Canadian Peregrine Foundation

!!! New nest location on the powerhouse wall! IDENTIFIED!!

May 13, 2013 - Niagara Falls

CPF Postmaster Reports:

May 13th - 2013

A huge thank you to Jacquie and the entire USA team, as the Niagara Falls peregrines have not made locating their nest spot this year easy at all!

Jacquie writes: May 13th - 2013
Hi Guys,
I was at the Falls again today and saw tail feathers sticking out from behind that pink board again (photo attached) as soon as I arrived at 12:50. At 1:06 I saw the feathers move as the bird shifted positions. At 1:10 the male flew in and landed in the right side of the window box while the female came out from behind the pink board and flew off. He went behind the board and took over incubation duties. He didn’t have anything in his talons and I didn’t see any sign of him feeding chicks. When I left at 3pm, he was still on the nest and she had not returned yet.

I will get out my notes tomorrow and put together a timeline of observations and maybe we can figure out an incubation start date.

- Jacquie

ICICI Looks Like a Hatch!!!

May 14, 2013 - International, National and Local News

Tracy Simpson Reports:

For the past week, Bruce Massey and I have been watching closely at ICICI for the promise of a hatch this year and we believe that one has occurred.  Last week we watched, for the most part, Chester being the only bird of the pair visible and it would seem that his unbanded lady was doing all of the egg duty.  During his time out and about, Chester started to hunt more often as the week progressed and set up caches on all of the ledges of ICICI as well as several of the DeBeers ledges.  On Sunday May 12th, Bruce witnessed a distinct change in behaviour as Chester opted to sit on the wall directly above the nest and didn’t move much.  He kept a watchful eye on activity below and we believe that this was their first hatch on Mother’s Day.  Yesterday, Bruce spent several hours watching the ledge for the telltale signs of a hatch and was not disappointed.  Chester arrived with food around 3pm and it was taken by the female, into the ledge for a few minutes and then removed from the nest ledge and stored.  I arrived at around 5pm and took over watching for another few hours to continue to look for changes in behaviour by the adults.  Chester flew several forays around the building and each time jetted over the ledge to check up on his lady.  At 7pm he finally couldn’t stand the suspense any longer; he grabbed a cache and flew to the ledge.  The pair argued quite loudly for a few minutes as Chester most likely attempted to stuff the kids with food and his female sent him packing.  NOT YET  she said!!  Chester flew off with cache in talons and around to the west side of the building where he ate it himself.  He made a second attempt to enter the ledge, this time without food, to give his female a break and again they argued.  Chester is young and will soon learn that at this stage the female is in charge!!  We were informed by one of the staff at ICICI that there are four eggs up on that ledge and if hatching began on Sunday, there are still chicks emerging and Chester will just have to wait until she is ready to take a break. 

Congratulations to ICICI on what we believe to be a recent hatch at the site.  We will certainly be working to confirm this sometime this week and keep you informed on their progress. 

Remember that the Fledge Watch will begin in approximately 37 days so mark your calendars!!  We will certainly keep you informed of the formal start date of the watch and if you can join us for some time, we absolutely would love to hear from you at raptor4@peregrine-foundation.ca

Canada Square Has a Hatch!!!

May 14, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Tracy Simpson Reports:

Yesterday I met up with Cameron from Northam Realty Advisors to confirm the presence of the first wee one at Canada Square.  Upstairs on the ledge the winds were quite strong and Haven was covering her precious little package of hatchlings from the cold.  We could clearly see the spent egg shell and the fluff of one or possibly two little chicks underneath her.  In this cold and snappy weather, there was no way that she was giving up even the slightest of looks at her new family.  Back outside I met up with Lyn and shared the great news of the hatchlings with her.  We sat for a while on the watcher perch and watched Stormin on the south side of the Rio Can trying to preen in the gusty winds.  Just as he would get his feathers all together the wind would come along and blow them out of place again.  He gave up on his preen attenpt and took off on a recon flight over the nest ledge to see if Haven needed anything.  He immediately circled back to the Rio Can as I am sure she gave him the “not yet” look.  He stayed on the Rio Can for a while and then flew over to the nest building, retrieved a cache from the ledge next to Haven and flew around to the north side to prep.  Lyn and I joked at how he was chowing down on the whole thing and not sharing and at that we parted company for the day.  Just as I returned to my car and was driving north on Duplex, who should fly in but Stormin with the first dinner package of the day.  He and Haven exchanged the food and a few choice words before he was shooed off the ledge so she could feed.  He clearly wanted to do it himself but Haven would not allow him to do this yet, they’re too little.  Congratulations Canada Square on your recent hatch and we look forward to the days to come with these little ones!!  I have added a few pictures and tried to avoid the reflection of stuff in the glass.  The little red bits are reflections from my sweater, sorry about that!

Only 37 days to first flights so if you haven’t signed up for the Fledge Watch yet please do at raptor4@peregrine-foundation.ca !!!

Resident Pair at Trans America Still Thinking Spring

May 10, 2013 - North York - Nest

Bruce Massey Reports:

This post is a few weeks late but an important one none the less.  First off, I greatly appreciate the time that Intercon Security spared for Tracy and I on April 30th to visit the 21st floor and investigate the potential nesting pair of peregrine falcons at the TransAmerica Tower.  While we did observe that the female was staying close to the light on the ledge at the north side of the building, a spot that she had disappeared into many times over the past few weeks, and the male was keeping a close watch on her, it was clear that there were no eggs present at that time. 

I continue to maintain a watch on this pair every chance that I get and what we are watching for is the repeated use of that particular area by the resident adult peregrines and the presence of only one bird at a time.  This would tell us that the other adult is occupied with the care of an egg or eggs.  Most recently we have been able to observe that pattern of behaviour and we will therefore most likely return to confirm or deny the presence of eggs on the ledge.   

The resident adult pair has been present in the area of Yonge and Elmwood for several years now.  Initially the male and female were not bearing the recovery band that is common on most peregrine falcons hatched in an urban environment in North America.  Last year, the resident female changed and the new resident is banded.  We were able to trace her origins to the Statler Tower nest site in Buffalo, New York where she hatched in 2008.  The resident male remains un-banded and we presume that he is still the original resident adult that colonized the area in 2007. 

I have posted pictures taken by Tracy Simpson taken on the day of our visit through the windows on the 21st floor. We again would like to thank Intercon Security and the building management at the Trans America Tower for their time and will certainly return in the coming weeks to check once more for the presence of eggs. 

Angela and Peter at Hearn Still Active

May 10, 2013 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station

Bruce Massey Reports:

I stopped by this past Sunday to check up on Angela and Peter’s progress this nesting season.  With the first two attempts at incubating eggs not having worked out, the hope was that they might yet find the perfect spot to raise young this year.  When I arrived I had both adults on site and in view so it was clear from the outset that they were not incubating eggs.  Peter is still vigorously defending the territory and Angela is staying close to the site.  Even so, I cannot see at this time any ledge of interest or eggs being incubated.  I will continue to spot check down here and report in what they pair are up to.

St. Mary’s Resident Adults Both Visible

May 10, 2013 - Bowmanville - St Mary's Cement

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I stopped in at the St. Mary’s Cement plant in Bowmanville on May 9th to check in on Buffy and Legacy and whether they were still attempting to nest this year.  When I arrived, I checked in with Ruben and then travelled out to the silos where the pair is most often and most readily seen.  When I arrived I found Legacy on the very top of the building that spans the silos preening and sleeping.  I searched the silos to the west where Buffy often will roost and was unable to find her.  I checked the top of the silos beneath where Legacy was perched and still no luck.  This area has a ledge where Legacy and Buffy successfully raised at least two offspring last year and was their ledge of interest this season as well.  With no sign of Buffy in the ledge I started to search the ladders and platforms of the silo on which Legacy sat and found her roosting the day away.  She was initially tucked out of my view behind a pipe and was well concealed in her position.  If I moved just a few feet to the left or right she was completely hidden.  I spoke to a few of the St. Mary’s staff that indicated the pair are clearly still defending these silos as their chosen site but the presence of both adults in view meant that eggs were not being incubated at this time.  I stayed and monitored for an hour and a half to see if either adult entered the ledge at the top of the silo but neither of them made a move towards it.  Both resident adults preened and slept during my entire observation period and showed no interest in the ledge at all.  As I was reading myself to check out, Legacy left the top of the span on a hunt to the north and out of my view.  Buffy did not follow but instead remained on her perch preening and sleeping enjoying the cool breeze coming off of the lake.

Given that both resident adults were present and visible for an extended period of time, we can safely say that they are currently not seriously incubating eggs.  During my visit they did not mate nor enter the ledge but still remained close to each other and near to their chosen site.  As with several other sites this year, this resident pair have also had to deal with the disruption of a pestering juvenile / sub-adult in their territory that may have affected the nesting season for them.  It is still not too late to re-clutch and we will continue to monitor the pair throughout the remainder of the spring.  A huge thank you to St. Mary’s Cement for being such great hosts to this peregrine pair and we look forward to Buffy and Legacy’s continued progress here.

Incubation Continues at Yellow Pages

May 10, 2013 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages

Bruce Massey Reports:

I have visited Linn and Rueben at the Yellow Pages nest site a few times over the past week and have only been able to locate one of the adults at a time.  This would indicate that they are still incubating eggs on the northeast side of the building and have yet to have a hatch.  As this site is behind all of the others by a week or so, we expect that the first hatch will be occurring soon.  I will be back today to check on their progress.

!!! A great photo of Holcim’s new family members!

May 13, 2013 - Mississauga - Holcim

Mark Nash Reports:

May 13th - 2013
A huge thank you to Armando for sending us these most recent photos of Holcim’s newest family members.
While I have been away in northern Ontario for the past 9 nine weeks, allot has been happening during my absence.
Some great shots arrived this morning that tell the story.
Armando writes:
Hi Mark,
Just a quick note to confirm (I think) from this image that we have 4 chicks. From the best that I can see in the pic looks like 4 little bodies.
We are monitoring them daily.

Enjoy
Armando

NEW NEST SITE?? Brantford Grace Anglican Church Has a territorial Pair!!

May 13, 2013 - International, National and Local News

Tracy Simpson Reports:

A huge thank you to Doug Smith for finding us and giving us some great observation reports that allowed us to do a follow-up on his report of territorial peregrine activity in Brantford Ontario. Thanks Doug, Well done!! Bruce and I arrived in Brantford at 5pm and headed straight for the church.  As we drove into town, there were very few tall buildings in the area and this section of Brantford is a mix of commercial main street strip stores and residential.  The Grace church is about .5km from the Grand River and is surrounded by houses.  There is a parkette across the street and we set up there.  Pulling up to this church I expected maybe Kestrels and was blown away to find a female peregrine on the back side of the church.  She was roosting on a lower ledge of the bell tower that is a tall square tower.  After 20 minutes she took off to the east and circled back with a male in tow.  The male passed her in the air and reached the tower roof first.  He had food.  She took the food from him and they copulated.  He took off back to the east and out of view.  She flew out and back to the bell tower and ate.  She has a purple USFW on her left leg and has a black over red recovery band reading 32/X.  Her name is Rosie and she is a 2011 hatch from the Macomb County Building in Michigan and is daughter to Nick and Hathor at that site.  I got a shot of them mating and the male had a solid black recovery band on his left leg and silver USFW on the right; Canadian born.  We waited to see what Rosie would do after eating and she flew off to the east after the male.  We walked east into a commercial section of town and found a few more churches and buildings that we scanned.  We found the male on another church closer to the river and he was soaked.  He must have taken a bath in the shallow section of the river.  We were able to read his band and I photographed it.  It is solid black 50/X and it is Skye, banded in 2010 at Etobicoke Sun Life and is from Angel’s last brood before O’Connor took over the site.  He stayed on the church in the sun drying and we took a look for Rosie but couldn’t find her.  As we were running out of light, we headed down to the river where a local resident said he saw them flying and looked around.  The bridge that spans the Grand River has some amazing recessed areas that could easily be used by nesting peregrines.  The Grace church bell tower is the tallest thing around but they actually can’t get into the open spaces in the tower as its chicken wired from the inside to keep birds out.  The only option would be the roof of the tower.  I can’t say for sure if they are nesting or not but they are definately bonded and copulating.  The focus of their activity appears to be the Grace church.  Bruce and I will go back for a good day of recon before things get really busy and try and figure out where they intend to end up.

First Little One Has Arrived at William Osler!

May 11, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler

Tracy Simpson Reports:

Bruce and I arrived this morning at the William Osler site to check on Hurricane and Chessie as we knew they were so close to a hatch.  We hadn’t even parked the car when both adults came howling off of the ledge and out to the southeast.  We finally got a look at what they were chasing and the Turkey vulture flying through was now beating a hasty retreat.  We raced in to meet security and headed up to take a peek at the tray before the adults returned and covered up again.  When we got upstairs and found Chessie had returned to the tray and was attending to a minutes old hatchling that was still pink and wet!!  She worked to move the shells aside and then quickly covered the little one and its unhatched siblings.  We were also able to confirm that William Osler has four eggs this year!!!!  Congratulations William Osler, Hurricane and Chessie!!!