Canadian Peregrine Foundation -- Etobicoke Archives: Nov/Dec 1999

The Canadian Peregrine Foundation

ETOBICOKE HOME PAGE ARCHIVES

November - December 1999

Wednesday December 29
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Shortly after noon today I found Toby on the southeast edge of the nest building roof, eating his lunch. After about 15 minutes, he flew over to the nest and settled in there for at least the next two hours.

Tuesday December 28
Tom Moreau and Diane Brockman report: We passed by the Peregrine Watch Centre at 13:24 and found Alberta ensconced on the south corner of the nest box, facing inward. She was very puffed up, though her neck was scrunched down. The temperature was about -10C with a strong wind, which explains her posture. Her crop was very full indeed. We noticed that her chest plumage is whiter and less flecked than when we last saw her. She moved from the nest box to the edge of the ledge toward the far wall. This would have put her more into wind. She was still there at 14:00. We went upstairs and could clearly see Toby in the south corner of the east slot of the nest building. He, too, was scrunched up. His chest feathers seem greyer than we last observed. He took off southeastbound at 14:27.

Thursday December 23
Marcel Gahbauer reports: We have an intruder! I checked the webcame around 11 am, and was surprised to see a female on the nest, since only Toby has been in view in recent weeks. Looking more closely at this peregrine, I realized it was not Alberta - the malar stripe was too narrow, and it was paler on the breast. Could it be that Angel is back? The facial pattern on this bird was actually quite reminiscent of her, and by now of course Angel would have acquired adult plumage. Given how vigorously Alberta chased Angel away in the spring, it seems surprising that she would dare to return, but it's certainly not impossible. We will continue to watch closely whenever possible to see whether we can get a better look at this intruder, if it hangs around.

Sunday December 19
Tom Moreau and Diane Brockman report: At 09:07, we saw a Peregrine approach the north face of the nest building and then drop down and fly west. Moments later, two Peregrines flew southeastbound in formation. It appears that the one that flew to the north face must have roused the other beyond our view. We did not get a long enough view of them but we believe they were Toby and Alberta.

Wednesday December 15
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Bill Green and I stopped by Etobicoke today to fix the computer and get the webcam up and running again, and it appears we have been successful. While out there, we were treated to a nice flight by a female (presumably Alberta) landing on the corner of the roof above the nest site. For most of the nearly two hours we were on site, Toby was off an on the nest - it looks like he was fairly active today, but resident there more often than not.

Monday December 13
Bruce Massey reports: Marco was present today at the building on the southwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton. I'm seeing here roughly once a week, but he can be difficult to see on many occasions.

Monday November 29
Marcel Gahbauer reports: There have been no reports of the juvenile peregrine at Islington and Bloor for the past couple of weeks, but that of course does not preclude it still being there. Toby is still on the nest daily; Alberta is being seen there only infrequently now.

Monday November 22
Betty Beaton reports: At about 1:00pm today, I looked out my office window and saw a peregrine circling 20 Eglinton Avenue West (Yonge/Eglinton area). It landed, briefly, on top of the southwest corner of the building, then circled to the north and out of view. Judging by their frenzied activity, the neighbourhood pigeons certainly seemed to take notice of it! Based on previous sightings, I assume it was Marco Polo but I can't confirm it.

Monday November 15
Marcel Gahbauer reports: The third peregrine mentioned on October 26 may have been back again this morning. Norma Pennells reports seeing a juvenile peregrine on the nest ledge this morning. It did have leg bands, but unfortunately it wasn't close enough to the camera for them to be legible.

A reminder to everyone that our Etobicoke Webcam is still active, and is broadcasting live at the Falcon Watch Centre at all times, as well as on the website. We would love to identify this visitor, but we can't sit in front of the monitor all the time - we will need your help! If you happen to log in to the website and see a juvenile peregrine there (brownish and heavily streaked, rather than the bluish/gray back and whitish breast of the adults), please save the image if you can and e-mail it to us as an attachment. We will offer a CPF prize to the first person who sends us a photo which allows us to identify the bird.

Monday November 8
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Great news - Marco Polo has returned to Toronto! On October 19, Betty Beaton was treated to an extended visit from a peregrine on a ledge outside her office window on the west side of 2200 Yonge Street (southwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton). Fortunately she was able to clearly read the CWS leg band, and with this information I was able to identify the bird as Marco.

Betty described Marco as follows: "The bird has yellow feet, beak and eye-ring, has a grey back and a cream chest with brown streaks on the chest and belly. The bird has doing some preening but mostly resting ... the eyelids slowly closing upward then jerking open again, looking around, then dozing off again. Anyway, it landed on the perch at 1:40pm and it is now after 5:40pm ... I have to leave but it's still here." The grey back is consistent with what we would expect from a bird of his age - it is in their second fall that peregrines generally moult from their juvenile to their adult plumage.

A peregrine (presumably Marco the whole time) has now been in the area for quite a while - Betty reports that "Since late August, I have seen at least one Peregrine on almost a daily basis flying by my window, often chasing pigeons which hang out around the TTC bus garage directly below me. Just outside of my window, there is some sort of structural support for the building which is approximately 1.5 feet wide and 4 feet long, providing a wonderful perch. On 2 occasions, the Peregrine has landed on this support for a few brief seconds - an awesome experience to be just 5 feet and a pane of glass away from such a beautiful creature."

Today he was back on this ledge again briefly around 2 pm, and Bruce Massey later saw him on the antenna of the Canadian Tire building for over an hour. We will try to keep our eyes on this area in the near future to see whether Marco hangs around, and I encourage anyone else in the area who is watching to e-mail us news of any sightings. Back on October 29, Bruce Massey spotted a female and a male flying over Yonge and Eglinton, heading east, so we potentially have a pair in the area, and given that there are suitable nesting sites on many of these buildings, it makes the situation all the more intriguing.

Marco was one of the four chicks raised by Toby and Alberta in 1998. Prior to this, the last sighting we had of Marco was some time in August 1998. At that point, he and his siblings were leaving the area of the Etobicoke nest site, presumably to head south for the winter (although of course we can't know for sure where they went, since no sightings were reported over the winter or spring). Aside from the potential sighting of Windwhistler this spring, none of the Etobicoke juveniles from 1997, 1998, or 1999 have been sighted since leaving home.

Tuesday November 2
Marcel Gahbauer reports: I've been checking the camera off an on all throughout the morning and early afternoon, and Toby has been there most of the time. He spent at least a couple of hours standing on the box itself, and almost as long standing on the edge of the ledge by the far wall (mostly sleeping). No sign of Alberta yet today, but I did see her there yesterday.

| Archive Index | Previous month | Next month |

RETURN TO COMPLETE SITE INDEX
(or choose from selected popular links below)