July 19, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
For the past 10 days it’s been relatively quiet here at Etobicoke Sunlife. I’m only seeing and hearing 2 juveniles and one of those is Frank as I’ve spotted him on cam several times lounging in the nest box in this extreme heat. The other I’m not sure of however she is still experiencing some challenges with height and has to frequently circle around to gain enough height to land on the ledges and buildings. No sign of O’Connor anywhere and I have seen Jack several times including the other day when he spent a few hours on the nestbox ledge.
I have noticed O’Connor likes to fly south so perhaps she and the kids have been hanging out elsewhere down near the lakshore to stay cool! Hopefully with a cool down coming we may see more of them in the coming days before they head out of the area!
Posted on July 19, 2013 9:43 am
July 17, 2013 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:
Yesterday (July 16th) our young falcon was banded. This comes about 10 days after it was transferred from the precarious beam it was on to the safety of the nest box. All went well as Anne Yagi, Mark Nash, Rolf Numsen, Nick and myself made our trek up the neverending stairwell to the 12th floor where the nest box is located. I think we all must have shed a few pounds with the heat & humidity! After closing the drop down door at the front of the box, the rear door was opened to extract the juvenile for banding. As usual, Anne came well equipped & had everything ready for the procedure as the young one arrived at the table. She determined without doubt that we have a healthy female approximately 23 days old weighing in at 878 gms with an empty crop. The young one was then equipped with a solid black band S over 32 and red tape covering her USFW band. I took the liberty of naming her Eve. According to both Anne & Mark, this is the latest known banding in this region ever. Many thanks to the expertise of both of them for the safe handling of this young falcon & giving it a shot at survival. As usual, we are nervous about the whole fledge thing but will do the best we can to help Eve succeed.
Posted on July 17, 2013 9:47 pm
July 17, 2013 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
Even in this searing heat of the downtown, this afternoon around 4p.m. both adults and at least one juvenile were seen flying high over the King St nest area. I was drawn to look up when I heard the distinctive call of a juvenile. I looked up and there was one of the young females screaming after one of the adults. Too hot to be flying, but I guess it’s cooler when there is a breeze under your wings.
Posted on July 17, 2013 7:26 pm
July 15, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
Saw all five peregrines this evening. Haven, Stormin and one juvenile female were really high east of Yonge and Eglinton intersection, at the same that I saw Ramjet and the other juvenile female talon-touching just above Rio-Can. The three high peregrines were also talon-touching.
Just a wee while later one of the juveniles was fed and the other two descended on the same spot but without luck.
One of the juveniles became annoyed at having to sit and watch the other one eat and so it took off and chased a pigeon over the bus bay and across the Yonge and Eglinton intersection east towards the Bell Canada building. Sad to say the pigeon was faster than the peregrine, who gave up the chase.
Lyn
Posted on July 16, 2013 12:07 pm
July 14, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
Between 8:00-8:45 p.m. on July 14,
Karen reported that “Big Al was on the King’s Tower’s aerial, Arnie was on the top rail of the CTV tower closest to Pine Street and Miss Fran was on the next level below him. Eventually we located Statler on the same level as Miss Fran but at the other end. Eventually they all took off for some brief flight training but that didn’t seem to last long.”
Posted on July 14, 2013 1:55 pm
July 12, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
Had all three juveniles in one spot on Canada Square today - last year’s nest ledge.
A drop off was made and all three juveniles flew in from their perches on Rio-Can rooftop.
Tinia ended up with the food, closely watched by Ramjet on the same level and Imagine on the level below the old nest.
Lyn
Posted on July 13, 2013 9:41 am
June 30, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Bruce Massey Reports:
After leaving MEC last night without having Ashley in our sights, it was our first order of business today to ascertain her current location. As she had flown undetected, we were unsure whether she had crossed back over Hurontario to the MEC complex or not so we began the search with her last known location. I went around the CIBC and Accenture buildings with no luck and scanned across to the MEC complex as well. No sign of Ashley. I expanded my search south and circled the Morguard building and found Ashley on the west side on a ledge below the roof. There she sat looking as though breakfast had already been served and she was quite comfortable in her new location. She remained there for the bulk of the day moving along the ledge following the shade. At one point, Sante arrived with food for her, a small package, and landed on the ledge with her. She gladly took it from him and immediately claimed the prize. Not more than 10 minutes later, Sante returned with another small package and attempted to draw her off of the ledge and into the air. Instead of showing interest, Ashley mantled over the remains of her first snack and hid it from Sante who was attempting to offer her more. He finally gave up and left with the food, stashing it for another attempt later. When I left the site in the later afternoon, Ashley was still on the west ledge of the Morguard building napping away and preening her feathers relentlessly. Boy does this girl love to preen! We will check back with her tomorrow and see whether she has made any further progress in getting back home.
Posted on July 12, 2013 1:18 pm
June 30, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I started the watch today with three of the juveniles on the rooftop retaining wall of the hospital and little Yellow on the lower roof of the Medical Center. While I was not concerned about the other three at all, it was this little man down low that I was waiting to see take flight. For the better part of the morning, he stayed on the low roof flapping, preening and napping and it became apparent that something was not 100% right with him. He appeared to have a droopy left wing. I watched as he would have bouts of flapping like mad and all seemed well but when he drew his wings in, the left was not being held up in the perfect position that it should. His siblings Red, White and Blue continued to take flights around the hospital and spent a lot of time visiting with Yellow on the Medical Center roof. Throughout the rest of the day leading into the afternoon, Yellow remained where he was but was very active back and forth along the leading edge of the roof. I was dispatched to Etobicoke Sun Life to take over watching down there and Bruce replaced me at William Osler. He watched as little Yellow flapped and ran the roof and concurred with me that the left wing was just not right somehow. He could flap and move the wing just fine and yet holding it up was not comfortable. In the late afternoon, Yellow took flight off of the Medical Center roof and ended up on the lower mechanical roof on the south side of the hospital. He took another flight that took him around the building and on to the 7th floor window ledge where he remained for quite some time resting during which his wing droop was most evident. A third flight caused him to lose some altitude and end up on the 4th floor window ledge where he remained for the rest of the evening. Little Yellow is certainly being encouraged by both his parents and his siblings to continue to try and regain his elevation to the nest ledge or roof top and he is giving his all to get there. We will continue to monitor his progress as he makes his way home and watch his left wing condition for changes or improvements in functionality.
Posted on July 12, 2013 12:59 pm
July 12, 2013 - London - TD Tower
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This news came to me from Barb Baldinger, falcon watcher and volunteer extrodinaire in Michigan, about Mystique and Horus. Here is her report;
Great news! We have not had a successful Peregrine Falcon nesting in the Fisher/New Center area since 2007, when Alpha and Maumee had three young. This year, Mystique and Horus have produced a male offspring! Mystique arrived in 2008 at WSU… and later moved to the Fisher Building/New Center. Horus also arrived in 2008, after being displaced by Nick at the Macomb County Building in Mt. Clemens. They had several failed nesting attempts over the years, so we are thrilled that they succeeded this year! The young male fledged prematurely on Sunday evening and was rescued by the Michigan State Police. He is at a rehab facility now and should be ready to rejoin his parents in about a week. This is a photo of the adult female, Mystique. She is originally from Ontario. Horus is from Akron, Ohio.
Mystique was hatched along with her two sisters in 2006 at the London TD Tower nest site and was banded when she came to the ground after fledging. She arrived in Michigan in 2008 and has attempted to hatch eggs every year since. Her mate Horus, who was hatched in Akron, Ohio in 2004 to Bandit and Chesapeake, arrived in 2008 as well and the pair have stayed together and continued to try and achieve success together. Well this year after several failures they managed to hatch a single male chick!! This is amazing news for Mystique and Horus as well as the peregrine fans and followers in London. Along with Buffy at St. Mary’s Cement, Mystique is the second offspring produced in London to be discovered nesting elsewhere. This is an enormous success to celebrate and just goes to show that anything is possible!! Thank you Barb for keeping an eye on her and sending us this update!
Photo of Mystique courtesy of Barb Baldinger with our thanks.
Posted on July 12, 2013 12:23 pm
July 11, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
Canada Square report
Saw all five peregrines this evening.
Stormin and a juvenile female were on Rio-Can south face.
Ramjet was on Canada square roof, north west corner over the nest ledge.
Haven was hiding from everyone and catching the last rays of sunshine on the second ledge south of the concrete wall on Canada Square.
Bringing up the tail end of it all was the second juvenile female on the sw corner of Canada Square roof.
Stormin is intent on giving me heart failure. Early in my watch He chased a pigeon, west along Eglinton, at a level which was only half the height of the Hydro building at Duplex and Eglinton.
Just as I was walking away at 8:45 pm there was Stormin again, chasing another pigeon, over Duplex lower and lower between 53 Division and the houses on Duplex CR. The pigeon was just above tree level and so was Stormin!! Someone ought to have a chat to him about this low level flying, it is bad for my heart!
Lyn
Posted on July 12, 2013 9:29 am
