Canadian Peregrine Foundation

Peregrines seem to own the KW area! They’re everywhere, they’re everywhere!

July 11, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower

Lisa Reh Reports:

Rudy also reported on July 11^th that:
“I noticed the guys on the Kings Tower today too. I’ve driven by a few times in the past and only saw 2 or 3 birds. I have been seeing 1 or 2 here in Kitchener quite often. There was one on the RBC building yesterday as well as this morning, but couldn’t tell who it was.”

Big flights

July 10, 2013 - Toronto - King Street

Linda Woods Reports:

Cosmina and Anastasia have left the ledge and currently flying high and circling over Front and Church Streets. Big huge flight as they drift eastward. Meanwhile, for the last few days I have been seeing an adult sitting near the top of # 1 King Street West, and it’s there again today.

!!! Both Girls on the ledge

July 10, 2013 - Toronto - King Street

Linda Woods Reports:

WOW! a quick camera check and looky here, both Comina and Anastasia are at home chilling. I noticed a few days ago that one girl appears a lot lighter than the other. Nice to see them after that huge storm.

Lots of activity!

July 10, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower

Lisa Reh Reports:

On July 10th
at 10:00 there were 2 on the south facing wall and parapets and one flew into the little cubby hole were Sunny a.k.a Junior hung out a lot last year facing south. On July 11^th, at 9:00 p.m., I saw 2 of our young falcons back on the King’s Tower aerial. One of the young birds was noticeably larger (perhaps Miss Fran) than the other, and they were sitting very close together. On July 15, I heard our peregrines and saw one swooping around the Sun Life building around 9:30 a.m. This evening between 8:30 and 9:30 there were 1 and then 2 peregrines on the small CTV aerial across from the nest site. A little later on we saw another 1 or 2 adults peregrine hunting in Mount Hope Cemetary a little closer to 9:30 - a flock of starlings high tailed it out of there. 2 were also spotted flying around Louisa and Shanley Street in Kitchener.”

In uptown Waterloo, on July 10^th,
Debbie and Jon observed: “…a falcon on a ledge on the wall of the BMO building (facing what used to be the police station, where Statler and Caster spent much time in the winter). Then there were some usual calls and a second falcon. The two interacted for a short while. One landed on the ledge again, and the other on the roof at the corner closest to the Atrium. After some time, the one on the ledge took a few flights, and it looked quite brown underneath (a juvenile we believed). It eventually flew a long way south, in a way consistent with being juvenile. The one at the corner was an adult, and it was still there when we went home.”

June 21st at Etobicoke Sun Life - Lizzy and Big Frank are Rescued

June 21, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

With all birds flighted and staying high yesterday June 20th, Bruce moved down to the MEC nest site to help monitor a bird that clearly did not have her act together.  After 4 rescues of Ashley at MEC, there was concern that she might come down again regardless of the numerous health checks that she passed with flying colours.  I was at William Osler with four young ones ready to go and so today’s watch at Etobicoke Sun Life was handed over to the amazing watchers Kathy, Baylie, Rob and Angie with support from the local community.  In the early morning, Kathy started the shift before work with a head count and was alerted by a local resident that a young one was in a flower garden at the Kingsway on the Park.  Kathy immediately ran over and found Big Frank on the sidewalk below the flower bed looking good but confused.  She scooped him up completing her first solo rescue.  Excellent job Kathy!!  With little Big Frank now in security cooling off, Kathy returned to the watch post.  With all of the juveniles now flying, the challenge was to identify who was who and complete head counts.  Not easy when they’re in and out and all over the place.  Kathy finished her spot check of the morning with all three birds accounted for and headed to work.  In the early afternoon, Mark Nash received a “Peregrine 911” call from the security at Etobicoke Sun Life that a falcon has been reported in distress on the mezzanine level between the Center and East towers.  It would appear that one of the juveniles had flown after Kathy left and had struck the center tower.  I was called by Mark and we immediately put the rescue team into action.  I called Bruce at MEC and dispatched him immediately to the site.  I then called Rob and Angie who were at a grocery check-out before their shift check and asked how close they were.  Angie immediately told Rob to drop her in the driveway and bolt!  Rob reached the Sun Life building first and called me.  I sent him in to security who then took him up to the mezzanine level.  It was Lizzy.  She hadn’t been there long as she was right outside the Goodlife Fitness and was noticed quickly by a member who alerted security.  I had Rob call me once he had eyes on her and describe what he was seeing.  She had clearly struck the building but was alert and responsive.  She was hot, spreading her wings out and appeared to be injured.  I walked Rob through what he was to do as this was his first rescue and he pulled it off like a pro.  Congratulations Rob on a job well done!!  Lizzy was now safely in the air conditioning in security and Bruce had now arrived.  The first thing we always do with an injured bird that is safely contained and stable is allow them to calm.  I know that sounds counterintuitive but in reality, they need to calm down first as stress alone could do so much more damage especially in such a high strung species.  Bruce quickly assessed both birds with a visual check looking for signs of bleeding and consciousness as well as assessing their breathing and posture.  Little Big Frank checked out, Lizzy was semi-standing but she was definitely stable and alert.  He then allowed them time to calm and cool.  While little Big Frank smelled a bit off as he had spent some time in the gardens of Kingsway, he was otherwise good to go.  Lizzy on the other hand was definitely injured and the calls went out to set the next path of action.  We contacted our avian and raptor specialist Dr. Markus Luckwaldt of the Greenwood Park Animal Hospital to arrange for Lizzy to attend.  As it was now late in the evening it was recommended that, given her current stable condition, that she be brought the following morning which would give her further opportunity to settle and calm in preparation for the exam.  She was to be monitored throughout the night to ensure that her condition remained stable.  Bruce released little Big Frank to the rooftop of the nest building and then took Lizzy to Mark and Marion Nash who took over her care and monitoring through the evening and overnight.  Mark and Marion then coordinated with Dr. Markus Luckwaldt to take her to the clinic for her exam in the morning.  At the close of the evening, Lizzy was calm and quiet, alert and responsive, cooled down and under full observation and care with Mark and Marion.  Good job everyone and many thanks for your quick actions to save little Big Frank and Lizzy today.  First and foremost, a huge thank you to the security team at Etobicoke Sun Life for their quick action alerting us to her condition and location.  You folks are amazing!!  We would also like to thank our volunteers for the fantastic job of rescuing these two today especially Kathy, Rob, Angie, Bruce, Mark and Marion.  What a team!!        

June 29th at William Osler - Yellow Missing and Then Found

June 29, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I started off the morning at William Osler watching as little Blue was really getting his act together flying.  He was following Hurricane as he travelled off site, flying to the north tower and trying out some new moves.  Red was catching up quickly to the skill level of her brother Blue but staying a little closer to home.  She did make a few forays to the south tower but beyond that, stayed close to home base.  What I found a little odd is that she also spent time on the east side of the low Medical Center roof looking towards the residential area behind the hospital.  White was quite content to fly from roof to ledge, ledge to “H” sign and then back to the roof again.  She did take one flight out to the east tower and landed like a pro before joining her sister on the Medical Center roof.  What were they looking at?  Blue eventually joined them and I now had all three on the same roof.  Ok.  What’s up.  I circled the hospital several times looking for Yellow but he was nowhere to be found.  Then the light bulb went on in my head.  It’s him they’re watching just as they had before when he ended up on the residential roof.  Hurricane and Chessie were both in the east tower looking down and to the north, Blue was now on the north tower looking back towards his parents and the two girls were on the east side of the Medical Center.  They had him, but I didn’t.  I searched the berm, the tower, the residential rooftops, the trees and everywhere else that was bordered by the family.  They had him contained, but where? Chessie took off to the hospital, circled back and made a low stoop of a set of trees on the berm.  Ok.  There somewhere.  But my search was not fruitful.  I called Bruce over from MEC to assist me as the eye infection I was sporting was making it incredibly difficult to see.  I needed his eyes, literally!!  Bruce arrived and we did a slow walk again around the area that the family seemed to be interested in and still no luck.  We decided to sit down on the berm and await a sign, a movement or anything that would reveal his location.  I went inside to get us some water and as I was headed in I said to Bruce, “Just you watch.  He’ll be sitting right above our heads in this willow.”  When I came back Bruce was grinning, almost laughing at my approach.  It would seem my statement was more prophetic than I thought as little Yellow was fully concealed in a short willow tree 10 feet to our left.  While I was gone he moved away from the trunk a foot into Bruce’s sightlines and bingo, we had him.  Due to the slope of the berm and tightness of the branches we could not even conceive of a rescue.  We waited for him to either extricate himself to the air or the ground.  To our surprise, he made his way to an opening and took flight.  He flew low over the emergency parking, gained elevation and landed on the low mechanical roof to the south.  Out and up!!  Great!  He took several more flights that Bruce monitored as I raced down to MEC to help locate a missing Ashley.  He took his final flight to the low roof of the Medical Center where he was greeted by his family.  He spent the night there resting up for his next big adventure tomorrow.

June 29th - Day 18 of MEC Watch

June 29, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Bruce Massey Reports:

Wait what? Day 18 of the MEC watch? I must be dreaming! I pinch myself but still it is a reality.  After Ashley extricated herself from the low tree at MEC 1 and crossed Hurontario St., we decided that the watch needed to be opened again until she was home and high up.  I took the watch for Tracy as she was now at William Osler with three inexperienced kids in the air and one working on it.  I checked the Accenture building which was her last known location and was unable to find her.  Katherine arrived at 8am to help locate Ashley and after searching the buildings on the west side of Hurontario, we found her on the low overhang of the CIBC building.  There she stayed for quite some time and I was joined by Margaret at my watch point shortly after 9am and Ashley was quite happy to stay where she was.  Cass brought in a pigeon that she tried to tease her daughter off with but it was not working.  She wanted her to fly for it and Ashley felt that her current location was the best eating ledge around.  Cass finally gave in and delivered the pigeon to Ashley who chowed down quite happily.  I received a call from Tracy that one of her juveniles was missing and that she had his location pegged but needed a hand (and a working set of eyes) to find him.  At this, Margaret took over watching Ashley while I headed out to Osler to assist.

Ashley filled herself to satisfaction with lunch and reluctantly left her pigeon for some shade on the ledge.  She flumped down for a nap and spent much of the afternoon there.  As Margaret was packing up to go at 4pm, Ashley’s snoring could still be loudly heard and she texted the last known location to us all.  Katherine arrived at around 6:30pm and checked the overhang where Ashley was last seen.  She could not see her, only a large dark bird on its back whose wing was flapping up with the winds.  Not having a good angle to see it was confusing as to what bird this was. As Tracy and I had located her missing young one, she headed down to give Katherine a hand at locating Ashley.  Was this dark bird on its back her?  Tracy arrived and having the benefit of a spotting scope, took a really good look at the bird on the CIBC ledge.  It was the remains of Ashley’s pigeon that she had left behind.  Phew!  Now to find Ash.  They searched everywhere.  They looked on every roof and ledge, under every rock and bush and found nothing.  Consequently, they also couldn’t find Cass either.  Tracy was joined by Shannon and Adam and after an extensive search until dusk they convened at the back of MEC 3 to formulate a plan for the following day.  Ashley was not on the ground.  Ashley was not in our view.  Cass was most likely either with her or near to her.  It was decided that by morning she would either become visible to our watchful eyes or the parents would reveal her location.  And so we wait.

June 20th Report - Etobicoke Sun Life

June 20, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Bruce Massey Reports:

0510 Hrs. Opened Watch for Day.

0600 Hrs. Layton making several good strong flights.

0615 Hrs. All Heck breaks loose, Jack in from W, Layton In Air, OC in to butcher                          block w/ food to be prepped.  As she flies off w/ food she attempts In Air food Transfer w/ Layton.  Layton successful but has trouble w/ weight of bird.  Both OC & Jack in 80  degree dive Eventually she drops it to the street below, Layton goes out of sight, OC  lands on Street light. The Pigeon ended up in the middle of Bloor St.  Being afraid that Layton or OC would attempt to retrieve it I picked it up and removed it.  I later found Layton up on the W Condo @ Roof level.

0825 Hrs.  All 3 “Outside” Juves accounted for.  There was some flying on and off of the NL. but 1 remained on ledge who I thought was Lizzie (Yellow).

1100 Hrs.   Single bird on ledge showed me “color” and it turned out to be Shania (Red). At some time in the morning Lizzie had fledged, and I had thought it was Shania.

1800 Hrs.  Jack Back , Flew in and interacted with each of his Offspring.

1900 Hrs.   Frank made 1st confirmed flight, fairly strong to W side of E condo. 

1955 Hrs.   All 4 Juves accounted For.

2010 Hrs.   Closed down Watch for night, Heading to MEC to assist Tracy with a release.

2100 Hrs.  At MEC assisting with Ashley’s release.

2145 Hrs.  Left MEC.

June 19th Report - Etobicoke Sun Life

June 19, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Bruce Massey Reports:

0515 Hrs.- Opened Watch for the Morning.

0625 Hrs.- Big Frank  Fledged, flew N between Center Building & NB back around to the E. and landed on the

                  W side of the E Condo 3 Stories below roof.  It appeared that he landed on a screen window. He briefly

                   balanced on the Window Ledge and flew back to the NB, did a fairly hard “Face Plant” on the NB,

                   8-9 Floors below the  Nest.  This put him going in a downward direction, he  flew south over Bloor and

                   back to a Balcony (W/ Pigeon  Netting) and got hung up and even ending upside down 5-10 sec.  He

                   self released himself an just missed a landing on the Bell building by about 6 in.   As he fluttered to the

                   grass and I picked him up.  He was accessed and put in Rescue Carrier.  He will be released in the

                   evening.

1115 Hrs.  Thought I had a 2nd Fledge while I was in checking on Big Frank (Cannot repeat conversation (His) as

                   this is a Family Web site.)

1230 Hrs.  Turned out Lizzie hadn’t fledged, just hiding out in the  Blind NL corners. Not even visible from 2

                  blocks S.

1500 Hrs.  Shania did a good long flight out to the W. “helped” by her sister Layton.  As they flew out over the

                  Islington Station, Shania called it quits, and Layton broke off and was content to to buzz her as she

                  landed on the Glass Condo on the SW corner of Bloor & Islington.

 1700 Hrs.  All 5 “Outside”  birds accounted For.

 1930 Hrs.  Shania returned to the NL the “Hard Way” by attempting & missing a landing on top of the NL 

                   Camera.

 2200 Hrs.  Big Frank successfully released to the Roof of NB.

 2215 Hrs. Shut down watch for Night.

Back at a Computer - June 18th Report for Etobicoke Sun Life

June 18, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Bruce Massey Reports:

I am finally back at a computer to get the updates done for the Etobicoke Sun Life fledge watch.  Thank you to everyone for their patience but as mentioned in other posts, we are short handed this year and my focus has been in the field helping dawn to dusk and there was no time in between to post.  With full time watches now becoming spot checks there’s a great deal to tell and the updates will be coming fast and furious.  Here we go!