- All Reports
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This is one report that I never thought I would have to write. It would seem that our iron lady out at the William Osler Hospital has been replaced.
I stopped in at the site yesterday to check in on the progress of O’Connor and Hurricane towards laying eggs. I had hoped, as I was driving up Hwy. 27, that when I got there I would find eggs on the monitor. I could see, as I sat in traffic, a female perched on the southeast corner of the nest ledge and within seconds the male had flown up to join her. I pulled into the hospital and found the pair on the nest ledge; her on the corner and him on the nest tray. As I began to snap pictures I realized that this was not O’Connor. That sense of dread was confirmed when she gave me a look at her band colours. The current situation was then made crystal clear when a minute later, the male flew in and they mated.
My first order of business was to identify the male and I was able to get a picture of him in the tower that also captured his band number. The male is without a doubt Hurricane wearing a solid black recovery band 5 over X. I then turned my attention to this new female but by this point it was getting late in the evening and the “flight show” was starting.
I had to ask myself, what does it take to oust a bird like O’Connor. It would take another large, fast, agile bird with the attitude of a rhinocerous. This bird was definately last year’s hatch, her chest completely streaked from nares to navel. So bird, show me what you can do. Well… …she did. The flight demonstration put on by Hurricane and this new female was unbelievable. The two were displaying around the building at lightning speeds as they circled, then dove and kited in tandem above the roof. It was something else to watch. Right in the middle of this I spot another peregrine moving towards the building and off goes this new girl in pursuit. It was definately another female she was chasing and she continued the direct ”escort” until they were both dots in my scope.
While I can’t be entirely sure what has happened here, I do know that there is a new female on site that I have yet to identify. This would certainly explain the lack of eggs to this point as this site has not only experienced a battle between males but now another amongst the females. On a professional level I know that these battles are the law of the peregrine world in spring and nest site turnovers are bound to happen. On a personal level, O’Connor and Hurricane were my favourite couple and I will miss her antics at this nest site. She kept me on my toes and she made me shake my head at least once a day. She was the most fun to watch and I will miss her.
Posted on April 14, 2012 7:57 am
April 13, 2012 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
This evening around 6:15 p.m. one adult seen having a great fly around the nesting area. Lots of soaring and diving. Most of the spring time roof top maintenance of the area buildings appear to be completed, and activity on these areas seems to be quieter, which might account for the aerobatics this evening.
Posted on April 13, 2012 6:43 pm
April 13, 2012 - Toronto - Mount Sinai Hospital
Linda Woods Reports:
Around 10:30 a.m., both Ranger and Hunter were seen sitting on the first ledge, east side of Mt.Sinai. They were there for about 10 minutes, the male flew off and out of view. Can’t say they have eggs yet.
Posted on April 13, 2012 6:39 pm
April 13, 2012 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Full incubation continues. Today at 10:15, walking north on Bay St adult peregrine seen on the south west corner of the Simpson’s Tower at Queen and Bay Sts. Beautiful day for just sitting in the sun.
Posted on April 13, 2012 6:36 pm
April 13, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
Very quiet week here as Angel and Jack continue to incubate this year’s eggs. This morning I caught Angel basking in the sun while Jack took over duties to give her a much deserved break. Other than chasing off a few hawks and TV’s, there hasn’t been any other action to report.
Hopefully it continues to stay calm and peaceful over the weekend!
Posted on April 13, 2012 10:30 am
April 08, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 9th - 2012
A big thank you to our good friends Roger, Jacquie and Sage from Niagara Falls - New York for sending us these great photos and detailed observation report of the peregrines nesting on the retired Ontario Power Generating station in the Niagara gorge. The photos say it all! In addition, it would appear that the new nest tray that we installed has been a most welcomed addition to their eyrie!
With a long history of sucessful nesting and family rearing in the Niagara gorge, the peregrines have been producing offspring at the Niagara Falls gorge since 1998.
It appears that the Niagara gorge peregrines have once again chosen the Ontario Power Generation plant on the Canadian side to lay their eggs. We are all hopefull that the pair will be successful in hatching their eggs and raising a new clutch of young again this year.
Sage reports:
On April 9, we all watched as the second Peregrine entered the nest cavity on the Canadian side of the Niagara gorge at the eyrie on the wall of the OPG power station, then a second peregrine flew out and the other returned to their incubation activities. Sage (Vicki) Kadow, Roger Johnson and Jacquie Walters, viewing from Terrapin Point, Niagara Falls N.Y. USA..
Pic 1, taken by Roger Johnson
Pic 2, taken by Sage immediately after the shift change
Pic 3, taken by Sage a day earlier, April 8-2012
Stay tuned………..
Posted on April 11, 2012 4:15 pm
April 07, 2012 - Toronto - Mount Sinai Hospital
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Frank and I joined Linda Woods this weekend to catch a view of the territorial pair at the Mount Sinai Hospital. This year their interest has turned to the nest tray installed on the eastern ledge of the building and we were delightfully surprised to see both adults on site.
At first there was no indication of an adult anywhere. Within 15 minutes of our arrival, a pair was seen soaring above the hospital moving southwest and the male was stooping the female in spectacular displays of “see what I can do”. Their soaring took them in a complete high altitude circle around the territory and finally out of our sight. A few minutes later, in flies the male to the eastern ledge where the tray is located. Into the ledge, then out. Then back in (out of our view) and then back out to the edge. The male was very interested and had a morsel of food that he was obviously attempting to draw the female in for an exchange. He lost patience and flew off with the food landing several ledges to the south where the female was hiding back out of our line of sight. The pair then made several short flights and landings back and forth on different ledges along the eastern face of the hospital and if I had to guess, based on what they were doing, which ledge they had chosen I would have said all of them!! The didn’t settle on one in particular while we were there but most certainly the third ledge south of the northeast corner was landed on the most, which coincidentally is where the tray is located. While we weren’t able to confirm their band numbers, this territory has long been held by Ranger from New York and Hunter from Ohio but sadly none of their eggs have ever hatched. Let’s hope that 2012 will be the year for them!!
Posted on April 10, 2012 7:54 pm
April 06, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Just when we thought the dance card was full, along comes another couple to shake things up!! Out of all of the observations gathered by Toivo and Winston over the past few weeks, we knew that there was more than one pair hanging about in the Brampton / Mississauga area. Over the long weekend, after a check of the courthouse and confirming the identity of the pair there, we made our way down to Hurontario and Brittania, the area that our Brampton watchers have identified as a hot spot of activity. For the first 40 minutes there was no sign of peregrines when all of a sudden, out of the east, a pair showed up and landed on 5800 Hurontario St. just south of the intersection. There the female sat on the south side while the male couldn’t seem to decide on a spot. He sat on the same face of the building but would alter ledges every few minutes. We pulled out the scopes and cameras and were able to determine that this indeed was someone new. The female is a full adult and we could clearly make out the Black over Green recovery band on the left leg and the purple USFW band on the other telling us she is an American girl. We then turned our attention to the male and were able to clearly see the solid Black recovery band used here on his left leg and a silver USFW band on the right; a Canadian boy. We continued to watch but the winds were not in our favour for getting the alpha numerics off of either male or female as our scopes were vibrating in the brisk winds. One thing we are certain of, these birds are not the pair from Brampton and as the MEC birds are both unbanded, it couldn’t be either of them!!
They continued to sit on the south face of 5800 Hurontario for a while and then the pair quickly launched into the air and headed northwest; but not far. We followed them up the road to 55 Standish Court where we found the female on the southern Wells Fargo sign and the male on the eastern sign. The female was restless and would wander along the length of the sign, turn, dip, scrape and then settle. She did this several times indicating her interest in Canadian real estate for raising the kids!! There they stayed well into dusk when we finally left.
The following day, the pair was absent for much of the time until after 5:30pm when once again, out of the east, the pair arrived and landed on the south side of 5800 Hurontario St. Toivo spent some time driving out to the east to look for a potential hunting area for the birds and may have found a few likely spots. The male arrived first and landed on the south side followed shortly by the female who ended up on a small ledge on the very southwestern corner of the building. The male flew over to the next building, waited for his cue and then flew in for breeding. As we left that Saturday evening, both adults were on 5800 Hurontario St. on opposite corners of the western face.
What makes this potential new site so interesting is the choice of location. The Brampton courthouse pair is 5km straight north on Hurontario St.; can’t go that way! The MEC pair is 5 km straight south on Hurontario St.; can’t go that way either! That leaves this pair a hunting corridor along the west - east axis where they won’t encroach on another territory and that is exactly where we see them coming from; due east. While they haven’t indicated which ledge they are interested in as of yet, it would appear that 5800 Hurontario St. is the place to be and we will continue to update you on this new pair as the details emerge.
Posted on April 10, 2012 7:25 pm
April 06, 2012 - Brampton - Courthouse
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Frank and I went out to Brampton to check in on the peregrines as there has been no shortage of action as reported by Winston, Toivo and Grace. Sightings have been reported both at the courthouse and in downtown Brampton of peregrines sorting out the nesting arrangements amongst themselves. When we arrived on site, there wasn’t any sign of a peregrine on the west side of the building where they nested last year and so we made our way into the parking lot to check the other ledges. Just then an adult came bombing in with another bird hot in behind it. The male landed first and immediately took up position over the southwestern corner and the female swooped up to land on one of the antennas on the roof. Back across the street we go and we were able to positively identify Milton as the male with his Black 4 over Green B recovery band both rotated 90 degrees left. We then focussed our attention back on the female and we knew for sure by her coloration and streaking that it was not Truss. A few pictures later and a sharp eye on the scope revealed that this female was an unbanded subadult bird. During the previous week, both Winston and Toivo had witnessed mating between Milton and this new female and it would appear that she is the new resident gal for 2012. We were joined shortly by Toivo as the female left her antenna perch and headed straight for the ledge used last year for nesting. She disappeared into the ledge out of our sight and Milton took off heading north towards downtown. It was a full 45 minutes before the female reappeared on the flashing of the ledge and when she flew, she didn’t travel far. By 2:00pm, Milton had returned and was perched atop the southwest corner of the courthouse directly above the nest ledge while the female chose to sit on the northwestern corner. Within 10 minutes, she was up and on the roof next to Milton and whining very loudly. While there has been much action over the past few weeks, it would seem that this pair may already have at least one egg in the nest with more to come. We will be keeping a close eye on this site and will update you as developments arise so keep checking in!!
Posted on April 10, 2012 6:03 pm
April 08, 2012 - Toronto - Don Mills
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 8th - 2012
Good evening-
I just caught a nice hand-off at the scrape. Kendal wasn’t leaving until Quest entered the box-then he beat wings!
Eileen
Posted on April 10, 2012 4:47 pm
