June 15, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
The watch started early again Monday morning with Rudy and Tony on the early watch. Fraser was on the watch at 7:45 and Reggie, Ginnie and Redbud could be seen from the metal platform. A bit of a late bloomer, Ginnie finally had made it down off the nest box onto the platform! There wasn’t a lot of action except for a little wing flapping from Ginnie. At a little after 9:00 the ‘grines’ began vocalizing and Fraser watched one of the falcons circle from the King Street side of the tower and landed on the top of the nearby CTV tower at 9:09. Fraser assumed it was one of the adults, but after scoping the bird and watching it for a while, realized this was not one of the parents, it was Reggie! At 9:29 Reggie took another flight and flew back onto the tower platform to the applause of his sisters. He landed well and quickly flew up onto the railing on the platform. Mystery and Caster were not around at this time to see their son’s confident flight.
Karen started her watch from the parking garage at noon. Reggie, Ginnie and Redbud were all accounted for. Mystery and Caster were not around. At 1:15 Redbud was on the edge of the nest box and joined Reggie on the platform where they wandered around for a while. Jumping up and down off the next box ledge. David and Miriam joined the watch at 1:30 as Reggie took a short practice flight over to Redbud. Karen left the watch at 2:00, Redbud and Reggie resting on the platform and Ginnie sleeping inside the box. Caster and Mystery were nowhere to be seen. Ginnie came out of the nest box at 2:10. Redbud and Reggie were on the platform. One flew to the north side of the platform and back again. At 2:30 one flew up to perch on the railing to the left of, and above, the nest box. It seemed confident and did not appear to teeter or falter and flew to the top of the nest box. This was most likely the little falcon Reggie! It flew back up to a higher railing, back to the nest box and then went inside. Just before 3:00, one of the parents came back and flew into the nest box, possibly with a food package. There was a great commotion and only one of the juveniles remained in the box.
Dale was on the watch at 4:15 and all three juveniles were located in or near the box. Redbud was flapping and stretching her wings. Mystery came in about 4:50 and dropped a pigeon on the upper platform. She stayed for a minute then flew north. The young were continually vocalizing until one of them, took off from ledge of the platform. It looked like she could have fallen off. She flew over the CTV building and then landed back on top of the top of the nest box. Mystery came by about 5:30 and dinner into the nest box. She took off again, as Caster showed up where he kept an eye on things from the top of the tower.
Meanwhile, Chroma was being examined by Rudy for injuries at 4:15. A few members of the fledge watch team were on board to help with the exam. A feisty bird indeed, Chroma grabbed onto Rudy’s hand and thumb as he took her out of the box. Rudy manipulated both feet and legs during the examination and could not feel any breaks. Chroma seemed calm once she was covered during her check and she was hydrated a few times. It was decided she was sound enough to be released.
At 7:00 members of the fledge watch team started to gather for Chroma’s release which was to take place at about 7:30 from CTV’s rooftop. At 7:15, Mystery flew to the hospital antenna and Redbud took flight and circled around the tower from the nest box to the King Street side but didn’t go far. She landed awkwardly on one of the steel round metal pieces and was hanging almost upside down. Flapping and struggling she managed to right herself. Redbud again ended upside down on the tower in between the microwaves but managed to right herself much easier this time, and finally ended up flying up to the top of one of the microwaves by the platform. At 7:45 Rudy arrived with Chroma and 10 minutes later Caster flew in to deliver a food package to Ginnie in the nest box. Much noise and flapping was made by Redbud who was trying to figure out how to get to the food drop. The fledge watch team positioned themselves around the CTV building for Chroma’s release. At 8:25, she was released on top of the CTV rooftop. She got oriented with her new surroundings for a few minutes and then managed to hop onto the roof ledge and started flapped her wings. A few minutes later she flew towards the Pine Street medical building and again just missed the top of the building by inches! She fluttered down about 10 feet but managed to fly towards 900 King Street and the construction zone on King Street. Again, she just missed landing on the top of this building but this time she fluttered and then fell to the ground! Fortunately, she did not fall hard. She then started to move into the construction zone and towards traffic on the ground! I slowly moved along the orange fencing and into the construction zone to get between Chroma and the road. I distracted her with a towel and as Rudy came down from the rooftop. We cornered her on either side of the bucket of an excavator in the construction zone, a few metres away from the road. Rudy quickly towelled her and gently packaged her up, feet first into the crate and moved her out of the construction zone. She would have another night of rest and another exam tomorrow. The construction taking place on King Street for the LRT is a good thing for these young falcons as the traffic is down to a bare minimum and cars must drive very slowly through all of the pylons that are lined up and down the street.
At 8:40 Redbud took a second flight, and ended up in the middle of the tower about halfway down. Mystery flew in to keep her company and give her encouragement a few feet away. Caster was on the western corner of the tower keeping an eye out on the children. All the while, Reggie was on the northwest side of the tower perched on top of the railing looking very calm as he watched his sister’s flights. Ginnie was moving around the middle of the platform. Just before 9:00 Reggie flew back to the next box. At about 9:05, Mystery flew out to the hospital antenna and vocalized a bit. At 9:15 Caster flew south to do some hunting. At the end of the watch Ginnie and Reggie were back in the nest box and Redbud was still halfway down the tower but in a good place for the night. She preened and looked calm as we left her for the night. Well done fledge watch team!! And a big thanks to CTV for their continued support during the fledge watch!!!
Photos courtesy of Karen von Knobloch & Lisa Reh
Posted on June 16, 2015 1:50 am
June 15, 2015 - Toronto - Don Mills
Marion Nash Reports:
Periodic spot checks from a few of us (updating via texts) over the last few days, and all seems to be going great at Duncan Mill/Don Mills!
On Saturday I watched some crazy chasing going on and a pigeon hunt was interrupted by an excited juvie coming into chase whoever was hunting the pigeon. Lucky pigeon that day 
A few of us could only see two of the three juvies Sunday during the day and into late evening, so this morning it was good to see all three on the roof of the 240 building.
Some fabulous flying from all three including lovely leisurely circling around and around 240 (must be some nice warm humid winds). One flight between the buildings showed a guided bump from a parent, redirecting one of the juvies. They are fabulous flyers I’m in awe that they are flying so well in such short time.
At one point I managed to text a lovely photo of the entire family facing south on the roof of 240.
Heading home soon but as of early evening Monday, the juvies are off somewhere, being monitored by Quest and Skye on the roof of 240 (seems to be a favorite family hangout spot this year). As always I’ll check the “danger zone” - the east side windows of 225 - whenever I’m checking. They are flying confidently now, so hopefully more redirecting/guidance from Skye and Quest as they speed up.
Sally
Posted on June 15, 2015 11:33 pm
June 15, 2015 - Oshawa - Lakeridge Hospital
Marion Nash Reports:
Some Photos from Ann Brokelman
Posted on June 15, 2015 11:30 pm
June 14, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
The watch started early at 5:30 on Sunday a.m. All 4 kids were snuggled together in the nest box but soon started moving around and flapping out on the ledge of the nest box. Janice started her watch at 5:45 from the top floor of the hospital parking garage and at that time there were two juveniles out on the tower platform and two in the nest box. It was too dark to identify the birds. It started to downpour and thunder. At 6:15 vocalizations picked up and a food drop to the nest box arrived shortly thereafter. One of the falcons on the tower platform came into the nest box while the other stayed outside. Breakfast was pretty small so the three were soon outside on the platform calling for more. Rudy joined the watch at about 6:30 in the parking lot and another package was dropped off on the tower platform for the juvenile there. For the next 45 minutes the falcons went in when the rain got heavy and came out when it cleared up. Rudy and Janice left the watch at 7:15 as it was raining quite a bit by then.
At 8:30 a.m. it had stopped raining and was overcast as David picked up the watch. Ginnie was at the edge of the nest box appearing quite agitated. One adult landed on the deck but didn’t bring any food. There was loud and long vocalizations from the young but they weren’t sighted. Two double-crested cormorants flew over the nest site at 8:45. A few minutes later, the second adult came in landing on the top deck and delivered a small food package. Juveniles were on various parts of the tower, one to the right of the nest box, one to the left and one on the lower level. Only 2 were sighted at a time, so we couldn’t be sure they were all accounted for. After 9:00, Caster flew off and perched on the media tower on top of the King’s Towers apartment building. Mystery flew to the antenna with the drum to the right of the tower. One of the youngsters returned to the nest box. Caster returned and landed on the rail of the top deck with no food. It started to rain heavily again.
By about 7:00 p.m. a large number of the fledge watch team was back on sight. Karen, Kelly, and Mike noticed that there were only 3 of the kids on the tower. Chroma was missing! At some today, she took her first flight. Unfortunately, no one on the team observed the flight. The team scanned the area and Jon sighted her on the roof of a small house on Mary Street, at first thinking she could be a Coopers hawk. She appeared to be limping and hopped along the roof of the ridge and made it up to the chimney. At 8:30 she flew from the house up Mary Street and back towards the tower. She attempted to land on the roof of the CTV building but wasn’t able to grasp the ledge of the roof with her talons missed by inches and fluttered to the lower level CTV rooftop. She was limping on her left leg but still managed to hop her way onto the tower and slowly made her way up the slippery metal cross pieces until she was about 20 feet off the ground. There she remained until the fledge watch team could assemble the rescue equipment and wait until it was dark enough so that she would be calm and quiet. At 10:15, Rudy climbed up a ladder and smoothly scooped her off the tower with a fishing net. He carefully took her out of the net and towelled her up into the animal carrier to be held overnight for observation and to assess her injuries. The rest of her siblings were all safely in the nest box by the end of the watch.
Photos courtesy of Karen von Knobloch & Debbie Leung
Posted on June 15, 2015 11:10 pm
June 15, 2015 - Oshawa - Lakeridge Hospital
Marion Nash Reports:
Banding day was a great success! The Hospital staff and management really pulled together to make everything go smoothly. Their support and help to install a nest box for the female to lay her eggs was especially important this season as there have been many failed nest sites where no eggs hatched and production was low this year overall.
There were 4 eggs laid but only one has hatched likely because of the cold spring we had but the little chick is a very healthy boy.
The Hospital came up with a great name Atlas who weighed 750 grams big for a boy of 26 days old. His Canadian Band number is Y 18.
The fledge watch will start in about 10 days and we are looking for volunteers to help keep an eye on the little fellow during his first few flights so if you are interested in coming our to help support your baby falcon please contact us at head office at 416-481-1233.
We are working out details with the Hospital now to install a web cam and hope to do so in the fall so stay tuned for a real treat Oshawa.
Posted on June 15, 2015 10:20 pm
June 15, 2015 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
As promised here are the photoe and details of the June 10th banding.
There were 2 very healthy chicks 1 female at 820 grams band Y 98 with red tape named Omega
and 1 male at 435 grams band Y 17 with blue tape named Typhoon.
Great names!!!
Once again Solar window washing sent us 2 of their braver guys to assist with the extraction of the chicks from the ledge and once again the adult female Haven gave then the what for the entire time.
All went well and the chicks were put back on the ledge with Mom and Dad.
Thank you to Mark Heaton the Master bander, Solar , Northam realty and Canada Square Security for making this happen.
We will be starting the Fledge watch the week of June 22nd and are looking for volunteers. If you are interested in helping our please contact us at head office at 416-481-1233.
Posted on June 15, 2015 9:52 pm
June 09, 2015 - Toronto - King Street
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 8th - 2015
Both Erin and Stormin back on the nest ledge, looking a tad bit wet.
Olga
Posted on June 15, 2015 2:44 am
June 14, 2015 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 14th - 2015
Hi all,
Yes, I was down at the Burlington lift bridge today to see how the three kids, Wellington, Stella and Lucifer were doing and hopefully not getting into any trouble. It didn’t look like there was any activity at my start at 9:45, and all were visible and accounted for.
At 10:45 I was able to catch a Canada Goose and free it from fishing line that was wrapped around both legs. That event went well and it was freed from the entanglement of the line.
Around 2:40 after the rain the three juveniles were chasing both adults around. Then the juveniles were in pursuit of one another as if playing tag your it! Then just after Paul the fishing friend and peregrine enthusiast arrived the watch got exciting. The resident adult male peregrine, MacKenzie, had a fancy for some squab from the lift bridge, and for 45 minutes he was in hot pursuit of this fancy. He was perching on the railing of the lift bridge roadway and up in the bridge girders. It was fabulous. He was dropping the squab for the juvenile to catch but it had ended up into the water which is how I got the image with the very dark background as he was attempting to retrieve it. He usually does this up at the skyway but that is mostly sectioned off for his hunting.
I managed to be ready just after he entered one of the nesting holes and came out with one of the sought after squabs. It is like nature’s version of “pigeon Macnugets”. No fuss, no work and ready to eat.
After a day that didn’t look too promising I was happy at the outcome. Never give up hope. He who stays the longest usually gets rewarded.
cheers,
Barry Cherriere
Posted on June 15, 2015 2:22 am
June 14, 2015 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
It was such an uneventful, damp, rainy, dreary day! I arrived this morning to find the girls where I left them and Horton over on the nest building. Everyone got a lovely breakfast and then the rain came! So things went quiet. It stopped for abit, so Horton did a few fly overs to dry off, Lilly stayed put and then Morgan flew off around the ICICI building! When she didn’t come back, I went to look for her–found her on the second “C” on the ICICI sign on the north side of the building! Not bad for a second flight! She pancaked out, tired from her flight-glad I had seen her sitting up otherwise I might have mistaken her for some of Dad’s stash!!! It started to pour again. Yucky day for birds and me!! When it wasn’t raining both the flyers made some nice flights-tho Morgan tried to steal food from Mom mid flight at the end of the day, missed of course, flew screaming to the nest building, made the top floor and bumped the window ever so gently but it quieted her right down!! And there she stayed for the night. Lilly of course was still in the nest and Horton decided that “U” made a great bed last night and there he settled in. Home I went. Around 10:15 I got a call from Peter, a security guard at 150 Ferrand Dr-we had a bird down!! What?!! They were all settled in!! I went right over-the security staff had her protected–yes, it was Lilly. Peter said he hear a awful ruckus from the parents and went out to investigate and found our Lilly–many many thanks to him for saving her life!! It was a text book rescue, and into the crate she went! Unfortunately Mark is out of town tonight to come examine her, so she will be reunited with her family tomorrow night!
Posted on June 15, 2015 12:00 am
June 13, 2015 - Toronto - Don Mills
Marion Nash Reports:
Arrived at Harlequin at 6:45pm. For the first 15 I could only find one on the top of Harlequin. Then the screaming started and a 2nd falcon juv came in. I waited for another 30 min then packed it in. No sooner did I shut the door when the falcon witching hour started. Quest was on top of 220 on top of the white box. I then spotted harper in front of her. The two on the harlequin building were kline and berkley.
Then the flying began. Kline was the first to fly and he did a circle around the pink building come to rest on the white box where Quest was. Quest flew to the Harlequin building. Kline followed her there landing on Donna office. Quest took off agian. Now Berkley wanted in so he circled the pink building and then circled the harlequin building and landed on the 220 building. BTW they never stopped screaming. Harper was happy to just lay in the sun occasionally getting up to flap his wing. He also had a full crop.
Quest Kline and Berkley continued to fly back and forth. Only once did Kline scare me as he looked like he was heading for the window at Harlequin. Quest also noticed he did not have the height and chased him around to avoid the building.
Amazing
Ann
Posted on June 14, 2015 11:01 am
