April 30, 2014 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
It has been another suspenseful and mysterious few weeks at the Kitchener nest site. On April 11, one of the peregrines was sighted by Wendy with a kill so heavy it struggled to bring it to the top of the building. Wendy also observed a lot of peregrine activity the week of April 13, flying to and fro to the top of the building several times a day.
The turkey vultures have been back in peregrine territory around the Sun Life tower. On April 16, Wendy witnessed one falcon repeatedly diving at a vulture until it was well past the Grand River Hospital. At 7:00 that night, Rudy was on a watch with spotting scope in hand and spotted one falcon, perched and preening on the signage facing Park Street. After 10 minutes, it flew around the building and landed on a parapet on the hospital side but didn’t go near the nest box. After another 10 minutes it headed north at a high speed, likely after some dinner. Rudy has not seen any hunting activity in downtown Kitchener for quite some time.
It became very quiet at the nest site. For weeks, many of the watchers have had no sightings at the nest box or on the building at all. On April 24 at noon, Karen sighted one on the left side of the nest box. She captured the 2 photos of one of the ‘grines’ posted here but wasn’t able to make an identification. On Saturday April 25, I spotted a lone falcon hunting behind Kings Towers on King Street, it swooped around the back of the building and then flew south east towards down town Kitchener.
On Sunday morning, April 26, Kelly reported seeing one flying around the rooftop and landing on the nest box at 9 a.m. It took flight again and landed on the parapet to the right of the nest box. Later on that day, a ruckus was heard. There were definitely 2 peregrines giving chase to a possible 3rd peregrine. One of the ‘grines’ did some acrobatics below one of the others and it looked like a food pass. The acrobat then returned to the rooftop. The intruder then circled high above the rooftop, while one of the ‘grines’ swooped at a lower altitude around the rooftop. While it’s hard to say whether the third bird was another peregrine or another bird of prey, these birds are definitely defending their territory!
Many of the watchers have noticed light coming through the back of the nest box in the last few weeks. Around 2:45 p.m. today, Wendy heard loud screeching coming from the area of the nest box. She quickly messaged the inside watchers to see if anyone was at the top of the building. We heard shortly thereafter, that after an inquiry from Rudy regarding sightings, Tony went up to the roof and noticed that the back door was open and a ‘grine’ was in the nest box so he left quickly. Tony reported this to Mark who instructed Tony to “get the back door shut” since it could be dangerous for both birds and eggs. Other prey could get into the rear of the nest box and wind could affect the birds and cool the eggs down. He returned with some backup and that’s when all the screeching started. In less than a minute, they latched the door shut, put a screw in the door in the bottom to ensure that it couldn’t open again and discovered that there are 4 eggs in the nest box!!! So all the speculating of whether the peregrines are nesting, or where they are nesting is done, however we still need to need to confirm which female is nesting. The last confirmed sighting of the unbanded female was by Tony on April 12. Rudy suspects that this female is a passage bird that is not yet old enough to breed which would explain her lack of interest in some of Caster’s advances. Time will only tell whether this is Statler, or the mystery female that is incubating these eggs. The mystery continues!!!
Photos courtesy of Tony Bergauer and Karen von Knobloch
Posted on April 30, 2014 11:42 pm
April 30, 2014 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:
I have very bad news to report. Over the weekend one of the 2 remaining eggs here was eaten & today the last egg in the nest box was eaten by one of the adults.
Posted on April 30, 2014 8:33 pm
April 30, 2014 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
It’s been a wet, cold week for our incubating falcons. Yesterday I wanted to rush out and throw a blanket on O’Connor. Even though there is a roof covering the ledge, the wind was blowing the rain sideways and she was drenched most of the day.
We are in the last week of incubation, which started around April 1st so earliest estimated hatch date could be Saturday, May 3rd. Assuming all goes well of course.
Posted on April 30, 2014 10:14 am
April 30, 2014 - Hamilton - Sheraton Hotel
Kathy Reports:
Looks like Madame X and Surge are incubating egg(s) again but at the opposite end of the ledge. It’s close to the cam but any eggs are hidden from view by the surrounding wall. They have been incubating for a few days now after she spent several nights there. No way to know really how many eggs she may have but we can guess at least one given the shift changes we’ve observed. Hopefully the wet, cold weather won’t impede their renewed efforts!
Posted on April 30, 2014 9:17 am
April 28, 2014 - Toronto - Mount Sinai Hospital
Linda Woods Reports:
A quick visit to Mount Sinai today and I found “Seven” having a meal on the 2nd ledge east side. I did not see Hunter, although he may have been out of my view. One large T.V passed over the area and no reaction from the peregrines. A few minutes later, a smaller T.V floated over the area and much lower. We waited and out came “Seven” on the chase to push out the low flying T.V. She made contact with the vulture over the area of College and Bay streets, and continued the chase. Can’t tell you what happened to the T.V, it was very low. I suspect Seven grounded the T.V. and then flew back to Mount Sinai. All was quiet after that. It doesn’t appear at this time they are paying much attention to one particular ledge of the hospital. More observations will be required to confirm if they do indeed have eggs.
Posted on April 28, 2014 5:41 pm
April 28, 2014 - Toronto - King Street
Marion Nash Reports:
No hatch yet, 4 eggs showing and Mom taking a break.
Posted on April 28, 2014 10:58 am
April 28, 2014 - Hamilton - Sheraton Hotel
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 28th-2014
While we can’t actually say that the Hamilton Sheraton Hotel pair have laid a second clutch of eggs, it appears that the resident adult female is once again in full incubation mode, this time at the other end of the nest ledge, and Madam X is down hard in full incubation mode.
Interestingly, the first two eggs laid have been completely abandoned by the pair (with one of the eggs having been left abandoned), and the other egg having disappeared from view altogether.
A very bizarre happening indeed given the way that this serious of events have so far played out. Typically, the same female won’t start laying a second clutch of eggs until the first clutch has either been destroyed or eaten - (or absent)…. It is (in part), the absence of eggs at this hormonal stage that stimulates the female to go back into egg production mode, (and copulation between the male and female starts again).
One of the many tricks of the captive breeder to get the female to start egg production again and re-clutch for a second time in the same season. Once the first set of eggs have been removed from the incubating female - (at a particular time frame shortly after incubation starts), she can be stimulated into breeding and egg production mode again for the second time in the same season. Both the timing of the action, the time of year, the females hormones and her health has to be right for a second clutch of eggs.
This same procedure can sometimes be safely completed for a third time in the same breeding season to encourage the female into allowing copulation to take place and laying a third clutch of eggs.
In any case, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out and see what is actually happening?
Stay tuned……..
Posted on April 28, 2014 10:07 am
April 28, 2014 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 28th - 2014
Updated news today, a quick check of the nest box found one of the resident adults still in what appears to be in incubation mode. Given the dates and time frames since the pair went down on eggs, a hatch should have happened, or very close!!
Stay tuned for more news……
Posted on April 28, 2014 3:34 am
April 28, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Monday April 28th - 2014
A quick site visit to the Don Mills nest site revealed what we were all suspecting, full time incubation is well underway and four eggs!!
While the Don Mills pair are now into their third year of nesting, they have chosen to set up house on the east column top of 250 Ferrand Drive instead of the sister building at 150.
For the past few weeks, the pair have been observed coming and going from a ledge on the top of an east facing column on 250 Ferrand Drive and obviously decided to utilize this new spot to lay and incubate their eggs.
The timing of my visit was perfect, as I caught the two involved in a shift change and was easily able to snap a few photos of resident adult moving onto the eggs. The best news, is that they are in hard incubation with 4 eggs and we’re all pretty excited about this news. Sadly, although, I was not able to get an identity of either resident adult birds given the speed of the shift change and my viewing angle.
Stay tuned,,,,,,,,,,
Posted on April 28, 2014 2:28 am
April 27, 2014 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
I would bet that we have a hatch at the Lift Bridge. Cirrus was very active in the nest box this afternoon. Up and down, up and down, and at times, her tail was hanging over the edge of the box. This is the first day that we have actually been able to see her in the box.
Mackenzie is up to his old tricks of hunting the pigeon holes when the bridge is open for a full lift. It is so amazing to watch him at this. He looks and looks into the various holes until he finds one that looks promising. Then it is a dive in to see what he can bring out. Unfortunately, Bill lost sight of him and we don’t know if he was successful.
This afternoon we found Mackenzie hanging out in the Hamilton Hydro Tower. He was very alert and watching all that was going on around him. All of a sudden, like a shot he left the tower and the next thing we know he was attacking a poor Gull that I guess, just got a little too close. The Gull screamed and made an abrupt turn and was out of there. Mackenzie made a quick check of the nest box and then landed n the front face of the Hamilton Tower. All was quite when we left.
If there is a hatch, now we wait to see how man little white heads will appear.
Posted on April 27, 2014 6:00 pm
