June 27, 2010 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Mark Nash Reports:
With a very busy weekend behind us all, and trying to keep updated with all the activity, its been difficult to recall all that has happened. To summerize, and with thanks to Magdalene who lives in a condo on the south west corner of Bloor and Islington, who was persistent in her efforts to make contact with someone that would actually help her and her little trapped feathered friend, she finally reached the Canadian Peregrine foundation through Toronto Wildlife.
This was only after being told by other animal agencies to simply capture the raptor in a towel or sheet and toss it off the 10th floor balcony! Its a bird, it will fly.
Concerned that the bird may have suffered injuries and/or be dehydrated after spending two very long hot days surrounded by glass in the direct sun without any food and water, she continued to pursue someone that could offer some realistic advice as to how to deal with her little trapped feathered visitor.
After several telephone conversations with Magdalene on the cell phone while on route to her location,, (and dealing with the hwy closures, while stuck in an endless sea of stop and go traffic down at the lakeshore for over two hours), Marion and I finally arrived at her location at Bloor & Islington to find little Blackberry roosting calmly in the corner on the concrete balcony floor of her balcony. Given the amount of excrement on the balcony floor and the fact that Magdalene had been away all weekend, it is likely that Blackberry had been trapped there all weekend.
While dehydrated and very hungry, Blackberry checked out in good condition. He was scooped up quite easily given his dilemma and was very willing to accept water freely from the spray bottle. He was held over for further observations to ensure that his condition was confirmed, and until he could be released back to the nest site building rooftop safely. By the evening, his condition had improved quite dramatically, (for the better), with a very alert feisty bird with lots of energy. After second quick examination and a little more water, Blackberry was released back to the nest site building roof top. Photos attached with this entry.
Now its off to the two downed fledglings from the Up-town Yonge & Eglinton nest site!
Stay tuned…………
Posted on June 28, 2010 12:40 pm
- Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Frank Butson Reports:
About 1pm Mark Nash was notified that Blackberry was trapped on a glass balcony at the corner of Bloor and Islington. He attended and was able to rescue Blackberry without incident. He was fine. About 1115pm Mark and I arrived and with the help of security released Blackberry without incident on the roof of the Sunlife Centre….without incident is relative. There was a fire alarm going off just as we arrived to the point we had to release Blackberry. This meant when Mark and I finished the release we had to walk all the way down 18 floors to get out of the building,Im sure muscles neither of us knew we ever had will ache tomorrow morning…Blackberry’s revenge?
Posted on June 28, 2010 1:38 am
- Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Frank Butson Reports:
Today all hands were on deck again,as we had 2 young Peregrines that might just fly. Bruce,Linda,Zoey,Brian,Lyn and I attended the site today for various periods. We had many local folks who showed a great deal of interest and were glad to have the extra help from Deborah and John. The female juvenile Peregrine looks ready to go at any time. Her brother not so much. They were fed at least 2 times today. Mom did bring in a whole bird and left it on the ledge. The juveniles must have been abit confused as they never did get into it,letting Mom come some hours later and beak to beak feed them.
At 845pm,Mark and Marion Nash arrived with the 2 rescued birds. Mark Heaton of the Ministry of Natural Resources had attended at our Raptor Centre at Kortright Centre For Conservation and banded the 2. This is very important,as the US has a Peregrine Harvest..wild birds can be taken by falconers and kept. Any bird with a band is considered part of a recovery program and cannot be kept,so we took this opportunity to band both rescued birds.
The so far unnamed birds which were banded are:
Female..45 days old…898 grams band 21/x with green tape
Male…42 days old…*6/D (sideways 6 over D) with red tape
Mark,Marion,Lyn and I were escorted by security and the release was done under cover of darkness around 945pm. Thanks to the security crew at 2180 Yonge for their help. Tomorrow will be very interesting with 4 birds likely to be out flying. A full watch team will be on site to keep track of them!
Posted on June 28, 2010 1:30 am
June 27, 2010 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
When we arrived at the Lift Bridge this morning, we found 2 Juvies and Mom on the Hamilton Hydro Tower. Dad was nowhere to be seen. Everyone was just sitting around. It was quite foggy so I put the scope up to see if I could identify who was who. In a flash, Mom was off the Tower and heading towards Stoney Creek. We watched as she went into a dive and plucked a pigeon out of the air with no problem whatsoever. She brought it back to the bridge abutment over the Marina Parking Lot and before she had a chance to set it down, both juvies were off the hydro tower and screaming towards her. Diana won, and she certainly is not very good at sharing with her brother. He tried to get close but she would have none of it.
Posted on June 27, 2010 6:58 pm
June 27, 2010 - Greater Toronto - Private Residential 1
CPF Volunteer Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:40 am
June 27, 2010 - Toronto - King Street
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:39 am
June 27, 2010 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:38 am
June 27, 2010 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:36 am
June 27, 2010 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:35 am
June 27, 2010 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
There has been an interesting development with the Ottawa falcons. After more than five weeks of incubating three eggs to no avail, Diana and Connor were expected to abandon their nest. Last Tuesday brought a surprise: While one of the old eggs was fractured and now outside the nest, there were still three eggs in the nest. That means Diana laid another egg while still incubating two of the old ones. By Wednesday, the egg outside the nest was gone, but they continued to incubate three eggs as usual.
This behaviour — adding a new egg to an existing clutch after weeks of incubating - (and whle currently still incubating) — is unusual, to say the least. If anyone has ever encountered this phenomenon before, or can explain it, please let us know.
It’s not likely that the new egg has been fertilized, but we continue to monitor the nest to see what our falcons might do next.
Anouk
Posted on June 27, 2010 9:50 am
