May 24, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Bill and I spent some time at the Bridge this afternoon. All was quiet. Both Mom and Dad had full crops and there was no sign of the little ones. I guess they had been fed and were sleeping. Mom was sitting on the edge of the nest box and Dad was sitting on the old nest ledge. A poor Turkey Vulture flew though and he had no know what hit him. Dad took chase and screaming behind him cleared him right out of town. He returned to the wires and continued to vocalize and look up. Finally I spotted a Red Tailed Hawk passing in the other direction. I could barely see him with the binoculars, but Dad was making sure he kept on going. Dad continued with some maneuvers over and around the bridge. A freighter came in and Dad landed on the top railing of the bridge. I got the scope on him and to my surprise, I found it was no longer Sir Adam Beck (Band Black 01/V) it was McKenzie (Band Black 29/Y) born in 2009 at the Etobicoke – Sun Life Centre. We have no idea when the change took place. We just know that as of August 27, 2010, this little guy was hanging out with an unbanded female at a Hydro Tower/Apartment Building at the end of our street in downtown Burlington. We thought they had just migrated. I guess he only migrated about 3/4 miles south to the Lift Bridge. Wow, we thought we better get a look at the female bands, but today was not to be the day. She was sitting snoozing the whole time we were there.
Posted on May 24, 2011 7:41 pm
May 24, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Jan Chudy Reports:
Knowing that the banding for the four Toronto Sheraton peregrines was set for this morning, I logged in from France at about 4:15 our time (10:15 Toronto time). Shortly after I logged in, I saw the first of the chicks being removed from the nest box. I was so enthralled by the view, I wasn’t smart enough to capture the picture! I stayed “live” for the duration and managed to get some interesting ledge shots, particularly of one somewhat ticked off parent. I hope you enjoy them. Thanks to Wendy Rickey at Osler for providing me with the banding info.
Posted on May 24, 2011 1:50 pm
May 21, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I was on-site today to check in on the pair here and the three eggs that they have been incubating for some time. As I reached the monitor, the resident male was incubating the eggs tightly and would not let me have a look until the female returned. During the shift change, I had almost a full minute of viewing the nest box on the monitor and was only able to see two eggs present. Given previous observations back in late March and early April, this pair has gone beyond the incubation period where a hatch should have occurred. I will be back out next week to see whether the remaining eggs are still there and try and determine whether the pair might reclutch.
Posted on May 23, 2011 3:32 pm
May 23, 2011 - Toronto - Don Mills
Mark Nash Reports:
We have just received updated news from Bruce that both Quest and Kendal are still hard at work with incubation activities at the Don Mills nest site. Despite the fact that they are incubating only one egg, they are never the less still very much committed. Its getting close to a hatch date if the pair have been successful and we are all watching them very closely.
Based on the start of their full time incubation activities, it is expected that if all has gone well, we should expect to see a hatch at the end of this week. As such, monitoring will be stepped up in the following days as the week progresses.
We must remember that Quest and Kendal are a new pair, still inexperienced, and this nesting thing is very new to them as first timers. There have been some challenges and bumps along the way, in addition to MANY factors that can cause a failed nest site. We have already seen lower success rates at many of the other southern Ontario nest sites this year, (and from experienced proven productive pairs) that have many addled / unhatched eggs in the nests this season.
All of our fingers are crossed!!
Stay tuned………….
Posted on May 23, 2011 2:31 pm
May 23, 2011 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:
After the falcons here lost a single egg Mar.24/11, they decided to lay 2 eggs on a narrow beam below their nest box. The beam would allow no chance of a successful fledge. The year before our nest box was installed we lost 3 healthy chicks @ 3 weeks of age. They fell off the same beam where this year’s resident falcons laid their 2 eggs. On May 05/11 the 1st egg hatched, the 2nd 2 days later. This weekend the MNR & CPF transferred the 2 hatchlings to the safer nest box. The adults were very upset at the ordeal but soon found the young ones & have nicely settled into their new condo with dad supplying plenty of grub for the family. The chicks were not quite old enough to band so Anne will be back again next week to do so. Many thanks to Anne, Mark & Tracy for giving the young ones a shot at survival. Also for some great shots of the day (included).
Posted on May 23, 2011 2:29 pm
May 20, 2011 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Mark Nash Reports:
May 20th - 2011
Both Marion and I attended the Etobicoke General Hospital this afternoon to meet with Polly and check up on the nest site happenings. A big thank you to William Osler security team for their assistance in accommodating our visit. We were delighted to see that there are now 3 hatchlings in the nest tray! While the resident adult female was not observed during this short visit, but we did see Hurricane, the resident adult male on site watching over the nest ledge from the north east corner of the hospital. All three hatchlings looked good, and it was quite obvious that they had been recently fed as they all had visible bulging little crops.
The warmer more seasonal temperatures along with a break from the blustery winds and all of the rain we’ve had here in southern Ontario has been far more accommodating for all of us, allowing us to be able to see what’s been happening at many of the nest ledges.
Its also been quite obvious that this break in the weather has also been very welcomed by many of the resident adult peregrines, as we are now starting to see them more active. As the hatchlings continue to grow, the demands on both parents to provide additional food will increase substantially and their activity off the nest ledges will become far more apparent.
Stay tuned……….
Posted on May 23, 2011 12:10 pm
May 23, 2011 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Dennis Patrick Reports:
Saturday evening we were back at the Bridge site again at 5:30 P.M. Voltaire was busy feeding the chicks. 6:20 P.M. she flew up to the beam and flew down with more food. Ten minutes later, Freddie flew into the nest with food, Voltaire completely ignored him so he went into the other corner and started to eat at the food himself. Then he flew up on to the beam with the leftover food. We left at 6:40 P.M. Really good to see Freddie.
Sunday we arrived at the Bridge at 6:45 A.M. Voltaire was on the nest ledge and Freddie was on the West side of the Abudment cleaning a meal and then flew into the nest site. He presented Voltaire with the food and then Freddie flew over to the pipe. Lots of activity with Freddie and Voltaire and lots of vocals. When we left, Freddie was on the pipe and Voltaire was on the nest side hunkered down for awhile.
Gwen & Dennis
Posted on May 23, 2011 10:00 am
May 22, 2011 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
After a very long wait, the weather turned really nice this afternoon. When we arrived at the Lift Bridge around 3:00 pm, Barry Cherriere was already there and told us that the little ones had made an appearance. Lo and behold, 2 little white balls of fluff made their way to the front of the box to take a peak over the edge. What a thrill after such a long wait. Both adults were watching from afar. Cirrus was sitting on the eye bolt looking down into the box and for the most part, Sir Adam Beck was watching from the Hamilton Hydro Tower.
Around 4:30pm, we spotted Dad doing a fly by carrying a fresh catch. It was a pigeon and almost too large for him to handle. He ended up in the Playpen to prepare it. Of course he had to have his share so it would be easier for him to carry. Shortly after 5:00pm he left the Playpen and took several passes to get enough height to make the next box. Mom left her perch and went out to meet him. We thought that she would take it from him, but he eventually made it under his own power. Mom immediately entered the box and as we left two little white heads were being fed dinner.
We figured we had had enough excitement for one day.
Posted on May 22, 2011 8:09 pm
May 21, 2011 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
Another visit to the camera monitor this morning. The adult female was panting in the full sun and trying to shade the young ones from the blazing sun. So far I can only see just two hatchlings. The adults are still keeping them tucked into the corner of the ledge and under the camera view. I managed to see only a brief glimpse of them. The fourth egg has not been seen for days, and the third egg that was in view a couple days ago in no longer visible. No signs shell fragments remain in the nesting area, so I don’t know if we have had a even a third hatch. We’ll just have to wait.
Posted on May 21, 2011 9:01 pm
May 21, 2011 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Dennis Patrick Reports:
We got to the Bridge at 8 A.M. Voltaire on nest ledge, half an hour later she flew up to the pipe and came back with food. We could clearly see two chicks being fed. Ten minutes later she flew off the nest ledge with food and landed on the beam, then back onto the nest ledge again. We were there for 45 minutes to see this activity but no sight of Freddie. Will try to get back later this evening and check things out once again.
Mark, Thank You again for the phone call, you and CPF are GREAT.
Gwen & Dennis
Posted on May 21, 2011 1:32 pm
