May 17, 2009 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Dennis Patrick Reports:
As of yesterday Voltaire is leaving the nest for more extended periods of time and the young are quite content to look around and are beginning to flex their wings. The young are now at a point where they can self regulate their own body temperature and be left for a bit but once Voltaire is back and feeding time is over they sure don’t mind snuggling in with mom. Freddie is always close by while Voltaire is away. In the mist and light rain and brisk winds Voltaire was at the top of the tower facing into the wind and rain enjoying every second of it. The wind was strong enough that she was virtualy just floating up there. Wow, then in a flash she stoops (dives) off the tower and is streaking past over head in a split second. The high speed precision flying skills of Freddie and Voltaire defy description. People that stopped by the sight were in awe of how wonderfully these creatures are designed. To stand in this close proximity to the fastest creature on the face of the planet is humbling. The chicks are growing like crazy. We have to remember that in aprox 29 days or so they will be the same size and a little heavier than their mom and dad. Their flight paths are incredible to watch.
Special thanks to all our friends old and new. I’ll try my best to keep you posted. Jason Telasco, Jerry Peltier as always thank you for the great pictures. It is hard to sit at the computer when I might be missing something at the nest sight. We will need volunteers to help when the young get ready to fledge.
Keep looking up. Dennis and Gwen and the whole “falcon family”
Posted on May 17, 2009 11:36 am
May 17, 2009 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
An early morning check on the family.
I must have just missed a feeding. The little ones are certainly mobile and one appears to explore a little further than the others.
Posted on May 17, 2009 10:10 am
May 16, 2009 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:
There has not been much to get excited about here lately but the last couple of days the birds appear to be showing signs of courtship behaviour. It may be too late for a 2nd clutch this year but the birds have been seen scraping & e-chupping & they have not been doing that since the terretorial dispute (there has been no sign of 3rd falcon in the area lately). We have not seen any copulation but as I have stated, this pair is really hard to view from our vantage point.
Posted on May 16, 2009 11:19 pm
May 16, 2009 - New York - Rochester
Carol Phillips Reports:
As many of you already know, the situation here in Rochester , NY has changed dramatically. Mariah was injured in a territorial battle and is now under the care of a Vet in Syracuse, NY and Kaver did not return from his migration.
Rochester now has a new pair, Beauty (2007) from Pittsburgh, PA and Archer (2006) from Pt Colborne, Ontario, Canada. In a strange twist of fate, Archer is the grandson of Mariah & Kaver.
Archer and Beauty are currently incubating eggs on the east end of Midtown Plaza. There are no cameras on this site and no way of knowing how many eggs have been laid.
The Rochester Watchers are keeping an eye on the situation and I’ll report if anything changes.
Posted on May 16, 2009 7:44 pm
May 16, 2009 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
Saturday 2:45 feeding time. There are now 4 hatches, and the smallest is very small compared to the eldest sitting beside it. One egg still in view, not sure if this one will be viable
Posted on May 16, 2009 2:59 pm
May 15, 2009 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Rhea Mae feeds the little ones very well and they are getting bigger. This photo taken just as feeding was finishing. I guess all the feathers make a wonderful and warm feather bed with the cool temperatures anticipated for the coming evenings.
The live web cam is back on line. Thanks MG
Posted on May 15, 2009 10:38 pm
May 15, 2009 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Great news that “Sir” Adam Beck has been identified.
Bill and I arrived at the Lift Bridge around 1:00 pm. Mom had the kids tucked in the back corner of the nest box and was keeping them well protected and hidden. There were no little white heads visible. “Sir” was standing guard from the face of the Hamilton Tower. Mom left the nest box at one point and dove on one of the resident pigeons. It was an almost, but unfortunately not successful. She quickly returned to the nest box and disappeared out of site.
Sorry, once again no photos today but tomorrow is another day.
Posted on May 15, 2009 6:44 pm
May 14, 2009 - Scarborough - Bell
Marion Nash Reports:
At about 3:45 Wednesday afternoon Kathy and I stopped in at the Scarborough Bell Site to see if the birds Mark and I saw on Tuesday were still there and still active at the box.
I brought a spotting scope with me in the hope I could get their band numbers and identify the pair.
At first we saw nothing but about 5 minutes later 2 falcons flew off the tower and landed on the nest box front porch and copulated.
By 4:00 Kathy had to leave me still running and at about 4:30 Bruce joined me on the chase.
We then spent about an hour and a half running from one vantage point to another as we no sooner got the scope and tripod set in place and focused on one of them when it would fly off to another position or the male would fly in or off and copulate with her.
finally at about 6:00 they settled down and Bruce and I were able get a good look at the black and green band on the Female and got the numbers and saw a pinkish band on the male but he wouldn’t Show the black band.
We were anxiously waiting for Mark to show up with his camera so he could get some photos of the pair to help verify the band numbers and confirm what we were seeing when they copulated again for the 8th time just minutes before Mark arrived.
Posted on May 14, 2009 4:20 pm
May 14, 2009 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Mark Nash Reports:
Another check on the William Osler pair today still has the unknown / still un-identified pair in hard incubation. Everything appears to be as it should, and we all have our fingers crossed as a hatch is expected very soon!
Stay tuned……….
Posted on May 14, 2009 4:17 pm
May 14, 2009 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While I don’t believe that we have have an official update on the pairs ID’s / leg band digits this season, for those that have asked for the last confirmation of the birds identity, this is what we had:
The territorial adult male was banded: Black 26 over Green H - named Freddie, produced in Toledo Ohio USA
The territorial adult female was banded: Black N over Green 77, - named Voltaire
Posted on May 14, 2009 4:14 pm
