June 30, 2013 - Niagara Falls
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Sunday June 30th - 2013
A huge thank you to Wilson for sending us his observation from Sunday of the Niagara falls juveniles. It would appear that all four fledglings have survived and so far have over the worst of the fledge period!!
This is great news indeed!!!
Sadly, the Canadian Niagara Parks Commission would not allow access this year to band the young peregrines (sighting safety concerns that the OPG power house roof would cave in under a humans weight)??, we will have no record to reliably track or monitor them without band identification, but as long as they are still visible before their dispersal or migration in the fall, you should be able to at least watch the young fledglings development over the next few months.
Report from Wilson for Sunday.
No more than 10 minutes after my arrival at the Falls on the Canadian side, one of the adult birds came flying by. One bird flew right toward the rock face disappearing just below me. Not long after I noticed small white pieces of feather drifting up and over the railings where I stood. One blood stained feather landed no more than 4 feet from me. As the minutes passed, larger feathers started to float up and past the boardwalk railings. It was frustrating to not be able to see the bird.
All 4 juveniles were perched on top of a roof on top of the OPG roof. They each staked out a corner of the small roof. One other bird which I could not make out if it was an adult (sadly no binoculars) was perched nearby. Earlier a peregrine had flown directly over a cat that was crossing the road next to the OPG building. The cat disappeared into the bush.
Wilson Hum
Posted on July 1, 2013 12:08 pm
June 30, 2013 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Sunday June 30th - 2013
I did a morning spot check on our family at ICICI. All well,, l-found Dad on his usual letters on the DeBeer sign and Mom joined him shortly after. Waited a bit and there came “Lucky” - (a.k.a. Superman) to land on poor Mom–with a squawk they were off! Over to ICICI where Mom stayed but Superman came back and around the DeBeer building. I walked around it and saw a juvie on the top–to my delight, it was “AM-E”!
After a bit, Dad did a food drop and I heard Superman screaming and then silence–his little sister just watched him. All was quiet after that, they were settling in to their regular nap time so it was time for me to go! Looking forward to watching this brother & sister do some amazing flying in the days ahead!!
Cathy
Pic is of AME
Posted on July 1, 2013 11:38 am
June 25, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Well it seems that the parents are finally through with giving into the demands of Ashley. A quick morning check at 7 AM by Katherine revealed a happy and relaxed Ashley sitting under the Desjardins sign on the edge of the window well. This would be the last happy relaxed moment of her day. By 1130 this morning, she was wide awake and hopping the gaps all across the face of building three. She would run, hop and then land on the next window well and stop for a series of preening and flapping. This went on for much of the morning and by 1230 Margaret had arrived on site. Ashley was now sitting on the J just like an adult proud as a peacock that she had claimed this letter for herself. Now one thing that Ashley is quite famous for is the size of her crop. I have yet to be able to post a picture but when I do you’ll understand exactly what I mean. We have come to nickname this crop as the “Mandarin” as she looks as though she better unbutton something pretty quick or she’s gonna pop. Well when Margaret arrived, not only was she sitting on her J like she owned it but she was also sporting a half a Mandarin. Even so she was still jumping down into the window wells and hunting around for scraps. She stayed fairly relaxed through the afternoon digesting her large crop but by midafternoon all that changed. At around 330, Ashley jumped in behind her J just as the adults were starting to get active. Margaret witnessed an adult doing a flyby at about 4 o’clock and this got Ashley up on her feet and howling. This continued throughout the afternoon with bouts of screaming and napping as the adults did their utmost to convince her to fly. They have given her very little food today and are now beginning to wean her out as they should. Shannon arrived at around 7 PM and was determined to stay until she did one of two things, either flew or flopped down in bed. There was running, screaming and jumping of the gaps for much of the evening but still no flight by Miss Ashley and much to Shannon and Adam’s chagrin, she flopped instead of flew.
Posted on July 1, 2013 9:13 am
July 01, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
So here we are on June 24, a full 12 days into the watch and still Ashley has yet to get it together. Katherine started off the morning at 6:30 AM doing a quick check of our young lady who was sitting beneath the Desjardins sign watching as her father flew with food around the complex of four buildings trying to tease her off. Ashley was content to just watch, not motivated at all to take flight to the air and was quite happy to sit in her little window well and enjoy the morning. Dad had other plans that clearly required his daughter to participate in. Cass was over at the nest box watching as her mate did his utmost best to try and tease his daughter into the air it was clear that she had absolutely no interest. Margaret arrived at 9 AM to find Ashley practicing her napping underneath the Desjardins sign on the edge of the window well. When she finally did wake up Ashley did become more active then had been seen in previous days and was now hopping the gaps along the south face of building three. Katherine join Margaret at the lunch hour I’m sure in the hopes of seeing some activity but by this time little Miss Ashley was down in the window wells sound asleep. For almost the entire afternoon little miss lazy tail decided to spend her time in the window well preening, napping and I’m sure playing with what feathers and other objects she could find. It wasn’t until later that evening at around 7:30 PM that Katherine found her up and actively screaming at the adults for food. Ashley has yet to realize that there is a clear order to things in life. It is not demand and supply. The closest thing to a flight out of Ashley that Katherine was able to witness this evening was a short flight between letters on the south face of building three. While she has clearly claimed the J for herself, she was experimenting with other letters of the Desjardins sign and moving freely between them. By the time that dusk fell, she was back down in her favorite window well and was sound asleep yet again. For all the efforts that the parents made today to try and get young Ashley to fly it just wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much better flying day.
Posted on July 1, 2013 7:38 am
