June 25, 2014 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
While yesterday did not end in a fledge at the William Osler nest site, it sure was very active with lots of exercising and running of the ledge. Today was no different in that the chicks were raucous the minute that I arrived and were calling to the adults for food. The first feeding arrived at around 8am to a chorus of song and Chessie opted to beak feed even though the young ones were now being quite rough with her and jostling about for position. They each ate their fill but continued to vocalize and one calling would easily start up any others that had become quiet. Even after Chessie left the ledge for some peace in the tower, the kids kept it up. Hurricane was perched on the top of the antenna on the roof where he couldn’t be seen and it was there that he rested comfortably for the morning. Playing and exercising were on the to do list for the morning and at one point, Big Red decided that she was going to take all of her energy and run flap the entire south ledge to the next “H” sign. Her siblings followed suit and they were all off in a mad flap-dash down the ledge. It was little blue though that decided he would cross that magical boundary beyond the southern sign towards the west corner and that finally moved Hurricane off of his perch. He could hear the excited calls of his kids and I’m sure knew exactly where they were based on where the calls were coming from. He flew the length of the south ledge and when he got to little blue he swooped and vocally chastised him which sent him back to the proper side of the sign. Within 20 minutes they had all bounded back down to the southeast corner and flumped down for a good nap. The significance of this activity is important to note as the young ones are exploring the ledge further, gaining confidence and building muscle. This level of exploration is usually a precursor to a fledge and one of the signs that we look for.
The four chicks spent the afternoon as feather pancakes, flat out on the ledge sound asleep. Every once in a while Hurricane and Chessie would drop in to the ledge for a head count and leave seconds later after waking them all up and getting them to their feet. The day was very hot and humid and as mid afternoon approached more rain was on the way. This was certainly much tamer than the day before but as it began to roll in the adults were pretty keen to get the kids rounded up and settled. Chessie flew in to the southeast corner with a large pigeon and began the beak feeding frenzy. It wasn’t two minutes into the feeding when Hurricane showed up with a Blackbird and the young ones didn’t know what to do. Mom or Dad? Who’s got the best goods? Hurricane left the prey with Big Red who had now commandeered the entire piece that was not prepped as of yet. She pulled on it a little but had never dealt with a meal not cleaned first. She fussed and played with it and then gave it up for some beak feeding with the rest of her siblings. After the pigeon was all gone Chessie retrieved the Blackbird and continued the food fest. The rains were now coming down quite heavily and the food was doing its job of keeping the young ones on the ledge today. With very full crops the four chicks played and slept the evening through. We are getting very close to our first fledge and it may be tomorrow is the day!
Posted on July 3, 2014 3:24 pm
July 02, 2014 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
There was not much action today until the afternoon feeding when mom and dad booth brought in food, each had a pigeon and dropped them off for the fledglings who were all lined up on the same ledge.
Shortly after Lorne took a short flight around the building landing on the upper level ledge and his sister Tormey flew up to try to land on the point of one of the pyramid shaped skylights on the west elevations as she has seen her mom do over the last couple days. Although she did get there she slipped off and caught the ledge just below.
A rain storm came in later in the afternoon and that along with a full tummy kept the chicks quiet and there was no more flights until the evening. At 8:00 PM Lorne flew off to the north almost to SHEPARD then hooked back to the Yellow Pages building roof top. His sister Petra then took flight and circled the building landing on the west side keeping her elevation. Lorne then took off again and headed for the Investors Group building where we watched him land on the top elevation where he spent a few minutes and flew back to the west side of Yellow Pages for a few minutes and them back again to the Investors group very well done.
Lyn flew in at about 8:30 and the other 2 chicks seemed to take that as a signal to settle down for the evening and they ducked out of site and went to bed, Lorne seemed to want to stay with dad at Investors Group so we left them high and finally dry and called it a night.
Posted on July 3, 2014 8:49 am
July 02, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 2rd - 2014
Saw our 3 at Don Mills/Duncan Mill site today. Pretty active up until the heavy rain around 3:45pm (lots of screeching, fancy flying and eating). Didn’t see much of Quest, only Sky dropping in food and watching the kids. At one point it looked like all 3 were nibbling away at something on separate ledges
Sally
Posted on July 2, 2014 10:05 pm
July 02, 2014 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Marilyn Weller Reports:
From Marliese:
Noon report: all are accounted for and up off the ground (whew) . Cathy, Maureen and Marliese have been led on a merry chase all morning.
Cathy and Vicky found all 3 somewhere in the girders or roofs and Shibi on the girder where we left her last night. By 9 the other 3 were all on Assumption College Roof with Voltaire presiding on the cross. Shibi decided to join them and actually made a decent long high flight but unfortunately has a lousy sense of direction and poor landing skills. In the next two hours she made a number of decent flights and sloppy landings including one on a lamppost until she finally decided it was safer on her original girder, but didn’t make that and landed on the big cherry picker. That was too boring so she hopped to the parking lot fence where she sat for the next hour. Her three siblings made repeated fly bys and sat guard duty above until Lancaster could not stand it any more and flew down to sit beside her on the fence….what a brother. He tried to give flying lessons and finally gave up. Eventually she took off toward Huron Church and the river, mad chase, but she had actually turned and landed safely on the large concrete slab right under the bridge and tucked herself into a corner exhausted. She had not been feed this morning.
Maureen reports:
Well Shi Bi spent some time on the concrete under the bridge, looked totally exhausted. She did stay put for a while, then went for a walk around the perimeter of the ledge. Thankfully no drama. After a couple of hours she (without warning!) took off and got quite high, flew over the bridge and landed finally on a girder under the bridge, the second one from the top, still pretty high. Lancaster flew up to see her, looked like he gave her a little kiss, they touched beaks. So sweet He has been such a good brother, sitting with her on the fence today. And they didn’t communicate while on the fence - I thought they might.
When I left Ted and Marliesse, Shi Bi and Lancaster were on that same girder, Maya was just above the pipe, didn’t see Sojourner, but she had been flying in and out. No feedings while I was there today.
Given that Shi Bi is indeed able to fly, she should be okay provided she is rested. Today she was unable to even get as high as the chain link fence - she actually flew into the fence about 2 feet up, clung on with her feet, then climbed to the top. When she flew off the fence, she had trouble even getting onto the tire of the cherry picker, she was on the ground again, took her a few tries to get any altitude.Given that, it was nice to see her fly high finally.
Also, when she was on the fence she sat on one leg for a good while; her banded leg was tucked up close to her body. Something to watch perhaps.
For this evening, Shi Bi has had a few more flights and some landing issues. She found herself in the grass on the south side of University and quickly walked back to the bridge’s big lift and walked up to the highest point. From there, she took off and managed to get some decent altitude and eventually managed a rough landing on a ledge on the east side of the bridge. Lancaster immediately flew in and greeted her. They are both laying down next to each other since.
Sojourner flew in at the same time with Shi Bi and Lancaster and landed one ledge higher. The 3 have been content on their ledges.
Maya has been sitting under the bridge for a long time.
Freddie just arrived with dinner and landed next to Sojourner. Lancaster and Shi Bi quickly hopped back up and are reminding Daddy that they are hungry too! Lancaster didn’t wait around, but took off and circled up to join Sojourner for dinner. The 2 of them dined well and Shi Bi and Maya were not fed while I stayed.
Hoping for more good flight lessons tomorrow!
Thank you to all of our dedicated and passionate watch team!!
Posted on July 2, 2014 9:56 pm
July 02, 2014 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
After reading Harry’s report from this morning, I was a little more optimistic this afternoon. It wasn’t long after arriving that I spotted Olivia on a building south of the Hotel. She turned and I was able to see her coloured band. The other three enjoy their air games, chasing the adults. I hope we still see them sitting all together again, but for now they like their individual hiding places.
Posted on July 2, 2014 8:46 pm
July 01, 2014 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
I had a good two hours with the peregrines today. I arrived at 5:45 pm and there was no one about! But things began moving a few minutes into my watch.
Firstly, one juvenile popped up on the top ledge 4 south of the big wall on Canada Square. Next up were two flying together and I still had *solo* in view on the ledge, so I had the three juvies again today!
I am assuming that the two together were Equinox and Linden simply because they have been flying together almost since fledging. The little chappie on his own must have been Chinook.
All three juvies gave a wonderful exhibition of their progress in flying and I would say they have mastered flying 101 and 102 and are now working on flying 103. Their flights are all strong! Equinox and Linden are now flying *at speed* and zipping around all the buildings in the area, the two condos, Rio-Can, 2180 Yonge, over 2190 Yonge and of course all over and around the home building Canada Square. They dive on one another, tag each other and practise their talon touching although I had a really scary moment today! The two little daredevils talon GRABBED over Rio-Can and continued flying latched on to one another over the apartment building on Duplex Avenue getting lower and lower until finally letting go. Then they zipped around some more and later on did the same thing over the north end of Canada Square and Y/E intersection although not for as long!
Malik challenged them to some flying competition. In spite of their progress he still outmanoeuvres and out flies them. You can see when he puts on a spurt, they are just left fluttering in the breeze. He did have all three in the air at one time and there is still a difference in skill between Chinook and the other two but Chinook has improved tremendously since last week! He is maintaining altitude and choosing to fly lower then climbing. He circles around for a climb to a higher perch and does well. I think it was a bit breezy higher up today because all seemed to struggle flying due west. When they flew east it looked so easy!
Haven was nowhere to be seen for quite a while but she did eventually come flying in from the east with a food parcel. Hysteria and pandemonium in the air over Canada Square!! One juvie tried twice to take the food from her and missed but Haven hung onto it. Then on the third attempt he took it, flew halfway across the roof of Canada Square and landed somewhere out of view.
One of the two older ones is practising stoops now, not chasing anything but his wings were back and he went into a dive albeit a short one. One of them also amused me by doing a sort of *roll over* defence thing even though there was no-one ton whom he could present talons. It looks really funny, as if he is tumbling.
One was on the very top *spire* of the north west corner of the tall condo when his brother climbed and just bumped him off.
One of the boys popped up on Canada Square and he had a huge crop! I am guessing he was the one who grabbed the food parcel from Haven without so much as a please or thank you. His chest bulged so much he looked like a wannabe starlet.
All three juveniles were in the air again before I left. They flew at different times, over different places and to different spots but all were high. None of them struggled to fly, except when flying west.
Lyn
Posted on July 2, 2014 8:24 am
July 01, 2014 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
July 1st - 2014
All three high and now flying!!!
Well, its been a very busy 24 hours and apologize for the very late posting and update on my part. I actually fell asleep at the computer on Tuesday night and woke-up with the telephone ringing at 6:30am from one of the other fledge watch teams. Its been a long time since I’ve actually slept sitting upright hung over my computer!!! Talk about aching!!! I don’t recommend that you try this !!
Well, there is not much I can say at this point as its really old news now that a day has passed since this outdated report, and the fact that I actually missed the best of what happened with my having been called away from the Yellow Pages fledge watch to go and do another rescue of a down fledgling from another nest site out in Pickering.
The three hatchlings have now all fledged and aside of the usual bumps and grinds, they are all out of the nest! The two girls, (Petra-Fire and Tormey) have only taken one flight each - out and immediately turned and returned back to the building ledges), have both survived their maiden voyages!
Lorne, the little male is doing short flights from the various elevations on the nest building and starting to build allot of confidence. It won’t be long before he starts doing some much better flights. Linn, their mom, is withholding food from the two girls and Lorne is getting the lions share of the food for sure, obviously being rewarded for all of his efforts. The two sisters are constantly screaming for food, not two days without food!!
Talk about motivation by the parents!! Despite their withholding food, both Linn and Ruben are keeping a very close eye on all three fledglings, and I must say that they are really an experienced well tuned parents! They have really got their act together and really working well together in comparison to some of the other less experienced pairs that I have watched this season. As you know, some of the other nest sites have new mates (along with experienced mates), and although they all have been outstanding in their efforts at family rearing, you can still see a huge difference with an older experienced pair at family rearing.
A big thank you to Cathy, Dave and Marion for all their efforts today as they were the ones that were going a little crazzzy with most of the activity this evening during my absence at the other nest site.
I have attached some of the other rescue photos from this afternoon just to let you all know that I really was called away for another rescue. Sadly, we can say where the nest site is as we do not have permission to make the nest site public. The photos have been cropped to cut out the backgrounds to protect the identity and location of the nest site.
Stay tuned, more to come………
Posted on July 1, 2014 11:54 pm
July 01, 2014 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
This evening, I had three juveniles making flying around the south side of the hotel making stops on various roof tops. At one time I had three clearly in view and could I.D them through the colour tape. Buzz, Ralphie and Trout were all together. How nice. Unfortunately, Olivia has not been seen since midday. She could be on a lower roof level, but both Bruce and I looked and could not spot her.
When I was looking north along York St at King St. Two individuals were walking along the south roof line of the Sheraton Hotel. They approached the area just above the nest area and west facing logo. They are not connected with any Wildlife Association or Ministry of Natural Resources and they are certainly not with CPF.
. The individuals were, male and female both wearing black clothing, the male carrying a camera with long lens. I have seen this couple illegally on the roof of the King Edward Hotel as well.. Security at both locations have been notified.
This activity stirred up a lot agitation from Rhea Mae and Tiago. Lots of vocalization from the adults in turned agitated the juvies into flight. That is not what I wanted to see at that time of the evening, just as the young ones are settling down and finding a safe place to rest for the night. Who knows where Olivia is now after all that. I am not pleased. I hope both individuals got the” what for ” from Rhea Mae.
Mark Nash has been informed and will be in communication regarding this activity.
Posted on July 1, 2014 10:24 pm
July 01, 2014 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Marilyn Weller Reports:
We are pleased to report that Dave spotted Maya perched atop a student dorm building 2 blocks east of the bridge! All are now accounted for.
Posted on July 1, 2014 3:25 pm
July 01, 2014 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Harry Crawford Reports:
Morning Spot Check: By 11:30 Alex and I had the three boys on the
top of one of the taller buildings. Two were then seen playing tag
and touching talons. Olivia was on the roof of a four story
building staying put.
Posted on July 1, 2014 1:47 pm
