hats and long sleeves that day, just in case.

The strangest part of Alberta's behaviour is the timing. When the same platform was lowered at the time of the banding, and the same men removed her chicks, she remained at a distance and did not attack. Now that the chicks are gone and only dirty gravel remains in the nest box, she is suddenly more defensive.

Several local residents and office workers informed me that Alberta had been on the nest for most of the weekend, as she had been last Thursday and Friday. At least a few times she was seen chasing off both her offspring and Toby. I didn't see Toby or any of the young birds today, and they were seen only very infrequently over the weekend - maybe they've realized that Alberta is in a bad mood and are staying away.

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