June 24, 2015 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
What a great day! Could not have asked for a better one!! It started with Ann picking up Lilly for us and meeting us at ICICI building. We hydrated a very fiesty, angry little girl(we love to see them this way!!) and Mark & I took her up to the roof(thanks to Alan & security). Mark hauled her up, positioned her, took off the door to the crate, pulled the towel off(from a safe distance)and, with a very angry peregrine look, we were off the roof!! Down we went to wait. Not 15 minutes later, up she popped!! Mom was watching from the DeBeers sign-never made a move, just watched her daughter-yay!! Wingersizing like mad(happy to be out of that cage and home) she slipped off the roof and off she went–around the building and on over Eglinton Ave to the 411 building-to land on the roof there! Well done Lilly!! Within a half an hour, a parent had flown over and circled over her–then up popped Morgan! Down she went to her sister and a lovely reunion it was. Just beautiful. Soon Dad was over with food for his long lost daughter–she screamed, ran to him, grabbed it and popped down off the ledge to the roof to eat!! It was pretty quiet after that–tho Mom, Dad, Horton & Morgan treated us to some great flying, games of chase–such fun!! Of course until 8:30 ish when Lilly decided to fly off(Irma & I thought she was trying to get to her sister at Forester bldg)–she made it to the next building to the west, the OFL building. Morgan joined her soon after. Ann had eyes on both of them, but when I joined her, Morgan had just received a hand off of food from a parent and had split with her prize. Around 9:15 she decided to fly back to the 411 building(geez Lilly its getting dark) but it was a nice little flight!! Ann had enough stress lol and said goodnight so Irma joined me in watching her fly around the roof abit finally settling(we hope) on the north side and that is where we left her at 10:20pm. I am planning on being there at daybreak to keep an eye on our girl!
Ann took some great pics(thanks so much for sharing)–enjoy!
Posted on June 24, 2015 11:39 pm
June 24, 2015 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Fledge Watch Officially begins tomorrow, and I spent a little time there this evening to get a feel on the activity level of the juvenile female, Sandy.
She spent most of the time sleeping by the nest tray. She still has some “all over” fluff to come off. Food delivered to the ledge at 6:45p.m. and was spoon fed by Rhea Mae. A camera check when I got home, showed Sandy back lying down by the nest tray.
Rhea Mae and Tiago spend a lot of time cruising the neighbourhood and watching towards the south west. I am very sure they can see the Rogers birds flying around and keeping an eye on them, should they wander into Sheraton territory.
Posted on June 24, 2015 7:51 pm
June 24, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 24th - 2015
A huge thank you to Barb for sending these new photos into us, and to Armando and Stephanie for all of their efforts in getting these new photos in the first place!
While it now appear that there is only a single hatchling that has survived, its looking pretty good indeed! With the undivided attention of both attending parents, its likely to be very spoiled !! :-),,, but obviously well cared for!
Banding will take place this Friday June 26th and we should have some great photos for all.
Stay tuned…………………..
Posted on June 24, 2015 1:08 pm
June 24, 2015 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I think we should have a special award at the end of the fledge season for “Dumbest Thing Done by a Tired Watcher” and I certainly qualify. After trying to open my fledge watch chair with my car remote and taking half a minute to realize what I was doing wrong it was clear to me that I was losing it. Now I figured I better just sit down and sort out my notes before I do something else goofy. So glad no one saw me do this.
So we left off Tuesday morning with Benny having fledged to the roof of the hospital. He ran back and forth all morning trying to figure out how to get back down to the ledge without flying again. They all try “cheater” drop down flights at one point or another and here was his big chance. Each time he lined himself up for the drop down onto the eastern H the incredibly gusty and high winds got the better of his courage. To make matters incredibly worse both of his parents were sitting on that sign which drove him crazy wanting to get to them. Chessie took off on a hunt around 11am and came back shortly with a pigeon. She took it up to the eastern H to prep and this is where things got rather interesting. The three on the ledge were losing it as she plucked and prepped the food right above them. They ran and screamed trying for the perfect position but she just ignored them. Benny ran back and forth on the roof line trying to get himself perfectly aligned for a drop down and even looked as though he would try it. He decided to wait and wail about his impatience rather than do something about it. Hurricane sat across from Chessie and watched with great interest as she prepared lunch. Then our dear Chessie did the unthinkable; she began to eat. In front of the drooling stares of her hubby and kids she ate half of the pigeon and in tiny wee bites no less. It gets worse. She took the remains of the meal and, get this, stashes it between the top of the sign and the wall then sat there preening. The whole family stopped and went silent at this turn of events. Both Hurricane and Benny were ready to pounce on it should she happen to leave it unattended. The kids on the ledge just stared and prepared themselves ready to run should she bring it down. But no. She sat for a good 5 minutes with a juicy piece at her feet defying ANYONE to dare try and touch it. After 10 full minutes of this she relented and took it to the ledge.
Benny finally took flight again just shortly after noon which had me on my feet in seconds. He was heading for the tower where currently there is large earth movers, dump trucks and other equipment working feverishly to finish the revamp of the east parking lot. If he slips and falls the amazing crew from Pacific who are doing the work have set up a procedure with me for stopping all equipment and giving me access to rescue but I need to be quick. Benny went for it but realized that the winds were too strong for him to land and he turned back. He hit the winds whipping past the northeast corner and almost lost control. To save the day he tucked tight and threw himself back onto the roof. Enough of that he says. Nap time.
Bruce took over at 3pm so I could get to work with three still on the ledge and Benny on the roof. The winds died down around 6pm and so Benny decided it was high time to rip it. And he did.
Throughout the evening he made several awesome flights. At one point he made it down to the north H, daddy’s favorite roost. Bruce watched as he stepped off of the sign into the wind and with perfectly set wings FLOATED up to the roof edge. First of all, he’s been flying less than 12 hours at this point. The sign is a complex landing and the float, well that’s just poetry. What I think is so amazing is that Hurricane has been pulling the kite/float move over that corner all day showing the next generation of windmasters how it’s done. Bravo!! Then Benny faked Bruce out by taking a flight and disappearing from view. Bruce followed him around but had lost sight of him. Bruce looked everywhere as he’d seen him brush a window and come around a little low. What Bruce didn’t realize is that Benny had recovered his altitude and was back on the ledge. After a bit of walking, consulting and rechecking he found all four on the nest ledge trundling off to bed. Great job Benny!!
This morning Benny started his flying at just after 6am and has yet to really stop. Check back later to see who goes next and for more tales of Benny’s big day.
Posted on June 24, 2015 12:28 pm
June 24, 2015 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
News Flash. Benny has just systematically pushed his two brothers, Sven and Winston, off the ledge and into the air. Sven made it back home. Winston is on the roof. Benny now laying down napping on the north H believing his work is done here. Peggy still on the ledge. Full story to come.
Posted on June 24, 2015 7:44 am
June 23, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
Fraser was on the watch at 8:30 Monday morning. All was quiet except for the construction noise. He located three of the juveniles and was able to identify Ginnie who was on the top platform of the CTV tower with one of her siblings. The third one was on the hospital tower while one of the adults could be seen atop Sun Life. At 9:20, I stopped by and observed some baiting games led by one of the adults. The parent flew circles around the hospital emergency entrance with all four kids in hot pursuit. They flew north on King Street, a little above the roof tops and then on towards the Sun Life parking lot. It looked as if the adult was trying to teach them how to chase prey. They all few back to the hospital roof where breakfast was dropped on top of the hospital. The adult took off while three of the juveniles fought over breakfast, with the fourth watching nearby. David was on the watch at 10:30 and saw a few flights, one from the hospital roof over the CTV tower, and another landed on the ledge of the hospital roof and then dropped out of sight. Possibly the same bird, popped back up on the flashing and then went out of sight again. At 12:45, Kim and I observed quite a few flights back and forth between the hospital and the CTV tower. A few of the flights were much lower like what Karen observed the night before. One juvenile flew between the wires and another bumped into the red siding underneath the hospital antenna, dropped down and flew around the antenna, then landing. At 1:15, all were together on the hospital roof and one of the adults came in.
Just before 5:00, I found a decapitated pigeon on the sidewalk on King Street. Partially plucked, it was probably dropped by one of the kids when they were being baiting by one of the parents. David was back watching again at 5:00. At 6:00, Caster and one juvenile circled the hospital antenna a few times and then flew towards Sun Life. Caster landed on top of the building and the juvenile went out of sight as it started to rain. By 6:30, it was it was thundering and raining really hard. Two juveniles could be seen on the hospital roof by the blue H sign as David left the watch. At 8:30, I sighted all 4 juveniles flagging the H sign and one of the adults was on Sun Life. There was a little bit of flying back and forth between the hospital and CTV. One of the adults came in, perhaps with a food drop, as there was a bit of squabbling amongst the kids. The second adult was perched on the hospital antenna watching over the kids on the roof. At 9:15, Sandy could see all four juveniles hunkered down behind the big drum on top of the CTV tower as the storm approached. One adult flew away and the other was perched on top of Sun Life.
Tuesday morning brought high, gusty winds and at 9:30, I saw one falcon riding the winds around the Kings Towers antenna. It had to sail around the tower three times before it was able to land. David reported that the winds were about 60 km/hr at 1:00. Kim and I were out at 1:00 as well and could see three out of four hunkered down on the rooftop under the big H and out of the wind. At 2:30 Karen sighted all four siblings in the same place. At 2:40 Mystery brought a package and landed on the roof just above the juveniles. One took off and joined the adult right away and shortly after another joined them. It looked like Redbud and Chroma had a good lunch and played a bit of tug of war with each other. Reggie and Ginnie could be heard but were out of sight and didn’t join the feeding. One of the parents rode the winds for quite a while and then landed on Sun Life against the wall where the previous nest box was. It was probably Caster, as when Dale arrived at 4:15, Caster was perched on his favorite roof ledge on Sun Life. Mystery came in from Kings Towers and two juveniles followed her over to the hospital roof. The wind was still quite brisk and Dale could see two of the juveniles on the south ledge of the upper level of the hospital. At 4:30, from Sun Life I saw one adult flying around the Bauer lofts playing baiting games north of the building. It was too far to identify the second bird but if it was a juvenile this was the farthest away from the nest site observed so far. I lost sight of them as they headed north towards uptown Waterloo. A few minutes later one of the adults rode the winds back onto the Sun Life building.
Photos courtesy of Karen von Knobloch
Posted on June 24, 2015 12:24 am
June 23, 2015 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
Took over from Bruce at 2:00 today with Ninja and Ferris on the back side of the Nest building at same level as nest and Mel and the not yet fledged Glider on the nest ledge.
Not much happened until about 4:45 when Ninja flew around and landed on the ledge. I got a report from a resident of the condos on Aberfoyle that there was still one on the ledge on that side so I knew that Ferris was still there.
Mark came to join me to close the day and at 7:20 Glider finally flew. He had a strong flight all be it a short on to the condo roof next door but he did gain a little altitude.
From the time Mark showed up to close food was brought in 5 times and all 4 boys got something.
So we left Ferris on the Aberfoyle side of the nest building, Mel and Ninja on the nest and Glider who was joined by Mom on the condo next door.
Posted on June 23, 2015 11:38 pm
June 22, 2015 - Toronto - Don Mills
Marion Nash Reports:
Arrived at 930 am.
Saw 3 peregrines on 240 on arrival
Skye was on the 4th floor of building ledge with Kline at the nw corner , harper on top ledge sw, and Berkley on sw top.
All were quiet. Shortly after Kline did a circle around building then took off at 10 10am towards the 401. Did a few circles then disappeared. Within second skye was behind him over 401. In the next minute Berkley went off towards 401 and lastly Harper.
No screaming just straight soaring and a bit of flapping. These juvenile are amazing flyers.
By 10:15 am they were all gone.
Drove over towards 401 but no luck finding them.
Sally from harlequin saw and heard them at lunch time.
I don’t remember a fledge watch where juveniles at harlequin started flying so far away do soon.
Ann
Posted on June 23, 2015 12:11 pm
June 23, 2015 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Bruce opened the watch today at Islington and Bloor at 5am with Mel believed to be on the mezzanine Aberfoyle side and Ferris on the same level on the Bloor St side. He was joined by Rob and Roger for the morning and with their help was able to locate Mel after his dawn flight on the 5th floor of the Kingsway on the Park condos. Shortly after discovering Mel, Ninja took his first flight from the nest ledge and landed up on top of the Center tower. Ferris then tried for home and realized he was way too low so he circled back and went somewhere on the low Bloor St businesses near The Squire pub. They began a search for him and in their wandering noticed that Ninja was not alone on the Center tower roof. Mel had taken another flight and was now on the roof with his brother. Excellent job!! Ferris remained out of sight and Glider lumbered off camera view for a nap. This was Bruce’s signal to grab a bite and rest before another round of Ferris hunting. No sooner was Bruce done eating than who should appear in the air but Ferris. He made for home but was way too low. He flumped into the glass and continued on. He flumped again and now realized that this wasn’t fun and he made for the Bell building. He was only one third of the way up when he did the bat on the wall and then slid down right beside Bruce. In the carrier with you Ferris until your release tonight!
Back on Eagle road everyone was still in place and napping for the afternoon. Mel and Ninja stayed on the centre tower all day and took turns laying down to nap while Glider stayed on the nest ledge. Once he got over the fact that his playmates were out having their own adventures he seemed to enjoy having all the food and room to himself. The evening was quiet up until the supper hour bell sounded. Mel decided that in the cooler evening air that high flights were in order. He was all over the place. Condos. Nest building roof. Centre tower. Back to the nest building roof. Flying like a pro and landing with confidence. Around 8pm the first sprinkles of rain began and that got both Ninja and Mel excited. A half a dozen scurrying flights around and both Mel and Ninja were now back on the nest ledge with Glider!! All three went down to the camera corner and laid down together for bed.
Ferris on the other hand needed to go back to his parents care and so after closing the Osler watch with all 4 on the ledge in bed I headed down for the release. Ferris was in a rather nasty mood in his carrier as he was hissing before I had even crossed the room to check him out. He was in perfect condition to go home. A check of the weather showed some thunder shower activity through the overnight with 15mm of rain. Ok Ferris my love, you’re having a bath. I took him up to the roof and put him in a corner near to shelter and opened the door… …ok. Out you. Now please. Nope. He wanted a piece of me before he left. I gently pulled the towel out that he was standing on and he came out full of baby peregrine grrrrrr. He wanted me to give Bruce, his rescuer, a message and so he wrote it down on one of my fingers with his talon. Message received!! I left him on the roof about 30 minutes before the rain began to sort himself out. When the rain finally arrived he didn’t just get a bath but a full body scrub down!! This morning he has already taken two flights; one to the centre tower roof and a second to a ledge on the back side at Aberfoyle at nest ledge level where he and Mel are currently chilling out and preening. With both Mel and Ferris in view Bruce did a quick check of the camera and had both Ninja and Glider on the nest tray. Great job everybody!! All four young are high and safe!!
Posted on June 23, 2015 10:12 am
June 21, 2015 - Toronto - Rogers Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Sunday June 21st - 2015
I had two in view this afternoon. I left at 2:30 and returned at 5pm.
What an air show with at least 2 juvies in the air.
It wasn’t until 6:30 that I spotted another on the south side of the Centre close to where the release was. It stayed there for the longest time, and the adult weren’t in view. I wasn’t sure if the adults were ignoring it or didn’t know it was there. At 7:30 the adult female came in and it had a good feed. It stayed there and made no attempt to fly.
When I left at 8:15 and it was lying down on the south side of the Centre next to one of the light boxes. It could have been a third juvie not sure with two of them flying very well. Little Pop Fly likes to land on the window frames of the up structure of the CN Tower.
Linda
Posted on June 22, 2015 11:41 pm
