June 16, 2014 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Monday morning started off with a bang for Kathy and Baylie at the Etobicoke Sun Life nest site. When Kathy left home she had all 4 chicks on the nest ledge but that was not to be the case when she arrived. She met up with Baylie who was out watching the morning wing flap fest and now they could only find two on the ledge instead of four. Ok… They started searching the area for the two missing chicks and found Sunni on the roof of the centre tower and Pierre on the canopy above the entrance to 3250 Bloor Street. Sunni was in their sights and in a good position and so they put the heaviest focus of their attention on Pierre who was now admiring himself in the reflective glass behind him. He sat there for quite some time before slipping off during a stretch and coming to the ground. By this time Rob and Rene had joined Kathy and Baylie at streetside and they all watched from the south side of Bloor Street as Pierre fluttered down to the doorway of the east tower and started to walk towards the road. Kathy was off like a shot across the street and before he knew it he was in a towel. He was attempting to flap his way out and so for added effect, Rene removed her jacket and threw that over top as well. Kathy marched little Pierre right into security and into the rescue carrier he went. They made their way back out into the street to watch Sunni hoping that his next flight would be a stellar one.
Sunni did a few more nice flights that ended him up on the railing of the Kingsway on the Park terrace where he spent the bulk of the day. Food went several times to Heaton and Skyla on the ledge while Sunni continued to bee bop around on the west tower. Finally Sunni took another flight and Kathy described it as just gorgeous. He made two large circles around the top of the centre tower and a nice landing on the west tower to finish it off. Great job!! At around 4:30pm Kathy went in to the Sun Life building and as she passed the All Trans live stream of the cameras, Skyla took off!! Kathy was out the door immediately and saw her flying low out towards Aberfoyle. Jim was now with Kathy and the two watched as she turned back towards the nest building and grabbed onto the concrete. After doing “the bat” for a minute or two she started to scramble and slide down the wall. She let go and headed over to the Kingsway on the Park west tower 16 stories up on a very narrow window ledge. There she was as I arrived and it was just then that Sunni took another flight. The bird headed towards the nest building and attempted to land on the ledge but was too low and flumped into the window. He quickly recovered and flew over to the Kingsway on the Park and landed on the outside of a balcony on the 20th floor. Sunni decided to try again for the nest ledge and flew around to the south side of the east tower and flumped up against a window. After circling back around Sunni once again made for the nest building and made a second flump on the east side windows. This time our little fledgling fluttered down and ended up on the roof of the mezzanine level. After two window flumps I decided to go up and check on the young one so off to security I went. When I got up the ladder to the roof I could see Sunni sitting on the ground looking good but deflated. I decided that a rescue was in order so off I went and scooped up little Sunni. Given that this bird was borderline in weight at banding and we weren’t sure of its sex, I can say for sure that Sunni is a male. I headed over to the hatch to have the carrier sent up when all of a sudden Skyla decided that the window ledge was not working out for her. She flew over to the nest building, did “the bat girl” and hung for a second. She then flew back out towards Kingsway on the Park but was too low to use that option and made for the nest building again. Flump, into the window right above me and then flutter, flutter down to my feet. Really? Ok… I slowly crouched down, put my hand on her back and gently pushed her down to a laying position. She obliged as she was a little stunned and I slid my hand down to encapsulate her wings, legs and tail and picked her up like a popsicle. I now had Sunni under one arm and Skyla under the other. Just then I realized that I hadn’t really thought this through as to how I was going to get them in carriers and off the roof but decided I would figure that out once I got to the hatch. O’Connor had other plans…
As I stood up with two of her chicks, one under each arm, in came Mommy bird and boy was she mad. She stooped me on the low mezzanine roof over half a dozen times as I made my way over to the hatch. The last stoop she raked my sunglasses on the top of my head and she now owes me a new pair. I got to the hatch and asked security to get me a second box and send up the carrier. He came back with a collegue and the carrier came up first. I took Skyla and scooted her into the carrier and slammed shut the door. Done!! Then up came a cardboard box that was quite large and I plunked little Sunni into it and slammed the lid shut. Double done!! Down to security they went with Pierre and next thing you know it I was down at Eagle Road with Jim with a great story to tell.
Mark came down at dusk to give me a hand with a triple release. We put the birds in a carrier, up to the roof and took the door off of the carrier to allow them to come out on their own. The three were up and home with little Heaton still on the ledge. All is well.
A huge thank you to Kathy, Rene, Baylie, Jim, Rob and Mark for all of their efforts today to watch the kids, rescue Pierre and return him home! Also I would like to offer up an enormous thank you to Paragon Security, especially to Tom and David, for their efforts to help me get off the roof with my two little bundles of peregrine joy while dealing with the wrath of O’Connor. Without your help I would have been really stuck up there with a conundrum… …or two in this case. Tomorrow should be a busy day with the first three having fledged, come down, been rescued and now released. Phew!!!
Posted on June 20, 2014 10:57 pm
June 15, 2014 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This past Sunday Baylie started the morning shift and noted that there was a lot of flapping on the ledge from both Sunni and Pierre and we expected that we might have a flight today. Jack arrived at 7am with a small package of food which he just dropped on the ledge and left for the kids to work out. About 15 minutes later, O’Connor flew in and began beak feeding each nestling in turn filling their crops. Kathy arrived shortly after 9am and we settled in for a long day of watching. From 7:30am until about 11:30am there was much frantic flapping on the ledge by all four little ones and it was around this time that O’Connor brought in another larger package of food. As if they now needed it, Jack flew in 15 minutes later with food and dropped for the chicks to sort out. We were joined by Rob and Angie and we all watched as the chicks worked off much of their new found energy flapping like mad. By 1pm they were spent. O’Connor flew in and landed on top of the web camera housing which now put all four chicks into nap mode. The five of them all slept the afternoon away until just before 2pm.
Just before 2pm Kathy and I were chatting away while the family slept when suddenly we heard alarm calling by O’Connor and she went after something just below her on the ledge. Before we could get binoculars up to our eyes she was in the air and after a male in aggressive pursuit. At first we thought that it was Jack who had arrived and landed on the ledge but given the behaviour that Kathy and I were now seeing, we were sure we had an intruder. What made this most unusual is that the male was pursing O’Connor with ferocity. He made a pass at the ledge and she went absolutely crazy on this male. The two of them spent almost an hour in the air stooping and diving, most often initiated by the male. After reviewing many, many photos of the incident I could see that this bird has a solid black recovery band on his left leg and a silver USFW band on the right. This is contrary to Jack as he is banded backwards which is always the first clue we look for when confirming Jack’s identity. This bird was not Jack. After 3pm O’Connor had finally had enough of this male and chased him way off to the southeast and out of the territory for good… …at least for now.
By 4:30pm Jack had flown in to the retaining wall above the nest ledge (his ID was confirmed) and he was looking off to the southeast with serious intent. He was stretched up, slicked down and neck craned in the direction that O’Connor had chased the intruding male and we believe that he could see him. At this point O’Connor was in the ledge to the right of the nest ledge and once Jack arrived, she relaxed for the first time in hours. Jack retrieved a cache which he took to the ledge and left for the kids after which he flew a circuit around the nest building and landed on the next ledge to the right of O’Connor. Unlike Jack’s behaviour as of late, he stayed and let O’Connor rest for over 20 minutes before taking off and stooping the Kingsway tower rooftop. He was able to grab a small bird that he then cached it before taking off and out of sight to the north. All was calm again at the nest ledge and by 6pm Jack had once again returned. He spent most of his time doing recon flights around all three towers before once again disappearing north. The rest of the evening was spent watching the chicks flapping like mad as O’Connor went shopping for the evening meal that she beak fed to the young ones before putting them to bed.
Thank you to all that came out today to help watching the Etobicoke Sun Life family. You are the best team for the job and this couldn’t be such a positive watch without you. A special thanks to Baylie for her early morning checks, Rob and Angie for joining us and feeding us, Jim for checking in with his wife, Kathy who is the backbone of the watch and Bob for his check ins as well.
Posted on June 20, 2014 10:49 pm
June 20, 2014 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Really?!? Come now, this just can’t be happening!! The watch today started with Kathy checking in on Sunni and Skyla and their progress with flight training. She started off with one on the west tower and O’Connor on the centre tower. All throughout the morning, she had one… …just one. She circled the buildings over and over again searching the slanted glass windows, going up into the building for an elevated look with security and walking. Walking, walking, and walking some more until she thought her legs would fall off. Still she only had one chick and one adult in view at any one time. She believed that the youngster she’d been following all day was Skyla based on her size in comparison with that of O’Connor. But where was Sunni?
Jim and Rob helped out throughout the day as well. Walking and walking. Looking and worrying. Still no Sunni to be found. I got out of work at around 3pm and started to make my way down towards the Sun Life site to support the search. When I was getting close I received a phone call from Marion that the CPF Head Office had been contacted by a resident in the condos at 2 Aberfoyle and that they had a peregrine on their balcony trapped behind the glass. Off I went down to the site and when I got up to the residence, sure enough here was little Sunni chillin’ out on top of a lounge chair. I spent a few minutes talking with the resident and then decided to head out for a potential rescue. Given his position at the time, I was sure that he was going to fly as soon as I went outside but you never know. Sure enough, as soon as I opened the door he was off to the east along Aberfoyle doing a great flight. I caught his reflection in the glass of the nest building and saw that he had hooked back and was now flying over top of the condo I was on. I thanked the resident and made my way back into the street to see where he went. Agh… …where did you go. Walking, walking and more walking. Where are you?!?!
Tired and frustrated I decided to head back towards the car. Just as I reached Islington and was about to head south, who should come bombing in from the north but Sunni!! He was up at the Cordova Avenue apartments and was making his way back. He did a great job circling until he gained enough height to reach the rooftop and made a really great landing on the retaining wall. Now you behave!!
Gratefully, the rest of the evening was rather sedate. Both Skyla and Sunni were taking nice flights around the building and I had one more good heart pounder when Skyla decided to follow O’Connor on a hunt out towards Kipling subway. She returned less than a minute later with Mommy hot on her tail chasing her back into the territory. At nightfall, Skyla was on the west tower with O’Connor, Jack had come, fed and was off to bed and Sunni was on the centre tower.
Ok. Cut it out. We are all exhausted!
Posted on June 20, 2014 10:09 pm
June 14, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Mark Nash Reports:
Saturday June 14th - 2014
Again sorry for the late postings, but its been crazzzzy busy in the streets on the various fledge watches and dealing with CPF head office business,, (now 6 active fledge watches on the go)!!!
A big thank you to Ann for sending in some of her photos from the Don Mill Amexon nest site at Don Mills and Eglinton.
Ann writes:
I was sitting at the back of the parking lot watching for any action. Suddenly Mac flew from 250 Ferrand drive building to the 150 Ferrand drive building when Jenna came out of now where from below Mac and followed him to the 150 Ferrand drive building. The love and care is so amazing. I am in love this series of shots. They are 80% crop.
Ann
Posted on June 20, 2014 12:54 pm
June 19, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills
Mark Nash Reports:
Sadly, I’m not really sure which of the last three days on the fledge watch that these great photos from Ann are from as its all been a blurrrrr with everything going on, but they are incredible shots never the less.
Ann’s e-mail was dated June 19th and arrived without any observation report to go along with them, but I will take a chance and say that they are likely from this June 19th.
Some of the photos are labelled Hayes, so we know that some of the photos are of the little male fledgling named “Hayes” while he was on the lower window ledges of the 220 Duncan Mills nest building.
Another great shot of “Sky”, the resident adult male as he flew overhead watching the watchers watch little Hayes watch the watchers 
Wow, did I just say that??? What did I just say??? Does that even make sense??? If you are a fledge watcher, you will understand
Blame sleep deprivation, its our only friend at this time of year.
Enjoy, they’re great shots!!
Posted on June 20, 2014 11:30 am
June 20, 2014 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Mark Nash Reports:
Very sorry for the late postings, but its been more than a little crazzzy busy with on-going banding events for the past three weeks and overlapping fledge watches in the streets now a 6 different nest sites all over southern Ontario!!
Oh my goodness, there are simply not enough hours in the day for any of us!!
Enjoy………
Posted on June 20, 2014 9:52 am
June 20, 2014 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Mark Nash Reports:
A big thank you to Larry Ludwicki for sending in some of his photos of the banding.
Enjoy!
Posted on June 20, 2014 9:42 am
June 20, 2014 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
This evening, it was reported from the day shift, that one of the fledgling had taken a second attempt at flight. I found it exactly in the area it was last spotted. The little guy stayed there all evening and was still there at night fall and the end of the watch for the night. Three remain on the nest ledge. Not sure who we have off the ledge until we can get a visual on the band colour.
The Watch continues, and as the young become mobile more assistance will be needed to follow them to ensure they are flying well and staying high. King St watch will be starting soon as well.
Posted on June 20, 2014 9:15 am
June 19, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills
Mark Nash Reports:
Thursday June 19th - 2014
A good fourth day on the Duncan Mills fledge watch with little Cosmo finally being located on the east upper roof elevation of 240 Duncan Mill Road and made seven short flights while chasing his parents around for food, and Little Hayes finally coming to the ground, (and after a short but intense foot chase around both buildings - on both sides of the street), was successfully scooped-up and later released back to the nest building roof top.
The other two Duncan Mills hatchlings still remain lounging around on the nest ledge by the end of the day.
By 11am, the day was not sounding so good as the calls came in from two other fledge watch groups with some very sad news of mortalities. Rob from the Etobicoke fledge watch team reported that one of their young fledglings had slammed into the glass windows of one of the office towers and was killed on impact.
Tony from the Sun Life Kitchener Waterloo fledge watch team called shortly after Rob to report that one of their young fledglings had also flown into the glass windows of the office tower and also died on impact as a result of that collision. By early afternoon, the third bad news call came in from Tony at the Kitchener Waterloo fledge watch team explaining that a second KW fledgling had just been killed as a result of an impact with a building.
For us here at the Duncan Mills fledge watch, the news was, thank-goodness much better, but I must admit, I was hesitant to answer the next 14 calls that came in over the balance of the day.
Over the course of the day, little Hayes stumbled off the ledge yet again and fluttered down to a lower window ledge elevation (now only two stories from the ground) as he continued to ledge hop from one end of the building to the other while screaming most of the day at his parents for attention and food. Several of the 220 tenants came across the street to speak with us asking if there was anything that they could do for him as his screaming was almost unbearable to listen to for many of the occupants inside the building.
I gotta admit, his constant whaling throughout the day was quite un-nerving and you couldn’t help but feel sorry for the little guy.
Quest on the other hand was , spent a large part of her afternoon ignoring him, and actually spent a large part of her afternoon lounging around on the nest ledge with the Stormy and Rainbow on the nest ledge. She actually spent several hours laying down in front of the nest box with them in quite a heart warming family session of touching beaks with each other.
Sky, (the resident adult male) on the other hand, spent most of his afternoon in the shade in typical peregrine fashion, on the top of the window sil under the roof overhang on the corner of the 240 Duncan Mill road building.
By early evening,, around 8pm- (just around the falcon follies time when peregrine usually get frisky and start flying again), all of the action took place. Little Hayes finally came down to the ground and only after several foot chases and three ground rescue attempts later, was finally scooped up from the ground in the carrier safe and sound.
Little Cosmo was finally located on the upper roof elevation on the east side of 240 Duncan Mill Road after not being seen for almost two days since his release back to the 220 nest building roof top.
Cosmo was the super star of the day, as he made several very strong flights (actually eight flights) from the roof tops of 220, 240, 225 and back again while chasing both his parents around for food. He was finally rewarded and fed by Quest on the roof top of 225.
Sky did bring in several pigeons today and Quest quickly snatched his food deliveries and fed the two nest box hatchlings during the falcon follies period. Little Hayes was the only one that didn’t get food today. As a matter of fact, Hayes didn’t get food yesterday as well but not to be worried, as he is still dealing with allot of baby fat, clearly evident after the physical examination I completed prior to his release back to the roof this evening.
Stay tuned…………..
Posted on June 19, 2014 11:33 pm
June 19, 2014 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Baylie was out at first light to check on Skyla in the big old maple tree on Eagle Road and see how she was making out. She checked the tree over from top to bottom but no sign of Skyla anywhere. When Rob and Kathy arrived, they joined Baylie in searching around the three towers, the mezzanine levels and the Aberfoyle neighbourhood. After much searching and circling, they found Skyla on the mezzanine level near the Good Life fitness centre and the team was quite relieved. She was low but no worse for wear in her current location and so the watch team sought out the boys location on the towers. They located both Sunni and Pierre on the west tower and they had Skyla up on the mezzanine. By this time she had dropped down and out of their view so the watchers were using the reflective glass at the base of the columns (slanted and reflects the rooftop image) to keep an eye on her. There was a flurry of activity and they believed that Skyla may have flown and so made a round of the building to check on her location. During a sweep past a segment of windows, they could see a falcon laying down on the mezzanine roof. Kathy and Rob quickly reacted and headed into security for assistance to retrieve the bird they had seen. At the time the bird was laying down and not moving and so they were concerned that Skyla had taken flight and not done well but rather struck the glass in her attempt to get back home. When they reached the rooftop and approached the bird it was now clear that this was a recovery; the bird had perished. The biggest shock came when they picked the bird up and realized that it was Pierre that had struck the glass and passed due to the impact. The team was devastated.
The loss of Pierre was so frustrating for us all as he really was flying quite well even though most of his flights were only building to building, rooftop to rooftop. He was maintaining his altitude, flying with control and his landings were improving with each flight that he took. When these fledglings get to the point that Pierre was at, flying fairly well and staying high, they can all too often get caught up in a strong wind or travel too fast and strike the towers with a fatal blow. Pierre’s loss is such a sad event for us all but we will soldier on for Skyla and Sunni. The team of watchers at Etobicoke Sun Life never fail to be there for the birds that we all care so much for and I cannot give them enough accolades for their efforts. They truly are incredible.
Pierre was taken by Rob to a secure location for holding while Kathy and Baylie searched for Sunni and Skyla. Sunni was staying high on the rooftop retaining walls but Skyla had obviously flown again and her location was uncertain. The rest of the day was spent in quiet repose watching Sunni and waiting for a sign as to where Skyla might be. Kathy was relieved by Jim for the afternoon and I arrived later in the early evening to take over and close for the night. I was determined to find Skyla and so I walked, and walked and walked. Kathy, Rob, Jim and Baylie had already exhausted themselves doing the same thing all day and it was now my turn. After making several revolutions of the neighbourhood and ensuring that she was not on the ground or mezzanine areas, I sat down at the Monkton Ave parking lot where I could keep an eye on Sunni and possibly get a hint from O’Connor as to her daughter’s location. There was a sense of calm amongst the three visible family members. Sunni was on the west tower east corner napping, Jack was on the antenna on the west tower and O’Connor was on the communication drum above him. But who then was on the nest building roof? I looked carefully and yes, I had a falcon on the nest building retaining wall! I took a few shots with my camera and checked the tape color. SKYLA!! I called the watchers right away to let them know that she was safe and sound on the rooftop and that I had all four birds in sight; two juveniles and two adults.
I was elated at finding Skyla and to be honest with you, kinda hoped she would just stay put for the night. Nope. She had other plans. She flew off of the nest building towards the west tower and was just a little too low. She grabbed the concrete and clung for a few seconds before letting go and flying back over to the nest building. A great landing! She tried again and this time circled out to gain some altitude before landing on the west tower right next to her brother! Excellent! They spent the rest of the evening celebrating their reunion with beak touching, playing and napping together. One last feeding came in to the two young ones on the west tower and at this point O’Connor put them to bed for the night.
I know I keep repeating myself but this cannot be overstated. Thank you to Baylie, Kathy, Rob, Jim, Paragon Security, CBRE Management Group and the Etobicoke Sun Life community for supporting this family of falcons. It is a direct result of our collaborative efforts that we have come so far and so well together. Thank you.
Posted on June 19, 2014 10:08 pm
