April 26, 2008.

CPF Postmaster Reports:

Global TV live streaming video of the Etobicoke Nest Ledge has started
Well this is the big week coming up as we are all anticipating that the eggs will start hatching will some time next week between April 29th and May 3rd . So far, we have only been able to see three eggs, as the adult female is not giving any real good “peaks” so far. She is bound and determined to keep us all guessing!! Global TV has started their countdown to the hatch, and you will be able to see the live colour camera stream from the Etobicoke peregrine nest ledge on the Global TV network. For Toronto Rogers Cable viewers – tune into channel 3 for Global and visit the web link for the snap shot update version of the Etobicoke nest ledge at: http://www.canada.com/globaltv/ontario/index.html

April 21, 2008.

CPF Postmaster Reports:

Three Eggs Confirmed
It been a while since our last update, but this is the slow time for sure and not a lot of exciting things are happening. The adult female continues to incubate her eggs with the adult male helping out. Once the female starts her full time incubation, usually after the second last egg is laid, the incubation period is approx. 33 to 35 days in length and its always a hurry up and wait. So far, the female is not giving up much as to just exactly how many eggs she is currently incubating. So far, we have confirmed three eggs, but there maybe four?? We never seem to tune in at the right time during the shift changes to really get a good look.

April 21, 2008.

Japie Reports:

Just a confirmation of both adult birds being present at the Etobicoke nest as seen on the webcam.

April 18, 2008.

CPF Postmaster Reports:

Just a quickly update as the long wait now continues for some news from the nest ledge. It would appear that the there is at least three eggs now in the nest tray and both of the adults have been pretty diligent in their incubation activities and shift changes. So much so, that there not giving us any closer “peeks” at the eggs, so we don’t know if there is a forth egg. With the successful install of the new colour camera, and an increased refresh rate of the images now being sent to the web site, we all have our fingers crossed that we will be able to see a little more of what’s happening over the next months as their nest activities continue. As a reminder, the 33 to 35 day incubation period begins only as the adults start their “full time” incubation process that usually starts after the second last egg is produced. If the temperatures are cooler during the egg production and egg laying times, the female will start her full time incubation before all of the eggs are laid so that they will not cool off to much. Given this time frame, we believed that the female started her “full time” incubation on and around March 26th. If this is the case, we can expect a hatch to occur the week of April 28th to May 3rd.

April 14, 2008.

Japie Reports:

Photo of at least three eggs!

I got a glimpse of the nest when the female was not on the eggs, and it might be that the picture is not clear anough, but it looks to me as if she might be sitting on three eggs.

The picture was taken this morning, just after 11am.

March 28, 2008.

Debra Lee R. Reports:

We Have Two Eggs!

I spotted eggs in the nest tray via the live monitor at the Etobicoke site. When the bird on the nest stood up I saw 2 eggs! The falcons have been very good with rotating the eggs every so often. Sometimes they rotate themselves only!

March 25, 2008.

Mark Nash Reports:

We are aware that the nest camera image is not uploading to the website. I have finally identified the problem as the computer responsible for uploading the image to the website and not the camera. Efforts are being made to fix the problem and we should be live again by next week, March 31st 2008.

During the 5 hours spent at Etobicoke working on the computer, I observed the female active on the nest ledge throughout my time there. I can also say with a degree of certainty, that as of this date, there are no eggs present on the ledge.

The video monitor in the All Trans Financial suite - in the east tower lobby - continues to produce the most enviable, live, streaming images of the nest site.

Stay tuned.

March 14, 2008.

Japie van der Bijl Reports:

Last Friday there was a Red Tailed Hawk that came and was sitting on the roof of a near by building. The Falcons were not impressed at all. Every now and then the one Falcon will come and take a few dives just over the head of the hawk, but it just stayed where it was. Suddenly late in the afternoon both falcons came and took some dives over the hawk's head until they chased it away. I haven't seen the hawk since.

March 9, 2008.

Linda Woods Reports:

10:45 am
Photo: Adult female on the nest box, looks like she took a walk first.

March 9, 2008.

Mark Nash Reports:

While it appears that the Etobicoke nest ledge also needs some snow shoveling, the adult female never the less remains tight to the nest tray despite the blustery conditions that Toronto is currently experiencing. With another 20 to 30 cms of snow expected to blanket Toronto again today, winter continues to hold us in it grips for at least another few weeks.

March 8, 2008.

Mark Nash Reports:

New Camera Has Been Installed!

We have a few exciting announcements.

First, the new camera...

Just minutes before the noon hour, the new Panasonic colour camera had been installed, and it was immediately producing a full colour live image again of the Etobicoke peregrine nest ledge. While it was a rather un-eventful install with regards to the resident peregrines, - (at least as far as the adult male was concerned), the adult female was on hand to supervise the install, but remained very quiet throughout. With a huge thank you to the management and staff at Oxford for coordinating with Skyreach window washers and the Skyreach staff, the trip to the nest ledge was completed in record time. A huge thank you to JP from Smart Home Solutions who did the camera work both on the inside and outside, and to Panasonic for their speedy response and actions to our appeal, and their incredible support with this new replacement camera. As of 12:30 pm, we now have a brand new camera installed to monitor the Etobicoke nest ledge, one that is producing a fantastic colour image of the Etobicoke nest ledge.

By 10 o’clock in the morning, much of the work had been completed inside the building at the computer and camera equipment end prior to the actual visit to the ledge, and the only thing left to do was to simply switch out the old camera with the new camera. It was important that nothing was changed or different in it’s appearance on the actual nest ledge that might cause the peregrines problems, so the decision was made several weeks ago to simply switch out the old camera with the a new camera without changing anything. As we planned, the peregrines never knew the difference, as the new camera replaces the old camera that is mounted inside of the existing environmental housing box currently on the nest ledge.

Given the margin for errors and “Murphy’s law”, I must say that this was a very well run and coordinated operation, as we able to complete the camera switch in record time and without any incidents. The visit to the nest ledge lasted less than 20 minutes in total from start to finish, and moments after the camera switch and the swing stage’s decent, the adult female was back roosting on the nest tray looking no worse for wear. While the adult male was observed earlier in the morning, he was not present during the camera switch operation. He was although observed at 12:30 pm roosting on the camera housing.

It was nice to hear from J.P. that both the heating element and cooling fans inside of the large environmental camera housing were still working just fine, and that the seals on the camera’s environmental housing were still functioning and had kept all of the bugs out. As most of you are aware, this camera was installed back in 1997, and it has been running for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the past 11 years without a single problem!! While we have experienced many blackouts and disruptions during this same time period, the fault has always been with the desktop computer and other computer software needed to process the live camera images to the internet and the CPF web site. The old Panasonic colour camera has worked flawlessly for almost 11 years straight without a single hiccup.

We are live!

Here are several photos sent into us by Linda Woods, taken from the CPF web site with the new camera shortly after its install during the day light hours, and another photo taken just after 8pm in the evening. While it was snowy, overcast and very dark in both photos, they are never the less very good photos given the current conditions. (Snow, snow, and more snow!)

Secondly...

The large screen monitor located at All Trans Financial suite – in the East Tower lobby is now live!!

I am also delighted to announce that the large flat screen colour monitor is now up and running at the All Trans Financial Services suites at ground level, located in their east tower lobby suites, and it is producing a fantastic “real-time live” colour image of the nest ledge. With a huge thank you both to All Trans Financial for sponsoring the monitor and allowing the live nest video stream to be displayed on this monitor, and to Oxford and the all of their support for allowing the foundation to conduct the public bandings to be held in the east tower lobby.

I must admit that we all are somewhat envious of the quality of the live colour video that is now being displayed on the All Trans monitor, as this Plasma screen and picture quality truly outshines the images that we had when displaying them on the older “tube TV monitors” that were in the falcon watch suite years ago. What a fantastic live video picture indeed!!!

Thirdly...

In addition to being able to view the updated snapshot images of the nest ledge on the CPF web site, (with a much quicker refresh rate than we have ever had before), I am delighted to announce that that should everything go as planned this season, the Etobicoke nest site may be covered by Global TV this season, and very soon, you will be able to see the Etobicoke nest site happenings in “real time - streaming live” on the Global TV network!! We are all very excited!!!!

Stay tuned...

With many thanks to Linda and Emma from the CPF who were also on hand to oversee and help out with the tasks at hand. A very successful day indeed!

February 26, 2008.

Mark Nash Reports:

While it appears that the rest of Toronto is still tucked in from the cold bitter winter conditions that we have been experiencing, the Etobicoke peregrines are just starting to get warmed up as courtship is just around the corner. Obviously these two have never cooled off!!