April 25, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 25th - 2012
A huge thank you to Sage who submitted this great photo taken from across the gorge on the US side of a shift change in an rare opportunity when the adults were caught on camera during a shift change. Despite the distances involved, the photo clearly shows the adults both in the same frame, with the tiny brown coloured eggs exposed for only just a moment during the event.
Great shot!!
Thank you much!!
Posted on April 25, 2012 11:38 am
April 24, 2012 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:
As I said in my last post, it has been hard to get a look at what’s underneath the adults here as they are rarely off the eggs. Yesterday I witnessed the female consuming an egg shell. She was over the scrape & I couldn’t see underneath her so I was hoping an egg had hatched & she was eating the shell for calcium as they normally do. Unfortunately, today I got a good look at the scrape when Mom took a short break from incubation & I could clearly see that there was no young one. In fact there are only 2 of the 4 eggs remaining. It is hard to believe that after 4 weeks of hard incubation that they could loose these eggs. I think that perhaps the frigid weather has played a part in the failure. I’m not too optimistic about the chance that the other 2 eggs are viable but we have our fingers crossed. Hopefully the other nest sites don’t have simalar problems this year.
Posted on April 24, 2012 9:12 pm
April 24, 2012 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Three of the four eggs in view as Rhea Mae and Tiago have a shift change at around 09:30 this morning.
Posted on April 24, 2012 9:45 am
April 24, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
The earliest hatch date that I had calculated or guesstimated based on behaviours was today. And indeed this morning as I arrive in - I find Jack here at first light on his favorite letter on his sign.
In the past few years, since he’s been running two nest sites, the only time I see him there this early is when a hatch is immenent or when there are eyases in the nest and today is the first day I’ve spotted him there. It’s cold and wet today so not even a feather protruding from Angel in the nestbox. She’ll be hunkered down tight on those eggs this morning.
I will be keeping a close eye on activities when I can the next few days . Temperatures are expected to rise tomorrow again so that will afford better viewing opportunities.
Posted on April 24, 2012 7:47 am
April 20, 2012 - London - TD Tower
Tracy Simpson Reports:
To wrap up our Earth Week activities, Frank and I were out in London to visit with TD branch representatives and customers throughout the afternoon. After a brief interview on Rogers TV show Daytime, we made our way down to Dundas and Wellington to look for the London peregrines. We were greeted immediately by the calls of the pair as they both flew into the ledge just beneath the TD sign on the west side of 380 Wellington. The pair went immediately into the nest tray and began a conversation about the nesting season that lasted a good minute. The male then flew out and around to the back side of the building while the female remained in the tray. The male then returned and took up a position on the southernmost corner of the nest ledge and settled in for a nap. Before we left to attend our branch visit, I was able to take several pictures that show the male is wearing a solid black recovery band indicating that he is a Canadian male.
We had such an amazing time in London speaking with the local community about our School Visit program and their local peregrines that we lost track of time! By late afternoon, we decided that we would head back once again to 380 Wellington for another look at the pair before we left for Toronto. When we returned, the pair was not immediately in sight but after a few minutes, the female popped up out of the nest tray where she was lying down and sat on the edge of the tray to preen. The winds had picked up at this point and photographs were harder to take but we did manage to get a shot showing that this female is wearing a black over red recovery band indicating that she is an American girl. The pair were in and out of the ledge and more specifically the tray a great deal and were also sharing some tandem flight time above the tower. This is very exciting news and we wish the pair well this nesting season!
I will be back in London in the coming weeks delivering our Project School Visit program and will have more news for you on the local peregrines progress in the nest tray. We will also be making a serious effort to identify the pair for you. Check back soon, the excitement has just begun!
Posted on April 22, 2012 12:22 pm
April 20, 2012 - Mississauga - Holcim
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Bruce Massey stopped in at the Holcim site while out on a west end nest site tour and found the adult male, Storm, roosting just above the nest site. The resident female, Caspian, was nowhere to be seen as she was tucked away out of sight incubating her eggs. We will be watching more closely in the coming weeks for the adults to start bringing in food indicating that a hatch has occurred. Thank you Bruce for the update!!
Posted on April 21, 2012 10:02 am
April 20, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Frank, Toivo, Winston and I have all been tracking this new pair of peregrines that have settled themselves at Hurontario and Brittania Rd. directly between the Brampton Courthouse pair to the north and the MEC pair to the south. They have been very cautious and elusive in their activites related to the setting down of eggs and so we have been watching closely to see if the pair have decided whether they will be nesting and where. Frank, Toivo and I were on site monitoring today and found the female on the camera arm at the Purolator building getting ready for take off. She flew over to a building to the south where she stayed for about ten minutes; the male was nowhere to be seen. The female then took off and headed over towards the Wells Fargo building where she disappeared from our sightlines. A few minutes later, the male appeared on the same building the female had just left.
We believe that we witnessed a possible adult changeover commonly associated with incubation. We will be out this weekend to determine which site their interest is focussed on and whether incubation is underway. Check back soon!!
Posted on April 21, 2012 9:58 am
April 20, 2012 - Brampton - Courthouse
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Many of our volunteers have been checking in regularly on Milton and his new unbanded subadult female at the courthouse and it is clear that the pair are focussed on the ledge used the previous year as a potential nest site. During the last site inspection, Mark Nash was able to note that the although the pair did not have eggs as of yet, they are certainly working on scraping out the corner ledge on the southwest side of the courthouse. Both Winston and Toivo have been seeing the pair staying closer to the site in recent days and one of the adults is usually down in the ledge. Bruce Massey also visited the area today and noted that only one adult was visible at a time suggesting that they are focussing much more of their time and attention in the ledge. We will be back on site soon to check on the progress of the pair as they endeavor to set down a clutch of eggs this season. Many thanks to Winston, Toivo, Frank, Mark and Bruce for all of their efforts to monitor the progress at the courthouse. A great team of watchers!
Posted on April 21, 2012 9:43 am
April 20, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Bruce Massey stopped by the William Osler Hospital to check in on the progress of Chessie, the new resident female, and Hurricane as the pair have been working towards raising a family together this year. He went upstairs to check the camera monitor for evidence of eggs and found Chessie working on expanding the scrape in the tray, but no eggs as of yet. Back outside, Bruce was able to watch the pair in action as they flew around the building and finally landed on the east side to mate. We are unsure as to how long it has been since Chessie took over the site but we do know that if they are to nest this year, the first egg should not be far off.
Posted on April 21, 2012 9:32 am
April 19, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This has been a very exciting week for us as we have criss crossed the GTA spending time with our supporters celebrating Earth Week. This afternoon, prior to our visit at one of the TD Canada Trust branches in Mississauga, Frank and I stopped in to check on our new parents at the Mississauga Executive Centre. Just a few days ago, this pair became the proud parents of the first peregrine hatch of 2012 and today there was much to be seen on the monitor. A very determined female stood as best as she could over the wiggling pile of fluff beneath her and tried to contain them within the nest scrape. I was able to see two chicks for sure actively moving underneath her and suspected that there was a third. The presence of that third chick was confirmed by Marco of Oxford Properties and I can’t thank him enough for all of his assistance and efforts over the past few weeks as we have been trying to get the camera working once again. We are so excited for MEC and are working feverishly to get the camera up and running again as we continue to tackle the software issues that are causing the image to be inconsistent. Congratulations MEC and we await the hatching of the final egg!!! Check back shortly as we will post some pictures of the new family.
Posted on April 21, 2012 9:25 am
