June 23, 2009 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Bill and I arrived at the Lift Bridge around 8:00am this morning. After many miserable cold and rainy days, summer has DEFINITELY come to the Lift Bridge. It was an absolutely glorious day to Falcon watch with lots of sun and a lovely breeze from the lake.
This morning, Bill and Reiner helped Mark Nash pack up and he headed for home. We have now been left to our own devises. Thank you Mark for helping to make our Falcon Watch successful. We always learn so much when you are with us.
Things seem to be progressing nicely. We have witnessed the first lessons in talon touching. Cirrus was doing the teaching as Sir was nowhere to be seen. Truss and Maple are doing really well in the flying and landing department. Many flights were observed today between the two towers and the Hamilton Hydro Tower. Unfortunately, we still have not witnessed any food packages being delivered to the Juvies. I’m hoping that it is taking place early in the morning before our arrival.
We will continue to watch the progress.
Posted on June 23, 2009 9:45 pm
June 23, 2009 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Late this afternoon, a Quick visit to the upper elevations to restart the camera and check the nest area. Three peregrines are in my line of sight. Two on the nest ledge, Stormin with the blue band, Rhea Mae and one other over on the east side of the Hilton.
Stormin sat there for a while and then approached Rhea Mae sitting on the nest tray. Lots of screaming and head tilting from Stormin, demanding food. Rhea Mae moved away from Stormin and left the ledge from the east side. Stormin was still on the nest ledge when I left.
The other juvenile who appeared larger and unidentified remained on the east side of the Hilton, during my brief visit.
Posted on June 23, 2009 8:31 pm
June 22, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Our young lady stayed on Tower 1 where we left her last night. We have had the opportunity to see her with Tailer who loves flying but who seems contented to spend time with his sister between bouts of flying. We have seen him plop down next to her, she sitting up and he flat on his belly. Sometimes both parents are also up there. Most of the day has been rather quiet, with most sightings from the ground of one or both chicklets sitting on the edge, or beetling it along the ledges. My reference is to the view we have of a falcon hunched over as it walks. From the ground, we don’t see the legs, so a rounded object is moving along the ledge very much like watching beetles moving along.
She still had not flown in the evening, so I left around 7:30. Then around 9, she flew, this time landing on the Crowne Plaza Hotel, on a window ledge on the 9th floor! The ledges below the windows are slanted, with little to give security to a bird who, to us is big, to the building is very small. She is most likely holding on by just a few talons…… It grew too dark for the volunteers to see her, so they left her there, with her parents on nearby buildings, watching her, and her brother up on the ledge.
We will again check on her in the morning, hopefully to find her in a better position on a nearby building.
As you can see, she still isn’t out of the woods yet, and the call for volunteers goes on. A few are giving much more of their time than we had expected,and I cannot thank them enough! Please see if there are a few more hours you can give for Nihei’s fledging period.
Cheers, Eve
Posted on June 23, 2009 8:30 pm
June 23, 2009 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
This evening from 5:30p.m. - 8:00p.m. all 6 peregrines were in view.
5:30, four peregrines on the east facing ledges of the nest building and two were on the north west corner of the KEH.
8:p.m.
Lots of flapping and head bobbing from Speck who is still “in the nest” I think he may go sooner than Friday. perhaps tomorrow.
He has a little white on the underside of his back, but his brother took flight with the same amount.
At 8:00p.m.
Adult on the roof of 18 King St and one on the spire. Speck was seen moving about the nest area and flapping on occasion. He is looking to see where the others are.
Three juveniles are now seen, on # 1 Toronto Street and are flying from one building to the next.
Adults are out of my line of sight.
Posted on June 23, 2009 8:25 pm
June 21, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
What a day! I arrived downtown around 5:30 this morning and started by looking and listening, to nothing. Tailer was no longer on the Marriott. After a walkabout I found Connor on Tower A, Diana on the antenna of the Standard Life Building, Nihei on her ledge and still no Tailer. When the others joined in, they went to have a look and I stayed to check on Nihei, just in case she flew.
Finally at nearly 8, Diana flew to Tower 1 with a kill, followed by Tailer. I went to the Penthouse of the Crowne to make sure it was Tailer ( yes). Then the “fun” began……
Right at 9:45, Nihei left the ledge. She flew towards Tower 1, circled a bit, headed towards Tower A, and ran into trouble as she had no height, having stayed level with her ledge. She may have glanced off the middle of the west side. We watched in horror as she tumbled down, down and landed with her wings spread apart on the down ramp of the Crowne. Everyone ran over there and Chris rescued her while I called Bill. Once he arrived, we went inside Tower 2 and Nihei was banded. She is a hefty 1060 gms! Wow! We have never had such a large female. She takes after her mother. Her black band on her left leg has 80 over X, very recognizable in large white lettering. Chris and Marie took her in the box back up to the ledge. It took a minute for her to emerge as she seemed to like the box.
Suddenly she was off the ledge again. And, once again, we watched in horror as she flew to the middle of the west side of Tower A and fell down, catching her talon on a metal bar. She got free and continued to fall, landing on a ledge just by the down ramp, the same on as before. This time she was rescued by Anouk, passed to Eve and taken back to the Constitution Square. After being briefly checked, she was put into the box and put in a cool corner, and left to rest. She was exhausted and slept for a few hours.
Meanwhile Tailer was found to be on the Marriott with a parent who soon flew away. Amazingly, the parents never saw Nihei leave either time. They did begin to look for her after a while, once they realized she was not on the ledge.
Once evening arrived, Lorraine and I took the boxed falcon up to the roof of Tower 1 to release her there. She had more room than on her ledge. She made her way to the side of the roof, tried to jump on the outer ledge, failed, and decided to take a nap, a wise move. We descended to the street and all watched anxiously from the sidewalk. Eventually she was seen on the outer ledge. As we watched, she moved along the ledge, exploring one way, then the other, back and forth, walking like a little beetle. It was interesting to see her brother across on Tower 2. He then flew past her to the ledge. Show off!
Connor had brought a bit of food to her, but it wasn’t much. Soon Diana brought more and fed her daughter on the ledge, with Connor keeping watch on the corner. Tailer couldn’t stand it and flew to the ledge also. The whole family there. I raced up to the penthouse again with my camera to record this. Diana was feeding Nihei and Tailer was creeping closer, one step at at time, watching his mother. As soon as Diana flew away, he ran to his sister’s side, and jumped on the food, eating as fast as he could. Nihei just watched him. When he was done, both sat together. What a sight!
Back on the sidewalk, we still stared up for glimpses of our chicklets, and hoping that Nihei would not fly anywhere tonight. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Eve Ticknor
Posted on June 23, 2009 8:17 pm
June 23, 2009 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Jan Chudy Reports:
Today was a fairly routine day - some sightings of adults and juveniles throughout the day. BUT THEN, at 4:45 a scan turned up a juvenile on the nest ledge - a male but I couldn’t tell which, and a juvenile on the NE corner of the other hotel - could not determine who. At 4:55 an adult arrived on the ledge, the juvie ran to it, and it promptly took off again. The juvie stayed put. Checking the view at 5 p.m., I saw a falcon flying low, flappy circles below the Sheraton then climb, still with lots of flapping, to the nest ledge. The male juvie became VERY agitated. He was running around, jumping up and down, flapping his wings. The bird that had arrived went to the edge of the ledge and I could see it was a juvie and based on the size, a female. I could not see the coloured tape on either bird’s legs. The male juvie continued to be very agitated and at one point ran up behind the female and gave her a big nudge. She stayed put!! The male ran back and forth, jumping up and down, flaring his wings. The female moved to the back of the ledge. At which point the male ran to her and jumped up as if to kick box her!! They separated - about a foot and a half, and unfortunately, I had to leave. Perhaps Osler is still mad at Sandy for not sharing her late afternoon tid-bit yesterday??? Too many questions, not enough answers.
Posted on June 23, 2009 6:17 pm
June 21, 2009 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
To start this update, I really need to thank Bruce Massey and Kathy Smith for their time and dedication at this site. They have helped so much with bridging the time gaps that take the rest of us back to our day to day lives ( work, how boring… ). Also, a huge thank you to the folks at the William Osler Hospital in security, maintenance and every other department imaginable. Your eyes to the skies and interest in this young family of peregrines has been second to none. Thank you greatly for all of your help!!
This morning Bruce and Kathy were able to watch the antics of our little energizer bunny Apollo. This male juvenile has the more spunk and curiosity than you can imagine! You really need to see him in action, he’s a blast. Once he has mastered the art of flight, he will be a force to be reckoned with. Right now, he sits atop the retaining wall of the building where we deposited him the night before. By 6:00am, he was already bouncing around up there and shortly thereafter was fed generously by Mom. By the afternoon, Apollo had had enough of being up on the roof and made his first attempt back to the nest ledge; a short plunk down from the roof to the “H” on the east side. Not his most spectacular moment. A few snacks and naps later, another plunk down from the sign to the ledge with complete success; he was home!! Although this move may look simple enough, it really is quite a feat of confidence and control as the crosswinds at that height had to be factored in to his jump. Good job Apollo!! He run-jumped-skipped over to greet his two siblings Katarina and Margherita who were busy preening on the southeast corner. They looked at each other, looked at him and went back to preening. Apollo checked the southeast ledge for snack packs ( food caches ) and then settled in for a moment… …but could no longer contain himself!! He ran down the ledge towards his sisters with wings stretched as wide as he could and attempted to plow them off the ledge! Mere inches from the juvenile females, they turned and gave him a look that stopped him dead in his tracks. There was no way the we’re going to play right now… …period!! One last look ( yucky girls!! ) and bounding down the ledge goes Apollo, flapping and pouncing the whole way along. By the end of the day, their energy spent, the three juveniles settled down on the southeast corner together in one big, brown heap with Mom nearby watching over. Boy is Apollo ever happy to be home.
Posted on June 23, 2009 6:02 pm
June 23, 2009 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Dennis Patrick Reports:
Wait a minute if they are all under the umbrellas where is Ken?
Dedicated bird watchers Caroline, Sharon and Gwenster and Ken standing in the rain taking the picture.
How do I know he is in the rain? His umbrella is right there in the picture.
This is a special thank you to ALL our dedicated spotters who all contributed in their own way.
Our family of falcons is in high gear.
From what I have seen the birds are on the go before the crack of dawn.
The falcons really put on a show at the North West corner of our viewing area especially when the wind is brisk out of the North West.
Our youngster flies every where even to the top of the tower of the bridge.
D&G
Posted on June 23, 2009 8:06 am
June 22, 2009 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Dennis Patrick Reports:
Well we were at the bridge this morning and the training is moving along. Freddie came in with a kill and flew on to the abutment and feathures were a flyin. Youngster was on the white cable 1/5th the way up. Voltaire was 2/3rds the way up. youngster was clamouring. Voltaire came to the abutment (youngster in Tow) picked up the food package and flew East over the Church yard youngster in hot pursuit and Freddie Really obviously flying wing man. Circled around under the bridge and up to the nest and the food package was dropped on the nest sight. Freddie took up position on the ledge East of the nest. Youngster jumped on the food package like it was going to escape and the chunk of food got stuck on his talons. He looked like a cartoon character, jumping around with a bucket stuck on his foot!! Round and round in circles, flapping trying to kick the food off!! Too hilarious!!!!
If you love to see falcons fly this is a wonderful time. Don’t miss it. Just like the days of amazing growth from egg to flight in 39 days. You now get to see two very dedicated parents who are excellant hunters trying to teach the youngster their very best moves. Actually just taging along and watching the parents execute their hunting skills,will give the youngster a very good chance at being an excellant hunter. Please if you do watch them please report your sightings so we can post.
I read something very interesting that concurs with some of our findings. I’ll post it tomorrow. I’ve also gotten a better look at some of the archive photos of the female chick. I think if we study those archive photos we can fine tune how to read their body language (posture) and facial expressions.
It looks like we are super lucky and the “Falcon Finishing School” will stay at the bridge. A good falcon friend that has watched over many a nest had a family move to an unknown location for 6wks. to do the trainig. The falcons came back so she knew they were OK but missed the training.
Keep looking up.
Dennis and Gwenster.
Posted on June 22, 2009 9:36 pm
June 22, 2009 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
Today, I still have not seen all flighted juveniles at the same time. Zoe, Harry and Neil report that sometime around mid-day, all three were flying in the area of 18 King St.
They are flying well and staying high and returning to the nest ledge and areas adjacent to the nest itself. This evening, two were seen on the north shoulder of 18 King St. , roof top area of Dundee Place.
Speck is by himself on the nest still and I see him on the web cam, but saw little activity from him today. Perhaps due to the heat that has moved into the area has him hunkered down in the shade.
Posted on June 22, 2009 9:04 pm
