June 26th 2016
Spot checked at 8:30 this morning and found 2 fledglings high at nest level on Canada Square and one at one at theater level having breakfast with Malik. All is well!
June 25th 2016
Today all 3 chicks had some flights in the morning and all 3 returned to the nest building. With the heat no one flew in the afternoon, not even the adults. As it cooled down a bit after 8:00 PM Louise was coaxed to fly by mom and she made a very nice flight to Rio Can landing on the same places the adults do then off to TVO following mom then back to Rio Can. Dad came in and fed Quasar but up until then no one had been fed at all too hot to hunt or perhaps weaning of the chicks was on the adults mind. It is time for them to come and get the food not have it delivered.
Symphony and Quasar were on the nest building and Louise was on Rio Can when we left them tonight. We will be winding down the watch now to spot checks and will post any interesting developments and photos we may get. We are now off to start the watch at Scarborough Yellow Pages and hope they do as well.
June 25th - 2016
The question has been asked of us repeatedly over the past 20 years and most forget the answers.
As fledglings, the young peregrines become flighted around 40 days old and often have to be rescued from the ground (among many other things, including garbage dumpsters, mechanical rooms, air conditioning chillers pools to name only just a few) and unable to get free and back into the air.
Inexperienced, heavy and over weight - laden with all of that excessive very heavy baby fat,, and basically lacking the confidence (and experience) to hold their altitude and stay aloft!
That being said, even after they have become flighted, there is still much to learn for the fledglings to be able to hold their altitude and actually stay aloft! Windows are a constant threat until they learn what they are, and able to recover from collisions and bumps into the office tower windows,, (this is of course if they don’t kill or severely injure themselves after these collisions). The good news, if they collide and survive,, they do learn and avoid these dangers down the road!! 
For those young fledglings that actually survive these window (and concrete collisions) uninjured, it really shakes the confidence out of them, and it usually takes them a period of time before they attempt another flight. Not all of them are eager to get back on the horse as they say!
Then there is the glass balcony’s that many of the fledglings get stuck behind (even after they are flighted, sometime weeks after they have actually fledged)!!
The good news is that we get allot of the calls from concerned folks and able to respond to do the balcony rescues. Some, as in this case,, (Pictured is Quasar from the Canada Square nest site at Yonge & Eglinton today) that has just spent over an hour trapped on a balcony behind the glass.
Sadly, the little fledglings don’t understand why they simply can’t fly through the glass and get free and airborne again! They do although eventually learn what glass is, but its a trial and error and learning experience that their parents really can’t teach them. They must learn many of these life lessons of survival themselves through trial and error!
In this case, Quasar finally figured out that if you use the chair arm to get higher, you maybe able to reach the balcony rail above the glass and get airborne again. And in this case, the owner / occupant of the condo unit was home (who took the photos),, and called the TWC, who called the CPF.
Quasar did get free all on his own!! No rescue needed on this one!
Unfortunately, this situation does not always have a happy ending like this one. While we have successfully completed many glass balcony rescues over the years,, (seems like we do several each year these days as so many more condo balcony’s are now glass, and so many hi-rise condos now) - before and long after the organized fledge watches,, some of the fledglings were trapped behind the glass balconies where the owner/occupant was away on vacation for weeks, and we obviously didn’t see the fledgling get trapped in the first place and no one was home to call!
Remember that even long after the young peregrines have fledged and holding their altitude,, they can (and do) still become trapped behind glass balconies weeks after we have finished the organized street fledge watches.
Some of these balconies didn’t have furniture that the young fledglings could use to help them get above the glass and off the balcony. In several cases, the adult parents didn’t see them either, and on two occasions, these young fledglings simply starved to death while being trapped behind the glass.
What a terrible way to die,, alone and starved to death! 
So, while the organized fledge watch maybe completed, (we can only stay so long and do so much),, the fledglings are still very vulnerable and we need everyone’s support to keep an eye out for them. Remember, they are just like young kids, with MUCH to learn,, and their parents can only do so much!!
A big thank you to Julia at the TWC and the owner/occupant who called in to report this (and for the great photos) that highlighted the situation!!
June 24th 2016
Spending my Birthday with my feathered friends
We arrived to find no fledglings at the nest this morning so I went on a walkabout to try to find Quasar and Louise who must have taken off early. Malik was sitting on the farthest north ledge so I expected they were not too far away but where, cant find then on the block. I know from all the years on the watch at this site that it is best to just sit and watch the adults sooner or later they will come in with food and the chicks will pop up someplace and start yelling to be fed. I sat down to wait for Mom or Dad to show me where they were.
When Bruce arrived I took a trip to the store on Eglinton and Duplex for some water and sure enough mom flew into view and the chicks sounded off. Bruce spotted Louise on Rio Can and I found Quasar on TVO. Quasar’s spot on TVO had a ledge that dropped down a couple feet. He was up and down several times so that is why I could not find him when I got there he must have been down out of site and Louise was so tight to the corner of Rio Can she was very easy to miss until she moved.
Bruce was very worried about Symphony and decided to head off north in search of her once again and I stayed to keep an eye on the other 2.
Bruce came back about and hour and a half later hot and tired having pounded the Pavement for several blocks with no luck. I told him don’t worry there is a very good chance she will make her way home, yesterdays flight was high and strong she is likely up on a balcony somewhere.
Mark joined us at 6:00 PM and was just setting up the scope when Bruce shouted who’s that pointing up at the roof top of Rio Can, We all looked up and could confirm that it was Symphony back from her adventure. She spent a little time there then flew to the nest building landing on the top of the roof.
The evening ended at dark with all 3 chicks in the same place and all safe and high.
Irma and I are happy to report we have a chick! And there is still one egg, with a possible pip in it! Fingers crossed! Irma and I went up to the roof 2 weeks ago to find we had lost one egg but Jenna & Chester were still sitting on 2 eggs. So we headed back up today to check out the nest site. When I first peeked over I saw Mum sitting on what I thought was a chick but I had to duck quick as I looked up to see Chester heading straight for me!! Irma got the broom up over me quick and I took my camera and looked over –Mum had gotton off the chick and egg and was glaring at me but I was able to get some good shots of the baby!! Irma then went up to have a peek, Mum was back with her baby, so she got some great shots of our beautiful Jenna and her baby! We are waiting to hear from our experts Mark & Marion for an estimate of the age of our little one! Fledge watch is going to be a late one this year
One of the juvies back on the nest tray.
June 23rd - 2016
While it was a good day overall today on the Uptown Toronto fledge watch here at the Canada Square, the day’s fledge closed on a downer note.
We arrived early this morning and much to our delight, all three juveniles were still high on the nest building,, exactly where we had left them at darkness last night when we closed the fledge watch for the evening. Louise was on the upper west porch ledge to the right of the nest ledge, Quasar was on the upper nest ledge porch and Symphony was still on the upper west balcony level, and both parents were in view.
The day was much cooler with no humidity and overcast, and I must say absolutely delightful in comparison to the 30 plus degrees and debilitating humidity that we had to deal with two days ago!!
So first the good news,, Louise finally took her first flight this afternoon and was successful in returning back to the exact ledge that she started from,, (this after bumping off a few windows on the RioCan building while trying to land on the small concrete pillars on the south wall of the building that her parents are often found roosting on),, and then trying to land on the top of one of the black columns above the nest ledge level on the Canada Square nest building.
Throughout her entire flight, her father - “Malik” flew by her side like her wing man,, and accompanied her in an effort to steer her clear and guid her to a safe landing, but alas, you know kids,, rarely do they listen to their parents! Thus was the case,, with several bumps with the windows, (some window washing as we say), and some concrete busting, they eventually learn by their mistakes, through trial and error,, Louise flew back around to the nest building , collided with the concrete and flopped back down to the ledge where she began her.
For the next hour, she hunkered down out of our sight on the ledge with an obvious bruised ego and shaken confidence. While we knew that the concrete busting was not life threatening or hard enough to cause her injury we waited patiently for her to pop back up into our view,,, and she eventually did, obviously no worse for ware. She remained on this ledge for the balance of the day and eventually settled down by darkness when we departed for the evening.
Quasar on the other hand, stayed tight to her ledge all day, with lost of screaming both to and at her parents during many of their fly-bys, with lost of flapping and several down and outright tantrums!!
Now the not so good news,,, with Symphony taking her second flight. Late this afternoon, Symphony took to the air for the second time and flew north up Duplex finally landing on a west facing balcony of the apartment building just north of Eglinton. The good news is that she didn’t lose any altitude. The bad news, is that she was now out of sight of both the nest building and her parents. Bruce repositioned himself further north on Duplex to keep a direct line of sight on her while Cathy Marion and myself stayed firm to keep an eye on the other two siblings fearing that all of the adults fly-bys would have them bolting into flight.
After more than an hour of roosting quietly on the apartment balcony, she bolted into the air flying north on Duplex and was quickly out of Bruce’s view. Bruce, Cathy and myself searched the area further to the north, west and east but we were unable to locate her. The good news is that she had a great deal of altitude and a rather strong flight.
Unfortunately, by the time darkness fell and the end of the days fledge watch, Symphony’s location had eluded us and her location remained a mystery.
We are hopeful that we will be able to locate her tomorrow.
I was on the watch this past Tuesday and had a great time with the Canada Square family. Haven and Malik stayed hidden for most of the morning and made a huge impression on us all in the pursuit of lunch for the girls. Symphony was the most active and I am not surprised that she was the first to fledge. Just before I left on Tuesday we also were treated to a Turkey vulture determent session from the resident adults. My picture was too far away to be detailed but it sure shows the size difference between the two!!
The Windsor Peregrine Falcon Watch team will be gathering for a wrap-up celebration at 6pm on Friday, July 15th at the Dominion House on Sandwich Street, just a few blocks west of the bridge. Whether you joined in to officially “watch”, came by to learn about the Peregrines, brought a camera down to get some photos, or just generally enjoy seeing these magnificent birds in our city, you are welcome to come and join for story-telling together and enjoying the camaraderie of like-minded people. The Dominion is close to the bridge so that folks can pop over for some time watching before or after the gathering.
We had lots of great people watching and protecting the fledglings again this year. Thank you to all who gave of their time, their energy, and their passion again this year.
We are so fortunate to have the support of our friends at the Ambassador Bridge Corporation, Erie Wildlife, Brack Animal Hospital, and of course, the Canadian Peregrine Foundation! Thank you all!
Hope to see you at the DH soon! We will lift a toast in memory of Viper.
We have just learned that one of the Windsor nest Peregrines from the 2012 hatch, a female named Viper, has died from injuries apparently sustained in a fight for her nest. Viper was a very large female and those of us who watched the young in 2012 were so impressed by her flight skills and her beauty. Viper had nested in Lansing, Michigan with her mate, Eckert, at the Board of Water and Light for the past few years. She had a successful hatch of 4 young this year.
I am including the link to the Lansing Facebook site where there is more information and photos available.
Soar high and free, Viper.
https://www.facebook.com/LBWLPeregrineFalcons/posts/995591163881761:0
