The Canadian Peregrine Foundation
DOWNTOWN TORONTO ARCHIVES May - June 2004 |
Wednesday June 30, 2004
Linda Woods reports: 6:50p.m.
While scanning the skyline for "not yet seen" juveniles, of the Sheraton
Site, I came across something interesting. >From the 43rd Floor of the
Sheraton Hotel. I could see two of the King St. Juveniles flat out on the
King Edward Hotel smoke stack. Sleeping I assume, they were very still. What
a silly place for them to have a snooze. I could see the heat thermals
shimmery out of the top. Hope these birds don't dream and fall "out of bed".
Sunday June 27, 2004
Harry Crawford reports:
At 8:16am, an adult was visible on the east side of Scotia Plaza and
at 8:25am, a juvenile was seen on the CHFI penthouse roof, north
east corner. The adult from Scotia Plaza was seen hunting over the
area later around 8:48am. At this time, something was on the very
north east tip of Scotia Plaza. I couldn't identify it and it was
gone about 15 minutes later. At 8:55am the previously identified
juvenile circled the area ending up on the north east corner of
First Financial. At 9:05am, a male and female flew north west, from
the area of the nest building. They disappeared from view. Shortly
after, a pigeon was being prepared on the south west roof of CHFI.
No birds were now in view and it was still this way when I left the
area at 9:32am.
Saturday June 26, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
In the morning had only two juveniles in view and then it started to rain.
Checked back in the afternoon and two juveniles ( females, I think) were on
the CHFI cooling tower. One adult was on the nest ledge.
Saturday June 26, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
Solar, Nina, and Reit continue to do well in staying off the sidewalks.
Frequent flights to and from various nearby buildings are gradually teaching
these kids the skills they need.
The dawn to dusk watch will end today and will be replaced with extended
daily observations. Since all have fledged and staying a loft, only monitoring of
their progression will be needed.
Of course most of us will meet in the evenings to watch the annual "air show" the
juveniles will put on for us. The show
can start anywhere from 4:00p.m. to 8:00p.m.( not a promise) but if one drops by to
the corner, one may get lucky to see the juveniles in action.
It is wonderful to watch the Adults teach the young the skills of daily survival
when flying at such high speeds,
Friday June 25, 2004
Harry Crawford reports:
When I arrived on site at 5:30am, it looked like Solar on the
cooling tower at CHFI and Reit and Nina on 1 Toronto. These
sightings were confirmed by Bruce. Mandy was on First Financial.
Throughout the morning, the birds were moving about quite a bit. It
was difficult to tell who was where as both Nina and Reit look
alike. Nina, however, is noisier. Windwhistler-Spike joined in the
excitement by 6:48am. At 7:34am, one of the female chicks was
pulling feathers off a pigeon on the south west corner of 20
Toronto. The last bird identified up there was Reit. All the
flights seen were strong and high. These birds are doing well.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Harry Crawford reports:
At 5:27am, Mandy could be seen on the St. James spire, Nina was
still on the hostel and two chicks, Solar and Reit, were on the nest
ledge. Mandy brought food close to the nest ledge to convince Reit
to make her first flight. This was repeated a couple of times. No
luck. Windwhistler-Spike was also in the area, accounting for five
birds by 5:57am. At 6:15am, Nina relocated to the north east corner
of 15 Toronto, a much higher perch. At that time, Reit appeared on
the ledge to the south of the nest ledge. The only way she could
have done this is by flying. Neither Neil nor I saw this as we were
trying to establish Nina`s whereabouts. Nina was fed a small bird
at 6:33am.
At 6:39am, Reit has finally fledged. She took off south, above the King Edward hotel, circled back north and disappeared over 20 Toronto. We searched high and low (literally) and couldn`t find her. At 6:53am, three birds were seen on the south side of 20 Toronto. Nina remained on 15 Toronto, and Windwhistler-Spike was on Scotia Plaza. Mandy could clearly be identified, cleaning a pigeon -- so the others had to be Solar and Reit. Bruce managed to get a look from Leader lane and confirmed the sighting of Reit. Mandy took the pigeon and flew past Reit about five times, trying to coax her to fly some more. Reit wasn`t having any of it. Mandy eventually took the pigeon over to 15 Toronto and gave it to Nina, around 7:45am. What a morning!
Wednesday June 23, 2004
Harry Crawford reports:
This morning at 5:30am, I approached the hostel on Church Street
from the north. Yesterday, I could hear Nina vocalising from just
south of Queen -- today, nothing. Not only that, I couldn`t find
her on the building. Neil was there and he hadn`t seen her yet
either. Mandy was on the church spire facing the hostel. At
6:15am, Nina popped her head up on the hostel roof and started
demanding breakfast. She was simply laying down out of view. The
youngest one in the nest area didn`t fledge by the time I left at
8:50am. She was visited by her brother, Solar, several times
throughout the morning. At 7:07am, Mandy prepared a pigeon and
Solar was fed on the roof of the hotel shortly after.
Windwhistler-Spike was only seen a few times up until 8:50am.
Tuesday June 22, 2004
Harry Crawford reports:
Today, I came down Church St. and found Nina on the hostel roof at
5:30am where she was at the end of the day yesterday. She was
vocalising loudly. The youngest chick was seen in the nest area.
Mandy was seen a bit later, watching Nina from the church spire. By
5:47am Neil and I had 5 birds visible. At 6:40am, Solar joined the
youngest chick on the nest ledge. A couple of times, the brother
and sister stood close to each other and tapped beaks. At one
point, it looked like they were preening each other. Mandy dropped
food off for Nina at 8:10am. When I left for work at 8:50am, Nina
was still on the hostel and the youngest chick still had not
fledged.
Monday June 21, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
FINALLY!!!
Well much of today's report may as well be a repeat of yesterday's. We did a lot of standing around watching Nina sit on #10 Toronto St. for the 3rd day in a row. She did her usual running of the ledges, with one improvement, she finally made up to the next
elevation. A very small but big advancement for a bird that did nothing but walk for the past two days. The next indication she was on the move is, she jumped up and onto the coat of arms that is a prominent feature on the front of this heritage building. She blended right in and was difficult to see. By this time a large crowd of people had gathered to see this bird that has already been rescued once, after falling into a dumpster. She would sit on the coat of arms and spread her wings. (Pictures were taken and will be posted when
available) And then she settled down for the remainder of the day.
Solar is flying well and on occasion would fly past and into our view.
Reit is still in the nest ledge and awaiting her flight departure. She becomes
active at times with flapping and vocalizing, but still not doing a lot of running of the ledge and vigorous hopping with "air lift"
Still no sign of O&Y.
Around 6:00p.m.Nina finally made the next step for take-off that from that low roof level. She jumped onto the Lion's back., not very comfortable there she went back onto the roof level and minutes later back onto the Lion's back. I knew this would be it. She finally took off heading east along Court St. and over to the Condo Complex on Church St. Just a short visit there, and back into flight. She landed on a few of the local buildings and flying well ( fooled all of us)
Mandy finally makes an appearance and landed on the Hostel building on Church
St. less than 20 Feet away from where Nina was sitting. After Mandy took off, Nina took a very short flight and over to where her mother had just been. It started to rain and that is where I called it a day. She was still on the south side of the International Hostel building at 8:00p.m. Thanks Bruce for staying, I think it was well worth the wait to finally see her in the air, Thanks Paul for staying behind so I could go home early and get some sleep. Thanks Mark for arriving just in time to see her fly.
Sunday June 20, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
Nina remains on the same building for the second day in a row. She
has not had anything to eat since she fledged three days ago. Hopefully
tomorrow she will try to get herself to a higher level.
Solar continues to fly from the nest building to One Financial to King
Edward Hotel. He is doing very well.
Reit still has not fledged, not a lot of wing flapping from her
We still have not had a positive sighting from O&Y. Doing so well flying
perhaps he ventured out on his own.
Harry Crawford reports: At 5:32am, I ran into Neil who indicated that he saw Nina on the south side of 10 Toronto when he arrived earlier. She must have spent the night there. Mandy was on 20 Toronto with Windwhistler-Spike on First Financial -- they could both see where Nina was. The fourth chick, the one still in the nest, was actively flapping at 5:15am. When Bruce and Maya arrived, we surrounded 10 Toronto in case Nina took off. She didn`t by the time I left the area at 10:30am. She spent a lot of time vocalising and circumnavigating the building ledge. All that seemed to get her attention during this time was a squirrel that slowly crossed Toronto Street and climbed a tree. Five birds were accounted for with O&Y, the first to fledge, still missing. At 6:02am, food was taken into the nest area by Mandy. More food was taken into the nest area at 7:01am. Solar continued making very good flights between First Financial, the nest building roof and the King Edward hotel.
Saturday June 19, 2004
Harry Crawford reports:
I met up with Bruce at 5:30am. We proceeded to inventory the
peregrines. One chick was on the nest ledge, Mandy on First
Financial, one chick on CHFI and the fledge from yesterday, Nina, on
the MCI building on Adelaide. Windwhistler-Spike flew into the nest
area at 6:05am; 5 now accounted for with O&Y not being seen in the
area. By 6:27am, Nina had moved to the ledge just below the roof of
10 Toronto, the three-story heritage building. She was still there
when I left the area around 10am. A couple of times she was visited
by an amorous pigeon, who came quite close and did a little dance
for her.
Friday June 18, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
Arriving just in time to see Fledgling # 3 on a corner roof -top on Lombard St.
north of the nest building. This is very different for the birds. I have not seen the
fledglings come this far north so soon after fledging.
Bird takes off and flies across the roof of the neighbouring building. Now out of
my sight, it seemed she had landed on the roof of this soon to be destroyed building.
Maya, Bruce and Myself start narrowing in on the area we last saw her. Finally,
she was pointed out by a lady who was in her condo when the bird hit the window. and apparently ended up in the dumpster.
This dumpster contained building material waste and not household waste.
Maya and I retrieved the bird from this unperegrine and unperson environment and
placed her in a the rescue box. She did not appear to be injured only winded and shaken.
She did have a lot of attitude. Mark Nash was called and briefed on this situation.
The birds name is Nina, and was banded on May 28, 2004
she weighed 1kg.
She was monitored on an hourly basis during her incarceration and after it was dark
Nina was released onto
the south-east side of the nest building without incident.
Maya Basdeo reports: We had our third chick fledge today! Around 9am I was taking a walk around, looking for Solar. Since his release on Thursday night he's been flying better and keeping his height. Chick no. 3 flew off the nest ledge and from what I can ascertain made a wide arc and tried to get back to the nest. She was not successful and instead hit the building and dropped. The good news is she regained herself and flew north along Victoria, and subsequently right over my head as I was crossing the road at Adelaide and Victoria. She had lost her height and although she was flying okay, she was just above the streetcar wires. The young female continued north to Lombard and with me in hot pursuit she landed on a low building roof on the NE corner of Lombard and Victoria. Bruce and I staked out the building throughout the morning and into the afternoon. It was a hot and sunny day and as I watched from Richmond St. and Bruce watched from Lombard St., she trotted along the building ledge, napped, preened and of course pooped quite a bit. I walked over to take a look at her mute and there was lots of solid waste mixed in with the urea. No wonder she couldn't keep her height! At one point our poor girl was totally harassed by a couple of gulls. One in particular really had it in for her. It screeched and yelled at her and then went into a series of stoops, one of which was so close I'm surprised our little girl wasn't knocked right off the building. I was really hoping to see one of the parents appear out of the sky and give this gull a good tail chase but it did not happen.
Linda, our fledge watch coordinator, arrived on the scene around 1pm for the late shift and after making her rounds to check on all the volunteers and get a site report, came to relieve me of my duty around 2pm. Linda is always good for a treat and today she brought some chocolate truffles (oh, did I say that out loud?) which we ate right away because it was such a hot day and we didn't want them to melt. On my way out I walked past Bruce to let him know I was leaving, and continued walking east on Lombard. Well, I guess the bird heard me because just a few seconds later Bruce yelled "she's off!". I turned to see fledgling no. 3 flying east, right past me. I ran after her again, saw her go over a building adjacent to the one she'd been sitting on all day, but Linda didn't see her come off the other side. I started walking north through the alley between the buildings and Linda started walking south. We met in the alley, neither of us having seen where the bird landed. Bruce went to Richmond St. but couldn't quite see the rooftop of the building in question. Linda and I split up again to try and get an angle on the roof. I was just about to go to the top of a nearby parking garage when Linda got on the radio - she'd found the bird. Linda and I had both scoped out the alley beside the building where we thought she may have been visible, and I walked past a huge red dumpster...I did not look inside. Some nearby witnesses saw our bird fly over the first building, over the alley, then hit the next building and fall into the dumpster below (and you thought that only happened in cartoons). Just after Linda and I walked past, the bird jumped out onto the lip of the dumpster looking rather displeased. I didn't check the dumpster because it was not directly underneath the building she hit - which means she must have not simply impacted the building but bounced backward before dropping. Bruce and I joined Linda and we took our positions. Bruce stood back 20 feet or so to block any panic flight by the bird into the busy street, Linda got the towel ready and I headed towards our disgruntled chick. As I approached her she mantled and hissed and looked perfectly vicious. She was just out of arms reach and there was nothing to stand on. I went around the back of the dumpster and even climbing up the side still couldn't reach her. I ducked down just out of the chick's sight and wedged myself between the wall of the building and the dumpster. Linda climbed up the front to face the bird and distracted her, encouraging our friend to back up, unknowingly, towards me. In the meantime a crowd of people were gathering to witness our dangerous feat (I'm surprised no one was recording it for a reality TV. show). As Linda perched on the front of this big red bin our bird - looking even less pleased by this point - slowly started backing up. Once she was within reach I quickly grasped her and she was safely in our custody. On initial inspection there were no visible injuries, no broken bones, no obvious head trauma. She was far from starving and her beak and feet were working just fine also. As I collected her and held her in a way she could not hurt herself, our little friend tried with all her might to kill my hands. Any blood that was shed was definitely mine! Good for her, mad and feisty is how she'll survive. Bruce, Linda and I once again worked as a team to give another baby peregrine a second chance. Thanks guys, you're the best!
We confirmed by her band number the female we had rescued is Nina, the older of the two females. Nina was kept in the rescue box for observation and then Linda, Mark and Paul released her later on that evening.
Harry Crawford reports: At 5:24am, one chick was visible in the nest ledge. Neil was already on site and he pointed out Solar, the second fledgling, to me. He was on the south east corner of the nest building, moving back and forth between the ridges. Mandy was on the north east corner of the King Edward hotel. She quickly moved over to the St. James spire. At 6:02am, Solar took off towards the roof area of the hotel. Viewing from the cathedral, he could be seen on the north and east sides of the red brick penthouse, the same place his brother previously went to. This was a good flight that gained him height. Mandy was cleaning a pigeon at 6:25am on the north east corner of the hotel. Solar took over the spot and had his breakfast after completing a brief flight towards the nest building and back. Maya confirmed that it was indeed Solar by spotting the bent feather on his back. Windwhistler-Spike appeared on the church spire at 6:47am. At 8:30am two chicks were visible in the nest ledge neither of which were the youngest one. It is likely that O&Y has been hiding there all morning. All birds are now accounted for. Up to now, we haven`t seen food go into the nest.
Zoe Berger reports: While Maya, Bruce and Linda (who was late - finally getting a chance to do her laundry after 3 weeks of "watching") were watching our third fledgling who landed on a low building at Lombard (and eventually needed rescuing by the 3 - she will be released tonight) - Neil and I were watching fledgling #2 (Solar) who had been rescued the night before and put on the nest building roof at dark. He spent the night there and at daylight (Neil was there from 5 am) Solar went to the tall chimney on the King Eddie. He spent a long time there and finally made a flight to the roof of the nest building. He spent most of the day at one or the other spots - being comfortable landing on the chimney or the roof. This went on for hours. Of course he landed on the chimney at one point out of site on a not very strong landing which meant neither Neil nor I saw him land - which had Neil scouring the area for many blocks trying to get a line on the south end of the chimney and me going as north as I could. Had I had a radio I could have told him #2 (Solar) had finally surfaced on the chimney shortly after Neil started his search. Solar then proceeded to have a nap on the chimney for about a hafl hour. He eventually started his back and forth to the roof of the nest building and back to the chimney again.
Finally! He found another place to perch - the rails of the cooling tower on CHFI - pretty advanced! It seems he will be okay. He was there when I left around 6 - I can't wait to find out what happened when his sister was released at dark - if he'd moved by then or not.
We haven't seen fledgling #1 for a long time now. Not since yesterday. This is a bit disconcerting. He was doing very well - but being out of sight we never know. We are all staying tuned.
Thursday June 17, 2004
Paul Marshman reports:
Happily, the first fledgling from the King Street site -- whom we now have identified as
O&Y -- returned home safely after his disappearance Wednesday night, appearing
back in the nest on Thursday morning. It was a rainy morning, but that didn't prevent
the second male, Solar, from becoming the second fledgling. He left unseen about
11 a.m. and was discovered sitting on a window ledge of the condo across King St.
from the nest building. There he sat until late afternoon, when he managed a flight
down King St. to a low building at the corner of Toronto St. He spent several hours
there, walking up and down the ledge and screeching loudly for food. Both parents
were in the neighbourhood, but made no attempt to feed him. Meanwhile, little O&Y
made his presence felt, taking several ambitious and very vocal flights around the
neighbourhood, at times chasing his father and being chased. Once he even chased
a pigeon for a few seconds. About 8 p.m. Solar decided to try flying again, but
without much success. He tried to land on the window ledges of the glass-faced
building across the street, bounced off and continued down the street, where he
again tried to land on a window ledge. Failing that, he veered off down Court Street,
where I found him a minute later, sitting on the sidewalk near Church Street. Linda
Woods captured him and we put him in a rescue box. Mark Nash arrived a few minutes later
and checked him out, agreeing that he showed no ill effects. So we released him
on the service deck atop the nest building, just as darkness fell. He made no attempt to
fly away, and we hoped he'd have a fresh start in the morning.
Harry Crawford reports: At 5:30am, all four chicks were seen in the nest area. The missing one from last evening had obviously returned from his adventure. Neil confirmed the sighting when he arrived a few minutes later. At 5:39am, the fledgling flew over to the King Edward hotel; thus we spent about an hour and a half running around trying to follow his every move. He eventually settled down on the CHFI roof. At 6:20am, food was brought into the nest area. This was our first sighting of Windwhistler-Spike although Mandy was around since we arrived. The fledgling was fed at 6:50am -- food was left on the nest building roof by dad and the fledgling flew over from the CHFI building quickly, for it. Overall, the chicks were not very active and spent a lot of time out of view in the nest area. It was a cool, wet morning.
Wednesday June 16, 2004
Bruce Massey reports:
1330-1715 Hrs. - Arrived and met up with Watchers at Leader Lane, Found that the one Bird who had fledged, was on the CHFI building.
That first bird also made several good flights and by the end of the afternoon had attained the top of First Financial Place.
Wednesday June 16, 2004
Paul Marshman reports:
The fledgling spent the afternoon and evening taking short flights in the
neighbourhood near the nest. Around noon he managed to land on a
windowsill of the CHFI building on Victoria St. and spent almost an hour there, taking a short nap. He then tried to join his father
on top of the nest building, missed the landing, circled back, landed, took off,
and ended up on top of the CHFI building, where one of the parents fed him. The other chicks were fairly quiet during the day,
although the other male continued to be rambunctious, running up and down
the nest ledge and flapping. The parents came to the nest periodically with food. In some cases they landed and then took off,
carrying the food with them, apparently to lure the chicks off the nest.
However, they stayed put. The fledgling took quite a long flight around seven, flying south and circling back to his starting point on
One Financial Place. About eight he took off toward the south and turned
west along King St. I saw him looping back and forth across King Street as he flew, but lost sight of him somewhere around
Bay Street. We looked for him until nine, with no success. However,
Spike took up a position on the southwest corner of One Financial Place, so he may have known where the chick was.
Hopefully, he'll find his way home by morning.
Here are two more photos from the banding.
Wednesday June 16, 2004
Harry Crawford reports:
When I arrived at Leader Lane at 5:38am, Neil was already there. He
had the three chicks in view on the nest ledge and the fledgling in
view on the south east maintenance area of the nest building, where
he was at the end of the day yesterday. The fledgling made
numerous short flights throughout the morning, favouring the CHFI
roof, and both the penthouse and chimney on the King Edward Hotel.
Jan spotted him the first time he went to the CHFI building at
6:50am. All flights were strong, with height. The last one I saw
was at 8:50am when he returned to the chimney from CHFI. He started
out with rapid wing beats to gain height and speed and then just
glided the second half of the distance ending with a perfect
landing, talons outstretched. At 6:20am, Neil saw
Windwhistler-Spike take a pigeon into the nest area for the chicks.
The two oldest chicks in the nest area spent a fair amount of time
wing flapping. The male flapped and ran along the full width of the
ledge. They both could go any time. Both adults have been staying
close to the nest area.
Tuesday June 15, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
WE HAVE TAKE OFF!
Adults appear to be sitting closer to the nest area today. A lot of flapping on occasional and then it would stop.
Fledge # 1 took-off at approx. 1:00p.m. and flew over to smoke stack at the King Edward Hotel. It remained there a for a few hours all the well running up and down the edge.
5:10 Fledge # 1 took off again and attempted to get back to the nest ledge. Apparently it went to far and did the bat maneuver above the nesting area. Lost some height after taking off and landing # 33 Victoria St. balcony. running up and down again. Trying to figure out how to get off form here. Fledge took off again around 5:10p.m. Took off a second time and made a really good effort at the nest ledge. Missed again and clung like a bat to the south service area. It finally pulled and flapped its way to the level roof line. and settled down for the night. The other three chicks in the ledge did the same. Guessing by the behavior of the other two, one will go tomorrow. All birds accounted for when we had left the area around 920p.m..
Paul Marshman reports: About 1 p.m. Neil and I were watching the nest from Leader Lane and observed a lot of flapping, most of which didn't seem too serious. We had just decided none of the chicks was ready to fledge when one of the males started looking very restless, flapping hard and jumping around. A minute later, at about 1:05, he jumped up to the front of the ledge and took off. He made a clumsy but strong flight, veering south across King St. and landing on top of the chimney of the King Edward Hotel. In fact, he actually seemed to have gained height, since the chimney looks higher than the nest ledge. We believe this first fledgling is the oldest male -- named Solar, if I'm correct.The fledgling stayed on the chimney much of the afternoon, only hopping to a second area directly behind it. But about 4:30 he became restless and took off, flying back across King St. After attempting a landing on the nest building, he continued up Victoria St. and disappeared. A search ensued, and Zoe Berger finally found him by looking out the window of a sympathetic office tenant in the CHFI building on Victoria St. He was on the lower roof deck of 20 Toronto St., across the street, walking up and down the rooftop ledge. A half-hour or so later, he took off and again tried to land on the nest building, this time on the lower service deck at the south end. Unfortunately, he came up about six inches short of the rooftop and did the now-familiar "bat manoeuvre", clinging to the side of the building with his feet like Batman. I've seen this many times, but this is the first time I've seen a chick actually use it to climb the building. Seeing the roof ledge only a few inches above him, he stretched, flapped, bit, crept and crawled until finally he managed to boost himself over the edge. And there he stayed, likely exhausted, until we left about 8:30. Meanwhile, despite some very vigorous flapping on the ledge, the other three chicks stayed home. Twice during the evening one or both parents flew into the nest, apparently with food. However, we did not see them delivering food to the fledgling. Hopefully, they'll feed him tomorrow.
Harry Crawford reports: When I arrived on site at 5:38am, all 4 chicks were visible on the nest ledge. They were not particularly active. Mandy was on 20 Toronto. At 5:56am Windwhistler-Spike brought food to the roof area of the nest building for later use. The chicks saw this and vocalised quite loudly. 6:35am found the oldest male chick flapping vigorously and racing back and forth along the ledge. He appears ready to fledge. At 7:29am, the father brought food into the nest area for the chicks. I left the area at 8:50am with Neil, who was there for most of the early morning, and Zoe taking over the watch. The only difference from yesterday was the increased activity of the oldest male chick and the fact that the parents stayed much closer to the nest area, perhaps expecting something to happen.Monday June 14, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
5:50p.m. - Met up with Paul and Marion at Leader Lane. Chicks doing their thing,
one doing a lot of flapping and then settles down, the whitest bird just sits back and
watches all the commotion. All the chicks are spending time at the ledge and looking around,
watching the adults. Adults took food into the ledge around 5:30.
Rain moved in and Marion and I went for cover.
Sunday June 13, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
09:45 - As I was approaching the King Edward Hotel, feathers were seen floating down from above.
I could see one of the adults on the north-west corner of the hotel with prey.
Viewing from the upper levels, breakfast was being served.
All four juveniles in a semi circle having something to eat. Mandy feeding the young one,
who still has a lot of white down on it. The other three in various stages of colouring.
The oldest has just a little of white fluff left.
5:30p.m. - The two of the juveniles were seen flapping there wings and hopping from one side of the nest ledge to the other. Mandy and Windwhistler have taken up various observation spots in the area of the nest building. One adult on the railing of CHFI and the other on the nest building roof-top. Later on adult on the north-east corner of the King Edward Hotel and the other sat on One Financial Place.
The watch will begin tomorrow Monday June 14, 2004. Anyone in the area of # 18 King St. are more than welcome to assist us in tracking the fledglings once they start flying.
Monday June 7, 2004
Mark Nash reports:
Banding Day:
At the risk of turning this update into a book, I will try to summarize the days events, and be as informative as I can.
This was far from being an un-eventful day - to say the least!! Until 8:20 am in the morning, I was unaware that anything other than the normal stress associated with banding, the press, and all the people would be awaiting us at the banding.
At 8:30 am I received a telephone call that changed the rhythm of the day. Do do a mis-communication, the window washing swing stage, staff, and operators necessary to get us to the chicks way up on a 19 floor ledge was in fact not scheduled / confirmed for this date. With everything else a green light , and only two hours to banding, the stress flowed like Niagara Falls.
Had it not been for the "above the call of duty efforts" of Phil Love at Solar Window cleaning, it is very likely that the Toronto Downtown peregrine chicks would not have been banded as planned, and due to the schedules of all of the other parties needed to complete the bandings, it is likely that they may not have been banded at all this year.. I don't know how they were able to assemble the Solar team so quickly, find an available swing stage , the assembly crew to transport a swing stage down to 18 King street, and stage operators to run the swing stage itself, BUT, they were able to pull it off, to allow us to do the banding that afternoon, a little later on in the day.
With much arranged, - media and press invited, special guests, members of the fledge watch team, (many taking the day off work) to be able to attend the bandings, MNR busy schedules booked, building management planning, set ups and other staffing arrangements needed to host this sort of banding, WE ALL PULLED TOGETHER AS A TEAM, AND PULLED IT OFF WITH GREAT SUCCESS!!
Four chicks were brought down from the nest ledge and banded without incident and returned to their parents on the nest ledge, and despite the delays, was a hugh success. We were all very delighted to see four (not three) chicks come down for banding.
Our heart felt thanks goes out to the Management group at O&Y Enterprise, who both hosted the banding and providing the office space to do the banding, their staff that set up the tables and power, along with the clean up after we had finished, Their support staff to get us safely to the roof, and back again, with a special thanks to Joe Mota and Liann Rea who's efforts behind the scenes made this all possible.
The four chicks - (two males and two females) were named by O&Y Enterprises, and the CPF falcon watch team. Their names are, Solar and Reit for the males, and Nina and O&Y for the females.
A special thanks to Marion, Jan, Linda, Bruce, Paul from the CPF, Pud and Mark, and John from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and the many others on hand that made this all possible, and a great success.
The photos were taken by Paul Marsh and Mark Nash.
Sunday June 6, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
4:45p.m. : One last look before banding day. Mandy on the ledge nest to the nest area,
two chicks visible from the upper levels of the King Edward Hotel. They are growing up quickly,
the two I could see still had a lot of white on them. One was sitting in the nest area itself and the
another one was sitting in the ledge of the other side of the nest pillar. The other two chicks were probably behind the pillar.
Friday June 4, 2004
Paul Marshman reports:
Neil and I took a look from Church St. about 2 o'clock and we could see
three chicks - one by itself right where the nest was, and two sitting together
in the corner of the next square south. We couldn't see much of the first one,
but the other two were clearly visible, and had that "black mask" look we know
so well. Mandy sat nearby, after spending some time on One Financial (at least,
I think that was her).
Tuesday May 25, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
3:15p.m.- The kids are getting all excited as Mandy approaches the nest with a
fresh meal for them. As the finish eating I notice that there are four chicks,
the youngest still has a bit of a pink hue to it.
Wednesday May 18, 2004
Jan Chudy reports:
12:40 p.m. To 15th floor at 1 Toronto Street, thanks to staff of HOOPP.
No adults on nest, but could not see chicks. One adult on chimney of King Eddie.
12:45 Bird gone from King Eddie
1 p.m. Viewing from Court Street: bird flew to nest ledge then off to NE corner of King Eddie
1:07 p.m. 2nd bird flew to ledge south of nest ledge then off again (possibly to 20 Toronto).
1st bird still visible on NE corner of King Eddie
1:10 p.m. Bird on King Eddie flew to ledge north of nest ledge.
1:12 p.m. Bird appeared on nest ledge - other still on ledge one north
1:15 p.m. Northerly bird flew off to the north and bird on nest ledge flew to King Eddie.
Zoe and Bruce had arrived by now and identified this bird as Mandy
between this time and 1:40, some coming and going by both birds
1:40 p.m. Mandy flew back to nest ledge from King Eddie carrying food and dropped to nest.
Spike was back on the northerly ledge.
More may follow after this time from Zoe, or Harry, or Bruce, or Paul.
Saturday May 15, 2004
Jan Chudy reports:
Arrived at Leader Lane at noon. One bird on ledge of 1 Financial. At 12:05 it flew low to the west.
At 12:10 a bird appeared on the SW corner of 20 Toronto and flew off moments later when I wasn't looking.
At 12:20 a bird arrived on the ledge south of the nest ledge and made a drop off which was accepted by bird
on ledge, which had been invisible to me up to that moment. The bird making the drop off returned to
SE corner of 20 Toronto.
Passing by at 3:05 one bird still visible on SE comer of 20 Toronto.
Friday May 14, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
I checked on the Sheraton, still on eggs.
Friday May 14, 2004
Jan Chudy reports:
Driving by 18 King at 7 a.m. I could see something on the nest ledge but was not wearing my
contacts so could not identify it although there seemed to be a lot of white. Arriving at First
Canadian Place I decided I needed to go back to Leader Lane to make sure things were OK. I
arrived at 7:10. No activity on the nest ledge but scanning the usual spots, I found a very
large falcon on one of the ledges of 1 Financial Place. While it did have a peachy collar, I
could not be sure it was Mandy, since the balance of the front seemed rather beige. About 7:15,
a smaller falcon suddenly appeared from the north and flew south close to the nest ledge. It
turned around at the King Eddie and made a couple of similar passes close to the nest ledge. It
then settled on the railings at CFRB. Shortly thereafter the bird on 1 Financial took off and
flew to the west side of the King Eddie, followed closely by the CFRB bird. A few minutes later a
bird flew from the south to the nest ledge and remained there facing inward. Still there when
I left at 7:30.
Tuesday May 11, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
3:30p.m. We have a hatch! Viewing from the King Edward Hotel, Mandy left the nest ledge and flew
over to CHFI, east side, lower ledge, where there was a food cached.
Mandy flew back to the nest and began feeding.I could positively see one chick and possibly two.
Very small I could barely see them with the scope.
Monday May 10, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
Downtown Sheraton: 5:15p.m. ( my living room window) - Peregrine on the south-east corner roof-top of
the Sheraton Hotel It remained there for another 10 minutes ( looked like it was cleaning prey)
before it took off. I could see it fly to west of the hotel and then circle back. It did not reappear
and I am assuming it went to the 43rd floor ledge.
Thursday May 6, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
06:25 a.m.: One peregrine seen on the north-west corner of 390 Bay St. at Queen.
07:50 a.m.: Peregrine on the north –east corner of 130 Adelaide St. no other peregrines seen from street level
08:15 a.m.: Mandy in the nest ledge at #18 King St, Windwhistler not in view at this time.
09:10: Windwhistler is seen on the upper ledges of the Scotia Tower and disappears towards the west 10 minutes later. Mandy remains in the nest area. does not appear to have a hatch yet.
10:00 : Maintenance out cleaning the cooling tower at CHFI and Windwhistler makes an appearance. I don’t think the maintenance men drew his attention to the area, it was just about his time to sit on the eggs. He sat on the north east corner of the nest building keeping an eye on the workers.
10:15 : Windwhistler disappears and reappears into the area 15 minutes later and approaches the nest area. He does not have food with him, Mandy flies off toward the north side of the King Edward Hotel and Windwhistler quickly takes up his place on the eggs. No food seen entering the nest area.
10:45 : I made my way back to street level and Mandy is on the north-east corner of the King Edward Hotel eating.
Saturday May 1, 2004
Linda Woods reports:
1:20p.m.- 3:00p.m.
Mandy in the nest ledge Windwhistler seen on the ledges of the Scotia Tower.
Windwhistler went after a
Turkey Vulture that was seen in the area of Adelaide Street. He did manage to tag the bird a
couple of times before returning to the Scotia Tower. Twice he was seen chasing after prey
but was unsuccessful and again returned to the tower.
When I left the area he was still sitting on the ledges of the tower.
No activity seen in the nest ledge, Mandy still appears to be lying low in the nest and there isn't
any "new wash" in the back of the nest area.
RETURN TO COMPLETE SITE INDEX
(or choose from selected popular links below)
CPF INFORMATION:
| Home | News | Chapters
| Talon Tales | Search
|
| Membership | Adopt a Peregrine | Gift Shop |
| About CPF | CPF Projects |
Project Track-'em | Education Program |
BIRD INFORMATION:
| Webcams | Photo Galleries |
Sightings | Identification
Tips |
| Peregrine information | Owls
| Other Raptors |
Links |
© Canadian Peregrine Foundation