June 10, 2011 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Mark Nash Reports:
A huge success banding the three young hatchlings today and lots of excitement!!
With both resident adults defending the hatchlings and ledge, it was a huge success! A big thank you to the property management for hosting the banding and to Solar Window washing for their support in getting the three young hatchlings for us and staying on the nest ledge to be the villains to distract the adults while we were banding the chicks. It was a very good day indeed!
The best news came half way through the banding process, with the new resident adult male “Stormin” who also made a strong appearance while assisting his female mate in defence of the 3 young hatchlings and the nest ledge. Both resident adults were on hand to strongly show their dissatisfaction with the entire situation and were aggressively defending ,, which is exactly what we all wanted to see!
Stormin, - (who was produced in 2009 at the Toronto Sheraton nest site - Banded Black 30 over Black Y) not being the sire of the these chicks (and replaced the original resident male “Irving” -after he was killed two weeks ago after a colliding with a hydro line) has finally, and clearly demonstrated that he has accepted parental responsibility for the hatchlings. The resident adult female is not banded and her origin is not known. Irvine, the original resident male - (and sire of the chicks) was produced in Chicago Ill USA in 2009, banded with a Black B over a Green 44. He was killed on May 21st at Eglinton and Mt. Pleasant here in Toronto.
Three healthy hatchlings named Luke, Chester and Buzz - (all male chicks) were successfully banded and returned to the nest ledge and their parents without incident.
Posted on June 11, 2011 4:06 am
June 09, 2011 - Nanticoke OPG
Mark Nash Reports:
Thursday June 9th
We have some good news to report from the Nanticoke Ontario Power Generation plant! After spending a great day with plant staff doing presentations for environmental week, we are very happy to report that their earlier reports of peregrine nesting activity has been confirmed.
Both Tracy and I had a great morning with approx. 70 OPG plant staff and four members of our feathered educational team. A huge thank you to Ulrich for bringing in his two eagles that joined us for the morning presentation. A very good morning indeed!
The afternoon was spent with plant staff investigating their earlier reports of peregrine activity and we have some further good news to report.
OPG Nanticoke has their first pair nesting peregrine falcons! We were able to both confirm the identity of the resident female peregrine as being a 2009 Etobicoke produced bird named Ms. Marla, banded with a Black 15 over Black X. We were also able to confirm that she has new recently hatched young! The now so good news has yet to be confirmed.
Earlier reports from the OPG plant staff is that there has been ongoing territorial disputes going on with another adult male, the staff have witnessed aerial between the two males earlier on in the week.
A resident male was not observed at all during our visit, and other observations recorded during our visit would suggest that there may not be a resident male attending.
We watched the Ms. Marla fly in to the net ledge with food and feed her offspring with no signs of a resident male. We also observed a Turkey vulture flying overhead during this dame time period, and at no time did we see a resident male defending or present anywhere.
On two separate occasions during our one plus hour observation period, the resident female Ms. Marla called out looking for her mate, but once again, no male ever responded or attended.
Speculation that the resident male may have been injured in the earlier aerial battles with the other male peregrine and may have succumb to injuries sustained in a battle and has been killed.
It is very odd to see the resident female with new hatchlings having to leave the nest to get her own food, as the resident male is usually supplying her with food directly to the nest ledge at this stage of family rearing with new born hatchlings in the nest. While the pair usually have a number of food cache spots where the male stashes fresh food that they can both draw from, and occasionally the resident female will leave new hatchlings to draw from these stashes herself, it is the male that usually delivers food directly to her, to the nest ledge to feed the chicks.
Further to this, Marla called out and loudly vacuolized on several occasions during our visit to attract the attention of her mate, but no response was ever heard, and no male was ever seen.
The fact that the Turkey vulture was allowed to come this close to the nest ledge un challenged by the adult male (especially with new hatchlings on the nest ledge), might also suggest the absence of a resident male. While it is entirely possible that the resident male may have simply been out hunting or taking a break on another part of the plant out of eye sight of the nest and his mate, the entire situation remains very suspicions indeed.
Further observations are needed to get a better handle on the situation before any hard conclusions can be made.
On a more positive note, the nest ledge is a great spot that is hidden under a huge conveyor belt structure with only a single accesses in and out to a completely closed-in portion of the superstructure frame underneath the conveyor superstructure , and it provides ideal protection both from the elements and any avian predators that might be in the neighbourhood.
The abundance of available food sources in the area also offer more than enough food and all in all, this is a fantastic location and nest site for the peregrines.
Stay tuned……..
Posted on June 11, 2011 1:17 am
June 10, 2011 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
A brief stop at the King St monitor this morning before I headed out to the Sheraton Fledge watch. Both chicks in view of the monitor. Lots of white fluff on their backs, not a lot of activity from them. I guess enjoying the cool temps and sunshine. Adults were not in my view at this time.
Posted on June 10, 2011 9:55 pm
June 10, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Well today Sunshine is 40 days old and just like any child still is at home. Not a lot of activity this evening, with burst of mild flapping, but no running of the ledge or excitement from her or the others. Rhea Mae and Tiago stayed in view well into the evening, prompting us to stay until dark. Sunshine finally gave up and went out of our view at 8:45p.m. and Rhea Mae was still on 130 Adelaide when we called it a night.
Rain expected tomorrow.
Posted on June 10, 2011 9:52 pm
June 10, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Harry Crawford Reports:
7:25am had me at the courtyard, south of the Sheraton. Two chicks
were visible but there were no adults around. At 5am, I had all
four chicks on the webcam. Around 7am, I could only see three of
them. I started wandering around looking for adults in case there
was a fledge. I met up with Zoe a few times and she could only see
three on her office computer. Eventually I found one adult in a
normal location so I stopped searching.
One or two chicks could be seen flapping and running along the nest
ledge. This still wasn’t the typical amount of activity before a
normal fledge. Linda and Annie showed up. I left the site in
Annie’s good hands. When I got home just after 12pm, I was able to
see all four chicks on the nest ledge [webcam]. It is going to be
soon now. They are probably waiting for the Rochester Four to get
here to join the weekend watch.
To the folks who managed to get the webcam back online - much
thanks! Because we are are stretched so thin this year, the webcam is
a critical participant.
Posted on June 10, 2011 4:06 pm
June 09, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
All four were still on the ledge at 8p.m. this evening. Today the adults were seen giving flying lessons, but Sunshine wasn’t buying it. I think she was taking notes, but not really doing a lot of ‘testing her wings’ on the ledge, this evening. A food drop was done for the others around 6p.m. Winds are really gusty at street level, whipping around these tall structures, which is really deceiving. It feels really cool out in the wind, but when I arrived at the King St. sight, the winds were calm and a very pleasant evening.
Perhaps tomorrow will be the day for a first flight.
Posted on June 9, 2011 9:10 pm
June 09, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Harry Crawford Reports:
I got to the watch at 7:45am. The chicks were fed at 6:30am [webcam
viewing]. Around 9am, the oldest chick was flapping and running
back and forth. Most of the time, at least two chicks were visible
from ground level. At 9:30am, an adult visited the nest ledge
briefly. For about half an hour, none of the chicks were visible so
this was possibly another food drop. Linda dropped by a bit later
and confirmed that all four chicks were on the nest ledge. I left
just after 11:30am and the site was now being watched by Annie.
Posted on June 9, 2011 5:06 pm
June 08, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
Mark Nash Reports:
A huge thank you to Ed for sending in some of his photos that he captured today of Truss on the nest ledge. In these photos, you can get a clear look at Truss’s band number and a proof positive confirmation of her identity. As many of you are already aware, Truss is a local gal, produced at the Burlington Bridge nest site in 2009. She dawns a Black 36 over Black X
With so many failed eggs and low production from many of our southern Ontario urban nest sites this year, we all have our fingers crossed that Truss and Milton are successful in hatching their eggs again this year.
Stay tuned………..
Posted on June 8, 2011 10:48 pm
June 08, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
All four chicks remain on the nest ledge. This afternoon, adults were seen doing touch and go and demonstrating flights skills. We couldn’t tell if the young ones were paying attention, because there was no screaming of excitement from the kids. All was very quiet for the most part.
A very threatening thunderstorm rolled through parts of the downtown area around 7p.m. Amazingly, some areas received hail and heavy winds and lots of rain. With the threatening weather we called the watch for the night around 7p.m. I checked the webcam around 8p.m. and onward and had all four accounted for.
Posted on June 8, 2011 10:06 pm
June 08, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Harry Crawford Reports:
Well, the Sheraton watch started today. I arrived on site at
7:45am. Two chicks were visible and an adult flew to the
‘Centre’ logo for a brief while. At 8:50am, the swing stage was
moved to the south side [not lowered] and started moving west,
towards the nest ledge. I was afraid it would cause a premature
fledge so quickly went over to the hotel and talked with their very
receptive management. The stage then moved east and around to the
north side. The chicks didn’t seem disturbed.
On the way back to the courtyard, I met up with Annie Clarke who
is joining the watch. We spent a fair amount of time with site
orientation and then met Zoe who introduced us to Vanessa, who will
also spend time with us on the watch.
All in all, the chicks were not running around or flapping. This
supports Linda’s feeling that we likely will not have a fledge until
the weekend, accident excepted. Incidentally, the adults were seen
on the west KPMG logo with a full view of the nest ledge. This is a
new office tower.
Posted on June 8, 2011 3:51 pm
