May 20, 2014 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
May 20th - 2014
Great news today as my visit was well timed! Two hatchlings confirmed at the Yellow pages & Petra nest site on Milner Ave., in Scarborough.
Sadly, due to the rain, and knowing that Linn would be very aggressive, I only brought my camera phone with me expecting that my visit wold be very short, so the photos are not the best. (Although, the purpose of our visit is not for a photo shoot, but to document and confirm a hatch so that banding can be arranged with the MNR and building management and the site can be managed appropriately).
Both Rueben and Linn were on site and strongly suggested that I not hang around, which I was more than happy to oblige them.
Stay tuned for more updates………
Posted on May 21, 2014 11:35 am
May 21, 2014 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday I was down to the MEC site to continue the watch for Mason after his release the previous evening. Mark put him back up on the roof of the nest building after dark following his treetop adventure and rescue to give him the evening to rest up and rejuvenate. I arrived at just shortly after 5:30am and set out looking for young Mason but he wasn’t in sight. I checked the roof retaining wall, all the ledges and all the buildings but not a peep or a peek. The adults seem equally confused and appeared to be looking as well. The were calm and relaxed as the went from perch to perch scanning the horizon and all food that came in that morning they consumed right away.
Grace relieved me at 7:30am and she set up to watch MEC 1 where Mason was released. Throughout the day she checked around the buildings and watched the adults but still no sign of Mason. Just in case he decided to pull a silly move on us, Grace also checked the cooling tower area on the nest building but still no Mason.
By 4pm we were both frustrated with the lack of so much as a single call for food and seeing as he hadn’t eaten in almost two days we were getting a bit worried. I headed down after work and pulled into MEC 2 to relieve a tuckered out Grace at around 5pm as she was just finishing her ground check of MEC 2. As I drove in I saw her swivel sharply around towards the nest building and the second I stopped my car, I also looked up. Well now… …just where have you been all day little man!!
Mason was on the southeast corner of MEC 1, on the top of the windows of the nest ledge, and he was just howling for food!! We don’t know where he came in from or what he had been up to but the relief that we both felt was incredible. Both adults were all over him now. The male flew in with food right away and Mason sooooo picked his pocket and ran. Mine, mine, mine!!! Rogue landed on the opposite side of Mason and the look said it all. She was standing so erect with neck stretched out looking at him and looked both relieved and furious at the same time. Renegade left and was on a hunt immediately and Rogue sought out a cache to feed Mason with. Mason stayed on the southeast corner the entire evening and was being fed every half an hour just for good measure. He never once refused food and was stuffed!! Winston came by to relieve me and was joined by Mark for the close of the evening watch. Mason was back and was demanding his share and more before the night was over.
After Mason’s big adventure in the tree and his epic flight to get out of it, its no wonder that the boy was quiet all day. I’m sure that he found himself a spot to rest and the agenda for the day was to get himself together for his next flight. Still, he could have told us!! We are very glad to see he’s up and active this evening for sure.
Thank you so much Grace for staying the course throughout the day looking for Mason and thanks to Winston and Mark for relieving me this evening. We will continue the watch for another day to assess his flying skills with the hope that the watch can be scaled back to spot checks should he show us he’s got it all together now.
Posted on May 21, 2014 8:35 am
May 20, 2014 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Marilyn Weller Reports:
Windsor volunteer Paul reports that he saw 2 beaks receiving food from Voltaire tonight. Still can’t see any heads but we have at least 2 chicks so far!
Posted on May 20, 2014 8:11 pm
May 20, 2014 - Mississauga - Holcim
Marion Nash Reports:
Hi everyone,
Here is an update on the peregrines: We have, as of this morning, Tuesday May 20th, 2014, 4 chicks in the nest. ( Pictures attached). So..I think it is fair to say that what looked like egg shells on Friday, likely was. Therefore I think the hatch started on Friday May 16th, 2014.
All seems to be well on the nest ledge. 
Posted on May 20, 2014 1:39 pm
May 20, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Marion Nash Reports:
Banding day for the Amexon-Don Mills and Eglinton chicks will be June 5th at 2:00PM
Posted on May 20, 2014 1:05 pm
May 20, 2014 - Toronto - King Street
Marion Nash Reports:
Banding day for the 18 King chicks is set for June 5th at 10:00 AM on the 3rd floor. come and see the banding or watch the extraction on the web cam.
Posted on May 20, 2014 12:53 pm
May 20, 2014 - Mississauga - Holcim
Marion Nash Reports:
Barb reports
Armando noticed some egg pieces around the nest on May 16th, but we haven’t been able to photograph the chicks yet to confirm.
Posted on May 20, 2014 12:06 pm
May 20, 2014 - Toronto - King Street
Jan Chudy Reports:
Snapped via the web cam from France at 8:20 a.m. Toronto time, three eggs are clearly shown beside the one hatchling. Hope his brothers or sisters turn up soon.
Posted on May 20, 2014 8:28 am
May 20, 2014 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Jan Chudy Reports:
Finally, I was able to capture a shot of the 4 hatchlings being fed. Just after 2 p.m. France time, so just after 8 a.m. Toronto time. Wonderful.
Posted on May 20, 2014 8:14 am
May 19, 2014 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Mark Nash Reports:
May 19th - 2014
Monday evening report:
Well, once again we find ourselves meeting face to face! Responding to Tracy’s call, (and after a short consultation), we agreed to hold Mason for a short period of time for observations due to his collision with the glass again and a very hard contact with the ground. This with the benefits of being able to release him under the cover of darkness allowing me to get off the upper roof elevation after his release and not scaring him into a panic flight that could cause him to get into something even worse.
As many of you might know, peregrines don’t see particularly well in the dark at all, and as such, they are very vulnerable from other night predators, (especially from that of the Great horned owls that are out on the prowl after dark) and they know it!
Peregrines, among some other raptors that also don’t see well in the darkness, instinctually go into self protection mode in the dark, with their only real means of defense is to remain both quiet and motionless to avoid detection,,, - (thus the use of falconry hoods, darkened carriers, black rescue towels and darkened rooms for hold overs). Its not that peregrines like the dark, so much as they go into this instinctual self protection mode and remain quiet and still. Also a good stress free environment to settle the birds down when we’re looking to observe them for obvious injuries and traumas.
The darkened roof-top basically achieves the same conditions and allows us to release the bird safely without it bolting into a panic flight before you can safely get off the roof and out of its sight. It also allows us to release a rescued fledgling to the same roof top where they might be other fledglings and scaring them off these elevations prematurely.
Over the years, we have developed a very safe way to release a peregrine in this fashion with the use of a black towel. This is a procedure that allows us to both release the bird in safe fashion and also allows us to take the rescue carrier back off the roof with us upon its release, thus giving us the luxury of not having to return to the roof a second time to retrieve the rescue carrier (or leave debris on the various rooftops after a release). Some of these roof-top are very windy places, easily able to blow rescue carriers off the roof itself, (and we don’t want to go there)!!
In addition, this also prevents any further un-necessary human activity to retrieve carriers at these elevations that may cause a fledgling to panic into premature flight.
While this seems trivial, remember that over the years, we have had fledge watches when we have had three rescued fledglings all in their separate carriers that all came down during a single fledge watch shift!
So how do you release three fledglings safely back to the roof without forcing them into a panic flight? Develop a safe procedure and protocol! We’ve got plenty of experience over the past 17 years, (and the CPF rescued fledglings to date are now well over 200 rescues), and counting.
So back to Mason, successfully released back to the nest building roof without incident.
Stay tuned……….
Posted on May 20, 2014 1:30 am
