Both Jack and O’connor on site this morning. At approximately 9:30 am, Jack was busy preparing breakfast on his ledge and pigeon feathers were raining down while O’Connor waited patiently on the web cam.
11:15 am found them both together on the nest ledge - O’connor on the web cam and Jack sitting by the nest box.
Another site check I thought I’d do was at the Etobicoke Sun Life nest site where O’Connor and Jack have been seen recently being quite active together. This past month the pair have been glued to the “is” in Moneris on the west tower of the three buildings and are sitting at times on the same letter! This is very un-O’Connor like as she tends towards ferocious independance and is not one for peregrine romance. Today, the “defender of the realm” was all by herself sitting on the web camera housing napping and digesting yet another enormous crop. A building ledge search of Sunlife and his secret spot on Mabelle Ave did not yield a sighting of Jack. O’Connor seemed quite pleased to have the place to herself and it was interesting to watch her as she was clearly obsessed with her tray. She kept looking at it and at one point hopped down, got into the tray and began some house cleaning before flying back up onto the cam case for a nap. I will be back again on a sunny day to see if I can catch the pair in action.
I decided to defy the weather and head out for a drive to some of our west end nest sites and see what our couples were up to. When I arrived at Viscount Rd I first headed to the alt Hotel. Not a chup to be heard. I circled the office buildings down the road. Nothing. So off to Tim Horton’s to fuel me up and as I sat in the drive thru, two F-16 peregrines go whipping overhead towards the Caroga Drive hotel strip. I sped over and found a peregrine on the Marriot roof and pulled over for a better view. Claire flew in from behind the Marriot and out of nowhere Casper joined her in the air. The pair silently circled together for the next 5 min before Claire swooped up and landed on a suspended light on the south side of the Garden Inn and Casper landed on the “G” in Garden. Casper flew off to continue his circling and Claire was off. The two danced in the sky a little longer after which Casper then broke away and swooped up on the opposite light while Claire landed on the SW corner of the roof. They really put on quite a show in this spring like weather and spent the next 15 minutes flipping heads at one another. Claire then took off like a shot across the highway to the Holiday Inn and Casper followed. From my position I could tell that a pigeon was now having a very bad day as Claire went into a short stoop and clocked one. The pair disappeared on the east side of the Holiday Inn and were sharing dinner. It was nice to see the pair together as I have only recently seen Claire while she was arguing with a Red Tailed over real estate and Casper has been out of view.
December 2nd - 2012
Wild Turkey now resident here in Scarborough!
Ok, its not a peregrine or a raptor, but now we’ve seen just about everything in Scarborough!!
Once again, thanks to Michelle and her quick actions with the her smart phone camera, she was able to snap a couple of photos of a wild Turkey feeding on one of the lawns at Morningside and Kingston road here in Scarborough this past week.
And they say that there’s no wildlife here in Scarborough! We can ad to ths growing list of wildlife, including deer, coyotes, red fox, possums, skunks and raccoons, beavers, mink, and a family of otters,,, and a host of other resident local (and growing population of wildlife)!!
Thanks for the pics Michelle!!
December 2nd - 2012
A frequent visitor!! Can you help us to ID this peregrine.
Midwest Road and Midland Ave.,, just one block north of Lawrence Ave East, on Midland Ave. Scarborough Ontario.
With thanks to a Michelle who has alerted us of a very frequent peregrine visitor that has been using the top of a telephone pole as its butcher block over the past several weeks, on a very regular basis. I was able to attend her location several times over the past two weeks and although I was personally not able to catch the mystery peregrine, it was quite obvious that this butcher block is being used quite often.
At the base of the telephone pole (located on the corner of Midwest and Midland Ave,, west side of Midland) there was no less than 5 pigeon heads, lost of other bird body parts and lots of fresh end-trails! The pigeon head count has increased since last week when I attended.
Attached to this posting is a couple of photos that Michelle was able to snap from her smart-phone. While they are long distance shots, they do confirm that her regular feathered raptor visitor is in fact a peregrine falcon.
While still un-identified, the challenge is on to see if her visitor is banded and has a known history! Ok all falcon watchers, who can get a ID on this mystery falcon?
December 4th - 2012
Earlier I sent you the email below. You have responded so thank you. I also have a peregrine pic (which isn’t as sharp) sitting on a Pintail (still alive). You also may have ths pic and use it as you wish….or don’t use it…up to you.
Don Hladky
Calgary, Alberta
December 4th-2012
While most of the other nest sites have been void of recent peregrine activity, at least Quest was on site today at the nest having been caught on the web cam. Late this afternoon, she was observed doing a couple of fly-by’s and finally ended up landing on the roof of her nest box. The unusually high temps today were record breaking here in Ontario with it almost reaching 60 degrees F (17 degrees C)!
In contrast, we are being told that we are to expect freezing temps tomorrow (Dec. 5th) with blustery north-west winds with wind chills of minus -5.
No snow as yet, (at least here in Toronto proper), but winter is just around the corner!
December 2nd - 2012
Nice shot Don, thank you for sharing!
This hawk was eating a female pheasant. I have only seen this hawk once.
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Fish Creek
Don Hladky
Calgary, Alberta
You may use this photo, taken by me, as you wish. Don Hladky, Dec. 2, 2012
