April 05, 2013 - North York - Nest
Bruce Massey Reports:
I have been watching this pair closely this spring as it would appear that they have changed their site of interest. Usually by this time, the pair are further north near Finch and using the Xerox and other buildings with great frequency. This year, they are focussing on the Trans America building at Yonge and Elmwood on the west side of the intersection. The ledge they are showing the greatest interest in is facing east ( Yonge St. ) and runs the length of the east side of the building. I am now seeing more often only one of the adults at a time which might indicate that there are eggs. I will keep you updated on the progress of this pair as this may be the year that they successfully hatch eggs!
Posted on April 5, 2013 8:02 am
April 01, 2013 - Brampton - Courthouse
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Bruce and I were in Brampton on Monday to try and sort out just who is where and with whom. As you know, Milton is the territorial male and seems to be running two areas; the Courthouse and a condo on George St. Here is what we were able to ascertain.
Bruce and I went to the courthouse first. We found Milton on the backside of the courthouse on the ledge that he prefers. He had flown in with food, disappeared to the back of the ledge, vocalized and then reappeared. He wiped his beak off and then remained roosting for about 30 minutes. He preened and occasionally vocalized but other than that, he was alone. He took off to the east and then swung back around to the west side of the building. We went looking for him but couldn’t find him. We went over to Second Cup and watched from the windows there and after 10 minutes, he returned to the south ledge of the courthouse, again alone. He stayed 5 minutes and then flew west over the parking lot of Second Cup but I lost him as he banked around back behind the courthouse. Looked like he was hunting or chasing. He returned to the same south ledge briefly and then flew back around the courthouse and off in a stoop to the north. We left the courthouse for George St. and when I got there, I circled John St, east to the BDC, around the Rose Theatre and then to the George St. parking lot. No sign of Milton or Midnight. When I got to George St., Milton flew in and landed on the overhang of the condo on the south end and roosted. He was there for a good 10 minutes staring at the centre pillars. He flew off, circled and then came flying in to the pillar area of the overhang. That’s when Midnight waddled out from between the south and centre pillars and they mated. Milton then took off on a hunt and Midnight remained on the overhang edge watching. He must have been successful as she became very animated and excited. She finally took off east over downtown in pursuit of him and I lost sight of the pair. A few minutes later, they both came bombing back to George St; her in the lead with prey and Milton following. She tried for the overhang but fell short by a full storey. She had to circle around and then back up to try again. She has never had trouble flying to that ledge with prey before and makes me think she’s heavy with eggs. Both birds ended up disappearing between the south and centre pillars with much vocalization.
I would be willing to bet she has eggs already. I had that ledge in my sights for a full 30 minutes with no sign of her at all. She might have been lying down. When she did emerge, she looked a little dirty lending more credence to the idea that she might have an egg or more. So without seeing eggs firsthand, I would say with 99% surety that Midnight is with eggs on the George St. condo east overhang between the south and centre pillars with Milton. They are still copulating and she is still willing to leave the ledge for short periods and therefore the clutch is in the early stages and is not complete as of yet. Milton seems to be going down to the courthouse to hunt and roost away from the nest site and has attracted other females who he might be nesting with as well. I think this is an area for more observation. At George St., I didn’t get band numbers but can confirm the colour configurations as those of Milton ( black over green, silver USFW ) and Midnight ( black over red, purple USFW ). I have confirmed their numbers recently when they were low on the BDC. At the courthouse, I did confirm that it is Milton for sure. Winston and Toivo, our Brampton watch team members, have also confirmed the presence of an unbanded adult female and a sub adult female who was nosing in on the territory at the Courthouse. Is one of these females on eggs or in the old nest ledge scrape? Something worthy of investigation. I think the courthouse is the place to watch now and sort out whether we have a second nest on the go.
Posted on April 5, 2013 7:53 am
April 05, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
My second stop yesterday was to check up our new pairing at the William Osler Hospital and their progress towards eggs. Casper is the most excited male and has done everything to bring eggs to the tray including flight displays, scrape work and vocalizing while Chessie is trying to sleep!! His enthusiasm is contagious and I now often stop by the site for a brief look at his antics of the day. Yesterday I went up to check the monitor and there were two beautiful eggs in the nest tray in full view!! Good going Casper and Chessie! Back downstairs, I spent some time on site watching the ledge and Casper was clearly on babysitting duties. He was sitting 5 feet to the left of the tray sleeping!! Every once in a while he would look back towards the tower with a look like, “I am sooo babysitting right now…!” While he was in guard-the-egg mode rather than cover-the-egg, the clutch is not yet complete and serious incubation will begin after the third one arrives.
On Wednesday, hospital security during rounds noticed the first egg in the tray and yesterday, on Thursday, the second was present. This dates the first egg to April 2nd and we are anxiously awaiting more!! Congratulations Casper and Chessie and the awesome folks at William Osler Hospital!! I will have pictures for you later today!!
Posted on April 5, 2013 7:44 am
April 05, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I stopped by Canada Square yesterday to take a look at the progress that Haven and Stormin were making towards eggs this year. I met up with Cameron from Northam Realty who accompanied me upstairs and we found Haven sound asleep in the gravel of the old nest ledge protecting her eggs from the strong winds. She didn’t move so much as a feather and only repositioned once during our visit showing me two of her three eggs. Cameron informs me that the third egg was present yesterday and based on that observation, working back 48 hours per egg as the maximum laying gap, we date the first egg being laid as March 31st. She may yet lay a fourth egg this year but if so, that would be her first clutch of four as she has up to this date capped production at three. Congratulations Canada Square and a huge thank you to Northam Realty for hosting such an awesome pair again this year!!!
Pictures soon to come.
Posted on April 5, 2013 7:29 am
April 03, 2013 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 3rd-2013
A site visit produced some interesting news and mixed results today, in that it would appear that although a nest ledge has not yet been selected - (and there are no eggs present as yet), the peregrines interests seemed to be focussed on a different ledge on the Yellow pages building from the one that they used last year.
A detailed inspection of each of the 8 available nest ledges showed that there were at least one, if not two different scrapes on all of the available eight ledges! So much to choose from!!
It would appear that the pair have been very active indeed scraping out fresh nest bowls on many of the ledges and have not yet decided what ledge they (or should I say what ledge “SHE” has decided on). You could almost see the frustration in the resident males body language and behaviours as it would have appeared that he tooooo had given up trying to coax his mate to a nesting ledge, and was now simply waiting for her to make a decision! Clearly he has been frantically scraping out nest bowls everywhere in an effort to accommodate her!
From my observations and the location of the female, it would appear that she may have interests in a ledge on the south side of the building this season, (facing due south facing out onto the parking lot), which is south of the Yellow pages building. It would be on the top of the south west column, (to the left of building entrance), and the south east (right side) facing ledge on this column. Its very difficult to describe as the building has 8 different ledges, with two ledges atop of each of the four corner/columns, each facing a different direction.
After reviewing the photos I was able to take, it would appear that the purple USFW band with the combination of the second Black over Green band on the resident adult male is consistent to that of Ruben who has been the long standing resident territorial adult male at the Yellow Pages nest site. Sadly, I was unable to get a photo of the resident female who just wouldn’t stay stationary long enough for me to get a photo of her or verify by seeing any of her leg band numbers. Given her posturing and behaviour, I suspect that the resident adult female may still be Linn from Rochester N.Y. who has also been the resident adult female at Yellow Pages for some time.
Sadly, in my haste, I accidentally deleted the photos of the adult male and have nothing to post with this report.
Stay tuned …………
Posted on April 4, 2013 1:16 pm
April 03, 2013 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 3rd-2013
No eggs as yet, but soon!!
Another quick stop into see what’s going on with the ICICI peregrines produced some very encouraging news! While it appears that the pair have not settled down on any eggs or involved in any incubation activities as yet, its not from the lack of trying. During my time spent on site, the pair were involved in some serious courtship activities including multiple copulations while the resident adult male was involved in some incredible hi-speed ariel courtship displays.
Sadly it was impossible to identify just who the resident adults are given the extreme height of the building roof top where the birds spent most of their time during my visit. The adult male spent allot of his time both flying around vocalizing to his mate, copulating with her, then flying back into and on and off of the nest ledge e-chupping and calling out to her trying to coax her down to the nest ledge. His nest ledge interests and attention differs from the one that the peregrines were successful in producing offspring on last season, in that he is trying to coax his mate onto the upper ledge that faces east looking out onto the Don Valley parkway as opposed to the ledge that faces north towards Eglinton Ave.
We were although able to confirm several weeks ago that the NEW resident adult male at the ICICI Don Mills and Eglinton nest site is in fact banded and identified by his leg bands as being a bird produced at the Canada Square nest site her in Toronto at young & Eglinton, and he was named Chester! His female mate was NOT banded and we of course have no idea who is or where she is from. Both resident adults from last year were un-banded and we had no idea as to their identity .
At one point the noise from the two vocalizing was so loud that it had people down in the parking lot looking up to the rooftop area trying to identify what and where all of the noise was coming from.
While the female never did attend the nest ledge during my visit, it is quite obvious that the adult male had chosen his preferred nesting spot. Eggs are not far away!
Stay tuned……….
Posted on April 4, 2013 12:00 pm
April 04, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Kathy Reports:
I checked a few times yesterday but she was tight to the eggs and did move off around noon but there were only 3 eggs at that time. This morning I can clearly see 4 eggs!
Posted on April 4, 2013 8:58 am
April 04, 2013 - Toronto - Don Mills
CPF Volunteer Reports:
Thanks go out to the quick capture of our web camera watchers in New York who managed to snap this image of Quest yesterday with her second egg!
Posted on April 4, 2013 6:55 am
April 03, 2013 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Kathy Reports:
She was standing with her back to the cam for almost 2 hours and has finally moved off for us to see her second egg!!
Posted on April 3, 2013 6:34 pm
April 03, 2013 - Toronto - Don Mills
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 3rd-2013
Thanks to both Margaret and Karen for sending us some good shots of Quest and her first egg. It continues to be very cold especially with the blustery winds and wind-chill factors so we’re not getting allot of looks at many of the new eggs that the resident females have been producing around many of the urban nest sites.
By the end of the week we are expecting much warmer temperatures in the double digits for southern Ontario and it should ease the pressure on the incubating adults.
Posted on April 3, 2013 12:15 pm
