June 13, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Ann Brokelman Reports:
Mac successfully fledged but with some great adventures. He should sleep well tonight.
What a day at Don Mills and Eglinton. When I arrived Lucie and Richard - watchers had Mac (red tape) on the building to the south of nesting ledge. Mac had 3 short flights while on the south building - a hop step and a jump all before 3:30pm The other two on nest ledge and were flapping like crazy and look like they too are ready to fly and both adults on the letter N.
Suddenly Mac at 4:00pm is in the air and safely back to the nest building on the window ledge around the corner of the nest. Both adults were flying by and landing just above him. So this was his 4th flight and a really nice smooth flight and landing. Thinking that was it for the day we were all cheering him on. Suddenly again Mac was off and he is heading directly across the Don Valley Parkway with both Jenna and Chester behind him. He again flew strong but all the building were very high on the other side. We saw him try to hang like a bat but looked like he was getting lower and lower and then out of site. So somewhere over the DVP and around the 3 big private apartment building was Mac. Lucie and Richard took off to see if they could find him on the ground around the buildings. I called Mark and Tracy. Mark and Bruce were on the way.
The search by Lucie and Richard took a few hours but no luck. Both adults were going back and forth between nest ledge and the apartment building. Both adults would then come back to the nest building and to our amazement mated. OK. Lucie , Richard and Bruce went back to the last known site of Mac. Lucie got permission to check the top of the building and reported no sign of Mac but both adults were flying close by. To the right I saw one adult coming across DVP, then the second adult and there below them was young Mac following his parents. He did a hard landing on the roof of the nest building but was home safe and sound. wow.
What a great flight young Mac did. This was flight number 6 for the day and two very long and dangerous flights. Thinking we were done for the day I start to put my stuff in car when I see a peregrine in the air. Yup it was Mac going to the ICCI building. Finally an adult came to him at the ICCI with a huge pigeon. Within 10 min there come Mac back to the nest building and landed on another window ledge. Last I saw he was laying down sleeping on the ledge. Both adults were on the letter N and the 2 were still in the nest ledge.
Young Mac took 8 flights in one day. Scared many of the watchers . But it was a successful story for Mac.
I must admit I was so amazed by Jenna and Chester and the way they flew together and helped young Mac from each location. Loving and dedicated parents are the falcons.
Photos to come. Ann
Posted on June 13, 2014 10:24 am
June 12, 2014 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:
As of June 2nd, the 7th & 8th eggs are gone. No sign of any more activity in the nest box. We are very disappointed.
Posted on June 12, 2014 9:55 pm
June 11, 2014 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
Yesterday, at 6:00 p.m. the 2 adults kicked up a fuss as a turkey vulture soared too close to the nest box. Perhaps there is some leftover kills on the roof enticing them to come too close. The adults could be trying to coax the kids down from the nest box to the roof with some tasty treats. Tony and Rudy were out on watch in the evening, however it was pretty quiet with no sightings of the youngsters.
The official fledge watch started today! According to the MNR estimates, Merry turned 36 days old today and could potentially fly at any time. Tony, Helen and Rudy were on the watch between 8 and 9 tonight and our young falcons were sighted on the ledge of the nest box, testing and flapping their wings. Looking quite grown up in a little over a week, there is barely any white fluff left on the youngsters. All was quite at the end of the day, when one adult flew out and back onto the top of the nest box and then disappeared on the roof at about 9:15. What a great start to the fledge watch! More details to come!
Photos courtesy of Karen von Knobloch.
Posted on June 11, 2014 11:31 pm
June 10, 2014 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Glad to see all four back in the nest tray. They love camping out at the far end of the ledge out of view during the day, much cooler back there out of the sun. Looks like still lots of fluff on them, but that will quickly change as the week progresses. We expect a start of the fledge watch on Saturday morning at the latest. We can use all the help we can get during the day and early evening.
Posted on June 10, 2014 5:11 pm
June 09, 2014 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Although I was set to attend the Burlington Lift Bridge watch today I was unable to get down there and so Bill, Sue, David, Rob and Barry have provided me with an update of Ghent’s adventures today. Bill and Sue found him this morning on the top of the lift bridge towers and throughout the day he made several flights back and forth between them. His flights are really strong and he is beginning to improve on his landings. No more smashing into mommy bird to stop! He received several feedings today and was really maintaining his altitude well. This evening he spent time again at the top of the lift bridge and it looks as though, barring any serious miscalculation on his part, that Ghent is well on his way. His next big step will be to return home to the nest box which is a challenging feat and will show us without a doubt that he has acquired the control and skills to successfully move on to some serious training with MacKenzie. Great job everyone and thank you to all the watchers today for the updates.
Posted on June 10, 2014 3:51 pm
June 08, 2014 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Tracy Simpson Reports:
When I arrived at the lift bridge, the first thing I did was do a sweep of the CCIW area looking for Ireland. Today is the fifth day that he has been away from the bridge. My scans yielded no sign of him so I headed over to the bridge to meet up with Bill, Sue and Barry to watch Ghent. Now that he is out of the house our attention is going to watching him and making sure that he is safe. In the morning he was found on the top of the lift bridge tower looking really good after spending the night in the scaffolding. We watched him as he hopped out to the arms of the lights and back again while Cirrus sat in the hydro tower and MacKenzie hung out on his beam on the Burlington side. Without a peep Ghent took off of the tower and flew directly over to the top of the Skyway bridge arch and the only reason we realized that he did this is Cirrus was over there giving him a lecture. She wasn’t too fond of him being there and really let him have it. He had landed on a horizontal beam that crossed over the road of the Skyway and was weaving his way through the girder. Just then another watcher arrived and after we exchanged greetings, we turned to point out his location but we couldn’t see him. Barry looked up at the tower and sure enough Ghent had made another silent ninja flight over to the Burlington tower of the lift bridge and was now on the top of the elevator shaft. Little stinker! He stayed there for a while and then decided to try for the Hamilton side but had way too much of a head of steam and overshot his landing slightly using the elevator shaft on that roof as a back stop. He stayed there for a while and then made another flight over to the Skyway arch as this seemed like much more fun. At this point Cirrus went to retrieve a pigeon that she stashed earlier and things got a little crazy. MacKenzie followed her and tried to sneak in and swipe the lunch off of her that she now gave to Ghent. This did not go well in MacKenzie’s favour. The three sat on the Skyway and snacked for a while just as the rains now came in. This settled everyone down as Ghent enjoyed his first rainbath, Cirrus went off to the Hamilton tower for her own shower and MacKenzie landed on the cable arm on the Hamilton side. A short 15 minutes or so later, the whole family was asleep.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, MacKenzie woke up and began kakking…. …at nothing! He looked around and found his mate and offspring both sound asleep where he left them and so back to sleep he went. Just bizarre!! Dreaming of pigeons perhaps. As the rains began to taper off Ghent became active and decided to go for the hydro tower where Cirrus was sitting. First he went to the Burlington tower roof and then off to the hydro tower with quite the speed! He came in way too fast and this time used Cirrus to stop crashing into her and sending her into the air as he hit. I bet Cirrus never thought being an airbag for Ghent was a part of the deal. He stayed in the tower for a while and then did several more flights, always maintaining his height and landing kind of well considering this was his second day out. He finished off the day back in the Hamilton hydro tower with Cirrus looking on and MacKenzie now under the Skyway for the night.
Ghent is doing incredibly well and is on his way to skilled flight. Unfortunately Ireland remained unaccounted for today and after 4 days of extensive ground searches we now consider him missing in action. As with all fledge watches, we take the good with the bad and do the absolute best that we can. I can say for certain that there is no better crew out here and their efforts on behalf of this family have been outstanding. Thank you to Bill and Sue, Barry and Linda, David and Rob, Bruce, Margaret, the Rochester girls and all those that have been down attending, watching, searching and supporting the Burlington Lift Bridge pair. This watch could not be going as well as it has without you!
Posted on June 10, 2014 3:50 pm
June 08, 2014 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I stopped in briefly at the MEC site to pick up some of the fledge watch equipment to transfer over to Etobicoke Sun Life that starts this Wednesday. When I pulled in I hoped for a quick look at Mason before I had to head off down to the Burlington watch. I arrived at MEC 1 just in the nick of time as Mason was perched up on the Intact sign on MEC 4. As I stepped out of my car, he took to the air and headed straight out over the street where he met Renegade in the air! The adult male had a small piece of food with him and I was awestruck watching this little man make his first aerial food transfer!! What a great job Mason! He grabbed the food, which really was just a tiny little piece, and flew around to the back of MEC 3 to eat. I picked up the fledge watch kit and headed around to see if I could catch sight of him. When I got to the back parking lot I found it full of cars for the farmers market that they now have there and a few onlookers who caught sight of the flight. I can’t think of a better way to spend an early Sunday morning than eating the first Ontario strawberries and watching little Mason triumphantly eating his snack! Great job little man!
Posted on June 10, 2014 3:49 pm
June 09, 2014 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Marilyn Weller Reports:
Plans are underway for banding of the 4 chicks at the Ambassador Bridge nest site in Windsor this Thursday. We are grateful for the support our site receives from the Ambassador Bridge Corporation, the Canadian Peregrine Foundation and the Ministry of Natural Resources without whose support, banding would not be possible.
Posted on June 9, 2014 8:45 pm
June 09, 2014 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Marilyn Weller Reports:
Taken from a FB entry today by the
Peregrine Falcons Southeast Michigan
Interesting day of Peregrine Patrol for Chris Becher and Barb Baldinger! After our busy, exciting Friday of banding in both Mt. Clemens and Warren, we decided to take our scopes and stools to just sit at the marina of the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club and watch the tower for peregrine falcon activity. After an hour of seeing only pigeons go in and out of the space where the falcons were possibly nesting, we talked to the Harbor Master. He said they have been gone for over a week…. Disappointing!
We moved on to the “Nine Mile Tower” (Shore Club Apartments & Marina) in St. Clair Shores. There was a peregrine falcon sitting on the balcony of one the penthouse apartments. Time to meet the management! From the security guard at the gate of the Shore Club Apartments & Marina to the general manager, everyone was very nice and knew all about the peregrine falcons. We were escorted to a vacant penthouse apartment on the 26th floor and went up the spiral stairs to the bedroom level. There were two peregrine falcons! One flew off right away, but the other just stood on the balcony rail and looked at us. We read her black/red, 20/W band and checked the Midwest Peregrine Society data base. Her name is Theresa, from St. Mary’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. She was hatched and banded in 2012. The male returned and we saw from his black, 22/V band that he is General Brock, hatched and banded in 2012 at the Ambassador Bridge. This is the same pair that had been seen at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club earlier this season. There was no sign of nesting on the balcony, so we were guided up the stairs and ladder to the roof. No nesting there either, but WOW, what a view! Since they are both young birds, we hope they stay around and nest at one of the locations next year.
Posted on June 9, 2014 8:39 pm
June 09, 2014 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:
This image captured this morning. Thea, camping out behind the pillar out of the sun. She is really getting big and very fluffy.
Posted on June 9, 2014 9:39 am
