July 23, 2015 - Oshawa - Lakeridge Hospital
Mark Nash Reports:
July 23rd - 2015
A very busy day indeed for us all with Mark running out to rescue a trapped fledgling from behind a glass balcony and Tracy running out to Oshawa to rescue a downed fledgling on the ground!
While I don’t have much of the details, we will have to wait for Tracy’s rescue report, the telephone was ringing off the hook today at the CPF head office with downed and trapped fledglings in both Scarborough and Oshawa.
Sadly, little Atlas was recovered from the sidewalk near the Oshawa City Hall today having sustained a non-life threatening injury that was diagnosed after x-rays with a broken wing! The much better news, is that his broken wing is very repairable and his prognosis for a quick turnaround for his release after a short rehab looks really promising!
Stay tuned for more details to follow……….
Posted on July 25, 2015 4:07 am
July 24, 2015 - International, National and Local News
Mark Nash Reports:
July 24th - 2015
A very good afternoon indeed! The little mystery female fledgling was successfully banded and released back to her parents and sibling this afternoon!
Stay tuned for the full report and photos!
Posted on July 25, 2015 3:36 am
July 24, 2015 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Mark Nash Reports:
July 23rd - 2015
Great news, in that little Typhoon was successfully released back to his parents and sister this afternoon! After a short stay with the Toronto Wildlife, Typhoon was cleared for release back to his parents today. I met with Lisa at the TWC and picked up Typhoon late morning and drove him back down town to the Canada Square at Yonge & Eglinton nest building.
A huge thank you to the Canada Square security for accommodating and allowing us access to the outer balcony where Typhoon was released, and to Typhoon’s newest friends (and there were MANY of them) from Canadian Tire who occupies the entire floor and office suites directly below the nest ledge, and their balcony where Typhoon was released.
After making the necessary telephone calls to all involved to let them know that I would be late given all of the traffic congestion and delays, little Typhoon and I battled the overwhelming traffic congestion (thank goodness for air conditioning and a full tank of gas), we arrived just after 12:30pm.
With Bruce from the Canada Square Security in the lead, we arrived on the 16th floor office suites where we were met by 25 plus very anxious Canadian Tire employees that were on hand to witness Typhoons release.
Once the rescue carrier was placed out on the outer balcony with its door opened, Typhoon only took seconds to actually exit the rescue crate, then jumped up the top of the large rescue carrier, turned and watched us through the glass for close to 35 minutes!!! Moments later, he finally jumped again up to the hand rail on the outer balcony wall. There is stayed once again for yet another 15 plus minutes giving us all another great photo opportunity!!!!
Obviously not being stressed at all with our presence watching him - watch us, he was actually quite relaxed during the entire process and seemed very interested in what we were all excited about.. While we didn’t see either of his parents or his sister during the hour that I was there, the Canadian Tire staff had been watching his parents out their windows flying around most of the earlier morning, so we know that both parents are still very much around.
As Typhoon took flight from the balcony hand rail, he immediately gained altitude and ended up flying around to the upper roof elevation, way above our heads!! A great strong first post release flight indeed!!!
Just a I was leaving, we did see another peregrine fly up onto the upper roof area to join Typhoon, but sadly, it flew in so fast that we couldn’t identify if it was one of his parents or his sister.
Either way, we can be assured that he is not alone! A very good morning indeed!
Now, on my way to brave the traffic once again in an effort to meet Mark Heaton at the Aurora district MNR office to have yet another peregrine fledgling banded that I rescued yesterday from Kennedy and Hwy 401 area! She also needs to get back to her parents today!
Posted on July 25, 2015 3:09 am
July 24, 2015 - International, National and Local News
Mark Nash Reports:
July 23rd - 2015
While the Scarborough Yellow pages nest site failed to produce this season, (as a result of a new adult male replacing the long standing resident adult male Ruben) there was still some good news for Scarborough this season!
Shortly after 10am this morning, the phone was again ringing with yet another report of a trapped peregrine stuck behind the glass on a 40 story condo balcony in Scarborough at Kennedy and Hwy. 401 area.
With the help of the condo superintendent, I was escorted to a 40th floor condo unit where I was able to rescue a young “un-banded” female fledgling that was trapped behind the glass balcony front - (see rescue photos) . Given the report from the condo owner, who explained that the bird had been on her balcony now for more than 24 hours. While I was there doing the rescue, there was a second un-banded fledgling vocalizing just above me on the upper balcony overhang several feet from me!!! It took flight (a good strong flight) and landed on one of the other condo roof tops and watched as I captured its sister - (see photos).
So, we have a new Scarborough nest site - somewhere very close,,, but where???????
I spent the next hour searching the roof top with the condo super but didn’t find any evidence of a nest site, (at least on this condo roof),,, but there are three other very tall condos that are part of this property that could be the nest site!!! I will have to return at a later date to do a search of these roofs.
I spent the another hour searching the surrounding neighbourhood for any adults, but found nothing. Shortly after my departure, I spoke with Bruce on the telephone from the CPF, who was now on site, searching the surrounding leading edges of the surrounding rooftops from the ground, and he reports that he was able to locate two peregrines roosting on the leading edges on the south side of the same condo where I had earlier rescued the un-banded female fledgling, one he believed to be an adult male and one fledgling juvenile. Sadly, the sun was setting to the west and his views had the sun directly in his eyes and he was unable to clearly identify the gender of the birds that he was seeing. He’ll be back!!
I was able to contact Mark Heaton from the OMNR and made arrangements to take the rescued female fledgling up to him at the Aurora district office of the Ministry of Natural Resources tomorrow to have it banded, and I will be returning the young fledgling back to the condo roof and releasing it back to its parents and sibling.
Stay tuned for photos and additional information to follow……….
Posted on July 24, 2015 12:48 am
July 21, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
Mark Nash Reports:
July 21st - 2015
Again it is with great sadness that I must report that we have lost another fledgling.
As many of you know, this is the time of year when we have finished most all of the fledge watches, and the young fledgling survivors are now able to hold their altitude and stay off the ground, (and for the most parts), no longer in need of our help.
That being said, this is not entirely true, as the young fledglings are starting to investigate their new world, and straying further and further from their parents and the home territory throughout the day, and as we all know, unsupervised young children usually get into trouble.
Remembering that the young fledglings are still very much “children”- in mind, still very much dependant on their parents for food as many of them are unable to catch their own food at this point, and most all are still very inexperienced with any time type of real skilled flight, and still have allot of learning yet to do.
This is the time when they end up getting in other types of trouble. remembering that they are building up allot of speed and unable to judge distances given this speed, and end up crashing into things and/or getting stuck or caught in things. Thus is the case for little Ogden who obviously had a collision with something, and sustained serious injuries as a result.
Little Ogden was found on the ground within the plant grounds and was successfully rescued by the great Holcim staff. Unfortunately, Ogden succumb to his injuries and died shortly thereafter.
Posted on July 23, 2015 11:56 pm
July 22, 2015 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
I got a call from an old friend today, Joe Mota the past manager of 18 King st another Peregrine nest site contacted me to let me know he had a Peregrine Juvenile in a box at 2 St. Clair St west. The bird had fallen down the chimney several floors and was found by building maintenance.
I did not ask any further questions since I knew that Joe knew exactly what to do. I called and despatched Bruce to go and get the bird who I expected was one of our Canada square kids.
Sure enough it was Typhoon
Bruce told me that he looked like he had an injury to his eye so he was going top take him to rehab right away.
I will post information on his diagnosis as soon as I know anything.
Posted on July 23, 2015 11:49 am
July 15, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
For the last few weeks, the juveniles have made their way safely to the top of the Sun Life tower. The fledge watch team have finally been able to relax and get their lives back to normal as the juveniles are doing well and have learned how to maneuver around this tall building. Often, one or two can be seen perched on various parts of the parapets of the tower and on top of the King Street sign. The ‘grines’ have been very active around the tower on most days and many employees have seen and heard the increased activity. With sunny days and good winds, on most days at around 2:00 p.m., at least one peregrine flies around the tower. Janice usually sees a single peregrine 3 or 4 times in an afternoon. They tend to come towards the Caroline Street side of the tower and ride the air currents up to the roof.
Learning to fly at lower buildings like Kings Towers and Grand River hospital has paid off. Their flights are strong, and they’ve put on many acrobatic performances around the top floors of the Sun Life building to the delight of employees inside. Caster and Mystery have taught them well! Last week, one flew by the 18th floor with a pigeon in it’s talons and a few minutes later, a rain of feathers fell down from the roof. Another morning, Janice was getting her coffee and a ‘grine’ glided belly first by the window right in front of her almost making her drop her coffee! A lot of the sightings are fast and unexpected and no confirmed identifications have been able to be made to see whose who. On another occasion, Janice was hosting a morning meeting on the 19th floor on the King Street side. The meeting was disrupted from all the screeching and carrying on.
On my way to and from work, the sightings are less often at Grand River Hospital and Kings towers and more so on the Sun Life tower. However, on July 15, I did see 2 circling Kitchener Collegiate Institute and over the parking lot at Central Fresh Mart. They circled around and around at these lower rooftops and then flew to Kings Towers with lots of screeching. The one in the lead was much larger and had a lumbering flight than the 2nd one following. I was pretty sure it was Chroma and possibly Reggie but can’t say for sure. When Chroma was released it was Reggie who was most delighted to see her back in the air and kept on flying to her, encouraging her to get back up to the nest box. They seem to have a special bond. The ‘grines’ were very active that day, with Janice seeing at least 3 in the air together around the same time. At the same time, these 2 landed, I could see one circling the Sun Life building tower. I have not seen any at the hospital or on the CTV tower but heard one yesterday around the station but could not locate it. It could have been on top of one of the rooftops out of sight. I did see one circling high up in the sky but it drifted out of sight quickly and was too far off to be the one vocalizing. This family of peregrines seems to own this city. Janice saw one circling above the neighbourhood across from the SuperStore at Fisher-Hallman and Highland on July 13th. They are called wandering (peregrine) falcons for a very good reason. It is becoming much harder to keep track of them as they start to increase their range and wander out of our sight.
Posted on July 22, 2015 12:57 am
July 21, 2015 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I stopped in last night to check up on our Osler family and had all four juveniles on site. Benny and Winston were on the eastern H and both had enormous crops. Sven was roosting in the tower and Peggy was on the nest ledge napping. After about 15 minutes on site, Sven decided he was bored and it was flight practice time. He was encouraged to the air by a passing pigeon that he took a run at. Not successful but a great effort. He spent the next 30 minutes by himself on the west side stooping everything that moved and playing in the wind. By the time the sun was beginning to set, all four youngsters were in the air and playing tag. Sven is now as rough as Benny in his playing and gave his cocky brother a run for his money! Twice Sven grabbed Benny by the tail which had Benny squealing like a baby to be let go of. Sven also took on the “Peggy Tank” in flight play with her keeping up so well and being clearly the bigger of the two, she tried to take it easy on him. Note I said TRIED. Sven was certainly up to the challenge that Peggy presented and had fun being chased by her and trying to evade. Winston was in the mix several times but was more content to digest the massive crop he now had than playing.
By the end of the evening, all four juveniles were playing, soaring, stooping and practicing their finesse in the air. Such a wonderful sight.
Posted on July 21, 2015 11:13 am
July 21, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I stopped in at Holcim yesterday on my way north to check in on Ogden and his progress in flight training. I found Caspian over in the center of the plant on a railing watching the main building very closely. I found Dad on the east side of the main plant taking a nap in the shade. It took about 20 minutes for me to locate Ogden and was able to easily pick him out on the south side of the main plant with a little help from Caspian. She had taken off on a hunt to the west and when she returned, the sight of food had Ogden to his feet and screaming so loudly I could hear it all the way from Avonhead Road! Caspian dropped off the food to Ogden and then headed back to her perch on the railing. All three birds were in sight and high up so I am happy to report that since his fledge last Thursday, it would appear that Ogden is doing quite well!!
Posted on July 21, 2015 11:06 am
July 21, 2015 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Late last week I stopped in at the William Osler nest site to see if I could locate Winston as he was the only juvenile I had yet to set eyes on. When I arrived, I had Chessie on the north side. She quickly took off and was flying circles around the east emergency area of the hospital. When she came around into full view, I could hear a juvenile screaming for Mommy but I couldn’t see it. The strange part about it was that I could hear the call echoing down low. I locked up the car and was about to follow the sound of the call when an ambulance attendant walked up to me and asked if I was the falcon lady. He said that one of the young ones was down on the ground by the emergency entrance behaving oddly. I looked over and saw little Winston on the ground and in the way of approaching ambulances. I ran. Fast.
When I got over to Winston and tried for a grab up he darted away and flew low up to a stump on the ground. I went and tried again. He evaded me a second time and flew up to a picnic table. He was more than capable of flying but was not getting any height and making no real distance flights. The third attempt was a success and having him in my hands I could see that he was a little on the thin side and needing some hydration. He had also worn down the center talon on each foot so that the tip was smooth and rounded like they had been rubbed down. Ok. You’ve been stuck somewhere and just got yourself out and home. I packed him up, thanked everyone for their help and took him up to the CPF Raptor Centre as it was too late in the day to take him anywhere else and I needed to assess him thoroughly. I contacted the appropriate folks and told them that I had Winston for a brief hold over to assess whether there was any problem that required further attention or if he was just out of juice.
Back at the Centre, I put Winston in one of our pens and could see that he was really out of jazz. Tired. Mild dehydration (skin turgor test). A little thin. He struggled to fly from the floor to a perch but not due to any injury. He had perfect symmetry, no drooping, a perfect keel and was bright, alert and responsive. So I rehydrated him, fed him and let him have a good nights sleep. By the next morning he was up on the highest perch and wanting to go home. I made arrangements with everyone to set up a release time as there was no injury to Winston, only a little out of gas, and he was clearly good to go. Bruce and I met up at William Osler. He set up in the east parking lot and I took little man to the roof. I called Bruce and gave him the 60 second warning; he was going out the door! One last check and a squirt of water and he was unceremoniously returned to the care of his family.
Back on the ground it wasn’t more than a few minutes when Bruce had a bird come off of the roof, circle and land on the eastern H sign. A little male juvenile sat on that sign and just howled for the parents attention! Both Chessie and Hurricane were sitting in the east tower roosting and not really responding to this tantrum of sorts. The juvenile didn’t stay long and took another flight around to the north side landing neatly on the nest ledge level where he found a pigeon. Bruce confirmed through scope view that this was in fact Winston and he was now gorging on the pigeon leftovers that he had found. After packing it all in, Winston took a break on the ledge and that was when Sven arrived; the first sibling to witness Winston’s return. He flew circles around the hospital watching this juvenile. It was like he recognized him but couldn’t place where he knew him from. Sven then flew over to the hydro tower to tell Mom and Dad what he had found. Benny and Peggy were now making their way home and Winston continued to vocalize to his family. Chessie, Hurricane, Peggy, Sven and Benny were now all in the hydro tower together and Winston could not wait a minute more. He took a brilliant flight over to the tower landing perfectly beside Sven who was playing it cool. We now had all 6 falcons in the tower together. The two boys were about 8 feet apart and Winston slowly over the next half hour inched closer and closer to Sven. When they were about a foot apart, Winston flipped his head in play at Sven and after about a minute of considering what to do about this, Sven returned the gesture and the boys beak tapped.
Well!!!! That was all it took! One little beak tap showing acceptance set off a rip roaring evening of play. The next two hours leading right up to dusk was full of play time with all four juveniles now performing aerial mock attacks with each other, roosting together and celebrating the return of Winston. Chessie and Hurricane brought in food for all four of the kids and as we were leaving with very little light left in the sky, they were all still playing wildly around the hospital. Winston was back with his family and filled to the brim with food. Bruce and I can’t say enough how happy we are that Winston was found and is home safe and sound.
Posted on July 21, 2015 10:55 am
