A rare sunny and warmer day today and both Jack and O’Connor are home enjoying the sun!
Jan. 8th - 2014
Thanks to John Little for sending in his recent photo of a feathered visitor that ended up in is backyard to dine. A good shot of a Sharpie, roosting after obviously dining on a fresh meal.
At this time of year, the CPF usually gets hundreds of phone calls and e-mail over the winter months telling us that they have another one of our peregrines in their back yard feeding on all of their winter birds that are utilizing their outdoor bird feeders. If this was actually the case, we would have thousands of urban peregrines around,,, (and that of course is absolutely not the case). At this time of year, most all of the Canada’s wild - (non-urban peregrines) are far to the south on their wintering grounds, with only the resident territorial urban adults braving the cold better weather. And even then, our urban adult peregrines don’t hang around backyards or hunt at these low altitudes below the tree canopies.
In this case, John Little identified his feathered visitor bang-on, as an adult Sharpe-shinned hawk - (which is usually the case with 99.99 % of all of the raptors that are incorrectly identified in peoples back yards at this time of the year, especially here in our northern hemispheres).
We do see a few Coopers hawks, a few Rough-legged and Broad-winged hawks, lots of Sharpies and Red-tails and even the odd Goshawk is being photographed and hanging around. Good gracious, if you could fly freely south to warmer weather with an abundance of free food, why on earth would you stay here in these freezing temps???,, but some do stay and tough it out as evident of the hundreds of photographs that are sent into us each year.
Photographer - John Little
January 2015, Meridian, Idaho USA
Jan 8th - 2014
A big thanks to Connie Adams from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation for sending in some of the photos of Trout that were sent into her from Will Steele. The little male peregrine that was produced at the Toronto downtown Sheraton Centre hotel this past season. This update is a follow-up to our earlier posting of him being spotted in Florida this past December.
We’ve often commented, that peregrines, (specifically that of the juveniles) are not too smart. Hmmmm, Trout’s lounging around on in sunny Florida soaking up the warm mild weather on a sun drenched white sandy beach while most of us here in Ontario are freezing to death in -21 degrees Celsius or -30 Celsius considering the wind-chill factor, expecting another dump of 10cm of snow. Who’s the real dummy here? 
Please Trout,,,,, take us with you!!!!
Here Trout was photographed by Kim Begay last month at the beginning of December 2014 on Honeymoon Island. Nice shots Kim!
Kim writes: I have seen it for the last 6 weeks on and off and was finally able to photograph it on 12/31/14
Jan 5th - 2015
Just a quick peregrine update. While on a routine trip out to the bank today,, our attention was once again directed to the underside of the huge water storage tank at Warden and Eglinton here in Scarborough with the familiar black object on the underside of the water storage tank. After a closer inspection, it was clearly identified as a adult peregrine roosting on one of the large support beams underneath of the water tank. Sadly, without a scope or camera on board, and with only my binoculars, I was easily able to identify it as a an adult peregrine, was unable to get a band identification of the mystery falcon due to the distances from our ground position and the height of the roosting peregrine.
The good news, is that it is really easy to see a dark coloured peregrine roosting on any part of the water tank due to its white colour that the water storage tank has been painted, so if you are travelling on Eglinton Ave near Warden Ave, you can easily spot the roosting peregrine when its there.
Looks like I will have to get the camera back in the car so the next time I will be better prepared and will try and get a photo in an effort to identify our mystery peregrine! We would encourage all to visit when you have a chance and maybe you can get an ID on this mystery peregrine. Your observation reports and photos are most welcomed!
Stay tuned…………..
Jan. 5th - 2015
Just received some interesting news from Mark Heaton from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests, in that one of the Toronto Sheraton Centre yearling peregrines has been spotted in Dunedin Florida USA on December 12th of 2014. The report was forwarded to us from Matt Rogosky, from the Bird Banding Laboratory, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center . The young yearling peregrine was identified via its leg bands as being a Toronto Sheraton produced male peregrine named “Trout”. As you may recall, Trout was rescued from the city streets back on June 18th as he obviously was pushed or blown off the nest ledge prematurely and fluttered to the ground. Trout was rescued by CPF fledge watch volunteers and returned safely back to his parents and the nest ledge the next day. I have attached some of Trout’s banding photos along with his rescue photos while he was in the rescue carrier.
Hi, we went to Dunedin causeway in Dunedin Florida today Dec -12th -2014
The young peregrine was easily identified after checking the banding database as:
112604792 - Solid Black band - W over 79, Yellow marker tape, Named Trout, Banded as a Male, at 21 days old at banding - (30th May 2014 ), hatched at the Sheraton Centre nest site - Toronto Ontario Canada
weight - 605 grams at 21 days of age
Matt Rogosky
Bird Banding Laboratory
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
December 30th - 2014
Just a quickly update on the roofing activity at the Rogers Centre. After four plus months of waterproofing work, the work had finally been completed and the new CPF nest tray has finally been successfully installed. Looking really good in fact! A short visit for me this morning that lasted only a couple of hours on site, I can honestly say that the install went without a catch and its looking really good! Both resident adults have been active and very much around watching the roof crew finish up the work on their nest ledge.
The green barrier mesh that was installed over top of the nest ledge worked fantastic in protecting the workmen while they were working on this elevation over the past month. While it keep the peregrines out of the nest ledge and protected the workmen, the resident peregrines were never the less observed on many of the other west elevations “supervising” the roofers activities throughout the entire four month roofing project.
The new marine poly-composite materials that we are now utilizing to build all of the new nest trays and nest boxes has really made things much easier for us in the terms of longevity and maintenance free in comparison to the older pressure treated building materials that we once used to manufacture these same nest trays and nest boxes. Admittedly, the new marine poly-composite materials are much heavier and far more expensive in comparison to the same sized wood products, they come pre-coloured, UV and water resistant, and have 25 plus year guarantees that are virtually maintenance free!! No more rotting, re-staining, or fading!! While these new materials are somewhat difficult to fasten together as they must be predrilled and you have to use special fasteners, once completed, they are incredibly solid and long lasting!
The elevated nest tray should also keep the peregrines nesting activities off the new waterproofing membrane and out off the water soaked rain gutter, ensuring a dry, safe nesting place, and will protect the new roof membrane from being scrapped and damaged by the adult peregrines.
The new Rogers nest tray is a typical example of the new style nest trays that the CPF is now building and installing, in addition to replacing most all of the original nest trays and nest boxes as money becomes available to us to replace the aging old nest boxes and nest trays at many of the other existing nest sites. Some of our first nest boxes and nest trays have been in use since we installed them back in 1997!!
Many of these original nest trays and nest boxes are in desperate need of being replaced, as they have succumb to wood rot, as they have become waterlogged and fading bad.
In any case, we are very eager to see how quickly the resident peregrine pair will take onto the new nest tray.
Stay tuned……….
Dec. 27th - 2014
A big thanks to Mike for sending in some of his recent photos of Peter that he snapped of Peter while out on the spit December 27th - 2014.
Hi,
I was at the Spit on 27 Dec 2014. I went looking for the Purple Sandpiper at the end of Peninsula A but instead I found Peter the adult male Peregrine. His leg is tagged 46Y. Peter was preening the whole time I was there. He’s looking very active and healthy. Here are a few pics.
Mike Dizonno
