Canadian Peregrine Foundation

Happy 2012 Falcon Watchers

January 08, 2012 - Burlington - Lift Bridge

Sue McCreadie Reports:

Bill and I spent a couple of hours at the Lift Bridge this afternoon.  It was +2 degrees Celsius in the sun.  When we arrived around 12:30pm, both Cirrus and McKenzie were sitting in the sun on the cables close to the nest box.  We took a walk out the pier to look at the hundreds on Long Tail Ducks who are wintering in and around the canal.  When we turned to walk back, I noticed that both bird were gone.  I stopped and asked a young man if he had seen where the Peregrines had gone.  He said they high tailed out of there towards Burlington.  We watched for a while and out of nowhere Cirrus appeared and landed again on the wire.  A few minutes later McKenzie arrived, landing on the old nest ledge and was chirping to beat the band.  I guess he was wanting Cirrus to serve him lunch.  Cirrus made one feeble attempt at hunting while we watched but then she settled down again on the wire in the sun.

A Great Day at King Street

January 07, 2012 - Toronto - King Street

Tracy Simpson Reports:

What began as a day trip for Frank, Ann and myself turned into a real gathering at the 18 King St. nest site today.  After meeting up with Ann, we all clambered into my car and headed down to check in on Erin and her mate.  When we arrived, we headed over to Toronto and Court streets and found no birds in sight.  We met up with Harry who had just seen at least one bird on the King Edward and so we waited.  We weren’t to be disappointed as Erin, the resident female, flew in and landed on the Victoria St. side of the nest building.  Ann and I left Frank and Harry watching Erin and went in search of the male.  Following Erin’s glances, we headed over to the St. James cathedral to look around and as we wandered the streets looking up, I lost Ann but somehow found Linda!!  We all regrouped back at Court St. as the male flew in and landed two ledges south of Erin.  There they sat and preened the day away for hours when finally, when we were resting our camera arms, the male took off southeast on what appeared to be a very important mission.  Erin was close behind and the two disappeared from our sights for the remainder of our visit.  All in all it was a day of good company, good weather and a good visit with an awesome pair of peregrines!!

Erin posed quite nicely for several hours as she digested her full crop and napped away.

The male was much more elusive and harder to capture on camera as he elected to sit further back in the shadows.

!!! Both Adults on Site

January 06, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Kathy Reports:

Angel and Jack have been enjoying the mild weather today.   Angel, of course, on her favorite perch and Jack either by the nest box or over on the next ledge.  Neither of them seem to be inclined to do much other than bask in the sun and enjoy the warm air after several days of cold Arctic air.

Centennial Spotted Again At Bluffers Park

January 04, 2012 - International, National and Local News

Frank Butson Reports:

Back in October,CPF volunteer and friend,Ann Brokelman got photos of a Peregrine Falcon we later found out from contacts in Ohio where she was hatched at the East Lakeshore Power Plant, that her name is Centennial. We got the band number back then from photos Ann took at The Rosetta McClain Gardens Raptor Watch in Scarborough Ontario Canada(east end of Toronto).

     Well today Pat and Nancy Anderson were at a park only 2.5km away from Rosetta McClain Gardens called Bluffers Park. It is at the Scarborough Bluffs.  Pat and Nancy sent me their photo and a report of what they observed. They saw the juvenile Peregrine hunting ducks and pigeons. She successfully caught a pigeon near the restaurant. Clearly,Centennial’s black over red band 79/H can be seen in the photo.

Its doubley exciting when a bird that has been rescued makes it. CPF and my Rosetta McClain Raptor Watch friends will be keeping an eye open for more sightings of Centennial.

Thanks to Pat and Nancy Anderson for use of their photo.

We heard from folks in Ohio that plant workers were thrilled to hear about Centennials 2 sightings,and that she is alive and well. It turns out she had been rescued after being blown out of her nest or fledged prematurely. I received 2 messages from Ohio.

From Chad and Chris(who work with the Peregrines in that state and were at Centennials banding.) “Thanks again for the information and pics,  Frank! You thrilled many with it!”

And from Amy C who said “To BIGFRANK,Ann and The Canadian Peregrine Foundation:” Thanks for the info on Centennial - I was at her banding at Lakeshore Power Plant, and then back as a raptor rescuer when she got blown off the nest/took a premature flight a few week afterwards. I’ll let my contact @ the plant know. Chris told me about your post….it made my day”

Here is a photo Amy sent along of Centennial on the day she was rescued

Thanks to Amy for her photo.

Once again we see that banding helps us ID Peregrine Falcons and track them even across international borders. Working together with our friends to the south we find out where our birds end up and what they are doing.