April 27, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Continuing on with the west end nest site checks, I paid a visit to Jack and Angel at the Etobicoke Sun Life building as we know that they are very close to their hatch date. When I arrived, there were no adults in sight so I headed over to Kingsway on the Park where I met up with our long standing falcon watcher Baylie. We headed upstairs for a better view to the nest ledge and found Angel in hard incubation in the nest tray. She didn’t so much as bat an eye as she sat tending to her motherly duties. Within 10 minutes, Jack made an appearance at the site and came whistling in to the ledge just east of where Angel lay incubating. It certainly would appear by her behaviour and the posture in which she lay that the eggs have not hatched yet but we are expecting our first little one any day now.
Posted on April 28, 2012 8:35 am
April 27, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Stop number three on the Nests of the West 2012 tour was at the Mississauga Executive Centre to check in on our first hatches of the season in southern Ontario. Upon arrival, the female was roosting in one of her favourite spots on the Dejardins sign right on top of the “S”. She was enjoying herself and basking in the late day sun as I made my way up to the monitor to check on the hatchlings. When I arrived upstairs, the chicks were alone and that afforded me an opportunity for an excellent view. Only 3 chicks were visible and the fourth egg is nowhere to be seen. All three chicks were huddled together in the corner of the nest box having a nap which at first looked like a huge pile of cotton balls. It only took a few minutes before they began to move and boy are they getting big. Sometimes I forget how fast they grow!! Two of the three chicks spent some time standing and preening while the third was quite happy to remain lying down underneath its wiggly siblings. After watching for a few more minutes I was able to see that they had been recently fed. When I left the triplets to their nap time, I found the male on duty basking in the sun on the same Dejardins sign except that his favourite letter is “E”. I will continue to work on the computer software issues that are causing the problem in sending the camera image to the internet and hopefully I can resolve that soon. Until then, enjoy the photos I took of the monitor!!
Posted on April 28, 2012 8:20 am
April 27, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
The next stop on the rounds of the west end of the GTA was the office tower at 55 Standish Court where a pair of peregrines have been hanging around and showing great interest in the Wells Fargo signs on the east and south sides of the building. I met with the superintendant of the building and we chatted briefly about the activity on the building. He informed me that this pair were present last year and had made an attempt to nest on the eastern facing sign but he was not completely sure of their success. Currently, the observations made by myself, Toivo and Rob have led us to conclude that the birds are potentially nesting in the area and we will continue to monitor the site for confirmation of breeding activity.
Posted on April 28, 2012 8:08 am
April 27, 2012 - Brampton - Courthouse
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Today it was time to make the rounds of the GTA west nest sites to ascertain just where we are at in the peregrine breeding season. The first stop was at the Brampton Courthouse where Milton and an unbanded sub-adult have been holding the territory and showing interest in the nest ledge used last year. When I arrived, I found the sub-adult female on the south side of the building preening and there was no sign of the male. I entered the building to meet with ORC Property and Land Management Services for an escort to the window that looks out onto the ledge. When we arrived upstairs, I found the sub-adult female in the ledge chupping but she didn’t remain long. This allowed us to take a quick look at the ledge and sadly there are no eggs as of yet. There is a great deal of scraping going on but this young female has yet to produce anything. We will continue to monitor the site as there is still a lot of spring left to come and warmer temperatures are on the way!
Posted on April 28, 2012 8:06 am
April 26, 2012 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
A quick glance at the web cam and I managed to capture this image of food pack being delivered to the nest ledge. Did not managed to capture if an exchange or if Tiago took it out to another area for Rhea Mae.
Incubaton continues.
Posted on April 26, 2012 5:39 pm
April 26, 2012 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
This morning at around 10:45 a.m. a Turkey Vulture was floating circles over the King Edward Hotel. Expecting one or both adults to come out and run it out of the area, I was disappointed. No reaction from either adult peregrine. Everything remained quiet.
This afternoon, one adult sitting on the nest ledge near the camera. At 5:15 p.m. a second Turkey Vulture, perhaps the same one, passing through the area. This one was flying very fast and heading what appeared to be the Spit. Perhaps this bird had the advantage of a tail wind and pass through quickly and again no reaction from either adult peregrine.
Posted on April 26, 2012 5:32 pm
April 25, 2012 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Frank Butson Reports:
From Lyn:I saw both adult Canada Square peregrines today.
I had been perched in my usual spot for ages with nothing to be seen until Haven (the female) flew in. She came from the west side of the Rio-Can building, so possibly from Duplex Ave, and flew along Eglinton Ave until she was between the Heart and Stroke and the Canada Square buildings at the corner of Yonge and Eglinton. She circled a couple of times then simply flew up to the southwest corner of Rio-Can. There she preened, sat, stretched and waited for a while before taking off on the east side and up Yonge street.
I continued sitting, waiting and hoping and was rewarded quite a while later by the sight of Stormin (the male), flying over the Metro Police Station and onto the OLD nest ledge where he appeared to drop a food parcel. I was struggling to get the binocluars working as this had taken me by surprise. He sat for a minute and chuk-chuk-chukked then flew to the south face of the Rio-Can building where he sat, six floors from the top and called again. After just a minute or two he flew up Yonge street as well.
I waited for about another fifteen minutes before going home and in that time I did not see anyone on or near the new nest ledge nor was the food parcel retrieved.
Lyn
We are glad Lyn is back and look forward to her reports. Thank Lyn.
Posted on April 25, 2012 9:12 pm
April 17, 2012 - Toronto - Don Mills
Frank Butson Reports:
From Kat at Harlequin: April 17th A couple of Harlequin folks saw Quest eliminate an egg yesterday. She rolled it out of the nestbox. The egg was recovered and it was obvious it wasn’t viable. It will be turned over to the Ministry of Natural Resources for testing. There are now 3 eggs remaining.
Posted on April 25, 2012 8:39 pm
April 25, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
Well Jack was around again most of today. First thing this morning he was having a lenghty preen on the web cam. Later on I caught him having lunch then he gave himself a pedicure, flew around a bit and then had a nap.
Something they didn’t like flew into the territory and both he and Angel took off to escort it out, making a rukus as they did so. That was all I saw of Angel today, save for her wing tips and her head poking out of the nestbox a few times. Nothing to indicate we have new life yet that I could see from the ground.
Posted on April 25, 2012 5:06 pm
April 25, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 25th - 2012
Sadly, we are still experiencing challenges with the MEC computer and the ongoing software problems. While the camera continues to work flawlessly and is still producing a decent real-time live image on the internal monitor, the software conflicts continue that is preventing us from getting the live updates to the MEC nest site web page.
We will have to wait until the fall to install the new IP Colour camera. We can’t wait to finally get rid of the weakest link in the web cameras. We are hoping to eventually replace all of the old existing analog cameras with the new IP digital cameras this fall and finally be done with the older problem computers and software challenges.
Stay tuned…
Posted on April 25, 2012 11:51 am
