June 01, 2012 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Frank Butson Reports:
This is a call to YOU! The Canadian Peregrine Foundation will have several Fledge Watches beginning at sites all over Metro Toronto, from Scarborough to Etobicoke.
If you have a few hours to spare, please join us to help this threatened species. All over our city, young Peregrine Falcons will be learning to fly. Often on their early flights they come to the ground, usually uninjured. As part of a fledge watch team you will be there to help rescue the newly flying falcon and help the species survive. No experience is needed, a senior watcher will be on site or a phonecall away. All you need is an old towel for a rescue if needed, be able to accept direction and a willingness to help.
Sheraton Centre’s Fledge Watch will start next week. We hope you will come and help Rhea Mae and Tiago’s young.
Please contact CPF head office at 416-481-1233 or email us at frank@peregrine-foundation.ca if you’d like to help.
Posted on June 1, 2012 4:03 pm
June 01, 2012 - Toronto - King Street
Frank Butson Reports:
This is a call to YOU! The Canadian Peregrine Foundation will have several Fledge Watches beginning at sites all over Metro Toronto, from Scarborough to Etobicoke.
If you have a few hours to spare, please join us to help this threatened species. All over our city, young Peregrine Falcons will be learning to fly. Often on their early flights they come to the ground, usually uninjured. As part of a fledge watch team you will be there to help rescue the newly flying falcon and help the species survive. No experience is needed, a senior watcher will be on site or a phonecall away. All you need is an old towel for a rescue if needed, be able to accept direction and a willingness to help.
King St Fledge Watch will begine soon! Come help us to help Windwhistler’s legacy to grow!
Please contact CPF head office at 416-481-1233 or email us at frank@peregrine-foundation.ca if you’d like to help.
Posted on June 1, 2012 4:01 pm
June 01, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Frank Butson Reports:
This is a call to YOU! The Canadian Peregrine Foundation will have several Fledge Watches beginning at sites all over Metro Toronto, from Scarborough to Etobicoke.
If you have a few hours to spare, please join us to help this threatened species. All over our city, young Peregrine Falcons will be learning to fly. Often on their early flights they come to the ground, usually uninjured. As part of a fledge watch team you will be there to help rescue the newly flying falcon and help the species survive. No experience is needed, a senior watcher will be on site or a phonecall away. All you need is an old towel for a rescue if needed, be able to accept direction and a willingness to help.
Sunlife’s fledge watch begins June 6th.
Please contact CPF head office at 416-481-1233 or email us at frank@peregrine-foundation.ca if you’d like to help.
Posted on June 1, 2012 3:59 pm
May 23, 2012 - Toronto - King Street
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Banding date was May 23rd - 2012 at the Toronto King Street nest site, but its taken us until now to get all of the banding photos in, assembled and organized given all of the recent banding events so close together.
A huge thank you to the building management group Dundee for all of their support helping us arrange the banding, allowing access and hosting the banding event, OMNR and Mark Heaton for banding, Solar Window cleaning for getting us to the ledge to extract the hatchlings, Beanfield Metroconnect for internet service, Peregrine Protection Security Services for installing the new nest camera, and to all of the MANY CPF volunteers that are always behind the scenes coordinating all of the bandings and fledge watches, and to all the tenants of 18 King Street for all of their support!
Hatchlings particulars:
Toronto 18 King Street hatchlings
Hatchling #1-575 grams, male , banded Black R over 33 - named Dundee with green tape
Hatchling #2-795 grams, female , banded Black 59 over X, named Aphrodite with Red tape
Hatchling #3-565 grams, male , banded Black R over 35 - namedGrayor with Blue tape
Hatchling # 4-600 grams, male , banded Black R over 34 - named Tristen with Yellow tape
Posted on June 1, 2012 3:04 pm
May 28, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Baylie Kastner Reports:
May 28th - 2012
3:45pm
Good News,
All four chicks up and accounted for. One of the two that was flaked out earlier was still out flat when I got up to the roof but after a few minutes got up and stretched.
Photos:
Two on the right, two on the left and Mom on the roof!
Baylie
Baylie
Posted on June 1, 2012 1:54 pm
May 30, 2012 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
May 30th - 2012
These pictures were taken on 3o th may, 7:00pm. At 24 queen st the BDC building. That’s a pigeon that he has just caught.
Ian Gregory
Posted on June 1, 2012 12:54 pm
June 01, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
For those that are new followers of the MEC nest site, I thought it would be worth sharing a bit of information on Tonga who now nests at the Blue Water bridge. This summary was created for a gallery I put together for Talon Tales, the quarterly newsletter that goes out to all of our CPF members and it focussed on the 25 peregrines hatched in Ontario that were found breeding in 2011 throughout North America. Here is Tonga’s background…
Tonga was hatched in 2003 at the Mississauga Executive Centre to Sal and an unidentified female from south of the border. She was the first of three to fledge that year and created quite a scene between June 27th when she fledged and July 1st when she was released on the roof of the nest building for the second time. Her first flight on the 27th landed her in a tree where she spent the next two days trying to sort out her next flight. She came to a low wall where she spent the rest of the day preening; something she became famous for. She soon came to the ground where she was rescued and released to try it again. Flight number two was described as “an overburdened 747″ that took her to three different buildings where she face planted into each in turn before landing on the sidewalk for another preen session; her solution to all of life’s little problems. When in doubt, at least look good. By 2006, Tonga had mastered the art of flight and was now the resident female at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan. She has been there raising young with an unbanded male ever since. Her prowess in flight is now so well known to all that watch and support her that she managed to cancel the banding of her two chicks for the safety of all in 2011 due to her ferocity in the air. During her 6 successful nesting seasons at the bridge, she has celebrated a lifetime production total to date of 18 young; one of which, a male named Freedom, is now successfully nesting at the I-480 bridge in Ohio.
In addition to this, as mentioned in the earlier post, Tonga has added another 5 chicks to her lifetime production making her a mother of 23 over the past 7 years. This is one of the reasons why we band the juveniles and why it is so important that banding continue. Not only does banding protect the young birds as they leave the natal nest site on migration, but provides valuable information on the dispersal and success of the young birds once they have left Ontario. The hard data that comes with resightings, known as band recoveries, gives us real statistical information on the success rate of juveniles on a site by site basis and key data on population dynamics throughout the Great Lakes basin and beyond. Were it not for the banding program, we would not have known about the success of Tonga in Michigan or been able to readily understand the current happenings at the MEC site today. Thank you to all who participate in banding as it is this great work that connects the local community, the scientific community and the still recovering Peregrine falcon together.
Posted on June 1, 2012 9:25 am
June 01, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This is the first morning that we haven’t been up before the dawn and out the door so catching up on peregrine news seemed like it would go well with a morning coffee before work. In checking about, I found a recent article posted in The Times Herald, a local newspaper that reports for the Port Huron area. It would seem that when Michigan DNR officials went onto the Blue Water bridge to band the hatchlings belonging to Tonga and her mate, they found the three young ones that were observed a few weeks ago and a couple extra!! This is the first hatching of 5 chicks in the southeast Michigan district of the DNR and it was cause for much celebration. Congratulations to Tonga and her fabulous 5; MacKenzie, Theisen and Murphy are the three females and McMorran and Moore are the two males.
A big thank you to Barb Baldinger for linking me to the update!! Read the full article at;
http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20120601/NEWS01/306010003
Posted on June 1, 2012 9:03 am
May 31, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Frank Butson Reports:
Today was a slow day at MEC. Thats not a bad thing! Sante wasnt in the area alot. The new female seemed to be searching for him alot. She made several very high flights circling around. Jokingly I said she was scraping the ozone layer she was so high. She actually disappeared into clouds. I didnt see Janet all day, but Sante was paying attention to different buildings at different times, indicating that that was where Janet was. I wouldnt be shocked if Janet’s advanced flight training takes place offsite away from the new female’s harrassment.
An adult Bald Eagle flew through the area again, almost assuredly the same one seen yesterday. A pair of Redtailed Hawks was also observed.
Towards the end of the day Tracy could hear Janet’s calls to Sante, but we couldnt see her. Janet is flying very well, so our continued constant prescence is not needed. Evenings we will still monitor what’s going on and most assuredly when Rogue is released from rehab, we will have someone present.
My thanks to everyone who helped us out. Thanks to MEC staff and Oxford Property management, Garda Security and caring community members. Thanks to my fellow fledge watchers for your dedication and caring. Bruce Massey and Tracy Simpson deserve special mention. Bruce was present by 530am several of the most crucial days of the watch. Bruce even takes his holidays from work to do watches, spends his weekends there and comes after work on days he wasnt off. Tracy has been doing at least triple duty. She wakes waaay before she wants to, drives an hour to drop me off to the watch, returns to do a day job, from work cares for and feeds our educational birds of prey at CPF Raptor Centre and ends the day by finishing the fledge watch at MEC, after driving the hour there, picking me up and driving the hour home! People call us crazy..it sure helps! We are for the birds and proud of it.
We will continue to post periodic updates from MEC. If you are in the area and see a bird of prey in distress, please alert CPF or MEC Security, they will know who to contact.
June 1 a new owner takes over at MEC but as we understand, most of the same management team will be in place. We look forward to continuing the great working relationship we’ve had for so many years with the team, now from Colliers. We couldnt do what we do without the support and co-operation of such great people.
Posted on June 1, 2012 4:47 am
June 28, 2012 - Niagara Falls
Frank Butson Reports:
From The Welland Tribune:
Dan Dakin, Niagara Falls Review
A harness might save Nik Wallenda from plunging into the Niagara river, but it won’t spare him from over-protective peregrine falcons.
Wallenda, the seventh-generation aerialist who will walk across Niagara Falls on a five-centimetre-wide wire on June 15, has been warned by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources that he’ll be in the danger zones for a family of peregrines nesting near the falls.
“It’s highly possible he’ll be perceived as a threat,” said Anne Yagi, a management biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources. “They’ll defend their territory vigorously.”
A pair of peregrine falcons and between three and five babies are nesting in a window of the long-closed Ontario Power Generation station in the Niagara gorge, just north of the base of the Horseshoe Falls.
In Canada, peregrines aren’t considered endangered, but are classified as threatened on the ministry’s Species at Risk list. Like most of the peregrines around Ontario, the family nesting in the gorge is closely monitored by the ministry, as well as by the Canadian Peregrine Foundation.
Shortly after Wallenda was given the green light to complete the walk between Table Rock in Canada and Terrapin Point in the U.S., Yagi, contacted Wallenda to warn him about the dangers of crossing the gorge near the peregrine nest.
“We had asked him to change the date to September when the parents had completed their parental care, but he said no,” she said. “I’m hopeful nothing will happen to him.”
Though attacks on humans are rare, peregrines are incredibly protective of their nests and offspring. The birds typically grow to be more than 40 centimetres long with a wingspan of more than 100 centimetres. They can weigh nearly a kilogram.
What makes them fierce hunters is their speed. Peregrines are the fastest animal in the world reaching speeds of around 320 km/h as they dive toward their prey.
It isn’t just Wallenda Yagi is worried about. She said any crew members within 200 metres of the nest could be considered a threat by the peregrines.
“There should be a concern in terms of the personal safety of (Wallenda), any cameramen and lighting people. Anyone in the territory,” she said.
Yagi is also concerned for the well-being of the falcons. She said there will be repercussions if the peregrines are hurt during the event.
“We’ve issued (Wallenda) a letter of advice and said if the birds are injured through any part of this, he could be charged under the Endangered Species Act,” said Yagi, who has requested security clearance for her and three others to monitor the peregrines during the walk.
For his part, Wallenda said he’s not overly concerned about a potential peregrine attack.
While training at the Seneca Niagara Casino recently, Wallenda confirmed he was contacted by the ministry, but said he’s not worried about them.
Yagi said she talk to Wallenda personally last week and knows he doesn’t to hurt the birds.
“He’s interested in the birds and he doesn’t want to see anything happen to them,” she said.
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2012/05/28/wallenda-could-be-threat-to-peregrines
Posted on June 1, 2012 4:08 am
