June 27, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I was in the area on Monday at the Etobicoke Sun Life nest site and stopped at Eagle Road and Bloor St. for a quick look around for the three remaining young ones. As I pulled up, I could clearly see the two females, Olympia and Windward, relaxing on the nest ledge preening the day away. It was nice to see that both of the girls are using the nest ledge as home base during this next phase of training. I looked for adults but was unable to spot either Jack or O’Connor in my immediate view so I left the site for an appointment in the Royal York area. As I was travelling along Bloor St., the pigeons in the park on the north side of the street were in a panic flight and right in the middle of the flock was young Euro looking quite sharp and pleased with the havoc he had created. It was plain to see that he was learning how to separate one from the flock as part of a successful hunting strategy. Although I could not see her, I know O’Connor was close by overseeing her son learning this most important skill.
Posted on June 27, 2012 8:10 am
June 24, 2012 - Toronto - King Street
CPF Postmaster Reports:
I down to visit the peregrines from the 18 King Street East nest site.
7.05 pm – 7.25 pm – saw an adult peregrine preening on southeast corner of King Edward Hotel, after the recent rain;
7.25 pm – the adult flies away westwards along Colborne Street;
7.45 pm – I can hear a peregrine falcon calling, and spend some time looking for the source of the calls;
7.50 pm ish – I locate the adult and one juvenile falcon on the northeast corner of the EDS Building (second terrace) on Wellington Street East. The adult has caught a pigeon, and proceeds to feed the juvenile;
8.01 pm – the juvenile flies across the street to the southeast corner of the roof of 30 Wellington Street East. I did not see the landing, but the juvie did not appear to have any problems flying up to the altitude of the roof of 30 Wellington East from the lower EDS Building;
8.01 pm – 8.10 pm ish – while the juvie is resting on the roof of 30 Wellington East, the adult prepares more of the pigeon, and feathers are flying;
8.10 pm or so – the juvie takes off, and makes a strong flight over the roof of 91 King Street East, where it looks like it is joined by another peregrine. I can’t tell if it’s another juvie, or the other adult, but the juvie seems to be enjoying a game of tag. The adult is still on the second terrace of the EDS building while the juvie and the second peregrine fly around the King Edward Hotel and environs;
8.15 pm – the juvie lands on a cooling vent on the roof of 91 King Street East. Again, I missed the landing, but the juvie does not appear to be having any difficulty reaching and maintaining altitude, and his/her flights appear strong and confident;
8.15 pm – 8.30 pm – the juvie takes off again, and appears once again to be playing tag with another peregrine. When I looked back at the EDS Building, the adult was suddenly gone, so I am not sure whether the juvenile was joined by the adult from the EDS Building, or whether it was the other parent, or another juvie sharing airspace with the first juvenile. Unfortunately, I was too far away to get a good look at any of the birds’ band colours. Eventually the juvie and another peregrine (which looks like an adult), land on the window washer support on the east side of the roof of the King Edward Hotel. This time I saw the landing, and the juvie seemed pretty confident in landing on such a small space.
I apologize for the poor quality of my photographs – I was caught on the roof without my camera and had to use my iPad. I attach photos of the adult on the King Eddie (from a distance), the adult and juvie on the EDS Building, the juvie on the roof of 91 King East (from a distance), the juvie on the roof of 30 Wellington East (from a distance), and the adult and juvie on the roof of the King Eddie. The close-ups (such as they are) were taken by putting my iPad camera up against the eyepiece of my binoculars.
Meg Langley Grainger
Posted on June 27, 2012 4:55 am
June 23, 2012 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 23rd & 24th - 2012
Hi All,
Here are some pictures we took Sat June 23 and Sun June 24.
Winnie & Alan
Posted on June 27, 2012 4:41 am
June 14, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 14th - 2012
So far, everything looks okay at the Niagara Gorge nest site which is very close to where Nik Wallenda intends to perform Friday night. Wednesday, Terrapin Pt was overrun with Walle-crews, working on riggings for the cable which was installed Tues night. Lighting being installed, cables laid on the ground, interesting conversations of Walle-crew guys overheard everywhere. There are at least five cables across the gorge. The one Walle will walk on weighs seven tons! Some of the other cables I think will carry the cameras.
Please see next email with more pix of the set-up and of a feeding
Vicki & Roger
Posted on June 27, 2012 4:19 am
June 07, 2012 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 7th - 2012 - Banding day photos
Late postings with photos soem great photos from the other side!
We could see pretty well from Terrapin Point this morning and everything looked to go very smoothly! All shots except for one were taken by Roger. This is the first six, remainder in packet 2
Posted on June 27, 2012 4:14 am
June 26, 2012 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 26th - 2012
Finally, all of the young fledglings are flying high with strong flights and actually doing some real flying! Eagan was identified this morning on the very top of the Yellow pages building and made some very good flights and was able to both hold his altitude and gain heights and altitudes above the nest building. While all of the fledglings landings are typical - (very bad), they are still learning and practice will make perfect. Lot of crash landings still to come for sure, but each of them are now chasing their parents around in the air for food!
At this point, the dawn to dusk fledge watch will be discontinued and regular daily spot checks will be done to ensure that they are all still going strong.
As always, we will all be spot checking them throughout the next few days.
Stay tuned for some of the great photos that everyone has been taking along with their reports
Stay tuned………..
Posted on June 27, 2012 4:00 am
June 25, 2012 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While this observation report is out of sequence and we apologize for the late posting, we have been severely backlogged with a huge volume of observation reports combined with the very long hours we have all had to be in the streets on the various fledge watches. Many photos are being taken and sent in that all have to be saved, downsized, cropped, colour corrected and re-saved, then posted with the authors observation report to the correct nest site.
Please bear with us, as we have taken in some 178 different observation reports and HUNDREDS of photos, and their still streaming in by the dozens each day. In addition to the above, there are those that refuse to send in their written reports prefer to call in with a verbal report or leave them on voice message. These have to be interpreted, typed, copied and posted. For some, there are very long days, and for others, there are many long days AND very long late nights combined in an effort to get these reports processed.
That being said, while both little Paul and Albus have finally been flying well and holding their altitude, - (in fact both are now able to gain huge gains in altitude landing on the upper most peak of the Yellow Pages building and long flights over to the roof area of the Investers Group building and back) little Eagan has not done so well, still running around on the granite ledges for several days below the nest ledge, finally ending up on the lowest ledge only feet above the sidewalk.
Today after much coaxing from the adults, all of the fledglings wee very active including little Eagan, who attempted his first real flight. Sadly, he was not able to hold his altitude and came to the ground on the grass area on the west side of the nest building.
His second flight has him crossing two busy roadways, Progress Ave and eventually Milner Ave (full of rush hour traffic), no one thought he would have been able to dodge the moving traffic without getting hit! With a huge amount of good luck, he didn’t get hit by any of the traffic,
Eagan did manage to catch a little air on his third attempt (from the ground level) but alas ran out of steam again and ended up on the ground several times before he finally grounded himself in the front yard of a house on Progress Ave.
Now with Bruce in hot pursuit, he was able to rescue Eagan successfully safe and sound, and without any further incident. Eagan was later safely released back to the nest building roof top and his parents under the cover of darkness.
Once again a huge thank you to all that helped us on the watch this day, and the great building staff for getting us (and of course little Eagan) back to the roof elevation.
Stay tuned………..
Posted on June 27, 2012 3:25 am
June 26, 2012 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 26th - 2012
A quick spot check of the Hearn nest site today yeilded good news! All three fledglings were in view and holding their altitude. Peter, (the resident adult male) is still holding his own with the food supply to feed his three offspring and so far so good!
We are further encouraged after having finally met Alex Smith, our OMNR area conservation officer, that he too is able to keep a watchful eye out on the site as he makes his daily rounds in the area.
We are delighted to report that despite the challenges at this nest site, that the Dufferin cement trucks that were parked directly out front and below the nest are now parking further to the west of the property and are no longer below and in front of the nest ledge.
In addition, there is other good news as updated news has come with regards to the injured resident adult female. She is now able to do some flying (and while although still experiencing some discomfort due to some minor swelling still evident on her wing wrist), she will soon be able to be released back to her family. We are hoping that by this time next week, it might be possible to return her back to her territory.
Also, we are slowly getting caught up on the huge backlog of photos and observation reports from most all of the nest sites, including that of the Hearn site, so stay tuned to see some of Anns best photos taken several months ago from the Hearn site.
Stay tuned as there is much more to come ……….
Posted on June 27, 2012 2:20 am
June 24, 2012 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
Tracy Simpson Reports:
For the past week, Bruce Massey has been holding the fort and running the watch at the Hearn Generating Station and I can’t say enough what a dedicated Fledge Watch volunteer he is. Today I was able to spell him off for an early night home and was treated to an exceptional evening of juvenile shenanigans. When we did the hand off, Bruce had reported that all three juveniles that he has affectionately named Tiny, Dolly and Dark Male, were flying high and well at the site and that Peter, the resident male, was providing for them very well. Upon his leaving, we had not seen the young for a few hours and I was anticipating some action!
Bruce spotted a young one, Tiny, on the eastern ledge of the plant roof and the other two were well hidden… …somewhere. As always happens, as soon as Bruce left and I was alone, the fun began. Tiny flew in from the eastern side of the plant with food and landed on the roof of the room on top of the short silos. This let me know immediately where the other two were as they lit up and rocked the neighborhood with their vocalizations!! How dare he be up there with food and not share!! I now could clearly see Dolly on the piping at the back of the short silos and Dark Male hiding in the maze of rails just below her. After eating his treat, Tiny flew off and landed on the highest “terrace” of the south face of the plant just as the rain moved in. All three juveniles enjoyed a serious rain bath today and not one of them moved to shelter. They really enjoyed the cool down. As soon as the rain stopped, Peter ( Dad ) flew in to check on the kids and got all three of them wound up. He flew up to the flashing light half way up the stack and several times Tiny attempted to fly up to join him to no avail and slid down the stack for several feet like it was a slide. Dad flew off at around 7:30 on what looked to be a serious hunt and Tiny continued to tease and taunt his siblings who had yet to move.
At 8pm, Peter returned with food and delivered it over to the top terrace on the plant to Tiny who immediately mugged him for it. It was quite the little tug of war with Tiny dug in and pulling for all he was worth. Feeling rather triumphant, he settled in to eat but no sooner had he gotten started when Dark Male flew over and showed little Tiny how it felt to have your dinner yanked out from under your beak!! Dark Male successfully removed the food from Tiny’s grasp. He mantled over the food and chowed down while Tiny stood a few feet away screaming to Dad that his sibling had taken his stuff!! By 8:15, Peter had returned again with another small package that he delivered directly to Tiny. Problem solved, you both have your own now. Not to be left out, Dolly flew over to the terrace to join them but was too late to cash in on the yum yums. She decided it was best to just sit there and scream until someone fed her and so for the next 20 minutes she did just that. With dusk approaching quickly, all three juveniles began flights around the south area of the plant and made multiple landings and take offs from various areas. While only Tiny had returned to the nest ledge itself, home is still home and two of the three young got as close as they possible could as darkness set in by landing on the roof just above the nest itself.
With all three of the young ones flying so well and Peter keeping up with the feeding, we feel very confident that the first stage of danger for the young ones learning to fly has ended. They are good strong fliers and so clumsy flutter flights are now things of the past. Over the next week, we will continue to watch as the young ones gain confidence and pick up more speed. This is a dangerous phase two of flight school as the young learn how to break, steer and judge distances accordingly. We will continue to watch and report as their training continues.
Posted on June 26, 2012 10:48 pm
June 26, 2012 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Journey and Fef are still on the ledge watching over the neighbourhood. They have been there for awhile now. Guess they are keeping their eyes on the Rhea Mae and Tiago.
Posted on June 26, 2012 7:09 pm
