June 15, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Ashley was flapping up a storm and jumping the gap late last night and was caught by a cross wind that pulled her off of the building in an oops flight. She did very well opening her wings and gliding to the ground at the back of MEC 1. She was rescued and checked out more than OK. She was released to the roof of the nest building at dusk. Full story to follow.
Posted on June 15, 2013 5:27 am
June 06, 2013 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 6th - 2013Hi Again,
It’s really too bad you guys can’t get access to the building this year, because it looks like we were bang on with our hatch-date estimate of May 14. I saw four chicks in the nest window today that looked to be about 24-25 days old. Tomorrow would have been a perfect banding date. It’s hard to see in the photos, but at one point all four heads were poking up out of the big pile of white fluff. The female was perched on the broken window frame in front of the nest and the male was sitting on top of the building on the north (down-river) side.
I’m sure you guys are kept ultra-busy banding all those other babies up there! I hope you’re having a good season so far.
Cheers,
Jacquie
Posted on June 14, 2013 1:38 pm
June 03, 2013 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 3rd - 2013
We have received news today from OMNR that the Niagara parks commission has refused to allow access to the old OPG powerhouse roof that is needed to proceed with the banding of the young peregrine hatchlings, sighting health and safety concerns ??????????
Sadly, banding will not take place this year.
I guess we should have asked Nik Wallenda and turned the banding into a promotional money making stunt?
Posted on June 14, 2013 1:24 pm
June 12, 2013 - International, National and Local News
Marion Nash Reports:
June 12th - 2013
ICICI Don Mills nest site - Banding success - One very Lucky male and 1 female hatchling, as usual, not so fond of their new aluminum bling!
Today was banding day for the Don Mills ICICI chicks but someone forgot to tell the young male hatchling who was not having it, and decided to take flight or shall I say sore off the ledge and sale down to a tree on a branch at chest level just short of the Don Valley Parkway.
It took some time for the CPF ground crew and Mark Heaton from the Ministry Of Natural Resources to find the little guy but with directions from Mark Nash of the CPF from his roof top vantage, the ground crew soon spotted him and were directed right to him. Thank goodness for the 2-way radios!!
He was retrieved safely and got banded despite his disapproval of the entire process. He was appropriately named “Lucky” along with his sister who was named “Am-e” after Amexon, the property management company that have been so supportive with both the CPF and their peregrines.
Am-e was very feisty and spirited and vocalized her displeasure while being outfitted with her new “Bling”, but she settled down a few moments into the process. LOTS OF ATTITUDE with this little girl!!!
After banding, both hatchlings were put back on the roof top to the care of their parents no worse for the where. During the banding, John Millar who did the extraction waited on the nest ledge to distract the resident adults from ever noticing that their babies had been removed for banding, and as always, did a fantastic job. Both resident adults were on hand in very fine form and did a great job giving John their opinion and defending.
A big thanks to CPF Volunteers Kathy and Irma who went out to search for and help rescue Lucky and Mark Heaton and his crew who caught him up.
A not so “routine” banding event, but success never the less as always.
Stay tuned……….
Posted on June 14, 2013 12:32 pm
June 12, 2013 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
Yellow Pages Banding - June 12th-2013
2 more healthy chicks for the Scarborough Yellow Pages Nest site!
Late this morning, 2 healthy Peregrine chicks were successfully banded by Mark Heaton of the Ministry of Natural Resources with th help of CPF volunteers, and returned back to the nest ledge to their parents.
One of CPFs long time volunteers and supporters, John Miller our Rock Climber who extracted the chicks from the nest high atop the Yellow Pages building with the help of Mark Nash who watched his back while he went over the edge and extracted the two young peregrine hatchlings for banding.
While in the lobby many people anxiously awaited the new additions to the family Linn the long standing resident adult female was busy giving John the business and her opinion of the hole matter.
When the chicks where brought down to the banding table, Dave Currie assisted Marion Nash at the banding table to record the banding data and Mark Heaton and his crew banded the chicks.
The chicks, 1 male and 1 female were weighed, sexed, and banded without much fuss from them at all because they had full crops and like a human baby that had just been fed were a little sleepy and content to accept the new bands and have their pictures taken for the family album.
The two young peregrine hatchlings were although full of energy and very feisty by the end of the banding process and clearly had their mothers attitude. Very healthy indeed!
The resident adult male father - “Ruben” was also on hand assisting his mate with her efforts to dispatch the human extraction crew on the upper roof walkway.
The young female hatchling weighed in at a whopping 1010 grams one of the heaviest this year and was named Neira. Her young brother weighing in at 690 grams was named Loki.
A huge thank you to Petra and Yellow Pages for all of their support and assistance and to the Aurora district of the Ontario Ministry of Natural resources and Mark Heaton and his crew for banding support.
What a great team!!
Photos to follow.
Stay tuned………..
Posted on June 14, 2013 12:08 pm
June 14, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Bruce Massey Reports:
Well these kids sure are getting big and advancing quickly. Today’s family was rather subdued through the windy wet weather and the parents were doing a wonderful job. Both adults were out hunting making several forays each and at one point O’Connor snuck up behind me low along Eagle Road. For a minute I was convinced I was on the menu. but alas she was on to other more feathered things. She did make on very low dive down to the parkette and came out of the creek area with what I am convinced was a duck based on the wing length of the bird. The young ones were fed well but had little to no interest in flight today. The rain and the wind was quite unpleasant at times and the kids just tucked in. At one point little Big Frank disappeared from view and had me combing the neighborhood for an hour just to make sure he wasn’t on the ground. Turns out he was hiding behind a rather large sister and so he couldn’t be seen from either the web camera or the ground. Must be all that duck she’s eating.
All photos today taken by Baylie.
Posted on June 14, 2013 12:22 am
June 14, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I was out at 3:30 pm today and saw a bit more action than before.
Haven was on the wall north of the nest looking down on her charges on Canada Square. I saw a little head pop up, then down, then up again.
Stormin flew in from the west and went directly to last year’s scrape ledge where he chupped, had a scratch, spent some time at the back and finally on the edge, in the shade out of the sun.
In addition to the head I saw a wing pop up and flap then disappear. The little head watched in astonishment!
Stormin flew to Rio-Can and perched whilst Haven spread herself out on that wall with wings hanging over both edges! Shortly thereafter Haven flew to the mast atop 2180 Yonge St, followed by Stormin. They flew together and back over Canada Square where they perched temporarily on the tall mast on that roof. Haven flew to Rio-Can and perched and about a minute later Stormin flew from the mast, chupping madly as he made his way west, over the crane further down Duplex Ave and was gone. Five minutes later Stormin was back on RC on the south west corner. He flew off and back a couple of times and then was gone.
Haven too had left her perch.
Roughly 5minutes late someone did a *flyover* the nest and headed east.
A couple of minutes after that Haven flew onto the north side of the tall condo, followed by Stormin. They were there for all of two minutes when Haven was off again! She flew to the west side of the condo, appeared to brush one of the windows, flew behind the condo and then north up Yonge St. Haven was gone for ten minutes and returned to her perch above the scrape. I wonder if she was trying to get Stormin to hunt ?
Stormin had followed her to the east side of the condo and disappeared. Fifteen minutes after his departure he was back on RC three floors from the top. Barely two minutes after his return I spotted three Turkey Vultures east of the tall condo, making lazy circles. They were circling upward until I guess they found the breeze they needed to take them south west. As they emerged over the tall condo Stormin woke up and gave an alarm call. I looked at Haven who appeared unconcerned and continued her preening. The turkey vultures disappeared. The wind was at two levels and blowing in absolute opposite directions. I know this because there were two levels of cloud moving in the exact opposite direction!
A few minutes later a fuzzy head popped up followed by a second one. The first fuzzy head stepped onto the edge and I could see a patch of fuzz amid the *Big bird* dark feathers on its rump. There were bits of fuzz on the wings and the head and then of course those delightful little *peregrine plus-fours* in fluff - the legs. One of the youngsters was exercising his/her wings by stretching and flapping - then was still.
Haven found a stash on the ledge next to last year’s scrape and plucked feathers from it and had a bite to eat.
As Haven chupped and flew towards the nest Stormin also took flight and homed in on a *kamikaze* pigeon so I missed whether Haven had a food parcel and took it to her young. Stormin dived on the pigeon which nearly had a heart attack as it jinked and dived down the side of the black building and onto a ledge there. Storming tried twice to get onto the ledge but eventually flew to the top of that building and looked down. Five minutes later he flew over Canada Square and then onto the big mast atop that building where he perched for a mere two minutes. He launched into flight and immediately went into a stoop over Eglinton Ave and the corner, which is now blocked off for construction. He was so low he just scooped over the scaffolding, did a fast turn and came back over Eglinton Ave with a bird in his talons. It was not a pigeon but may have been a sparrow as there are plenty around there. He landed on the NW corner of the black building where he plucked the feathers off. Seven minutes later Stormin flew over my head with the food parcel and disappeared northwest of me. It was simply to gain height, as a minute later he was back and flying onto the ledge. His offspring mobbed him and took the food to the back of the ledge out of my sight. He remained on the edge for a minute before flying off to a perch on RC.
Haven was back on her wall above the ledge and that is where I left them all. As I was walking to the bank Haven flew to the second ledge south of the concrete wall. She must have left the food there when she flew off earlier. So, today, it was Stormin who brought in food for the youngsters.
Lyn
Posted on June 14, 2013 12:12 am
June 12, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I arrived on site to find two little girls sitting quite pretty on the landing platform of the nest box. Earlier I checked the web camera and both girls were out of sight of the camera and seem to be spending much of their time at the front of the box or on the platform itself. Now yesterday, Catherine the Brave jumped off of the platform to the nest ledge and was quite proud of that feat, but she was back in the box with her sister Ashley pretty quickly. These two seem to like to stick together and although Catherine is advanced enough to venture out, she’s not leaving without Ashley. This evening the girls spent their time lounging on the porch and preening one another until Cass made a beautiful fly by. She circled the building twice and stopped to kite in front of the girls. This is the first tease flight I have seen from one of the parents. Cass circled one last time to a chorus of screams from the juveniles and then was off to the west on a hunt. Both girls sat cheek to cheek and cheered mommy on to a good hunt before disappearing back into the box and out of view. Females most definitely take longer to fledge than the males and our oldest female, Catherine, is now at 39 days of age as of today. Without a little brother to spur them on, they are quite content to take it slow and yet Sante is already taking up his pre fledge position on the northeast corner of the nest building. At around 7:30pm, Catherine decided to make another foray out to the nest ledge next to the box and Ashley was quite wound up about it. She flapped as hard as she could, jealous of her big sister on the ledge, and yet stayed on the porch vowing to take her turn soon enough.
Pictures to follow.
Posted on June 14, 2013 12:10 am
June 12, 2013 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Tracy Simpson Reports:
The Burlington Fledge Watch was official dialled down to spot checks this past Sunday June 9th and what a great adventure it was. Three rescues were performed by Bill and Barry over the 9 days of the watch; two for Hadfield and one for Sarah. Lancaster was the first to go and has been somewhat of a superstar earning the nickname “Rocket Man” for his efforts. Cirrus and MacKensie were quite outstanding in their assist flight escorts of the juveniles and put on an amazing show of parenthood. With this Watch now closed for the season, I wanted to thank everyone who made this such a success. I would like to offer up a big thank you to the Burlington Lift Bridge staff for all of your support in the rescues and releases. I would also like to thank Bill and Sue, Barry and Linda, David, Rob and Paul for your time and efforts as well as Sean for alerting us to Hadfield’s flight out of the beam to the roadway. Bill’s recent spot check of the foursome sounded like an awesome experience with Mom, Dad and three kids “ripping up the skies” and Sarah watching from a tower roof until it was her turn. Congratulations Burlington on a job well done!
I have attached some pictures from last Sunday but there are many more photos to come!
Posted on June 14, 2013 12:06 am
June 13, 2013 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Dennis Patrick Reports:
This is an email I received from Marilyn tonight. The crew of Watchers this season are doing a great job. Thank You so much for the great help. Gwen & Dennis
Gwenis had her first flight at 7.45 am. Very exciting for four of our early morning volunteers. She got good height, circled over the parking lots, under the bridge and settled on a landing in a tree next to the parking lot. Beautiful flight! She stayed in that tree the rest of the morning with a hop to a nearby lampost. About 2 pm she had enough post sitting and flew to one of the southern low cement ledges, where she waited the rest of the day for her first celebratory meal which did not arrive until ……?
Hercules spent the night safely on the western ledge, got fed in the morning, but by 1:30 he had enough ledge sitting and decided to fly; He took a long , high flight parallel to the bridge as far as the U of W sign where we lost sight of him until we found him on top of the bridge railing and from there he flew to the very top concrete ledge admiring traffic. He spent the afternoon there until he got bored and took off for parts unknown. He seems to be a competent flyer by now, so we assume he will come back for his dinner .
Tecumseh won’t be far behind. He spent the day with restless pacing and flapping and looks very anxious to join Gwenis and Hercules for flying lessons.
This evening, Hercules was perched way up high on the bridge. He was on the top ledge sitting under the rail with a great view beneath him. He took a great flight from there and circled around, landing on the handrail. He wasn’t happy with this location so he took off again, had a great swoop over the park next to the faculty lot and then made a nice landing on the 4th ledge overlooking the parking lot. He is learning quickly and doing very well in the air!
A bit later, Gwenis decided that walking around on the lower ledge was too boring, (same ledge her brother spent the last few days on) so she tried flying again. This time, she lost altitude and scared all of us as she flew very low across University Ave, and back across, clumsily grabbing the chain link fence and hanging on for dear life. She managed to get to the top of the fence and with several “Herculean” efforts, managed to make her way back to the ledge she had previously been on this afternoon. An exciting evening for sure!
Voltaire brought in dinner for Tecumseh and Hercules but I did not see a feeding of Gwenis by 8 pm when I left. Paul and Ted remained at the bridge and may have more updates later.
We have a few slots filled for saturday and sunday, and a totally open schedule to fill for next week. Please let us know when you have some free time to help us keep an eye on our Peregrine family. Two up and one more to go.
Thanks to all of you for your interest and dedication to the survival of the Windsor nest!
Posted on June 13, 2013 10:02 pm
