June 29, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
Once again the girls spent the day on the ledge no attempt to fly. Kojis on the other hand made a flight around the building twice, one out some distance over the parking lot and back and then a final flight as far as the condos at Bellamy and the 401 with dad following him all the way. Dad cane back in about 10 minutes seaming unconcerned. Kojis was gone for about 25 minutes and flew back home on his own landing on the top of the building just under the fingers.
It seems that the Turkey Vultures are not getting the message as once again Lyn went after a Turley Vulture who came too close. I guess with Kojis flying farther away from the nest that TV no fly zone has grown photos below.
Posted on June 29, 2016 10:30 pm
June 29, 2016 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
The single chick is looking poofy this evening. Fledge watch to begin next week.
Posted on June 29, 2016 8:10 pm
June 29, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
Kojis did some more flying today just out and back to the building but has gained height. Lorraine is Flapping up a storm now and should go soon but Velcro is living up to her name and is far less active sticking to the floor of the nest most of the time.
George and Lyn spotted a Turkey Vulture who came a little too close to the nest and went after him defending their territory and striking the bird several times putting him down to grown out of our site.
We finished the evening with the girls still in the nest and Kojis on the upper level of the east side.
Pictures below of dad on a light after a hunt and Lorraine on the ledge.
Posted on June 29, 2016 9:21 am
June 28, 2016 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Mark Nash Reports:
June 28th - 2016
We have some terrible news to report about Mac,, the new resident adult male with Quest at the Duncan Mills nest site.
Sadly, we have just received a call from Lisa at the TWC that an adult peregrine with Red tape, banded with a Black Canadian Recovery band W over 78 was just received from the Toronto Animal Services moments ago after being picked up from the streets on Bayview Ave., with multiple bone breaks and fractures along with severe internal trauma. Black W over 78 turns out to be McKinney,, Quests mate!!
Unfortunately Mac, (McKinney) had to be put down, as there was absolutely no way of saving him given the extent of his injuries and internal trauma.
McKinney,, (or Mac as he was nick-named), was produced at the Don Mills and Eglinton nest site at the Amexon building in 2014. Mac re-appeared out of the blue late this season where he replaced the existing resident adult male (Sky) at the Duncan Mills nest site where Quest and Sky were already involved in full time incubation of four fertile eggs.
Incredibly, Mac, assisted Quest with both with her incubation duties of the four eggs, and then adopted the hatchlings and assisted with feeding and raising them as if they were his own!
We were all waiting and closely watching with baited breath to see if Mac would continue on with the role as a father. He proved himself and proceeded to both assist with the feeding of the four hatchlings and then carry on with the other parental duties throughout. He has in fact been flight training the four fledglings as we documented during the fledge watch several weeks ago!!
Sadly, it looks like Quest is now on her own once again to finish the flight training of her four fledglings and to teach them to hunt, (a role that is usually undertaken by the adult male).
We will be watching closely again to see if Quest will be able to keep up with the demands of her four fledglings again this season!
As you may recall, the same thing happened to poor Quest several seasons ago when her long standing mate “Kendal” was found injured and Quest was left to raise her four fledglings on her own for the balance of the season. Kendal was not able to be returned back to the wild given the severity of his injuries.
Quest was successful as a single parent that year, (although two years younger),, but there is no reason to believe that she should have any problems this time, so long as she herself stays out of the traffic and clear of the buildings!!!!
Posted on June 28, 2016 12:29 pm
June 28, 2016 - Toronto - Don Mills
Mark Nash Reports:
June 28th - 2016
We have some terrible news to report about Mac,, the new resident adult male with Quest at the Duncan Mills nest site.
Sadly, we have just received a call from Lisa at the TWC that an adult peregrine with Red tape, banded with a Black Canadian Recovery band W over 78 was just received from the Toronto Animal Services moments ago after being picked up from the streets on Bayview Ave., with multiple bone breaks and fractures along with severe internal trauma. Black W over 78 turns out to be McKinney,, Quests mate!!
Unfortunately Mac, (McKinney) had to be put down, as there was absolutely no way of saving him given the extent of his injuries and internal trauma.
McKinney,, (or Mac as he was nick-named), was produced at the Don Mills and Eglinton nest site at the Amexon building in 2014. Mac re-appeared out of the blue late this season where he replaced the existing resident adult male (Sky) at the Duncan Mills nest site where Quest and Sky were already involved in full time incubation of four fertile eggs.
Incredibly, Mac, assisted Quest with both with her incubation duties of the four eggs, and then adopted the hatchlings and assisted with feeding and raising them as if they were his own!
We were all waiting and closely watching with baited breath to see if Mac would continue on with the role as a father. He proved himself and proceeded to both assist with the feeding of the four hatchlings and then carry on with the other parental duties throughout. He has in fact been flight training the four fledglings as we documented during the fledge watch several weeks ago!!
Sadly, it looks like Quest is now on her own once again to finish the flight training of her four fledglings and to teach them to hunt, (a role that is usually undertaken by the adult male).
We will be watching closely again to see if Quest will be able to keep up with the demands of her four fledglings again this season!
As you may recall, the same thing happened to poor Quest several seasons ago when her long standing mate “Kendal” was found injured and Quest was left to raise her four fledglings on her own for the balance of the season. Kendal was not able to be returned back to the wild given the severity of his injuries.
Quest was successful as a single parent that year, (although two years younger),, but there is no reason to believe that she should have any problems this time, so long as she herself stays out of the traffic and clear of the buildings!!!!
Posted on June 28, 2016 12:10 pm
June 28, 2016 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:
Sheraton’s single chick is taking time to check out the view, or looking for food delivery. This one is growing up fast and the fledge watch should start next week, with spot checks this weekend.
Posted on June 28, 2016 10:07 am
June 27, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
Tracy is on site this morning and confirmed the band tape color on the chick that fledged yesterday, it’s Kojis. He is still on the same ledge on the north side of the building. Lyn is teasing him and trying to get him to take another flight. The 2 girls have not popped up out of the nest yet this morning so we expect they get fed earlier and are napping. Stay tuned for more reports tonight.
Posted on June 27, 2016 10:26 am
June 27, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
June 26th 2016
Dave started the watch on Sunday morning and although it was very hot it was also very windy so it helped. He could only see 2 chicks in the nest and was concerned that we may have had one go already but could not see one anywhere else.
When Mark and I arrived in the early afternoon it was still very windy and we could see the adults fighting the wind just to land on the top of the building. We also only saw 2 chicks at a t time but I know they do play whack a mole up there on the ledge and pop up and down so we may only be seeing 1 or 2 at a time.
Lyn fed the chicks a tidbit of food in the late afternoon and soon after one of them started flapping it wings in the edge of the nest ledge and the wind blew it off. It flapped like mad and Lyn took to the air to assist. It hooked around to the front of the building and landed on the stone ledge safely.
The other 2 chicks got fed again just after 6:00 PM and stayed put until Mark and I called it quits at dusk.
Posted on June 27, 2016 10:21 am
June 09, 2016 - Brampton - Courthouse
Mark Nash Reports:
June 9th - 2106
Sorry for the late posting as we have been very busy in the streets on the various fledge watches and at the banding tables again this year and as a result, there is lots of backlog posts that we’re all still trying to catch up on. Sadly, the long days in the streets are not giving us much time in the office, let alone time on the computers.
A big thank you to Nadine Peart who both called us and send in some of her photos fearing that the Brampton Courthouse peregrines had produced babies, as there were falcon fledglings being observed and lots of activity happening around the courthouse!
The bad news is of course is that the resident Brampton peregrines did not produce this season. The good news is that the local American Kestrels did produce fledglings, and there were American Kestrel fledglings terrorizing the courthouse staff! American Kestrels are true falcons,, (just not peregrine falcons).
With a noticeable decrease of American Kestrels around the province, it is nice to see that there is at least one family of Kestrels were very visible, and that they have in fact successfully produced offspring this spring!!
The dramatic decrease and absence of American Kestrels over the past few years both here in Ontario and many other parts of the continent is suspect in part to the ongoing poisoning of our environment with the use of Neonics
Scientific evidence is now pointing to Neonics for the decline of our global honey bee populations, in addition to many other species around the globe!
Neonics are systemic pesticides applied to the plants. Unlike these contact pesticides, which remain on the surface of the treated foliage, systemics are taken up by the plant and transported to all the tissues (leaves, flowers, roots and stems, as well as pollen and nectar). The actual seeds are treated!!! Neonicotinoids are a relatively new class of insecticides that share a common mode of action that affect the central nervous system of insects, resulting in paralysis and death. They include imidacloprid, acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, nithiazine, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam.
Unfortunately, American Kestrels eat a large volume of insects, especially in the rural areas, and of course, the smaller birds that American Kestrels also eat, feed on both the insects that also feed on the plants!
Our honey bees have been dying off at alarming rates, all over the globe!!!, and neonicotinoid pesticides are being directly implicated in this global honey bee decline. Sadly, bees and birds aren’t the only victims as “Neonic” pesticides may also harm the human brain, nervous system and our hormonal systems.
The better news, as we are starting to realize, is that our urban nesting and resident raptors, (this includes the peregrines) are for the most parts protected from many of these nasty poisons, as they live their entire lives here in the cities where many of these poisons are not being used at all.
Most all of our resident territorial adult peregrines here in southern Ontario don’t actually migrate in the winter and many of these same resident adults can be seen wintering over and hanging around on the urban nest ledges.
Their food sources are also safe, as the very birds that they eat also live and feed here in the cities. Again, one of the reasons that it is believed that the “urban Kestrel populations” have remained somewhat more stable than their non-urban counterparts that feed from these poisoned toxic environments.
It is still mind blowing that most humans still remain delusional and in denial that the poisons that we spray and apply to our food sources and later consume won’t sooner or later have some very negative health affects on us. How much poison can we tolerate?
Posted on June 26, 2016 12:17 pm
June 22, 2016 - Niagara Falls
Mark Nash Reports:
June 22nd - 2016
Some good news for the Niagara Falls peregrines!
A big thank you again to Jacquie again from the New York Department of Conservation - (N.Y.D.E.C.) which is New York’s state equivalent of our provincial wildlife resources here in Ontario - (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests) for her update and new photos of the Niagara Falls peregrines.
The Canadian Peregrine foundation has worked closely and in partnership with the N.Y.D.E.C. off and on over the past 16 years on the various peregrine programs that we have all been involved in, and its nice to know that our good friends to the south are still there for us as in this case.
Sadly, we are unable to see the Niagara Falls peregrines nest from the Canadian side so monitoring the nesting pair and their activities in the nest cavity is impossible. The only way to see the nest cavity is from the USA side looking back to the Canadian side. While it is quite a distance to see across the Niagara Gorge from the U.S. side, Jacquie has got it pretty good!!! 
Jacquie writes:
A quick update on the Niagara Falls nest! I was there on Wednesday, June 22, and found the female in the box with two juvies that looked just about ready to fledge (~ 39 days). I scanned all over the old OPG building with my scope, but did not see any other fledges, so it looks like just two for this site this year. I attached a couple photos.
Jacquie
Posted on June 26, 2016 11:27 am
