Janet Has a Big Adventure Today at MEC!!
June 02, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
On Thursday, we officially scaled back the MEC watch as Janet, the remaining fledgling, was staying well elevated and making good landings despite the efforts of the unidentified female to chase her off. Sante, the resident male, was on top of the new female each time she made a run at Janet and was able to turn her away from the juvenile every time. This gave us the confidence to scale the watch back to evening site checks.
Due to the heavy rains and blustery winds, we held off our first evening check on Janet to this evening and Bruce Massey was first on site in the early afternoon. After searching the area for over an hour, there was no sign of any peregrines in the area until he ventured down to Burnhamthorpe Road where he located the male and as Bruce headed back towards MEC, the adult female made her first appearance. There was still no sign of Janet and so Bruce left to check in on Holcim until we could meet up later.
We met up at the site at approximately 6:00pm at which time we had the adult female on the nest building and the resident male sitting right beside the nest box. The female left her spot and headed over to MEC 3 where she stayed for over half an hour roosting and preening all the while looking north. Bruce decided to head north towards Janet’s last known location and I took the south to southeast sector. While Bruce was walking north of the condos near the nest site, the adult female took off straight north and was flying above another peregrine. He walked across the bridge that spans the 401 and called me when he reached Eglinton where he had three raptors perched on three separate condo towers in the complex. Once I arrived, a quick peek with the scope revealed the adult female on the south tower, Sante the resident male on the center tower and a Red Tailed hawk on the north tower. The adult female left her perch on the south tower and headed west between the buildings and when I checked around the center building, all of a sudden I had two females in the air both circling the building. JANET!! She landed on the eastern face of the center tower of the Hwy. 10 and Eglinton condos and I quickly moved into position to see her. She was on a balcony 21 stories up and thanks to Sante I was able to find her. He did several flights that brought him fanning up in front of her as he tried to get her to move. No luck. This attention by the male brought over the adult female that was now diving Janet with the male harassing the adult female in defense of his chick. The adult female was successfully turned off by the male from attacking the chick but she was still in the mood for a fight so she took it to the Red Tail who at this point had not moved an inch on the north condo. She made a dozen stoops and contacts with the hawk and at one point the male joined in the fight. The hawk was flipping upside down like a jumping bean in an effort to address this pair as they continued to attack it. The bird finally laid belly down on the roof until the peregrines gave up the battle.
It was at this point that Sante left the building and headed east on a hunt while being chased by the adult female. He was successful in catching a meal and made one pass in front of Janet before heading back to the MEC complex. Janet remained on the balcony edge until the rain began to move in and she made a short flight landing on another balcony on the same building but slightly higher. As the rain began to really come down, she took one last flight out and around to the south of the condo and landed on the building behind it just shy of the rooftop. This is where she decided that bed was in order and she was asleep by the time Bruce and I had cycled back to find her. I must tip my hat to Bruce for his incredible work in following and finding Janet as she flew well out of the territory to the north. He did this all on foot no less!! We were very pleased to see Janet after Friday’s storm and that she is staying high and flying well. We will be back out tomorrow for another check on her and how things are progressing in her offsite training.
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