Canadian Peregrine Foundation -- Etobicoke Archives: March 1999

The Canadian Peregrine Foundation

ETOBICOKE HOME PAGE ARCHIVES

March 1999

Monday March 1
Maggie Smith reports: Around noon today Toby was on the far side of the nest box. Earlier in the morning, he was flying around the West Tower, as if looking for the LAVA sign. Ever since the sign was removed, he has been spending more time on the roof of the Centre Tower. He likes to step back from the edge until he is almost hidden from view from the street, then lean forward and peer over the edge. It’s as if he’s watching us below - a "peeping peregrine".

Yesterday afternoon, I saw him on the nest box, but it looked like he was watching something out in the sky. I went outside and saw that Angel was circling around the building, as if trying to get Toby’s attention. Angel really is very graceful in the air, and has great control. Last Wednesday she was flying over Bloor and suddenly swooped down low over the street (only 4-5 stories above the ground) - much lower than I’ve ever seen her go before. Toby was watching from the south corner of the Centre Tower roof at the time - was she showing off for him?

On Saturday, it was Angel that was on the box for a while. It seems like she is beginning to acquire some adult plumage, although the line above the eye is still very prominent, and she is still much browner than an adult. She was also visible from the street, as was Toby, and a group of 5 or 6 people gathered spontaneously on the street corner to watch them for a while. Many of them had never heard of the local peregrines before, and were thrilled to see them.

Tuesday March 2
Marcel Gahbauer reports: ALBERTA IS BACK! Around 1:15 this afternoon, I happened to be standing beside the monitor at the Etobicoke Falcon Watch Centre, when Alberta suddenly landed on the nest box. Ironically, I had been in the middle of explaining to someone that it was beginning to look unlikely that she would come back!

Alberta remained on the box for less than a minute, but during this time she came to the close edge of the box, and stood there with her leg bands clearly showing, allowing us to confirm that it really was her. She was vocal throughout the time she was at the box, and continued calling as she flew away.

Soon after Alberta left, Toby landed beside the nest tray. He was vocalizing too, and seemed very restless. A moment later Alberta arrived on the other side of the tray and the two of them had quite a conversation before they both flew off again.

I went outside to see whether Toby and Alberta were performing any courtship flights, but by the time I got there, they were perched on separate rooftops, but within sight of each other. I found Ian Dalton watching them, and he informed me that just before Alberta arrived, Angel had been on the nest, and Toby had chased her away to the west until they were out of sight. Maggie Smith later told me that around noon Angel had been on the nest looking uncharacteristically nervous - maybe she sensed what was coming, or had already had another encounter earlier in the morning.

As we watched, Toby left his perch on the south corner of the Centre Tower, and flew clockwise around the East Tower. As soon as he was out of sight, Alberta flew off from her spot on the southwest face of the East Tower, and followed Toby around. After a very brief aerial display, they went to alight at each other's previous perches. Over the next 30 to 45 minutes, both of them made additional visits to the nest site, but always only briefly. Several times Toby got right into the box, and made gravel-scraping motions.

At the time, it looked like all was back to normal, with Toby and Alberta happily reunited. However, by 3 pm, it was Angel that was back on the nest, and looking rather comfortable there again. She remained there for the better part of an hour, during which neither Toby nor Alberta put in any appearances. Clearly Angel is not going to give up easily.

Judging by the behaviour of Angel over the past week, and of Toby and Alberta today, it appears that the courtship season is now underway. The next couple of weeks should prove very interesting in Etobicoke, as both Alberta and Angel vie for the attention of Toby, and the rights to the nest box.

Thursday March 4
Tom Moreau reports: I saw Toby in the nest box at 18:05, huddled down and facing due east. His feathers were quite ruffled and he looked like he had a full crop. After a few minutes, it appeared that a falcon flew close by the ledge, westbound. He watched the bird fly by and immediately straightened up. Within 30 sec., he hopped off of the nest box and hopped along the ledge until he was below camera view. It is not clear but it may have been that the juvenile had been present on the ledge (out of camera view) while he was bowed and then flew off as reported above. It may have returned with some previously cached food, which precipitated his eager trot along the edge.

Marcel Gahbauer reports: Yesterday's snowstorm seems to have cooled down the level of activity in Etobicoke. Toby made a couple of brief appearances at the nest box, but I didn't see either of the females through the camera yesterday.

This morning, Toby was on the box when I first checked shortly before 9 am, and he stayed there for close to two hours. He then was gone for only a few minutes before he returned for another hour. Angel was reported on the south corner of the Centre Tower in the early afternoon, but there have been no sightings reported of Alberta today.

Friday March 5
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Around 9:30 am, Toby arrived at the the nest. Once again, he appeared quite distracted by something out over Bloor - presumably another bird. The next time I checked was at 10 am, and I found Angel standing on the ledge between the box and the camera, preening her back. She stayed there for about an hour, and not long after she left, Toby was back. He came and went for the next few hours, but was on the box more often than not.

Saturday March 6
Tom Moreau and Diane Brockman report: We dropped by the Peregrine Watch Centre at 14:00 and found Toby huddled behind the nest tray, up against the vent. There was blowing snow and the winds were strong out of the northeast. The nest tray was acting as a windbreak. We dropped by again at 17:45 and he was still there. There were no tracks in the snow surrounding the box, so we surmise that he did not move from his position in the meantime.

Monday March 8
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Toby was at the nest for most of the morning, leaving only for a few minutes at a time. As has typically been the case rececently, he seemed rather agitated before flying away, as if he was watching another bird fly past.

In the early afternoon, Angel returned to the nest and stood on the edge of the box preening for several minutes, then took off again. As soon as she had gone, Toby returned, and spent the next 5+ minutes in the box, pushing himself into the gravel and going through the motions of scraping out a nest bowl. It seemed like he was inviting Angel and/or Alberta to come and lay eggs in his nest, but neither of them responded to his efforts. After a while Toby seemed to lose interest, and flew off again.

Tom Moreau reports: At 8:10 I saw an adult Peregrine on the nest tray. It appeared to be bigger than Toby, judging by its length with respect to that of the box. It was walking around and at one point, squatted down and pushed its chest into the gravel and "bulldozed" the gravel like that into the south corner of the box. I could not stay any longer as I had to depart for work.

Tuesday March 9
Marcel Gahbauer reports: From around 9:15 until well past 11 am, Toby remained on the far side of the nest box, with only his head showing above the rim of the box. Just past 11:30, I happened to check the camera and saw that Toby was standing on the edge of the box, and Angel was now outside the box on the far side. In an instant, Toby flew off, and Angel was right behind. A bit later Toby came back to the nest, but he was again alone. He spent about five minutes scraping around in the gravel in the box before he settled down. Alberta has now not been reported for an entire week.

Wednesday March 10
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The breeding season has begun in Etobicoke! At 11:20 this morning, Toby mated briefly with Angel on the southeast edge of the nest tray. He then flew off, and was followed by Angel a few minutes later, after she did some extensive preening of her back. By 11:30, Toby was back at the box, preening himself in the morning sun.

Earlier in the morning, Toby had put in a couple of brief appearances at the nest, but was away for much longer periods than in the past couple of days. At around 11:15, Angel landed on the tray, and Toby arrived seconds alter on the far side of the box. For a couple of minutes he paced back and forth, alternately bowing down and stretching himself upright, but Angel continued to stare out over Bloor, ignoring Toby's antics. He then flew off and I thought he had given up, but it was less than a minute later that he returned to mate with Angel. Has Toby finally made his choice to stick with Angel, or will Alberta make yet another comeback? It's still too early to know for sure.

Thursday March 11
Diana Karrandjas reports: Around 4 p.m., from Eagle Road I could see a peregrine on the nest ledge; then while parking on Bloor I glanced up at the building and saw another falcon right on the edge of the ledge, under the camera, facing into the building. It could have been the angle of the light but this bird appeared to be grey on the back. I went in to see the monitor and saw that the one peregrine was perched on the south-west corner of the nest. This bird was large with lots of dark banding - I assume I have seen Toby's new lady love close up for the first time. This bird appeared to be vocalizing towards the other bird. Possibly Toby was the other peregrine, or maybe it was Alberta, being told by Angel that this nest was no longer available. On returning along Bloor at about 5.50 p.m. I observed just one peregrine on the ledge, under the camera, this time facing out; this bird appeared, through my binoculars, to be very light on the chest. I wonder, could this have been Alberta. The saga continues...

Friday March 12
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Yesterday I checked the camera throughout the day, and found that Toby was on the nest box almost every time I looked. There were a couple of brief periods when Angel was there instead, but I didn't see the two of them together. Toby again scraped around in the box at times, but what was surprising was Angel's behaviour. Up until now, we have not seen her show any interest in domestic activities. However, around 9:30 am yesterday morning, she climbed into the box and began to scrape in the gravel as well. Perhaps she has been learning from Toby! This is yet another indication that Angel seems to be determined to claim this nest as hers.

This morning, Toby was again on the nest box before 9 am, and he is still standing there now, as I write this at 11 am. To this point at least, Toby seems to be spending much more time at the nest than he did last spring. Is this because he has lost his LAVA perch, or perhaps because with a new mate he doesn't want to stray far away?

Diana Karrandjas reports: At around 8:15 a.m. today I observed, on the monitor, a peregrine with back towards me getting into some heavy duty preening. From the size, I assumed this bird to be a female and I silently begged the bird to turn around so that I could see the banding. Thirty minutes later bird turned and I could see creamy white upper chest. I thought "it's Alberta" but then I could not really judge the size, so it could be Toby. Returning along Bloor at around 10:30 a.m. I saw a falcon come to land on the corner above the nest ledge. I could also see a bird on the ledge. Checking monitor, there was a peregrine in the nest this time. This bird, that had a whitish upper chest, proceeded to scoop out the centre of the nest with his/her chest, all the while turning to look up, as if aware of the peregrine on roof, and seeming to vocalize. This went on about 10 minutes, then the bird took off. When I emerged onto Bloor again there was a peregrine on the same corner of roof as before and now another on an east corner of roof. The peregrine on the south corner was facing Bloor now and I could see a very whitish chest.

Saturday March 13
Ellen Donnelly reports: At 2:45 today we stopped by the Etobicoke site. There was a large, very
grey peregrine sitting right on the corner of the middle tower, enjoying a messy looking meal. We stayed there for about 10 minutes, and then went in to check the monitor. Stayed there for a few minutes-- nothing happening. When we went out the other bird has gone. I don't know the Etobicoke birds very well, so not sure who this was. Definitely grey--(because she was right on the corner we could see both the front and back just by walking along Bloor St.) and no banding on the chest. We only saw the one bird while we were there.

Tuesday March 16
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The past couple of days in Etobicoke have been exciting ones. On Saturday afternoon, Terry Sheils reported to us that he saw what appeared to be Toby and Alberta attacking Angel in mid-air over the nest building and the condominiums to the east. One of the adults seemed to dig its talons into Angel's back, and they plummeted straight down toward the roof of the condominium. Following this, the adults chased her west out of sight, and then they returned to the nest ledge. Angel then came back, and the whole cycle repeated itself again. This time Angel did not come back, and Alberta and Toby spent some time on the nest together.

On Sunday March 14, Ian Dalton reported seeing Alberta and Toby together for more than an hour, and during this time they chased away a red-tailed hawk. Angel was not seen. Ian Dalton and Joan Boardman observed Alberta again yesterday. She spent a lot of time preening herself on the nest box, then eventually left and flew to the west tower. Toby joined her there, and they mated twice, at 2:15 and 2:27 pm. Toby then went off and caught something, brought it back to Alberta, and they shared the food. Some encouraging signs that their pair bond is still strong, despite their winter spent apart.

As I write this report on Tuesday morning around 9:30 am, Alberta is back on the near edge of the nest box, facing away from the camera and preening herself. Just a little while ago, Toby was on the far edge of the box, but he flew off before Alberta arrived. Perhaps things have returned to normal, and we will have Toby and Alberta nesting as they did last year. However, I would be surprised if we've seen the last of Angel...

Friday March 19
Diana Karrandjas reports: On my way to work today at 10:00 a.m. I stopped at the Etobicoke nest building and observed Toby on the nest ledge with his back to the street. Just as he started preening, his attention was taken by something towards the east, then I caught a glimpse of a bird arriving, presumably under the camera. Toby put his head down low and watched; then into view stepped Alberta who stood on the back edge of nest and vocalized at Toby, who was still retaining his subordinate posture. Then Alberta stepped forward and took off from the ledge and Toby followed. Returning at around 4:00 p.m. I saw one peregrine with its back to street standing under the camera.

Sunday March 21
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Over the past several days, Alberta and Toby have both been seen spending a lot of time at the nest box, often together. On Thursday morning, they were spotted mating right on the nest box. Since then, both Toby and Alberta have been busy scraping the gravel around the box. We expect that there will be regular matings over the next few weeks, and hopefully eggs by around the middle of April.

Monday March 22
Maggie Smith reports: Local interest in the peregrines has been increasing greatly in recent days. This weekend, several people pulled up in their cars, parked briefly on Bloor, and ran in to check the nest box on the monitor in the lobby. Those who happened to see Alberta or Toby on the box seemed to be very excited, and were asking whether they would be nesting again this year. There has also been a lot of walk-in traffic from the residents south of Bloor. It's great to see that so many people are still interested, and are stopping in to see what is going on.

The birds are taking turns on the nest box, and both of them are rooting around in the gravel. Today, Alberta was picking up pebbles in her beak, moving them to far side of the box, then coming back to work down into the little well that she had dug. She then went back to moving the pebbles, so she was very busy this afternoon. Yesterday, Toby and Alberta were seen touching beaks a few times when they met each other, so it looks like the romance is still on.

Wednesday March 24
Marcel Gahbauer reports: I have been checking the nest camera regularly the past three days, and about 90% of the time, either Toby or Alberta was in, on, or beside the box. Both have been digging in the gravel again, and spending a fair amount of time just standing there resting and preening.

Friday March 26
Marcel Gahbauer reports: There is a new intruder in Etobicoke! This time, however, it is not another peregrine, but rather a great horned owl. Jeanne Wilkinson called to report that around noon there was a great horned owl perched on the roof of the east tower of the Mutual Group Centre, above the peregrine nest ledge. The ear tufts were clearly visible with binoculars. Jeanne reported that one of the peregrines was very agitated by the owl's presence. Just a bit earlier, Maggie Smith had phoned to say that both Alberta and Toby were flying around the building and seemed to be very agitated about something - presumably the owl was already there at that time. By 12:15, the owl was out of sight, but it was not clear whether it had flown away or simply dropped down out of sight onto the recessed roof.

Saturday March 27
Maggie Smith reports: This morning it was Toby on the box most of the time, and Alberta sitting up on the roof right over the box. In the afternoon, they switched positions. For a short time Toby came down to the nest ledge and he and Alberta were beak-to-beak for a few seconds. He then returned to enjoy the sunshine on the roof, and Alberta called for him for quite a while, but he showed no interest in coming back down again. Alberta eventually settled down, and after preening herself, she began to close her eyes.

Ian Dalton reports: Yesterday around 1:30 pm, Angel suddenly reappeared. She went to perch on the roof above the nest, and was violently chased off to the west by Alberta. Angel, however, was stubborn, and returned a few minutes later. This time it looked like Alberta actually hit Angel while she was on the roof, and Angel dropped out of sight - either she went down to the lower part of the roof, or she flew off to the northwest and was hidden from view by the buildings. Shortly thereafter, Alberta and Toby copulated on the roof above the nest.

Tuesday March 30
Marcel Gahbauer reports: This afternoon we were quite surprised to find Alberta lying flat in the box. While she occasionally pushes herself down into the gravel to scrape out a hollow, we have never seen her lie still in this position before. A snapshot from the video camera with her lying down has been added to the photo gallery. We suspect that this behaviour may be an indication that egg-laying is imminent. We (at the office) and many others (in Etobicoke) are watching the nest closely for the first egg to appear any day now.

Wednesday March 31
Marcel Gahbauer reports: I spent the entire morning at Islington and Bloor today, watching Toby and Alberta both on the monitor in the Falcon Watch Centre, and from the street outside. Between 8 am and noon, the nest was only empty for a few minutes. Alberta was there for about three hours in total, and each time she left for a short while, Toby came in within a couple of minutes, as if to stand guard. Both of them spent most of their time standing upright in the middle of the nest box, and only scraped in the gravel occasionally. At no time did Alberta lie down on the gravel like she did yesterday.

At 10 am, Alberta had been on the nest for close to an hour when she suddenly became agitated and very vocal, and flew off. A minute later she returned, still calling, and took off again only seconds later. I ran outside to see what the commotion was about, and saw her performing a courtship flight with Toby. The two of them were flying side by side high over Bloor, and occasionally taking playful mini-stoops at each other. After a few minutes they both returned to the nest, and eventually Alberta settled in again.

Over the next couple of hours Toby and Alberta came off and on the nest more frequently. Shortly before noon, Toby flew in with a chunk of food (looked like the body of a starling) and offered it to Alberta, who quickly snatched it from him and flew away with it. This despite the fact that her crop was still visibly gorged from her own morning meal.

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