July 29, 2010 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Bruce Massey Reports:
Started the Watch at around 1415 HRS. It took me about 45 minutes to find out that both the Eyesis were on the Ledge. It was still fairly hot and they were asleep in the shade near the back of the Ledge on the East end of the Hospital. Around the 1600 Hrs they began to get active. The Female was visible until 1700 Hrs. and then like a shift change almost on the dot the 2 adults changed positions.
At around 1710 Hrs. we almost had a fledge, the male was flapping and got blown about 2 feet in the air and just held on to the ledge by his 6 Talons- just barely. Shortly after, the two Eyesis settled down for a siesta for and hour or so.
Around 1930 hrs the two started getting active again, especially when Mom brought some feed by the nest. The Female then fed the Boy for 10-15 minutes and about 20 minutes the bird headed back to the column. I took the the chance and put the Watch to Bed as I intended to be here in the Morning first thing.
Posted on July 29, 2010 10:08 pm
July 20, 2010 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
It has been pretty quiet around the Burlington Lift Bridge lately. Last week while we were looking for some Peregrine action, the Bridge went up and when it came down, this is what we saw. Mom must definitely be on vacation as she would never have allowed this is she was in town. We couldn’t believe our eyes.
Posted on July 24, 2010 7:15 pm
July 23, 2010 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Frank Butson Reports:
Today at William Osler Heath Centre in Etobicoke,CPF,Ministry of Natural Resources and Osler management and staff took part in the first banding ceremony ever at the facility. The Ontario Stewardship Rangers were in attendance and assisted with the banding.
The extraction was a little tricky today,as one of the chicks,believed to be a male,eluded Mark Heaton of MNR,running around on the ledge out of range. As a result this chick will be banded at a later date if it should be rescued at fledge time. One chick,a beautiful healthy female was banded today. She will be named in the near future,stay tuned for a coming post. The particulars of todays banding:
Female,25 days old,weighing in at a very healthy 890 grams,black over black band,23/X.
The chick was very vocal. Ashleigh from the Ontario Stewardship Rangers held the chick,while Mark Heaton from the Ministry of Natural Resources banded the bird.
The adults and proud parents on site were confirmed to be:
Female:named O’Connor,hatched 05/06/07 at the Landmark Building in Summit County Ohio. Banded on 05/24/07 .
Male: named Hurricane, who hatched in 2004 on the Sheraton Centre Hotel in downtown Toronto.
It is always exciting news for the nest site hosts,management,staff and CPF volunteer fledge watchers to hear of the success of one of their birds. Hurricane has been onsite for several years and this is his first successful nest. Last season Hurricane,along with his mate was a proud foster Father to 3 chicks.
Posted on July 24, 2010 4:35 am
July 23, 2010 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Frank Butson Reports:
Today at William Osler Heath Centre,CPF,Ministry of Natural Resources and Osler management and staff took part in the first banding ceremony ever at the facility. The Ontario Stewardship Rangers were in attendance and assisted with the banding.
The extraction was a little tricky today,as one of the chicks,believed to be a male,eluded Mark Heaton of MNR,running around on the ledge out of range. As a result this chick will be banded at a later date if it should be rescued at fledge time. One chick,a beautiful healthy female was banded today. She will be named in the near future,stay tuned for a coming post. Those who took part will also be more thoroughly identified and thanked! The particulars of todays banding:
Female,25 days old,weighing in at a very healthy 890 grams,black over black band,23/X.
The chick was very vocal. Ashleigh from the Ontario Stewardship Rangers held the chick,while Mark Heaton from the Ministry of Natural Resources banded the bird.
The adults and proud parents on site were confirmed to be:
Female:named O’Connor,hatched 05/06/07 at the Landmark Building in Summit County Ohio. Banded on 05/24/07 .
Male: named Hurricane, who hatched in 2004 on the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto.
Many thanks to William Osler Health Centre security,maintanence and management for their help today and fine care which they take of their birds on an ongoing basis. The Osler folks are very proud hosts of this nest.
Posted on July 24, 2010 4:24 am
July 23, 2010 - International, National and Local News
Frank Butson Reports:
Today at William Osler Heath Centre,CPF,Ministry of Natural Resources and Osler management and staff took part in the first banding ceremony ever at the facility. The Ontario Stewardship Rangers were in attendance and assisted with the banding.
The extraction was a little tricky today,as one of the chicks,believed to be a male,eluded Mark Heaton of MNR,running around on the ledge out of range. As a result this chick will be banded at a later date if it should be rescued at fledge time. One chick,a beautiful healthy female was banded today. She will be named in the near future,stay tuned for a coming post. Those who took part will also be more thoroughly identified and thanked! The particulars of todays banding:
Female,25 days old,weighing in at a very healthy 890 grams,black over black band,23/X.
The chick was very vocal. Ashleigh from the Ontario Stewardship Rangers held the chick,while Mark Heaton from the Ministry of Natural Resources banded the bird.
The adults and proud parents on site were confirmed to be:
Female:named O’Connor,hatched 05/06/07 at the Landmark Building in Summit County Ohio. Banded on 05/24/07 .
Male: named Hurricane, who hatched in 2004 on the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto.
Many thanks to William Osler Health Centre security,maintanence and management for their help today and fine care which they take of their birds on an ongoing basis. The Osler folks are very proud hosts of this nest.
Posted on July 24, 2010 4:11 am
July 18, 2010 - International, National and Local News
Kathy Reports:
Just a few minutes ago myself and several others from the BCAW Falcon board were finally able to clearly see the bands on the new female that has been making herself at home in Columbus, Ohio! She was spotted a few months back by Chad & Chris in Ohio so luckily I still had her information at hand.
“Black 32 over Black X banded Pefa was produced at the Hamilton Sheraton hotel nest site last year in 2009, banded on June 2nd as a female at approx. 26 days old, weighing 1014 grams (empty crop) and was named Durand.
Her parents were Madam X and Surge - (Surge was hatched and produced at the Etobicoke - Bloor and Islington (Sun Life Centre) nest site in 2002.”
Posted on July 18, 2010 9:10 am
July 16, 2010 - Toronto - King Street
Frank Butson Reports:
I went to the St. Lawrence market this morning and had a look at the nest
ledge from afar and without binoculars and saw no Peregrines! About 40 minutes later I was making my way back to the subway,when I heard the familiar squawks of a young Peregrine so my eyes went skywards!
I saw one youngster fly over the King Eddie Hotel. I think the second bird I saw was also a juvenile; it did not seem to have the fluid flight of an adult! I stood and waited and was rewarded by the sight of one adult (the body looked quite white compared with the youngsters I saw).
There was quiet and no activity for a few minutes and then squawking broke
out, frantic squawking, and I saw an adult with a food parcel fly from
southeast of the nest building over King Street in the direction of the nest
building. The youngster which was *on* the King Eddie flew from there to the nest building and then stopped squawking. By the time I had walked backwards a bit in order to see the top of the nest building the squawking stopped and the adult flew from that building eastwards. The adult had lost wing feathers both wings and I did not manage to make note of the tail before the bird disappeared from view.
I then saw the adult I had first seen, circle above the nest building and
then fly to the huge brown and glass building across Yonge from the nest
building where it perched - high up!
Lyn
Posted on July 17, 2010 5:43 pm
July 17, 2010 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Kathy Reports:
Yesterday morning I had to go up to the Yonge and Davisville area for an appointment and I arrived early so I thought I’d take a look and see if I could figure out where this new family is nesting.
It was my lucky day as you can see the nest site building quite well from there so I walked up a few blocks and was rewarded by seeing 3 juvenile falcons in the air! Two were playing tag and one was riding the thermals right next to them. It was a wonderful sight and I was thrilled to finally see the new kids in town!
Posted on July 17, 2010 7:42 am
July 17, 2010 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
We seem to have recovered our little lost Mercedes this week. It’s taken me a few days to sort out what has happened and how many falcons are on site simply due to chaos that surrounded Jack’s return! It seems he did not come back alone but Mercedes may have been with him or was somewhere in a bind and Jack was aware of his location and was looking out for him. Really we’ll never know unless they start talking 
The day Jack returned, several of us were outside and had seen the two older boys playing tag in the air and mom was on her web cam perch. Suddenly out of nowhere I saw three juvies in the air briefly and was a bit confused, when suddenly mom dove off the web cam and started attacking one of the boys. We were all shocked as she certainly wasn’t ‘playing’ with him, she obviously didn’t recognize him or as is her way ‘attack first, ask questions later’!.
Mercedes did manage to evade mom and his two brothers rescued him and dad dove off we assume to intercept mom as a few minutes later she and Jack were on the ledge having an intense discussion. After about an hour Mercedes appeared on the ledge with both mom and Jack and hasn’t let her out of his sight since his return. He also has cried non stop for food since his return and I did observe her feeding him on Thursday afternoon so obviously he is back in the fold. He is behind the two older boys who are doing well and hunting on their own - with some help from mom of course - and they like to hang out on their own tower together. They are advancing well towards dispersal. Hopefully Mercedes will catch up soon but one thing for sure is his flying skill is quite good as he managed to stay a feather ahead of mom during her little episode.
I did wonder if perhaps one of Jack’s other sons had followed him back to our site which is why I wanted to make sure we did indeed have our little guy back. Jack is back to his regular routine of visits and has been here and at his other site quite frequently again and his two other boys are also being seen together so it seems all is well again!
Posted on July 17, 2010 7:37 am
July 17, 2010 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Frank Butson Reports:
Lyn Reports: I have just had the most wonderful hour and a half outside. The first 15 minutes were very slow with nothing to observe until one of the female youngsters began flying. She flew on her own for about 10 to 15
minutes all around the tops of the RioCan, Heart and Stroke, glass building
and the apartment complex on Duplex. She even came across a couple of time to the nest building and on one occasion flew HIGH OVER the taller of the 2 condo buildings! I was immensely impressed, so much so that I questioned whether this was possibly the mom. However all tail feathers and wing feathers were in place! After a brief respite, she landed out of sight on the Heart and Stroke building, 2 birds took to the air and gave me an incredible display of their aerial prowess! I was mesmerised as they flew apart, together, one above the other, one ahead of the other, side by side and actually talon touched! They were practising, it was obvious, because there were many misses and many occasions when both turned the same way and of course missed again. However, there were many *hits* when they actually touched or almost did! Then a 3rd bird took to the air and joined in the fun and I was watching all 3 youngsters, talon touch (much of the time), fly together,apart,above and below and in front of and behind one another! Most of this took place in the air space above the RioCan and Heart and Stroke buildings but they did fly over Duplex Avenue and over the nest building on occasion.
After 30 minutes of this interaction one of the females flew *east along
Eglinton* - I did not follow! Then Typhoon had a rest on the antenna on top
of the nest building. A few minutes respite to relax my neck and the display
began again. First a sole female took to the air and then Typhoon joined her
and they *played* over the RioCan building and up Duplex avenue. There was an almost hysterical outburst of young Peregrine squawking and I saw Mom fly over and onto the Yonge street side of things out of sight! She has lost another wing feather, the other wing, and I think another tail feather! Once she was out of sight all was quiet again and the third youngster came in from the east and again I had a display of all 3 in the air! They fly
beautifully, missing one another in the air, turning on a dime, and ducking
and weaving!! It was quite breezy so I don’t know if they have all actually mastered the art of *kiting*, staying in the same place deliberately, or not but they all managed it a number of times each!
The youngsters all went to roost on the back of the Heart and Stroke
building, I think! They appeared to come down over that building. Once they had been down for a while dad sneaked in from somewhere, flew over the nest building and part of the black building above the TTC bus bay, turned and came in to land on the third balcony (middle), nest level, on the south side of the concrete wall. I did not have the scope with me and try as I did I could not see his band. I don’t think I would have been able to with the scope either as he was just back far enough that I could not see his bare
legs.
All this time in the air was done in silence, except when mom appeared and
disappeared. I had a ringside seat from my perch on the EMS ramp! I was so impressed with the youngsters!
Cheers
Lyn
Posted on July 17, 2010 12:08 am
