Wednesday January 17, 2001
Marcel Gahbauer reports:   It has been more than two months since we have heard of any peregrine sightings in Richmond Hill, suggesting strongly that Rouge has indeed left for the winter again.  Whether he will return in spring as he did last year remains to be seen.

Regardless of whether Rouge comes back or not, there WILL be peregrines in Richmond Hill this summer.  The Canadian Peregrine Foundation is planning to conduct another hack release at this site, following up on the successful 1999 project.  Further details will be posted on this page later this spring.

Saturday March 24, 2001
Marcel Gahbauer reports:   Given that there have been few reports from Scarborough so far this year, it is possible that Rouge has again returned home to Richmond Hill.  I briefly checked out the Richmond Hill Town Hall on Monday and saw pigeons roosting on Rouge's favourite perches, so it doesn't seem like he is present.  Nonetheless, I would encourage anyone passing by the area to take a quick look for him just in case.  Please report any sightings to marcel@peregrine-foundation.ca.

Tuesday May 22, 2001
Marcel Gahbauer reports:   Peregrine chicks for this year's hack release in Richmond Hill are tentatively scheduled to arrive in late June.  Volunteers will be needed to help take care of the birds both before and after they take flight.  If you are interested in helping, please e-mail us at marcel@peregrine-foundation.ca.

Sunday June 17, 2001
Marcel Gahbauer reports:   Based on the latest information from the breeders supplying us with the chicks for the Richmond Hill release, we are now expecting the birds to arrive toward the end of the first week of July, at an age of 28-30 days.

Wednesday July 4, 2001
Natalie Helferty reports:   For those of you who want to see cute fuzzy peregrine falcon chicks and watch this endangered species grow up and fly out into the world, now is your chance! Contact me ASAP!

The Richmond Hill Naturalists in coordination with the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, MNR and the Town of Richmond Hill Parks and Recreation Dept is hosting another set of peregrine falcon chicks for a 'hack' release this summer on the Town Hall!! Funding has been obtained from the Trillium Foundation, the Rouge Park, TD Friends of the Environment Fund, and MNR CFWIP.

We are looking for volunteers to help watch the 3 chicks as they learn to fly!! We already have a core group of falcon-feeders from the Richmond Hill Naturalists who were lucky enough to sign up at the Annual General Meeting, but if you're interested in that aspect (don't forget--dead quail is involved, along with cleaning up after the 'kids'--not for the squeamish), we can certainly try to accommodate you. Also, we will need names for the 3 chicks. We will know the gender of the chicks on banding day, Friday, July 6th. There will be a Name The Chicks Contest. Submit your names to me!

The forthcoming tentative schedule of activities is:

Banding -- Friday, July 6, Noon, Town Hall (banding will be before placement into hack box)
Name the Chicks -- names will be chosen from a Name The Chicks Contest

Twice Daily Feeding-- Friday, July 6 to Release Date (around July 16-19)

Falcon Watch -- From release date (July 16-19) for 10 days, dawn to dusk watch (6am to 9pm)

Daily Feeding -- From release date (July 16-19) for 10-14 days

Satellite Recapture -- Around beginning of August

Three people will be needed for the 10 day Falcon Watch scheduled from dawn to dusk to keep track of the birds as they learn to fly. (You don't need to volunteer the whole time from dawn to dusk; we will have a schedule set up so any amount of time would be appreciated.) A training session will be set up prior to the Release Date to train volunteers in what to do if a bird gets into trouble.

This is a VOLUNTEER group activity so we can't do it without all you volunteers out there. Invite friends and neighbours to participate in this rare opportunity!

Saturday July 7, 2001
Marcel Gahbauer reports:   Yesterday three young peregrine falcons were brought to the hack box on the roof of the Richmond Hill Town Hall.  Prior to their arrival, Natalie Helferty and Michael White spent part of the morning fixing up the hack box, replacing the pea gravel inside and ensuring it was clean and ready for new occupants.

Around noon, a small group composed of Councillors, town staff, and project volunteers and sponsors gathered in the Council chambers for the banding of the chicks.  All three were determined by weight to be males, ranging from 523 grams for the youngest (23 days) to 711 grams for the oldest (32 days).  All three were quite vocal during the banding process, but none more so than the middle chick, 26 days old.

Following a few more last minute touch-ups to the hack box, the chicks were brought to the roof and placed in their new home.  They will remain in the box for approximately two and a half weeks, until the youngest of the three is ready to fly.  Regular reports on the progress of the Richmond Hill birds will be posted on this page.  

Monday July 9, 2001
Natalie Helferty reports:   The 3 boys are doing well.  The oldest bird is quite quiet and calm and doesn't come begging for food at all, nor does he scream when we open the door. He'll hiss though if we get too close for comfort.  I saw him grab a piece off the floor in his talons and try to rip it. It was small enough that he ate it whole though. He likes his privacy though and only did this once the door was closed and we weren't visible after a couple of minutes. He's quite interested in watching the fluffy down floating around inside the box. He's also noticed what's going on outside, cocking his head to listen as the airplanes fly overhead and watching intently as they fly by as the Town Hall is on the runway path of Buttonville Airport.

The youngest two are more focused on getting food, especially the noisy middle brother. He's a real squawker. The youngest actually is the most independent and boldest. He's the first to eat anything dropped on the floor, even if it's in front of his older brothers. He can barely walk, yet he went straight to the food dish to valiantly try to drag the quail carcass off the tray and pick at it with his beak once the door was closed. Funny to watch.  He's plucky and holds his own against his two older brothers. He whines quietly when he sees his older brothers being fed. He knows how to get the attention focused back on him, the cutey.  All in all, they are doing well.

Thursday July 12, 2001
Natalie Helferty reports:   The middle bird, I dub him Squawker for his incessant calling, is now hopping up on the ledge as of yesterday morning and is becoming more intolerant of us. He tried jumping on my fingers when I was cleaning up the gravel. Doesn't like those fingers unless they hold food. I tossed him a whole leg yesterday morning and he immediately pounced on it and tried tearing it up.  The oldest is quite passive and won't eat while we are there.  The youngest takes food from the ground readily now and even out of his brother's mouth if he's quick enough. 

They all seem to be doing well. The oldest now only has a downy 'mohawk' on his head and is fully feathered. The youngest is starting to show his feathers and is now 29 days old. The middle one won't shut up.

Monday July 16, 2001
Natalie Helferty reports:  The birds are all doing well. I spied on the middle squawker taking a bath - he sat in the water dish and took about 10 sips of water, tasting it, and then proceeded to get down to business fluffing his feathers and vibrating his wings splashing around in the water for about 5 minutes. He enjoyed himself. The oldest one came down from the ledge to watch for a bit, quite curious.

Both the oldest two are flapping their wings now while standing on the ledge. The oldest tries to squeeze himself through the bars at the front, unsuccessfully of course. The middle one even jumps up to grab the bars then drops to the ledge with a thump. They were both playing with a dried up quail leg this morning, pouncing on it and plucking at it.

The youngest still hasn't jumped up onto the ledge yet, but runs back and forth in front of it, bobbing his head to look over the ledge. He looks like he wants to try and get up there soon. He sleeps quite a bit, but also has a healthy appetite, especially for liver!

Tuesday July 17, 2001
Marcel Gahbauer reports:  The release date for the Richmond Hill peregrines has been set as Monday July 23, at noon.  Volunteers will be needed to help with monitoring the three birds for the following ten days.  To help out with this project, please e-mail project coordinator Natalie Helferty.

Tuesday July 24, 2001
Natalie Helferty reports:  Yesterday at noon the 3 boys were named in a Name the Chicks Contest:  "Legacy" (oldest), "Lionheart" (middle) and "Lightning" (youngest). Watch for an article in the upcoming Liberal and Markham Economist and Sun by Mike Adler.

After a presentation of a generous cheque by the Ontario Trillium Foundation to the Richmond Hill Naturalists for $40,000 ($25,000 this year and $15,000 next year) for the peregrine hacking and satellite tracking, the boys were released from the hack box yesterday at just past noon. The oldest two, Legacy and Lionheart, took their first flight almost immediately, within 5 minutes

The youngest one, Lightning, has yet to fly, but is practicing along the ledge of the Town Hall very diligently. You can see him doing 'high wire' antics running along the ledge with wings outspread. He also came back into the hack box today to eat, which is great as they haven't eaten since yesterday morning.

Legacy may not need to return very much longer as he is flying so well after his first day (50 days old today), that he is already harassing the local pigeons. We had lost track of him just after his first flight and rushed over to perform a potential rescue at the condo being built behind the Town Hall, but all for naught as we found that the dark blob bobbing up and down on the roof was actually a piece of roofing material waving in the wind! Thanks to Councillor Lynn Foster and Amy Mui of CPF for helping with the attempted rescue. Legacy evaded us all day, but turned up in the evening having most likely been very close by as Tom Waechter saw him doing acrobatics over the Leslie and Hwy 7 intersection, flying amazingly well. He is now sticking around the buildings to the west of the Town Hall, but is seen flying hither and yon, enjoying his freedom at long last.

Lionheart was so named since he lived up to the name as he was the only vocal one of the 3 in the box and I had dubbed him 'Squawker' because of his incessant 'roaring' at us falconfeeders. He was also the most defensive, and wouldn't hesitate to attempt a pounce on my gloved hand when I was cleaning the hack box if I got too close. He is flying well and took us all by surprise when Dave Pfeffer of CPF looked up from where we were in the food court, and there was Lionheart sitting in a pine tree just outside the window. We had just had a short, but heavy, rain shower and the poor bird was wet. Once dry, he made it from the tree up to a green building east of the Town Hall, then to the Town Hall east ledge where he spent the night on a slippery, slightly slanted ledge. He didn't have a good night's rest no doubt as he was standing this morning when I arrived at 5:30 am. As soon as light hit, he flew down to just above the East Entrance of the Town Hall, just above the people's heads walking into work. He promptly lay down and fell asleep. We got a couple of frantic calls today about a "dead" peregrine on the ledge, but assured people that he was merely "dead to the world" and that peregrines often splay themselves out when soundly asleep.

So, all in all, the boys are doing very well. Within a day or two, the youngest, Lightning, should be ready to take his first flight. We are looking for volunteers to help out both this week and next, when the boys start to turn on the heat and really get brave (but hopefully not to cocky) and start chasing everything that moves, including each other. So far, Legacy is chasing pigeons unsuccessfully, Lionheart is running after fluff and Lightning is attacking and 'killing' stones on the roof, and he gave a piece of string a good whupping too I hear.

If anyone wants to sign up for a timeslot, call me at 416-460-2460.  Volunteers may be scattered around the Town Hall area watching the bird; if you cannot locate anyone when you arrive, call the coordinators to find out where to go (phone booths are located on the ground floor of the mall just south of the Town Hall, on the level underneath the food court.  Coordinators:  Natalie Helferty (416-460-2460), David Pfeffer (416-896-6596), Amy Mui (416-427-8382)

Saturday July 28, 2001
Harry Crawford reports:  Just after 9:30am one of the peregrines made a low clockwise circle of the Town Hall, likely landing somewhere on the east roof surface. Another was walking along the ledge on the west side around the south aircraft warning lights.  He would appear and disappear and spent some time pecking at the support beam nearby.  Around 10:00 one of the peregrines was 'sleeping' on the east side just above the 'R' -- this lasted for about 15 minutes.  Around 11:00am, one of the birds started circling clockwise around the Town Hall and eventually landed, not too gracefully, on the east ledge.  The flying was excellent, however.  A few minutes later, two of them were up and chasing each other.  They didn't stray too far from the area but reached heights of about twice that of the Town Hall.  They seemed to settle down on the south side roof area -- making short flights in the area.  Again, excellent flying.

Sunday July 29, 2001
Harry Crawford reports:  At 10:35am two peregrines were circling above and to the south of the Sheraton Parkway Hotel, about 40 feet up.  At 10:40, one is standing under the support on the Town Hall penthouse, just to the south on the west side.  At 10:51 a peregrine was lying under the bracket on the south west corner of the penthouse, near the aircraft warning light.  At this time, another peregrine flew south, over Highway 7 and came right back, likely landing somewhere on the south side of the Town Hall roof.  The sleeping fellow immediately got up and moved to the top of the bracket he was resting under.  At 10:59 he started to walk north along the ledge, in that typical peregrine swagger, over to the north aircraft warning lights.  At 11:15 a second peregrine was seen resting under the drum-like thing mid way along the north penthouse roof.  At 11:25 there was a slight outline of a possible peregrine resting on the south east corner of the roof area -- I could not confirm this third one.  At 11:34, the one on the north west penthouse corner moved over to the one under the drum.  Both peregrines reoriented themselves and lay down, facing each other, about half a bird length apart.  They were still there at 11:41am when I left the area.

Monday July 30, 2001
Norbert Woerns reports:   I saw the three recently released falcons at the Buttonville airport this morning at about 7:30 am. They were buzzing the runway and seemed to by playing with some food that they caught. One was dropping something from its mouth and swooping down to pick it up before it hit the ground.  They got quite close to me and one of them actually flew right over my head and headed off at great speed . It was a wonderful sight, one I will not forget.  Two of the birds first appeared perched on the Richmond Hill Building on the top most portion of the building on the north side. They were quite far away from my vantage point so I was not sure at first what they were. They took short flights from the building and returning one at a time. I had assumed they could be the peregrines but wasn't sure at that point. I saw them disappear behind a building and suddenly two birds reappeared from the same direction moving towards the airport. They were moving quite fast and got a fairly good view of them as they passed over the airport runway. Another bird with similar flight pattern was further away and higher up but moving in the same general direction I thought may have been the third peregrine but was not as sure about this one.

I have since seen two birds perched usually one at a time on the northern edge of the Richmond Hill Building taking short flights northward and then returning to the building occasionally. Again this is quite far away and I am only assuming that these could be peregrines. These sightings are generally between 7 to 7:30am in the morning.

Tuesday August 14, 2001
Natalie Helferty reports:  The 3 young boys are flying well and returning to the hack box infrequently to snack on the quail we leave out for them each day. Having found their wings and hunting skills serving them well, the boys are flying hither and yon over into the next town across Highway 404. They were spotted in Markham and flying over the Buttonville Airport, chasing pigeons off the runway. A benefit for the airplanes during take-off and landing. Larger airports in fact use trained peregrine falcons to chase pigeons off their runways as they can be a hazard. The Buttonville Airport is lucky enough to have our boys around to help with this task for free!

Lightning was fitted with a satellite transmitter on August 3rd and is flying well, not even noticing the antenna on his back when he preens himself. After watching him for a few days after the fitting, he is flying well. Our Falconwatch has officially ended as the boys are now flying far and wide, but we still have a few keen observers keeping an eye out for them.

We hope to try and recapture a second one this year for a second satellite tracking. If we're unlucky in capturing Lionheart, then next year we'll place that transmitter during our third hacking project.

If anyone sees a peregrine, with or without a transmitter (look for the antenna between the wings on their back), let us know. We always like to know where our boys are and that they are doing well.

Below are links to some photos and articles which have been published on the peregrines recently:
Banding photo
Banding article
Article on naming of chicks and fledging
Article on Lightning's transmitter

Thursday August 23, 2001
Natalie Helferty reports:  On Thursday, August 16, 2001, David Pfeffer and Amy Mui attempted to recapture Lionheart in order to place the second transmitter on him. After a very wet day of not seeing any of the birds, they packed it in around 6 pm. I had thought I might be able to try that evening, but a flat tire and the rain made that evening a wash. On Friday morning, August 17, 2001, Natalie Helferty and boyfriend, Marco Prosdocimo, stopped by to raise the trap door so the birds could get at their meal. As we were about to leave after tying up the string to the trap, Lionheart flew over. He looked like he wanted to land and eat! This was a great opportunity! It was a windy day and Lionheart was playing in the wind, rising above the ledge of the roof like he was hovering then stooping straight down and turning and letting the wind wisk him away. I told Marco to ignore Lionheart even though he was flying over his head at times and undo the string so we could raise the trap door (a pillowcase weighted down that slides up the bars at the front of the hack box). Marco held the string as we watched from inside the rooftop, peeking through a hole in the door where we couldn't be seen by Lionheart. We waited no more than 5 minutes and Lionheart returned, landed on the hack box and through the slit in the back of the hack box doors, Marco saw movement and closed the trapdoor. Sure enough, we caught Lionheart. He was tugging at the quail we had attached inside the hack box, trying to pull it outside. After a few seconds, he realized that he couldn't get the quail or himself out, so started voraciously tearing at the quail, never minding the fact he was stuck in the hack box.
  
None the worse for wear, Lionheart had his transmitter placed on him and was released. He is flying well and flew straight back to his favourite spot on the east side of the Town Hall roof upon release, where he started preening himself. So, if you see a bird with a transmitter, it could be either Lightning or Lionheart. Lionheart has a wide malar stripe which covers almost his whole head (this look is called a 'helmet') and Lightning has blond streaks behind his dark malar stripe. That's how you can tell them apart from afar and if you can't see their band numbers. Look for them flying together as no doubt they are still hanging around with each other.

Saturday August 25, 2001
Alan Kirschbaum reports:  I was in the East Beaver Cr and Leslie area at around 2 pm when I noticed a large flock of pigeons taking evasive action.  With all the birds flying around I noticed a peregrine was causing the commotion.  Legacy was chasing them around an office building.  They settle on the roof and Legacy circled high in the sky waiting for on of the pigeons to take off.  As I left the area I could see him moving quickly to the south, likely chasing a pigeon.  I've been by the area a few times a week since they fledged and it was the most action I've seen. His flight was very strong.  He was closer to Mural and 16th Av than East Beaver Cr and 7.

Saturday September 8, 2001
Alan Kirschbaum reports: Legacy continues to make life an experience for the birds in the Leslie and East Beaver Cr area.  Saturday afternoon he was chasing a flock of pigeons until a flock of starlings caught his attention.  His changes in direction are so fast that it was impossible to use binoculars to track him. 

Sunday September 9, 2001
Alan Kirschbaum reports: A peregrine was sitting on an antenna on York Central Hospital.  It was scanning the marsh beside the hospital.  The marsh while small, does attract some ducks.   It didn't have a transmitter and appeared to have barring on its breast, suggesting that it was not a juvenile.  Unfortunately I was not able to stop for a better look and it was not there later that day.