July 15, 2011 - Toronto - Don Mills
Ann Brokelman Reports:
4:30pm at the falcon watch Harlequin was on the side of 220 building with Quest just below her. Quest flew towards the valley. Harlequin within a few minutes also flew off - she went to the front of 220 and did a circle around it landing briefly on 240. She returned to the same spot on 220 with food. Small package.
She took off again and went around 220 and somehow landed up on top of 250 building. She was wandering around the top when we noticed she had a large package of food. She tore out feathers, and ate her fill. Crop full. She flew off again and landed on the H on the Harlequin Building.
In the distance Bruce and I saw both kendal and quest soaring together. They were a long distance away. When Carol and I left Harlie was sitting on the back of 250 building with Bruce watching.
Posted on July 15, 2011 9:38 pm
July 15, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 15th - 2011
Despite the fact that the ‘kids” are no longer utilizing the nest ledge much these days, the resident adults are still calling it home. If you can catch the camera and the nest ledge just at the right time , you will see one or both of the adults still on the nest ledge throughout the day and night. You just may even be able to catch the juveniles on the nest ledge via the camera. They are foxy and quick,, but still checking the nest ledge for food that mom and dad have left behind!
The fledglings are all over the place these days with many new reports of peregrines on their ledges, outside of their windows, but it’s difficult to get band numbers as they are moving around so much, and as two people have alrady told us - “by the time we realized what we were seeing, frozen in amazement, run for the camera phone and return, they had gone to another window ledge,, Damn” !!!!
One lady writes, “I’ve got to stop spending so much working, and more time watching”!! Oops, don’t tell by boss I said that!!!
Another fellow writes,, “Work is really making my peregrine watching difficult”! Can you get them to come back to the nest ledge so I can watch them on my computer when I’m working! I really miss watching the youngsters!! My days have become very boring again!
Posted on July 15, 2011 4:42 pm
July 15, 2011 - Toronto - Don Mills
Mark Nash Reports:
July 15th - 2011
A quickly update on Baby H’s progress.
Given her incredible progress and strong flight skills thus far, there it is not likely that baby Harlequin will come to the ground and in need of rescue. She has clearly mastered basic flight skills and holding her altitude has not been a problem at all. In fact, she has been able to far exceed the height of all of the surrounding buildings in the neighbourhood and has learned to land without the use of a concrete backstop :-))
With a few bumps and grinds along the way, it is not likely that she will be making any more contact with windows or solid concrete walls any time too soon. Quest and Kendal are giving her their undivided attention all day long,, - (well at least when Quest is not nagging Kendal and he’s not hiding out over at the Westin hotel) 
Intense monitoring is no longer needed, and for the most parts, its up to Quest and Kendal to teach her the ropes so to speak. While monitoring will continue, a dawn to dusk monitoring effort will not be necessary and we can back off. I would still encourage everyone to keep their eyes to the skies, as the best part of the process is about to begin!
As the parents increase their daily training of Baby H, the aerial displays are going to be fantastic to watch. Baby H has allot to learn to prepare her for all of the life skills that she will need for a long migration south come September. She will migrate alone in the fall without her parents.
Quest and Kendal will likely stay and winter over on or close to the nest site - (or at least hopefully in their “Don Mills territory”). Historically, most all of the “urban nesting adults” here in southern Ontario stay on territory all year-round, and never leave. The juveniles are still heavily influenced by the instinct to migrate south. The urban adults have learned to adopt and hold on to their established territories all year long.
In contrast, most ALL of Ontario’s peregrine population, including both the adults and juveniles migrate south for the winter. Only the “urban adults” stay.
Please keep watching as we welcome any and all observation reports that we can continue to post, as Baby H has a huge following, and we’re all interested to know how she doing!!
Sadly, we must divert all available mobile resources that can help - to one final fledge watch that is in need of our assistance out at the Brampton Courthouse where one young hatchling is about to take her first flights. As always, we are still available 24/7 on our mobile phones for any emergencies.
I can’t express my gratitude enough to Donna, Melanie, Patricia and all of the wonderful people at Harlequin who have opened their doors and hearts for us and the birds . To the building management of 220 Duncan Mill Rd, their board of directors, tenants and security staff for your support and understanding,, and to all of the CPF fledge watch team and community members that been there for both the CPF and the peregrines, you to be commended for your support.
Finally, last but not least, to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Aurora district staff that have gone way above the call of duty, before, during and after hours to support us all!
How could we ever fail with such a great team!!!!
In the next few days, I promise that we will get the missing field notes and incredible pictures posted that we are so behind on, so stay tuned for some incredible photos and further updated news of the happenings to follow in the days to come.
Stay tuned…………….
Posted on July 15, 2011 4:27 pm
July 06, 2011 - Niagara Falls
Mark Nash Reports:
July 6th - 2011
A huge thank you to Jacquie Walters from the New York DEC for sending in these amazing shots from across the gorge in Niagara Falls New York that helped us both locate the nest and plan the banding and relocation of the hatchlings to a much safer nest site.
Our apologies for not being able to get these great photos posted much earlier, as we have been so stressed with so many ongoing fledge watches and overlapping banding events, that we are way behind in our postings. We will catch up.
Our first priority is always the birds in the streets and the fledge watches.
She writes:
July 6th - 2011
Hi Anne and Mark,
I went to the Falls today to scope out the PEFA nest and saw two eyases. Got a couple of shots of the whole family. The male flew in with a prey item and fed the kids while the female sat perched in a window next to the nest. One of the eyases (the one on the left in the photo) looked a bit smaller than the other.
Jacquie Walters
Posted on July 15, 2011 2:33 pm
July 13, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
A huge thank you to Marion from the CPF for all of her efforts and the multi tasking that she has to do, including some great photos!
Posted on July 15, 2011 2:13 pm
July 13, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
A huge thank you to Winston for some great photos of the banding event at the Brampton Courthouse.
Stay tuned, as there are many more to come!
Posted on July 15, 2011 1:42 pm
July 15, 2011 - Toronto - Don Mills
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Friday July 15, 2011-8:00 a.m.
Good Morning All
Murray and I just left the Don Mills nest site. Daddy Kendall was sighted back hanging at the Westin Hotel. Harley was on the pink building and then Quest was observed flying in to the nest building and Harley flew over to her. Quest was on the very far left of 220 and Harley was 2 ledges over in front the of the nest box. Every one is in view and accounted for!
Have a great day.
Debbie and Murray
Posted on July 15, 2011 9:53 am
July 14, 2011 - Toronto - Don Mills
Mark Nash Reports:
July 14th - 2011 PM watch report.
Once again today, the watchers had many updates of the days activities with Murray and Debbie starting out the day this morning around 7:30am while on their way to work, and Murray continued to do spot checks throughout the day right up to 9pm. Caroline was out around the mid day and Bruce shortly after 2:30pm until after 7pm.
Marion and I joined Bruce and closed the watch around 9:15pm with Murray and Debbie and Caroline.
Baby H made many strong flights today and is well ahead of others fledglings at this age!! With just under a week out of the nest ledge, she is doing incredibly well and was back to the nest ledge today for he first time.
While she has long since gained much higher altitudes than the nest ledge level earlier in the week, this is the first time that we have seen her actually back on the nest ledge (the very one with the nest tray) since her departure. It is at this time in the watch that we usually tone down the intense monitoring and street watch, as this action of returning to the actual “nest ledge itself” is a huge mental boost of confidence builder for the fledglings.
At this time in her development, one of the only things that the fledglings lack, is the confidence, as she is more than capable in holding her altitude and able to escape any perceived dangers. She can actually fly now like an adult big bird 
Today, Baby H made some soft hits and bumps to the windows and concrete walls of the building, which is exactly what we were hoping for! At this stage of her flights, she is still slow and cumbersome, and these hits are usually soft,,(which they were),, and these minor collisions are “leaning experiences” , ones that will not be repeated in the future.
The young fledglings do in fact “learn” through these minor bumps and grinds with windows and concrete walls at these early stages of their flights,, and avoid them in the future. It is our hope during the fledge watches is that the young fledglings have these bumps early in the first flights while they are still slow and cumbersome, and these bumps are usually nothing more than learning experiences that rarely result in serious injuries. Several weeks out of the nest, and the fledglings get over confident and are now building up a great deal of speed in their flights, and their recklessness usually results in far more serious injuries (and even mortality) if they start hitting windows and concrete walls. You know what they say,, “Speed Kills”,, and for a young fledgling peregrine, this holds very true when you start hitting solid objects!
This evening, we watched Baby H take a run at a Starling that passed by below her while she was roosting on the east side of the upper ledges of the nest building, and although she never came close to actually catching it, she did make the attempt to chase it. The Starling flew into the cover of the trees to the north of the nest building and Baby H quickly veered away from the thick branches and tree cover. She has also learned that these areas are not good places for peregrines! Her landings are almost adult like now, no longer hap-hazzard “do drop ins” and it appears that she’s got it!!
This evening, both Quest and Kendal were absent at bed time when darkness fell, and Baby H was noticeably stressed. She made several flights around over the three buildings unable to locate her parents. She finally landed on the upper south face of the nest building and was more than restless as she was very unsettled and noticeably stressed as she scanned the air and buildings to locate her parents. She stood up and layed down more than a dozen times frantically looking around for her parents before she finally layed down. She tucked herself in tight to the building wall, but was still very alert while looking around with her neck and head scratched out trying to get a sight line on her parents. We left just as darkness fell also feeling a little stressed that neither of the adults were anywhere to be seen in any of their usual roosting or hiding spots, and that they had been absent from any of our views for more than 40 minutes.
This was baby H’s first real night alone! Another lesson!
Stay tuned……
Posted on July 15, 2011 9:39 am
July 14, 2011 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:
I’ve been trying to get a head count here but I’m not having much luck. Last night I had the 2 adults in my view. Dad was preparing a bird while mom watched. Out of my view, I could hear the unmistakable sound of a young one. Mom came & took the food package from dad & left my sight. Normally the 2 young are actively flying & squawking. We have not heard much of that the last 4 days. Perhaps 1 of the young has left. Early this morning when I arrived at work, a falcon was hunting. It appeared to be a juvie although I did not have my binocs. We’ll keep watching & keep you posted.
Posted on July 14, 2011 10:02 pm
July 13, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This afternoon at the Brampton Courthouse we had a beautiful day for banding the one chick at this first time nest site. We all gathered outside on the sidewalk to watch the extraction of the single chick and the staff at the courthouse were all eagerly excited about becoming first time falcon parents. It was decided that the ledge would be accessed by lift truck and all was in position for the Skyreach lift operator and Mark Nash to make the ascent to the ledge. Once they reached ledge level, Milton the resident male, took to the air and set his sights on the extraction team. Truss was absent from our view and it wasn’t until Mark was able to see inside the ledge that he found Truss taking a nap and her single chick racing down the ledge to the north. Truss was immediately up, airborne and looking to run the extraction team out of town. With the chick now on the opposite end of the building, the lift was lowered, repositioned to the north and then raised up as the crowd of onlookers maintained their vigil. Mark Heaton and Emma Fellowes of the OMNR began to suit up and prepare to help with the gathering up of the young falcon when Mark Nash was able to reach out and safely remove the young one and make ready to lower her down in the rescue bag. Once on the ground, Mark Heaton brought the chick around to the cafeteria in courthouse for the much anticipated banding ceremony. Marion Nash provided us with the opening remarks on the banding procedure and the CPF’s efforts in southern Ontario to band juvenile peregrines and then handed the microphone over to a very special guest, the Honorable Linda Jeffrey, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources. As a resident of Brampton, she was especially excited about the opportunity to have a Species at Risk successfully nesting at the courthouse; an excitement well evidenced in her speech to the crowd that had gathered.
The rest of the banding ceremony was focussed on just one other special lady and her name is Courtney. This female was a whopping 985 grams at weigh in and was easily identified as a female estimated to be 31 days of age. The Minister Linda Jeffrey held Courtney as her USFW band and her Canadian alpha-numeric band were attached and a strip of yellow electrical tape was fixed over top of the USFW band for easy identification in the field during the fledge watch period that begins next week. Before her return to the ledge and her parents, Courtney took a moment for a photo opportunity with Ed Czuchnicki of ORC Property and Land Management Services and Kevin Stanley of Skyreach who were both instrumental in making this banding day such an enormous success!!
Truly there are so many people to thank on a banding day that the gratitude list is always a long one but nonetheless a vastly important one!! If it were not for all of the folks that worked together with the CPF to make this day happen, Courtney, our newest peregrine juvenile in southern Ontario, would not have been banded and therefore left unprotected as a precious member of our Species at Risk. On behalf of all of us at the CPF, we would like to thank the Honorable Minister Linda Jeffreys, Mark Heaton and Emma Fellowes that represented the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources today. We also heartily thank the fantastic staff at the Brampton Courthouse that have embraced this new family of falcons. The folks here include staff of both the Provincial and Federal courts as well as Ed Czuchnicki, the Senior Facility Manager for ORC Property and Land Management Services and his exceptional staff. The banding would not have been possible today were it not for Aiden Houlahan and staff at United Rentals and Kevin Stanley and his crew from Skyreach Inc.; thank you all for making our access to the ledge possible. We also wish to graciously thank the Peel Regional Police staff members that were instrumental in securing the sidewalk where the lift truck was working and the cafeteria in which the banding ceremony was held. Thanks so much for your assistance in keeping all safe and secure. The staff and management of the cafeteria at the courthouse were outstanding hosts for the banding event itself and we thank you for opening up your doors to all of us. Last but not ever least, we extend a warm thank you to all of the CPF volunteers that attended today’s events from as far away as Burlington; the birth site of our dear Truss. A great day was had by all and it represents another success to celebrate; I love days like these!!
Posted on July 14, 2011 8:03 pm
