Monday January 4
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  I've received a reliable report that Alberta has been seen back at the nest box.   Hopefully we will have more details soon.

Wednesday January 6
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  This morning, Toby was on the nest for about an hour beginning shortly after 11 am.  I have not yet seen Angel on the nest this week, but of course she could very well be there at times when I'm not looking.  Alberta was reported back at the nest box on Saturday (Jan. 2) afternoon, but has not been seen again since to my knowledge.  However, as the following report indicates, Alberta's new home may have been found.  I should point out that at this point we have not been able to confirm that it is Alberta being seen at this new location, but the possibility that it is her is certainly good.

Sunday January 10
Tom Moreau and Diane Brockman report:  At 14:00, we saw a Peregrine swoop down and attack several pigeons and one Red-Tailed Hawk. The hawk was attacked repeatedly. No physical contact was made in any of the attacks. At 14:50, we could see a Peregrine aloft, circling over the centre Mutual Group tower and diving on the odd pigeon. At one point, it appeared to hover with zero ground speed. We checked the nest at 14:55. There were no tracks in the snow, suggesting that the falcons had not visited in a while. At 15:05, we could view a Peregrine from the condo. It was flying westbound and hovering over 26 Mabelle and swooping down on pigeons. It stayed for a few minutes but we soon lost sight of it. The hawk reappeared over 26 Mabelle and proceeded eastbound along Aberfoyle until out of sight.

Monday January 18
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  Early yesterday afternoon, we received a phone call from a resident who lives just southwest of Islington and Bloor.   She had observed an aerial battle between a Red-tailed Hawk and a peregrine, during which the peregrine delivered a fatal blow to the hawk.  She was amazed to see the hawk fall and land in the snow in her own backyard.  Upon investigating, she found that the hawk was dead.  Since the snow probably cushioned the impact, it's likely that it was the peregrine which killed it.  If this was the hawk that has been seen in the area repeatedly, it may have finally annoyed the peregrines enough for them to attack for real this time, rather than just chase it away.  We don't know whether it was Toby or Angel who attacked the hawk - Toby is a bit on the small side to take on such a large foe, while Angel is young and inexperienced.  We'll probably never know which one it was, but at any rate there is no question that the peregrines are rigorously defending their territory, and intruders are not welcome.

I started to walk away, glancing back several times when, wouldn't you know it, as I reached the corner and looked back the bird had moved and I just saw the outline moving south over the buildings on the south side. With no peregrines in sight I wandered around to the back of the buildings on Mabelle and got a glimpse of two peregrines in the sky moving from the northwest towards the towers. Walking back to Bloor and Mabelle I saw a red tailed hawk cruising above the park and whispered a silent warning.

At the corner I saw a large peregrine landing on the southeast corner of the centre tower while at the same time a smaller peregrine came from the south and appeard to brush the glass about 3 floors below the nest ledge and then continue falteringly around back of the buildings. I went to the southwest corner of Bloor and Mabelle and saw that there were no peregrines in sight again. Then one came out of the east to sit on the southeast corner of the east condo and the other again on the centre tower.  Then the bird from the centre tower came over - I thought it would perch beside the other on the condo, but in fact it quite noisily took the place of the original bird, which then went to the ledge two pillars east from the nest ledge.  While watching this change in perching arrangements taking place I saw that the newcomer was much larger than the one perching there. I left then but glanced back again a few moments later and saw that both birds had moved once more.

Tuesday January 26
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  Ever since the big snowfall hit the city, the peregrines have been spending less time at the nest box.  Over the past few weeks, I've been checking the camera daily from the office, but have only caught Toby on the box a couple of times, and haven't seen Angel at all.  I received a report yesterday that Toby was on the nest box shortly before noon, but seemed rather nervious and didn't stay too long.

Wednesday January 27
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  Yesterday morning Toby was again back at the nest box for a short while before noon.  Angel made a brief appearance at the box between 1 and 2 pm, which was the first confirmed sighting we've had of her in a few weeks.

Friday January 29
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  This morning Toby was on the nest box for about an hour and a half beginning around 9:15 am, and only left the box once briefly during this time.  This is by far the longest that I've seen him sitting on the box so far this year.  Perhaps as nesting season draws closer we will be seeing more of him again.

Maggie Smith reports:  Yesterday morning, Alberta was back on the nest box.  It clearly wasn't Toby, because she looked much different, and matched the photo of Alberta on the door of the Falcon Watch Centre.  Unfortunately, she took off again after just a couple of minutes.

The past few days, crowds of people have been gathering at the monitor whenever Toby is back at the next box.  Everyone is eagerly awaiting the nesting season.

Today Toby was on the LAVA sign on the West Tower in the afternoon, squeezed into the middle of the "A" as only he can do.  Angel, meanwhile, was flying around and terrorizing the local pigeons, and kept flying past Toby as if she was showing off for him.

Saturday February 6
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  At 4 pm this afternoon, Toby was perched on the south corner of the roof of the Centre Tower. I watched him for about five minutes, then saw him suddenly head off to the south/southwest with a very purposeful flight. Just a couple of minutes later, Angel came into view from the north. She flew back and forth over Bloor relatively low, then swooped up to land on the west condominium. Angel remained there only briefly, then flew straight west and landed on the southeast LAVA sign, on the base of the "L".

I then watched Angel make a stoop to the west over by Kipling, where she put a huge flock of pigeons into flight. She pursued one of them back to the east and caught it over Islington Avenue. She started to eat it on the low building north of the bridge (the one with the large antenna on it). Again to my surprise, she flew with it and proceeded for the next 40 minutes or so to eat it at the nest box in full view on the monitor. Toby came in halfway through, but didn’t dare take any food from her. However, once she had satisfied herself, he jumped in and ended up flying off with it and eating it up on the top of the roof. As I was walking east along Bloor, I watched Angel chase a red-tailed hawk off to the northwest.

Monday February 8
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  This afternoon, Maggie Smith reported to me that Toby was perched on the box for at least half an hour shortly before noon.  However, Angel did not appear to be in the area at the time.  Later, Ian Dalton called to say that Angel, Toby, and Alberta were all in the area in the early afternoon.  Toby had brought a small brown bird (maybe a sparrow?) back to the nest and was eating it when Angel arrived on the scene, snatched the food away from him, and flew up to the roof with it.  Poor Toby - it seems that Angel doesn't respect his rights any more than Alberta did.  Shortly after this incident, Alberta came into view, and for a while all three peregrines could be seen at once.  No interactions were observed between Alberta and either of the other two.

With today's report from Toronto (click here to access the Toronto page), it appears that contrary to our earlier assumptions, Alberta is not the bird that has taken up residence in the Yonge & Bloor area.  Sightings of Alberta near the old nest site seem to be getting slightly more frequent again.  We are now probably within weeks of the showdown which will determine whether it is Angel or Alberta that nests at the Mutual Group Centre this year.

Friday February 12
Marcel Gahbauer reports: This morning I checked the camera around 9 am and was surprised to see Angel standing on the edge of the box, looking rather wet. It had been raining all morning, and I guess she just landed here a few minutes earlier, judging by her appearance. She remained in that position, near the east corner of the box, staring out over the landscape below, for well over two hours. Clearly she had enough of the rain in the morning and wasn’t planning to go out in again if she could help it.

Marcel Gahbauer reports: When I arrived at the office shortly before 9 am, I checked the camera and found Toby in the nest box by himself. He was standing there, and pulling at a scrap of food he was holding down with his talons. There didn’t seem to be much meat left on it at all, but he kept at it for several minutes. After that, he moved to the southeast edge of the box, closed his eyes, and remained fixed in position for nearly two hours, at which point he suddenly flew off.

The LAVA sign on the southeast face of the West Tower was without a doubt Toby’s favourite perch. Throughout the 1998 nesting season, observers could almost always find him either on the "L" or the "A" when he wasn’t at the nest or away hunting. Toby spotted the workers on the roof and decided he wasn’t going to let them take away his favourite spot without a fight. Although he didn’t actually hit anyone (that we know of), he certainly harassed the people as they removed the signs, and was very vocal.

Where will he perch now that the sign is gone? One possibility is that he may start to spend more time on the nest ledge, especially since the nesting season is fast approaching. He also may just perch on the edge of the roof above where the sign was, or alternatively on the window ledges below, as Alberta used to do.

For me, it's drawing closer to the final days of having the best view I've ever had of nature at it's finest. I can't say that I ever took for granted the view that I've had over the past 2 years of Alberta and Toby raising 2 families. Their care and teaching methods towards their chicks can be compared to nothing else. I will miss seeing them both very much and look forward to viewing their progress on the website.