Kathy, Bob and I spent a few hours on watch today just to check in on the chicks to make sure no one left the ledge earlier than expected and though there was lots of wing flapping they are not quite ready to go but very soon perhaps another couple days. All 4 seen at nest when we left and Quest just left to go hunting.
Kathy, Bob and I spent a few hours on watch today just to check in on the chicks to make sure no one left the ledge earlier than expected and though there was lots of wing flapping they are not quite ready to go but very soon perhaps another couple days. All 4 seen at nest when we left and Quest just left to go hunting.
June 4th - 2016
A quick look a the Duncan Mill Road nest cam and we found one of the hatchlings again utilizing the roof of the nest box to get out of the hot sun and seek out that little bit of shade in an effort to stay cool!
Its getting close to fledge time, so these last days when we have them all on the web camera are fading fast!
It will be very interesting to see of the new resident adult male Mac as he has been nick-named, will step up to the line to flight train his adopted chicks?
Stay tuned……………
June 3rd - 2016
An opportunity to review some of the nest cams,, the 18 King Street love birds are still very active on the nest ledge!
Sadly, none of the photos are clear enough to identify the leg band numbers, but once again, the female has a Black over Red leg band consistent with that of the long standing resident adult female - Erin, and the newer adult male has a solid Black coloured leg band which is consistent with that of Stormin.
Last week, the pair aggressively defended the upper east ledge elevations when Solar window washing tried to wash the east side windows. The guys were almost ignored as they washed the south, west, and north sides, (including that of their roof top set-up).
While we have no idea why Erin and Stormin have not produced these past two seasons, it is obvious that they are still very much defending and holding on to each other and the nest ledge. It is also interesting to remember, that the 18 King Street nest site is Toronto’s first, having been established back in 1995, and has been occupied by a pair of peregrines every each since 1995!
Pounce-Kingsley - (from Akron Ohio and Victoria from Pennsylvania) were the first pair to nest and produce at this site and were active from 1995 to 2002 - (and produced every year),,, then they were replaced as the site when it was taken over by Erin and Windwhistler - (a.k.a. - Spike who was produced at the Etobicoke Bloor and Islington nest site). Erin and Windwhistler have been producing each and every year up until two seasons ago.
Now its Erin and her new mate Stormin.
Given that the site has been both active and producing offspring each and every year since 1995, (and still occupied today), it is one of Canada’s longest standing occupied territories, and one of if not the most productive peregrine nest sites in Ontario and all of Canada!
It is also important to remember that Windwhistler was also double timing Erin for many years, as he was also the sire and resident adult at another nest site here in Toronto, (at the Toronto Sheraton Hotel), where each year he produced offspring at both the Sheraton and 18 King street nest site simultaneously. He flew back and forth from the 18 King Street nest site to the Toronto Sheraton Hotel on a daily basis dealing with two mates and two clutches of hatchlings at both nest sites!
He was a very busy, and a very productive peregrine!!!
During this period of time, there was a noticeable lack of adult males, and as such, we documented two adult males here in southern Ontario at two urban nest sites that were servicing two different nest sites and their resident adult females each season. Both of these males were successful in producing at both nest sites each season. We watched and documented each of these two males fly back and forth to each of their mates on a daily basis to provide food for their two mates and two sets of hatchlings!
Ann stopped by last night and it looks like Geddy is ready to go sooner than the others so Kathy and I are going to head out this afternoon to keep an eye on him. He is jumping and flapping a lot and getting some air guess he in a bit of a Rush 
June 2nd - 2016
With the successful release of little Josally (Y over 23) to the upper rooftop of MEC #1 under the cover of darkness last night, Bruce reports early this morning that both of the resident adults have been attending to him at first light this morning and all is well!
No worse for ware, (but a little confused about the whole situation), the feisty little peregrine showed lots of attitude and charged me during his release!!
Watch out for this little guy, he’s got the attitude of a lion!!
Bruce Massey attended the MEC site today to drop off the rescue carrier and to do some more work on assessing the young boys. When he arrived he could only see Olimar up on the nest ledge flashing his red tape. He was looking good with little down left to go and quite active on the ledge. For a while the only bird in view was Olimar and Josally was no where to be seen. Now we know at MEC that one of the favorite games the little ones love to play is in and out of the window well where the nest box sits. Often when we can’t see a young one that’s exactly where it is. Not this time!
Bruce followed the actions of the adults as he did a walkabout of the four MEC towers. He was getting a response from Midnight around the base of MEC 1 so he set up across the street to watch. He brought out his scope and as he was panning around he got lucky and found Josally in the top of a tree out front MEC 1. He was settled in there for a while but was getting anxious to go home. Given the amount of down on this little man it was clear that his “fledge” was most likely an accident. Josally tried to get a little higher in the tree and decided that this wasn’t fun anymore, it was time to go home. He took a flight out over Robert Speck Parkway and maintained his height for a bit but was way too low for the nest ledge. He flumped into the south side of MEC 1 and fluttered down to the ground. Bruce was over in a shot and Josally gave him a good chase before surrendering to his rescuers towel.
Thank you to Bruce for the great rescue today, the first of the 2016 fledge watch season. Mark will be releasing Josally tonight to the roof of the nest building where he can continue to gain strength and confidence for the days to come.
Thanks again to Bruce and Mark for the great team effort.
May 23rd - 2016
Some additional photos of Joe and Virginia from Lucie that she was able to send to us from the UK where she is currently on vacation.
Have a great holiday Lucie!
It almost looks like the resident male “Joe” is trying to convince his mate “Virginia” that he did this all himself,, (build the new home and put up the tower just for her)
While I don’t think that she’s buying it,, she has obviously approved and decided to lay her eggs in it.
Hopefully, we will be able to see just how many hatchlings the pair have produced as soon as they get large enough. .
Congratulations are in order for a successful hatch!
Stay tuned……………….
Tuesday May 31st - 2016
A big thank you to the Dream management group and their engineering staff for allow me access to several of their buildings that allowed me a opportunity to get a 360 degree view of the entire upper elevation of the 18 King street nest building. After receiving a flurry of phone calls from our good friends at the Solar Group, the organization that has been supporting the CPF for almost 20 years with their equipment and staff that allows the CPF to access the upper ledges of 18 King Street to do the extraction of the young hatchlings for banding,, (and the same group that does all of the window washing on many of the other buildings that host active peregrine nest sites).
Last week, the Solar window washers were aggressively stooped and dive-bombed by the King Street pair as they attempted to wash the windows on the east side of the 18 King Street nest building. The green light was given to go ahead with the buildings window washing as there has been no indication of any incubation activity on the CPF web camera this season.
For the most parts, during their window washing activities on the South, West, and North parts of the building, the resident peregrines although still very much on site and quite visible, paid little to no attention to the window washers. It wasn’t until they got to the upper east side that the peregrines let loose with an on-slot of attacks and forced them away from the east elevation. Solar had to abandoned their efforts to continue and departed the site.
So, I spent the better part of the afternoon scanning the entire upper elevations of the nest building and ALL of the ledges in an effort to find the eggs that was reported by Solar, but no eggs were observed. The resident adult female was although once again laying down on north end of the nest ledge in camera view,, but again, no eggs were present.
I can only surmise that the resident pair (which we have confirmed to be the Erin and Stormin), are simply territorial and still protecting their home as we would expect. Remembering that hormones still control most every action and its still breeding season!
I took allot of photos of ALL of the ledges on both sides of the building so I could review in detail once on the computer, and sadly, there were no eggs to be found.
Bruce Massey was out at MEC yesterday to spend some time assessing our two boys out there and they are certainly getting close. They are out of the nest box and playing in the window well which is the first brave step at this site that all chicks make before first flights. They both are rapidly losing their down and one has already considered jumping the gap which is the most important pre flight indicator. Bruce will be starting the watch informally tomorrow and delivering the rescue carrier to security.
If anyone has time that they would like to spend helping at MEC supporting Midnight, Renegade and their two boys, please contact me by email at tracy@peregrine-foundation.ca Whether you have an hour, a day or an afternoon to spend, any and all support is most welcome and incredibly helpful
Ok folks, here we go!