Morning Shift: Almost the same as yesterday but a lot more
flapping. The chicks were active until just after 10am and then
settled down. As yesterday, an adult spent the whole morning on the
north east corner of 130 Adelaide W. I left just before lunch with
Alex continuing the watch.
Sunday June 15th - 2014
3 Chicks Successfully banded at Waterford Vinemount Quarry in Stoney Creek Ontario!
June 15 was banding day for 3 healthy peregrine hatchlings - 2 males and 1 female.
We were met by Ian from the Waterford Vinemount quarry today along with Anne Yagi from the Vineland district office of the OMNR,,, John Miller, CPF’s volunteer rock climber and Bill and Sue from Burlington who were all willing to come out on their own time, (Sunday, and Fathers Day) to help get the young peregrine falcon hatchlings banded.
It took some time to work out the safest way down to the nest to collect the chicks as there was no where for John to anchor his ropes. A huge thank you to Ian who drove one of the Quarries giant wheel-loaders out to the field behind the nest site so we had something substantial for John to tie off too and attach his climbing lines to.
CPF fledge watch coordinators Bill and Sue from the Burlington lift bridge nest site came out to help to man the two way radios to communicate with John, Mark and Ann while Sue assisted myself and Anne manned the banding table.
Bill stayed at the upper parking area to direct both John and Mark via 2 way radio communication to direct them into the nest ledge spot overhead and keep an eye on the adults as they prepared the ropes and collection equipment for the decent down to the nest on the cliff face.
John did a incredible job safely extracting the chicks while Mark from the CPF lowered the carrier down to John, then down to Ann who was waiting at the base of the quarry floor below to receive them. Everything went exactly as planned and very smoothly despite all of the distractions.
All 3 chicks checked out very healthy and I must admit, were some of the most aggressive and feisty peregrine hatchlings that I have every had the pleasure to handle!
They were all hiss and talons, each one quite happy to strike out grab my gloves with their feet and talons and aggressively lash-out and bite hands throughout the entire process!
Actually, nice to see such healthy aggressive attitudes!
Anne and I banded the chicks as quickly as we could since poor John was still hanging out over the edge on the cliff face while trying to keep the adults distracted and busy so that they would not realize we had removed their chicks.
Throughout the entire process, the resident adults had quite a time indeed, as they successfully defended their nest and territory against several Turkey Vultures that were flew overtop and into the Quarry air space, in addition to dealing with the remote controlled gas powered model air planes and at least one remote controlled powered gas model jet that was being flown by others from across the concession road,, overtop, in and around of the Quarry during the entire banding process. It was a very busy airspace for sure!
We processed all 3 hatchlings through the banding in about 30 minutes, checked them over to make sure they were healthy, gave them each a drink of water took some photos and it was back to John to place them back in the nest.
The first chick a male was 606 grams at 24 days old and was named Stoney
The second was a female weighing 868 grams and the oldest at 28 days she was named Ariel by Ian’s daughter.
The third chick, another male was 602 grams and was given the name Cameron by Quarry staff.
We were able to confirm that the resident adults nesting at the Waterford Quarries are in fact Athena and Craig (both resident adults are in fact banded and known to us as being the resident territorial adults that attempted to nest in another area in Stoney Creek in a microwave dish on a communications tower last year).
I can say that they were very happy to see their chicks back on the nest no worse for ware and went out hunting for lunch for the little ones as soon as they were sure they had succeeded in chasing John and Mark off the cliff.
It was back to the more mundane duties of peregrine parenthood for the falcons.
An incredible day indeed, and a huge thank you to all that came out to support and help! What a fantastic team of caring people!!!
Stay tuned for the many photos to follow……..
As of 9 am Sunni was still on the roof of the middle tower. Pierre-Yves reappeared near the entry on Bloor St.
At approximately 6 am we had 2 chicks take off.
Sunni is currently on the roof of the middle office tower. Pierre was last seen over the entry to 3250 Bloor West but has now disappeared somewhere on the low roof.
More details and pics to follow.
On June 15, Tony and Lisa were on the watch in the morning. At 7:45 a.m., a big breakfast was brought to the tower by both adults. It was so large, the adult carrying the package looked and sounded like a duck, not a falcon. A whole lot of squawking was going on the roof. There was a lot of flapping of wings and at 8:10, Merry flew off the nest box to the roof! We suspect that breakfast was delivered on the rooftop but didn’t see the landing. As soon as Merry flew, the remaining 3 all came to the balcony to check out where Merry went. At 8:20 a turkey vulture flew by with no challenges from the parents. At around 8:50 it looked like Pippin also flew onto the roof but couldn’t be confirmed. One of the adults flew to one of the babies on the next box and veered sharply away at the last minute trying to coax the young one out of the nest.
At 5:30 p.m., Sandy was on the watch and all were accounted for. 3 were in the nest box and one was on the ledge strutting and bobbing and travelling back and forth, probably Merry. At 8:00 p.m., Lisa and Rudy were on the watch, and Merry was still walking back and forth across the ledge and testing his wings. At 8:15, he flew up and landed on the parapet to the left of the nest box. After walking back and forth along the top of the parapet, he then flew back to the top of the nest box and was joined by one of his siblings on top of the nest box, while a 3rd one was on the nest box balcony busy flapping her wings. The 2 on the nest box roof, jumped back into the nest box and were safe and sound for the night at 9:00.
Stay tuned! Photos to come shortly.
June 12 - Rudy & Tony were on the watch and witnessed both Mom and Dad dropping off food at 7:30 a.m. At noon, Michael watched as one of the adults attacked a turkey vulture that was in the no-fly zone. At 6:30, Lisa and Kelly watched as 3 chicks on the platform of the nest box flapped their wings. One of the adults came in and was prepping some food on the edge of the building between the parapet and the nest box, and then jumped down on the roof. Then only one chick was visible on the nest box and only the top of it’s head could be seen. It was looking down to the left on the roof towards where the adult jumped down.
Rudy, Helen & Tony at 7:30 p.m. saw one of the parents sped off from the side of the building, towards the hospital. It swooped up underneath a flock of black birds and caught one coming from below. It struggled as it flew back with the large package in its talons. At 9:00 there was only one baby visible on the nest box and was standing on the left corner very tall. About 15 minutes later the adults swooped around the building a few times. There was lots of screeching and carrying on. There have been quite a few turkey vulture sightings in the last few days. There is probably a lot of carnage on the roof top attracting the vultures!
June 13 – Rudy and Lisa were on the watch in the morning. At 9:00, one of the adults flew out towards Belmont towards some other large birds. All were flying around quite high until they were barely visible anymore. At 9:20 one of the adults was lumbering in with a large package and struggled to get to the parapet. The prepping of the bird began and feathers and wings were flying everywhere. The kill was a mourning dove, identified by a large clump of feathers that flew down to the visitors parking lot. Karen was on the watch from 1:30 to 4:00 in the afternoon. Merry (white tape), Pippin (blue tape), one of the girls and one of the adults were visible. One of the adults came and went a few times and could have dropped a treat over the side of the wall to the rooftop. It walked along the edge of the wall and below the nest box. There was a lot of squawking going on during the watch. Pippin and Merry were practicing their wing moves. Eventually, the other adult flew in and 3 of 4 of the babies showed themselves at the edge of the nest box platform. Possibly, the 4th was on the roof. Even when the 3 were in the nest box and could not be seen, someone was making a fair bit of noise. At the end of Karen’s watch, both parents had taken off. Sandy took over the watch at 4:30. There was some action with first one stretching it’s wings and then 2 more coming out to enjoy the fresh air. The baby stretching it’s wings added some comedy to the watch. It was very breezy and had it’s backside out towards the street with his tail feathers and wings completely outstretched when a gust of wind knocked him head first back into the box despite the talons trying to hold on tight! A few heads peeking out now and then with the odd wing stretch.
June 14 – Sandy and Tony were on the watch and all 4 young were present and accounted for. The parents both made an appearance too. Breakfast was served at 6:30. At 11:45 Michael was on the watch while 2 of the babies exercised their wings. At about the same time, one of the adults, possibly Caster, arrived from the Kitchener direction and landed on the “l” of Financial on the Park Street side of the building. He appeared to be preparing a food package.
Stay tuned! Photos to come shortly.
All four remain on the ledge. Lots more flapping and screaming late this afternoon, but everything had calmed down by dinner. Rhea Mae and Tiago were not in view for most of the evening. No flight training seen by either adult. Food was dropped to the ledge early this evening. All four had disappeared into the back of the ledge and out of street view by 9:p.m.
Morning Shift: At 7:45am, only one or two chicks could be seen on
the ledge at any one time. Around 10am, all four boys were visible
on the ledge. There was a little more flapping done today than
yesterday but they still are not acting like they are going to go.
One of the adults spent the whole morning on the north east corner
of 130 Adelaide W while the other adult was seen hunting in the
area. I left just before lunch with Bruce and Alex continuing the
watch.
Three of the four are in view Sunday 1:30p.m. I suppose the youngest, Oliver is camped out in the shade and out of view. Watch continues
Sunday June 15th - 2014
Sorry for the lack of updates, but we have been busy in the streets on the fledge watch itself. Its been a busy week with six different banding events over the past 7 days from Windsor to Mississauga to Scarborough to Stoney Creek and overlapping fledge watches and our final school visits in between.
Stay tuned for updates as soon as I can get to a computer and the internet long enough to do some postings.
Quickly update, two hatchlings have successfully fledged and one left to take its first flight. So far so good.
Observation and photos to follow.