July 21, 2012 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Tracy Simpson Reports:
A huge thanks to Lyn for some great updates on the Canada Square family!!
Canada Square Peregrine updates
My reports are short these days and not daily as the youngsters are flying further afield and seem to come *home* when they want food or companionship.
July 12th
I saw Solar only. When I saw her she was on the Rio-Can building squawking madly. She flew to the north-west corner of of Canada Square, on the edge outside the old nest ledge but same height. She seemed quite excited and squawked quite a bit. I did not see any peregrine on the ledge with her nor did she appear to be taking food. I could not see anyone in the air either. Perhaps she was simply hoping someone would notice her. She had a flight over the top of Canada Square, sort of back to RC and then decided to fly north on Yonge. I left then. It was early evening and I had intended returning later but never did.
July 14th
I heard a call at roughly noon. I did not check to see who it was as the call was short and sweet.
At 5:30 pm I went outside and sat looking for the peregrines but there was no-one around. Five minutes later Stormin flew up Yonge and landed on the east side of Rio-Can. There was no squawking, nor was there any mad flight so I guess there were no youngsters around.
At 6:15 pm I had the binoculars up and was looking around, hoping to see one of the birds when I spotted a *large* bird on an aerial wayyy south. I think it must have been at or close to Davisville. Because of the *size* of the bird I am wondering if it was a Red-tailed hawk, one of the ones from Mt Pleasant Cemetery. It disappeared after ten minutes.
At 6:35 pm I saw a peregrine fly to the east side of Rio-Can, then up and over the top of Canada Square, east from there and was gone. I was unable to see any band or tape colour but simply from the size of the bird I am assuming this was Solar. The body was *dark* so definitely a juvenile.
July 15th
Maggie and I walked up Duplex after the rain and Maggie spotted a peregrine on the level below the new nest. This was a very bedraggled and wet bird. When we reached our *observation post* outside 53 Division we were able to see colour as she had turned to face the world. This was Haven.
Later on a youngster flew into the area and landed on the south west corner of Canada Square. From the size I am again assuming this to be Solar. I could not see and band and there was no colour on the peregrine. It started spitting again so Maggie and I went our separate ways.
July 16th
Through the haze of sleep at 6:00 AM I heard a squawk from someone. Another longer squawk at 6:30 AM. I chose not to check on who it was. My eyes don’t work that early in the morning!
I went out at 6:30 pm, looking for a newspaper and found Solar and Stormin flying around the Yonge/Eglinton intersection. They talon touched and played *chase me* or perhaps *follow me* and dipped and dived. There was a marked size difference between the two. The juvenile being bigger than the adult whose colour I could clearly see when he turned to talon touch makes me believe Solar and Stormin were playing. After a few minutes over the intersection and on Yonge they went north up Yonge and were gone.
There was one peregrine sitting on the old nest ledge on Canada Square and eventually I got colour to confirm this was Haven. She was very still for simply ages. Then she preened a little and returned to her sitting still.
Pierre joined me and we chatted a bit. We saw one of the youngsters fly in from the south, over the gold building, across Duplex and then west and south. I honestly am not sure who this was. I think I said it was Solar because of the size. It was getting dark at this time, around 8:49 pm and so size was difficult for me to judge.
Shortly after this, Haven flew from the old nest ledge to Rio-Can where she sat for a few minutes. Stormin flew onto the top of the south west corner of Rio-Can.
Haven spent only three minutes on Rio-Can before flying wayyy south and was gone from view. Stormin was very alert before suddenly going into a stoop up Duplex Avenue ending up near 500 Duplex before coming back empty-taloned. He was perched on the west side of RC at the corner about three floors down for just a couple of minutes before disappearing.
It was dark at this point so Pierre and I left.
Lyn
Posted on July 21, 2012 9:21 am
- All Reports
Tracy Simpson Reports:
What a difference a day makes. With all of the activity by the juveniles over the past few days, the parents have been standing on their talon tips. Today you could sure see a change in everyone as the young have graduated from phase 1 flying school.
At first light, Ossie was on the east side of the retaining wall on the roof, Tobi was on the southern “H” sign, Hurricane was on his antenna and Chessie was in the tower. At 7am, both adults took off to the south and 10 minutes later, so did Ossie!! Hurricane was making his way back with food, Chessie on his tail, and Ossie flew well off the hospital property to meet them both in the air. Hurricane continued on and out-flew them both to land on the southern “H” with a good sized package for Tobi. She grabbed it off of him and then squealing with her mouth full, turned and started to pluck. Ossie didn’t see the pass off and so continued to chase Hurricane in the air. The two did a brilliant tandem flight/chase around the hospital fefore Ossie realized that for one, Dad had nothing, and two, that he couldn’t keep up to the incredible skill of Hurricane. He aborted the chase and headed straight for sis who was physically concealing the food and at the same time telling everyone she had it. Ossie landed on the sign beside her and two went into their little food fight routine. Both fledglings enjoyed a good feed when all was said and done and the two sat next to each other and promptly both fell asleep.
What made the morning so interesting was that Chessie was much more relaxed. She flew from the tower over to one of the antenna for a moment, then flew down to the nest ledge just below the sleeping chicks. They screamed at her, each with only one eye open, just in case it might get them something. She flew off moments later and landed on the east side of the nest ledge. She made her way down to the nest tray, jumped in onto the edge and took a long nap. Hurricane sat in his favorite spot on the northeastern antenna and napped himself. Marion and Kathy arrived to a chorus of peregrine snores and relieved me for the midday shift. They were joined by the third and final crew of Ontario Stewardship Rangers and the OMNR biologist they are working with. Marion gave them the full training on how and why we Fledge Watch and how to rescue a bird that comes down. Then everyone settled in for some action.
ZZZzzzzzzzzz… …family still sleeping with the odd flight here and there for the bulk of the midday shift. At 2pm, Marion and Kathy handed over control of the ship to Bruce to close off their final full time watch shift of the season. I can’t say enough thank yous to both Marion and Kathy for braving the heat and relieving me so that I could head off to work. They are both amazing troopers and great friends!!
Bruce set up and was settled in for some good afternoon action. ZZZzzzzzzz… …right up until I called at 4pm to say that I was out of work and on my way. That’s when another food package came in to Tobi and of course Ossie was looking for a little snack himself. After eating, the family of four again settled in for more of a quiet time, enjoying the break in the heat we have been experiencing.
After taking care of our educational birds at the CPF Raptor Centre, I met up with Bruce who was feeling the ZZZzzzzz’s himself. Just as he was leaving, Ossie left the tower and made his way over to the nest ledge. There was something a little different about this flight, more speed. He overshot the landing a little but made it none the less. By 8pm, he had flown back to the tower and again had a really good head of speed on him and had to break rather than “J hook” up. I told him to slow down a little but he just ignored me. Tobi now came out of the nest tray where she had been napping and flew over to the tower to join him. With darkness now settling in, the pair of juveniles made their way back to the nest ledge for beddy-time .
Posted on July 21, 2012 9:15 am
July 19, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I arrived on site at just after 6:00am to find that Tobi had flown off of the nest building roof and was now sitting squarely in the tower in Dad’s seat!! She was at the very top of the first spire on the top horizontal beam and looking quite proud of herself. She sat there preening and roosting for quite some time during which Ossie came over to visit several times. He was landing with a really good “J hook” and right in beside Tobi which shows great control and accuracy. The pair spent the rest of the morning in the tower together with Ossie occasionally trying to encourage his sister to join him back over on the ledge. At 9am, Marion and Kathy arrived for the day shift and took over watching our little “screaming 747”. Tobi started getting active around 10am and made a flight back to the building roof top that looked really good. From there she flew back over to the tower and made the landing again. She continued back and forth from the roof top to the tower several times and then just around 1:00pm, headed for the nest ledge and made it!! Tobi was now back home and received a feeding for her efforts. Then she made an excellent flight around to the north and disappeared from view. Marion and Kathy went to have a peek at where she ended up and found her on the north “H” sign!! This is a very important feat both for her confidence and for her coordination in breaking, steering and landing. Very good indeed!! Ossie was all over the place flying from the tower to the roof and then to the nest ledge. He made lots of great flights around the circumference of the hospital with fairly good landings at all stops. At around 2pm, Bruce arrived for the early evening shift and all was quiet for the first half an hour. Tobi received a few small feedings throughout the early evening and it wasn’t until 5:30pm that Ossie received his package. Not for lack of trying though. When I arrived Tobi was on the northern “H” sign and Chessie flew in with a rather large package of pigeon. In her excitement and fervor, Tobi grabbed it out of Chessie’s mouth and lknocked Mom backwards off of the sign. One of those, “ I love you, now leave!!” Ossie just couldn’t handle watching her eat all the grub anymore and flew over to join his sister on the sign. She was not in the mood to share and tried her best to shut him out but Ossie is a tenacious little man and was able to grab a corner of it. Just as they have done in past days, they each started from the outside and worked in towards one another before the squabbling broke out. No Lady and the Tramp love story here, pandemonium until the last scrap was gone!! After 20 minutes, Ossie took off to see what Dad was up to and Tobi started a preen session that would last a good hour. As the color was draining away from the night sky, Ossie was on the north side of the nest ledge, Chessie was in the tower, Hurricane was on top of the antenna and Tobi was flat out snoring on the north “H” sign.
A really big day for Tobi and excellent flights by Ossie. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!!
Posted on July 20, 2012 9:05 pm
- All Reports
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I started the watch at 6:30am with little Ossie on the retaining wall of the roof on the south side and Tobi sitting on the southeast corner. This is the typical “launch pad” for this site and where many a juvenile have fledged from. Ossie was incredibly vocal on the top of the roof and ran back and forth along the ledge trying to garner the attention of the resident adults. At 7:48am, Hurricane flew in to the east ledge to Tobi and dropped off a small package of food. While she was working on it, Chessie flew in at 7:49am and dropped off another larger package. All I could think was, “Are you kidding me? If you spoil her she’ll never leave!” All the while this was going on, Ossie was freaking out on the roof as he could see food going in to his sister and not up to him. He ran all the way down to the southeast corner, bumped into a lightning rod and hissed at it, then stood directly above Tobi and screamed. Sister dear didn’t care too much for having her younger brother hanging out above her and at 8:23am, left! She flew out over the parking lot with much flapping and then glided beautifully for a few seconds as she banked around and made for the tower. She landed half way up and attempted to grab on but the momentum that she had and the baseball sized crop that she sported pitched her forward and she hung upside down for about three seconds. She let go and tried for another rung but was not able to grab on and so she was off again. I was instantly out of my seat, abandoning my coffee and all other sundries, and heading towards the tower. Chessie came in and guided her down to the roof of the Medical Centre building which is only three stories but Tobi made the landing well. Within seconds Tobi was up on the eastern edge of the roof surveying her new environs and wondering how she got there. Chessie flew up to the northern “H” sign where she could watch her and Ossie ran around the roof of the nest building and stood on the north edge just above Mom. Marion and Kathy arrived and took up the watch post which allowed me to retrieve my first coffee of the day. When I got there, it was full of bugs and leaves so after 5 days of 16 hours each I took the bugs out and drank it anyway, a sure sign of a seasoned fledge watcher!!
A noon feeding came in to Ossie and Tobi remained on the lower roof screaming her opinion. Tobi remained on that roof for the bulk of the day and after Bruce arrived for the late afternoon shift, she took another flight. Tobi tried for the tower and was unable to make a solid landing so she flew west over the parking lot and made for the low roof of the emergency entrance of the hospital. She banked around after aborting that landing and headed back towards the Medical Centre but instead ended up in a tree by the road. She stayed for about half an hour and then took another try at the medical building but the branches of the tree stopped her from getting a good launch and so she snowflaked down to the road. Bruce went over and she moved out of the road into the staff parking lot where she tried for the top of a car. Bruce was able to corral her, capture her up and into a rescue carrier she went. Ossie was now flying very well and making excellent landings on the nest ledge and the tower with the “J hook” up to the landing.
At dark, Bruce and I went and met Meghan at Paladin Security who took us up to the roof for the release. I took her to a dark, quiet corner and opened the carrier door that she amply filled. I slowly pulled out the towel the Tobi had be “killing” all afternoon and she came with it right up until she was at the door. She then grabbed onto the door and refused to come out!! Finally she let go and out she came. She stood on the towel and ripped at it several times in an effort to punish it for her time in the carrier and then walked hissing into the corner!! All is well and I’ll be back in the morning to see where her next flight is going to take her.
Many, many pictures to come soon!!
Posted on July 20, 2012 8:40 pm
July 19, 2012 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Mark Nash Reports:
July 19th - 2012
On scene and set up by 6am, with Jr. still on the Caroline street 5th floor elevation exactly where we left him last night at darkness. With the smaller local avian population still very much not amused with their new neighbour, Caster dropped in with food for the young fledgling, followed by Statler who was not amused with dad’s actions. It is obvious the he is still not got this family rearing thing worked out. Statler quickly retrieved the food, taking it away from Jr. In an effort to coax him into flight. After several fly-byes with the food trying to coax and tease Jr. into flight, she finally gave in as parents usually do, and she gave him back the food.
At one point, Caster was also in the mix, (flying around in the air with Statler) both screaming at one another. It was obviously he was not very happy with her actions, and she was not amused with his input!. With the three peregrines now all screaming, I can tell you that the both local the cardinals and robins were also very un-impressed!
7am has us scrambling for cover again as the auto sprinklers erupted all around us. Right, Thursdays is shower day!! Scrambling with cameras, folding chairs, computer, spotting scopes, tripods and many other handfuls of stuff now safely out in the parking lot out of harms way, we regrouped and returned out attention back to the watch.
7:35am Statler in with food to the fledgling, 12:20pm adult in with food to the fledgling, and 1:35pm adult in with food to Jr.,,, But this last food was not a food-drop. Statler made several fly-byes and some real teases in an effort to get Jr. back into the air. Good gracious, now let the screaming begin - (again)! Kinda reminds me why Marion and I chose not to have children!
Finally, Statler gave in and after more than a dozen fly-byes, gave Jr. the food on the roof.
At 7:30pm, the juvenile finally worked up enough courage to take another flight. Down to Park street, low hugging the Sun Life building, around to Union Street, this time with some good altitude - (about half way up the building) trying desperately to get enough altitude to get back to the upper roof top. (That’s where home really is don’t you know). This is his entire focus in life at this stage of his development,, to get back home!!
Sadly, once again, little Jr. made contact with the windows,, (a little more window cleaning with his face), and bounced off the window back into the air on a downward slope eventually landing on the 5th floor elevation next to the skylights, then off again shortly landng on the top rim of boiler smoke stack - (Union Street side).
After having watched in horror over the years, then having rescued and/or retrieved 22 different fledglings from smokestacks, boilers and other air ducts over the last 17 years, (sadly although not all were rescue or retrieved alive), I found myself running across the parking lot screaming at the top of lungs - DON’T LAND THERE, STAY UP, GET AWAY,,,, - (like he was able to understand what I was saying, or even aware of our presence in the parking lot). OK, so a little emotional. What can I say. I’m sure that everyone standing around me felt the same thing. After more than 208 hours in the streets on this fledge watch over the past 13 days, you can’t help get a little attached to this family.
Trying to process and load photos, but loosing battery power again,so may get cut off.
By 9:45 pm, just when we thought he would stay put for the evening,
Posted on July 20, 2012 10:07 am
July 19, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Frank Butson Reports:
Don Mills and Eglinton site. Reports from Cathy and Ann.
This week Ben has been seen fly well. He has been taking over parent roosting stops but staying close to the two buildings. Len has being seen flying back and forth between the 2 buildings but yet to show any real flying skills.
We’ve been a little short on watchers due to the heat and availability. Irma and Cathy are stopping in to check on them in the mornings and Ann in the evenings.
Anybody able to keep an eye out please lets us know what you are witnessing.
Thanks
Kathy Smith
Posted on July 19, 2012 6:19 pm
July 18, 2012 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Mark Nash Reports:
Fledge watch day 12
July 18th - 2012
Apologize for late update reports and incomplete update. There has simply not been enough time to charge the laptop battery and stayed connected. Sadly, I’ve not able to answer the huge back-log of e-mail as a result of all of time that I’ve been in the street on the fledge watch.
5 am set up and a new day. By 6:45am little Jr. takes his first flight of the day, leaves the upper roof top of the nest building and loses allot of altitude and he experienced what windows are all about. After two minor collisions with windows at various levels of the Union side of the building, (a little more window cleaning with his face) as he attempted to re-gain altitude to get back to the upper roof level.
While a decent long extended flight, around the nest building, Jr., eventually lost altitude and most of his steam and ended up on the 5th floor lower roof elevation.
After not being able to see him for over an hour, we focussed our attention on the adults, and by 9:45am, the resident adult male -(Caster), finally brought in food to Jr, thus giving up his position. By 1:45pm, Jr. attempted yet another flight but was unable to gain much altitude, ended up hooking back around the Sun Life building and once again ending up back on the 5th floor rooftop on the Union side, lower 5th roof elevation close to the skylights.
By 8:40pm, Jr. was off again trying to get back to the nest ledge level, but sadly he is simply not experienced enough yet to gain these altitudes. The young fledgling ended up around on the John street side eventually ending up once landing landing on the lower 5th floor roof level elevation just above of the Caroline street entrance of the Sun life building. There he remained until dark.
It is worth noting that although he was welcomed by most Sun life employees that had a rare close up glimpse of him while they were coming and going from this entrance, the local avian population was not toooo happy with his presence, and for most of the evening, we had Cardinals and Robins screaming and dive-bombing him.
There goes the neighbourhood!! It was there he stayed until darkness as we closed off the fledge watch shift for the night. A big thank you once again to Tony and the watch team members for their endless searching through out the day that alowed us to find Jr. during those times when he was not visible.
Photos provided by Geraldine Dona and Mark Nash.
Stay tuned…………. The Falcon Follies continue!
Posted on July 19, 2012 1:48 pm
July 18, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
A brief report of yesterday’s highlight…
Tobi, the juvenile female, took her first flight yesterday and successfullylanded on the roof of the medical centre building. Subsequent flights took her too low and she came down in the roadway where Bruce was able to rescue her. She was released a little wiser and a lot hissier last night on the roof of the hospital thanks to Paladin Security and a special thanks to Meghan for all her help.
All full report and pictures will follow shortly as I continue to struggle with internet access. We’ll have a detailed day to post for you this evening!!
Posted on July 19, 2012 7:44 am
July 17, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I started the watch today at 6:30am to a chorus of screams coming from the nest ledge. True to their schedule, the resident sub-adult female, Chessie, and her mate Hurricane were exchanging food and bringing it in to Ossie and Tobi. Both chicks took part in the feeding and were quite happy to play during the cool of the morning. A second feeding was in the offing at 7:30am that the male took full advantage of and finally a third feeding in the morning at 8:30am that came in to the female. With both chicks now cropped up and happy, they bounced on down to the northeast corner and around the bend to the northern “H” sign where they spent the better part of the morning. This side of the building provides ample shade during the high heat of the day. Kathy and Marion arrived at 9am to take over the watch and were joined by Mark Heaton of the OMNR and a second group of Ontario Stewardship Rangers. As the day was heating up, neither the chicks nor the parents were very motivated to move and slept through the morning. At around noon, Marion and Kathy witnessed a feeding and that further baffed out the chicks and they trundled back off to bed. Bruce arrived at 1pm to relieve Kathy and Marion and the chicks were each behind their own “H” sign napping. Very little activity was seen until at around 4pm when Hurricane flew in and woke the chicks up. He didn’t stay but instead went off the ledge, made a few excellent swoop passes and came back up to the nest ledge with a sparrow. Tobi swiped it off of Hurricane and ate a bit, but not all, as Ossie was in like a flash to steal it away and take off down the ledge. It would seem that this has now become the norm at feeding time between these two. Ossie ate what remained of the prey and very soon after… …fledged!!! His first flight off of the southeast corner took him north towards the medical center where he turned back. He flew low over the emergency room parking lot and then swung back and landed on the 4th floor window ledge on the east side. He ran the ledge a bit and stayed for about an hour. Just after I arrived, he burst off of the ledge and made for the tower. Well if the little brat didn’t stick the landing and make it!! Ossie had landed about half way up the tower on the spire closest to the hospital. He was very uncomfortable and looking to leave so it wasn’t long before flight number three. He headed for the nest building, flew right over our heads, and pumping as hard as he could, MADE IT TO THE NEST LEDGE!!! Bruce and I high fived in the parking lot while Ossie was doing the same with his sister whom he happened to land beside. Phew!! The most amusing part of all of this is that the adults were off site hunting at the time and both of them missed the whole thing. When they returned, the chicks were right where they left them and they were none the wiser. It was all over by 6pm when Winston arrived to spell of Bruce and close the watch with me. The chicks for the most part were calm and relaxed with a bit of play about. Winston and I waited for the evening feed to happen and right at 9pm, both adults flew in with food. This had the chicks on their feet and howling and in all the excitement, off goes Ossie from the southeast corner flying west along the building. He banked north at the western corner and disappeared from our sights but looked to be really high. Winston and I circled the building several times as it was now almost dark to make sure he wasn’t on the ground or low and to figure out where he had gone. Hurricane was on the southern “H” sign and Chessie was now flying circles around the building and being very vocal. As far as she was concerned, her little man had flown for the first time. She landed on the southwest corner and was looking down the ledge and as we came around to the southeast side, she flew to that corner as well. In the near dark, I could make out Chessie with one chick each to her right and left. I could also hear the vocalizations of three distinct birds. It would seem that Ossie landed on the west ledge and ran all the way down the south ledge to home. For a first day out, Ossie is fantastic and this is not the norm. As fledglings begin to explore the environment beyond their home ledge, their inexperience leads them into all kinds of dangerous situations. Even though he has done well today, Ossie still has a lot to learn and much trouble that he can still get into. We will certainly be watching him for a while yet!!
There are lots and lots of pictures to come soon!!!
Posted on July 19, 2012 7:39 am
July 16, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Today’s watch began at 6am with the two juveniles on the southeast corner and the adults sitting together in the tower. This is a distinct shift in the adults pattern of roost sites and may indicated that a fledge is close. By 6:30am, Hurricane flew into the ledge with food and Chessie was hot on his tail. She took the food off of Hurricane and then proceeded to share it with her chicks. The second feeding of the morning was right on time with Chessie coming in at just after 7:30am with a small package. Of course the two juveniles had a massive fight over it!! First the female snatched it from Chessie and took off down the ledge. Her brother was not to be fooled by this diversion and tore off after her and successfully removing the food from between her feet. He headed down the ledge in the other direction. Now faster, she was able to catch up to him and the tug o war was on!! Ross from William Osler Environmental Services came out to check up on the kids and he had a big announcement for us. The chicks have official been named!! The juvenile male is Ossie and the juvenile female is Tobi. Congratulations to the William Osler Hospital staff and your falcon family!!
By 9am we were joined by Mark Heaton of the OMNR and the Ontario Stewardship Rangers who came to assist us for the morning. I conducted a training session for the Rangers on Fledge Watch protocol, equipment, safety and rescues and then we settled in for some serious action… …nothing, nada, zero. After the two feedings early on in the morning and with the mounting heat of the day, the young ones baffed out and fell asleep in the nest tray. There they stayed for the bulk of the morning until the 12:30pm feeding came in. The fought and screamed and ate but back to bed they went. They finally woke up at 2:30pm and romped around the eastern and southern ledges With lots of touch and goes being done by both parents in an effort to incite a first fledge. Food came in shortly after 4pm and was delivered directly to Tobi who lost it to Ossie who was then reprimanded by Hurricane and had the food taken away who then got in trouble from Chessie who took it and gave it back to Tobi!! And so the food merry-go-round continues with this family and is quite the spectacle to watch!!
The rest of the evening was very active with a lot of flapping, wing exercising, and running of the ledges. The last feed of the day for Ossie and Tobi came in at 8:30pm and was generous enough to send them off to bed.
I will be back on site tomorrow to follow the progress of the two young ones as the parents are indicating that the time has come and Ossie is ready for flight school!!
Posted on July 19, 2012 7:37 am
