June 17, 2013 - Toronto - King Street
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Attention all fledge watchers and peregrine enthusiasts! The fledge watches have started and we need your help!
June 17th - 2013
As some of you may be aware, we are currently eyeball deep in 7 different fledge watches that are now running simultaneously, and needless to say, we are incredibly stressed for manpower to cover all of the fledge watches. Never in the 17 years that we have been running fledge watches have we ever had this many fledge watches occurring all at the same time.
This in addition to having so many nest sites to deal with where the hatches have all happened within such a short period of time, thus having all of the young fledge at the same time.
While the season has only just started, we have already rescued and saved 9 fledglings from the ground and returned them back to the rooftops and nest ledges back to their parents care.
That being said, we need your support to join us in the streets at one of many nest sites here in the GTA.
You will see members of the fledge watch team in the streets at the following nest sites:
Please bear in mind that we are limited in volunteers currently at some of these sites and you may have to do some searching for us as some of these sites have vast areas to cover.
Please join us and help us help your young peregrines make it through this challenging time.
Ongoing fledge watches:
Toronto Sheraton Centre hotel nest site - downtown Toronto - Bay & Queen
MEC nest site -1 Robert Spec Parkway - Huriontario and Hwy # 403 Mississauga
225 Duncan Mill road nest site - Don Mills
ICICI nest site - Don Valley Parkway and Eglinton Ave East, Toronto
Etobicoke Sun Life centre - Bloor & Islington - Etobicoke
18 King Street nest site - Victoria Street & King Street - Downtown Toronto
Kitchener CTV - King Street - Kitchener Ont.
William Osler Hospital - Hwy # 27 & Humber Valley Blvd - Starting June 20th
Starting end of the week: June 22nd:
Scarborough Yellow Pages - 325 Milner Ave & Progress Ave
Posted on June 18, 2013 2:26 am
June 17, 2013 - International, National and Local News
Mark Nash Reports:
June 17th - 2013
An uneventful day for the most parts today with Cathy on the watch until she had to be pulled off the watch to do a rescue up the street at the Duncan Mill road nest site.
Cathy reports that she was able to identify at least one of the young hatchlings on the upper rooftop (which is exactly where it should be at this time and age).
Remembering after the banding, we were forced to put the both the young hatchlings on the upper roof top (as opposed to the actual nest ledge) because of the mobility of the young male hatchling, named “Lucky”. As you recall, he decided that he would have nothing to do with this banding stuff and jumped off the nest ledge during the extraction.
While not exactly fully flighted, he did spread both his wings and had a long rather incredible and very successful glide down to the ground level. A rather incredible, and most graceful glide off into the distance, finally landing in a small tree about chest high several hundred metres from the nest building.
Easily retrieved (once we finally located him), he was returned back to the nest building and was banded along with his sister. A very feisty pair of hatchlings I might add!!! Oh my goodness, what a attitude!!!
(Actually nice to see)!
Both hatchlings were returned back to the nest building roof to their awaiting parents.
Needless to say, this location is even harder to view from the ground given its height from the ground, and with a small retaining wall that surrounds the upper roof area elevation, it makes it impossible to anything from the ground - (looking up). We must wait until the hatchlings are skilled enough, (and capable enough) to get up onto the top of the retaining wall ledge before we can actually see them.
We have confirmed at least one hatchling is visible and both parents are attending the upper roof top area obviously attending to their offspring.
Stay tuned, as Cathy and Irma will be there again tomorrow - (June 18th) on the fledge watch.
Stay tuned…….
Posted on June 18, 2013 1:37 am
June 17, 2013 - Toronto - Don Mills
Mark Nash Reports:
June 17th - 2013
The Fledge watch has started!!
In typical peregrine fashion, (and without any warning) days before the official scheduled fledge watch was scheduled to start,, the first young peregrine hatchling has become a fledgling, (well, sot of)! The young hatchling stumbled and fell off the ledge! Not a planned event at all!
In the middle of running around to all the east end nest sites with extra rescues carriers, towels, CPF ID badges and radio’s to accommodate the needs of volunteers that will be needed to cover 4 more fledge watches that are soon to begin, my i-phone lit up like a x-mass tree shortly after 1pm this afternoon with incoming e-mail, text messages and phone calls all at the same time!
In short, “panic attack”!! One of the young hatchlings at the Don Mill Road nest site had just slipped and accidentally fallen off the nest ledge and once airborne, attempted to hold its composure and made a feeble attempt to hold its altitude and tried to fly.
Well, for all those of you that been on fledge watch, you may already have some ideas as to the outcome of this type of event. The good news, no mortality, successful rescue and finally returned back to the roof elevation to its parent care! Another one safely rescued! That makes 9 successful rescues so far this season, and we’ve only just begun!!!
Ongoing fledge watches happening now at:
MEC nest site, Downtown Toronto Sheraton Centre hotel nest site, Toronto 18 king Street nest site, ICICI Don Mills & Eglinton Ave east nest site, Canada Square - Yonge & Eglinton nest site, Etobicoke Sun Life nest site - Bloor & Islington nest site and Kitchener CTV nest site.
Fledge watches already completed this season: Burlington Lift Bridge and Windsor Ambassador bridge nest. site.
Witnessed by Margaret at the Harlequin head office, the hatchling (named Kimami - Banded - Black Y over 71, Blue tape) jumped into action making the necessary calls to get help. Moments later, the “Harlequin rescue squad” were in the streets and on the search in her last know position. They eventually found her on the ground at the base of the building in the rear parking lot.
As Margaret reports:
Hi Mark… here is the details you’d requested…
Kimami actually fell off the ledge while practising her flapping. She was standing in one place flapping and went right over the edge. Looked like a loss of balance at the wrong time. Would have been 3 or 4 minutes after 1pm, as I emailed while phoning Chris. She only fell about a foot or 18 inches, then started to flap… a pretty strong flight staying at the 5th-6th floor level and swooping east to the end of the building, then north between addresses 220 & 240. She was headed toward the ravine when she went out of my sight.
While on route to Duncan Mills road, I was able to reach Cathy Kerr on her mobile phone who was down at the Don Mills nest site on the fledge watch. She scrambled into her car and rushed to Duncan Mills road.
Upon her arrival, (and several more calls to her relaying messages and other communications received from Harlequin), she finally hooked up with the gals from Harlequin who had already found the grounded hatchling. With towel in-hand, (and a text book retrieval and successful rescue), Kimami was safely scooped up without incident.
She was held until my arrival, examined for obvious injuries and other trauma. After a short hold over to further examine Kimami for any delayed unseen trauma or injuries, she was later released back to the upper roof top elevation of the nest building and back to her parents care. Both Quest and Kendal were on hand to vocalize their disapproval of my roof top presence, and Kimami was successfully released without further incident. Moments later, she was observed up on the upper ledge of the roof retaining wall screaming for her parents attention. Quest eventually gave in and finally joined her on the roof ledge, and in a very heart warming real family moment, the two touched beaks. Shortly after, Quest brought in food for Kimani.
Interestingly, Kimami’s two other sisters (thank goodness - still on the nest ledge) didn’t get any food this evening.
A huge thank you to Margaret, Christine, Sally, Donna, and all of the Harlequin team for jumping into action to quickly, and to Cathy Kerr for her quick actions and rescue!
A big thank you also goes out to the management group and security at 220 Duncan Mill Road for giving us access to their facilities that allowed us to get Kimami back to the roof and her parents!
What a GREAT TEAM!!!!
I know that I have forgotten the names of the other Harlequin gals who sprang into action and mobilized in the streets to locate Kimami, and must apologize. Its been a long day, (combined with my absence of memory), a little sleep depravation and old age 
Sadly, you can expect to see less colourful and less detailed reports from here on in, as 16 hour days, 7 days a week in the streets on the various fledge watches over the next few weeks will be taking their toll.
I will do my best to report (in short) the hi-lights of the days events on the various watches that I am involved in.
A big thank you to Sally for the photos supplied with this posting.
Stay tuned… the craziness has just begun……..
Posted on June 18, 2013 1:07 am
June 17, 2013 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Dennis Patrick Reports:
Lots of great flights again today by all. I was at the bridge this morning briefly and got to see a few good, high flights and some skillful landings. Came back this evening and though the young have spent a lot of time just waiting for dinner, there was a nice flight with a chase by Hercules and Gwenis. Great to see them chasing each other around. Typical siblings!
Gwenis and Tecumseh just had a nice chase and looked like they might be playing the falcon version of Tag. Now all 3 are united on the same ledge waiting for their reward.
From Mark, Mike and Marliese tonight: Hercules learned a new behaviour tonight; he dove down from a ledge, very close to the ground after a small bird and just missed it by a hair…..Lots to learn in a short time so more new things to try each day!
A huge thank-you to all the wonderful people who gave their time to help watch this year. It was great to have so many people willing to give time to help us protect this nest. What a great team this year! A special thank you to Cathy for getting the safety equipment donations, to Paul for all his extra time at all hours of the day and night, and to Marliese for all the great daily posts!
Keep looking up!
Marilyn
Posted on June 17, 2013 11:00 pm
June 17, 2013 - Toronto - King Street
CPF Volunteer Reports:
King St watch will begin on Tuesday June 18th. The two female juveniles are expected to take their first flights starting this week.
Stay tuned
Posted on June 17, 2013 10:10 pm
June 17, 2013 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
CPF Volunteer Reports:
It was pretty much a quiet day today with no new fledges and Felix was very content to stay put. This evening there were a few episodes of “running of the gulls” by Tiago. Flight lessons by both Rhea Mae and Tiago, a few times this evening, but the kids were not really excited about leaving. Food was brought to the ledge at 7:00p.m. and again at 8:45p.m. and all was quiet at 9:30p.m.
Posted on June 17, 2013 10:06 pm
June 15, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
At 6:06 a.m. Tony reported that Big Al flew west towards the hospital! Castor took off with him. The watchers did not see Big Al return, however at some point he made it back to the middle of the tower, partially hidden from sight and was discovered when he flapped his wings occasionally. Caster and Statler were exhibiting courtship like behavior on both the main tower and the smaller tower between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. Early in the watch there was an explosion north of the site. Caster came rushing from his perch at the nest box on Union Street. All the birds were squawking and at full attention after the explosion which turned out to be a transformer on one of the hydro lines. Eventually everyone settled down. Caster has been a very attentive father mostly supervising from higher elevations. At one point an approaching turkey vulture caught the attention of Statler. She raced after him and hit him two times, both of them tumbling down. Statler chased him all the way past the Kings Towers towards downtown Kitchener. The adults did a package transfer and then Caster took the food into the nest drum. One of the chicks grabbed a large piece and the other chick was mouth fed by Statler. She also ate some herself. Big Al remained in his perch for the remainder of the day. The attentive parents continued to try and coax him from his perch but he was staying put. Congratulations Big Al on your first flight!!!!
Posted on June 17, 2013 5:16 am
June 14, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
Romper room will soon be a thing of the past for these birds!! They’ve gone from downy grey fluff balls to looking like adult falcons in a little over a week. There was some concern among the watchers as only 2 chicks could be seen in the drum for quite a few days. We had some cold, windy and wet weather around that time. We didn’t have to wait long to see 3 birds and activity ramp up in the nest with vigorous wing flapping and screeching. One day there was white fluff floating out of the nest and into the hospital parking lot as one of the young ones meticulously pulled out it’s baby fluff. Caster and Statler have been very busy hunting and feeding all of these extra mouths. Perhaps seeking some quiet time, Caster is often sighted in the installed nest box in Waterloo. The official start of the Kitchener Fledge Watch was June 12. Both adults have secured the area, using all of CTV’s communication towers to their advantage. On June 13, at 11:30 a turkey vulture flew too close to the nest, directly in front of the communication drum. Statler and Caster immediately flew in to attack the vulture and laid 2 direct hits to the vulture who dropped altitude very fast and flew really low past Kings Towers and out of sight. The chicks became very vocal after this incident. June 14 was a relatively uneventful day for the watch, except for a lovely midair food handoff captured by Michael. What a great start to the 2013 Fledge Watch!!
Posted on June 17, 2013 12:51 am
June 14, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This morning Ashley did it, she hopped the gap. This is a big step towards fledging for the young at MEC and is a precursor to first flights. It was just after 8am when Ashley took the big leap and once the first jump was successful, it was a free for all across the face of the nest building! She went from one gap to another and was doing it with ease and confidence. She stopped briefly to investigate each well for scraps and was fortunate enough to find a cache hidden in one of them. All the while that this was going on, Catherine watched from the porch of the nest box with a touch of jealousy I suspect. She screamed and howled for Ashley to come back and eventually, when Ashley did return to the nest ledge, the greeting they exchanged was quite endearing. For the next hour they felt the need to be in physical contact with one another and were completely inseparable. Ashley continued to jump the gaps and make her way around the face of the nest building and finally made it around to the northeast corner where the adults like to perch and watch the kids. Once there she was buffeted by strong winds and had trouble maintaining her balance. She quickly abandoned the corner and made her way back to her sister at the nest box. The pair settled down for the afternoon and there was a serious nap time. They slept and preened on and off for hours and it seemed as though they were never going to move off of that ledge. Supper arrived around 7pm and both girls were treated to a rather large pigeon. They quickly filled themselves and dropped down into the well, presumably to bed. I started to move my watch location back over towards my car and put some things away as I anticipated they may stay down for the night. Ashley had other plans. She came out of the well and began to ledge hop again which had me a little nervous as the winds were starting to pick up. She hopped down to the northeast corner and then in a flash, she was blown backwards off of the ledge. With her wings in an uncoordinated pinwheel, she dropped straight down for 10 stories before she got both of her wings open and symmetrical. This action grabbed the wind and she went into a glide out and around to the north then back towards the nest building. She continued to lose altitude as she swung out towards the 6 lanes of Hurontario Street and I hit the ground running. I knew it would take me a minute or so to get around to the west side of the nest ledge and so I moved it as fast as I could. As I was trotting up the MEC 1 driveway I suddenly had another runner right beside me. It was Winston! We high tailed it around the day care and heard the robins alarm calling. We began to search and found Ashley sitting pretty as a picture on the retaining wall of a raised garden. I grabbed my towel, grabbed Ashley and then she grabbed me. She was quite a roughie for her tumble down and was looking great. Not a ruffled anything except her pride. We placed her in a rescue carrier in security and gave her an hour and a half to compose herself. I checked her out for any apparent injuries and headed up to the roof for the release while Winston watched from the ground in case she flew again. I took her to a corner on the roof and opened the carrier door. Instead of coming out, she filled it up! I reached inside the door for the edge of towel and little Miss decided that my fingers were fair game to grab with both feet and then bite. Thank the stars she got the towel and not me. She came bolting out and into the corner where she turned and addressed me, almost dared me, to touch her again. We left her there on the roof with her mad face on to try again in the morning and her sister sleeping in the nest box.
Posted on June 17, 2013 12:10 am
June 13, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Rain rain go away. We started out this morning’s watch with a misty and cold rain. It was really penetrating and was quite an uncomfortable feeling. Thank goodness for the overhang at MEC 3 or us watchers would have been soaked. Both Catherine and Ashley were on the ledge, had exited the box and were running and flapping like wild things. Ashley seem to be the more active of the two and both girls at one point had gotten themselves out into the rain just enough to enjoy their first bath. Each girl in turn got themselves nice and soaked and then retired to the nest box to preen and fix their feathers. There was a lot of napping today by both juveniles and the parents didn’t seem to mind that they were inactive on such a rainy day. By mid afternoon the rains had tapered off and they were waking up. Katherine, Shannon, Margaret and I now settled in for some action and a potential fledge. Ashley was running back and forth along the nest ledge and she was daring to jump the gap several times today. I don’t think Ashley will be long before she’s made it to the ledge next door. Unlike yesterday, mom and dad were hunting a lot more often and both girls were being fed to keep them down on the ledge. It certainly didn’t keep them from being bouncy though as they flapped, exercised and preened their feathers removing all of the last few bits of down that remained on their bodies. By the end of the day I had spoken to Bruce and he was telling me that out in Etobicoke the rains were getting really heavy and even quite torrential at times soaking both him and the birds. By that time it had actually cleared up here at MEC and at sundown there was a rainbow out to the east in behind the buildings. As I sat there enjoying the rainbow I couldn’t help but think to myself that I should tell the girls that there is a pot of pigeon at the end of that rainbow if all they would do is just FLY TO IT!! As relaxed and happy as they look right now sitting up on the nest ledge I do think that tomorrow were going to see our first flight from one of the girls. I think most likely it’s going to be Ashley as she seems to be the precocious one of the bunch up there. I would like to say a huge thank you to Katherine, Shannon, Margaret and Bruce for all of their help in keeping me awake and getting me through such a rainy cold day. Dawn to dusk fledge watches are never easy but our excellent team of volunteers at MEC are making it that much easier. Thanks again for all of your help everybody and I hope that tomorrow we have our first ledge to celebrate.
Posted on June 17, 2013 12:08 am
