July 03, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
After the days watch we decided with all the fledglings flying well now including Lorraine and keeping altitude we would wind down the all day watch and move to spot checks.
Now the hunt training begins and there should be some very spectacular views of the kids and adults soaring, stooping and chasing each other in the skies so if you are a camera buff this will be your time.
Posted on July 4, 2016 8:14 am
July 03, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Tracy Simpson Reports:
When I arrived this morning I at first found no one in sight. I started a walkabout and after my first round of the building I found Lorraine up on the corner of the nest ledge looking the proud girl back home. It took me a few minutes to find baby number two over at the Investors Group on the far west side. I could just barely see a wee head poking out over the edge of the roof line. I watched Lorraine for about a half an hour and realized I had yet to see the adults. It wasn’t long after that thought that I could hear Linn before I heard her. Alarm calls were echoing off of the building as a Turkey vulture floated across the large parking lot to the west towards the south end of the nest building. The poor vulture had no idea that the wrath of Linn would be such a ripper of a time, literally. Linn intercepted the vulture as it was moving east across the Yellow Pages south parking lot. It made an unfortunate mistake and banked back towards the building. Strike one. Linn was riding like a bronco. It was coming down low and tried to make it back west towards Investors Group where at least one juvenile sat watching. Strike two. Linn smacked it pretty hard. The vulture then circled back east again and by this time Linn had had enough. She drove the vulture down to about 3 feet off of the ground and they were both headed straight at the tent where I sat. I ducked. They missed and the vulture went down in the Mastermind parking lot just east of my location. Um… …wow.
After this incredible display of protective motherhood I took a walk over to the Investors Group to find out who I had over there. As I got closer I could see a head and a tail. Yup, both ends at the same time!?! It took until I was almost right there to realize that I had not one but two juveniles sitting cheek to cheek! Velcro and Kojis were having a wonderful time together roosting, preening and sleeping. I left them to their moment and went back over to watch Lorraine as she is our weakest link. At about 11am she finally decided to take flight but it was just a short exploratory one. She flew from the nest ledge to the north side retaining wall at the top of the building. No big feat but still a good coordinated flight. I moved around to watch her on the north side when suddenly I heard juvenile howling. I looked up to find George flying past Investors Group with Kojis in hot pursuit. Much to my surprise, George pushed Kojis down onto the roof of the building as if to say, “You stay there now kid!”. George then flew back towards the nest building and that’s when Lorraine decided it was time for her grand entrance. She was intending to head over to the IG building as I could now see that Velcro had a chunk of food. Off came Lorraine and she headed west. George intercepted her in the air and turned her back. She flew back around to the south side of the nest building and disappeared from my sight for a second. Back around she came and she headed out north. George intercepted her once again and turned her back to the nest building where she landed on top of the retaining wall. Phew. It was a good minute and a half or more of air time for her and she handled it perfectly. She settled in and it was at that time that I headed out for the day leaving Mark and Marion to take over.
The first set of pictures are of Linn and her vulture followed by photos of the kids.
Posted on July 4, 2016 12:10 am
July 02, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
July 2nd 2016
We had to hold Lorraine over in the carrier for the night as no one was in the building that could give access to the roof so we released Lorraine at 3:45 PM today and all went well. Mom saw her on the roof from her perch on the top peak of the fingers. Lorraine hopped up from the roof onto the retaining wall and was joined by Velcro and soon after mom. Velcro jumped down into the nest ledge followed by Lorraine and there the 2 stayed until we called it quits. Kojis traded places a couple times with mom on the very top peak above the fingers and finally flew off to the Investors Group building.
There were a couple invaders chased off by mom today far to the south one was a Red Tail Hawk the other was too far to see what she was after. Dad flew off in the early afternoon and we had not seen him until the chicks went to bed.
Posted on July 3, 2016 1:07 pm
July 01, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
July 1st 2016
Velcro stuck to nest today, Kojis stuck to Velcro and Loraine stuck in rescue carrier lol.
Posted on July 2, 2016 11:35 am
July 01, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
July 1st - 2016
A very busy wet windy Canada Day at the Yellow pages fledge watch!
Despite the heavy rain and gusty winds, Lorraine tried again and took her second, third and forth flight,, ending up on the street very defeated and out of gas!
With Tracy and Bruce having to tear up the streets as they say during the morning shift, little Lorraine (or better put,,,, big fat heavy Lorraine) attempted her second flight from the nest ledge where Marion and I had left her the night before. She ended up on the lower elevation on the west side of the nest building for this second flight. The next two short flights (number 3 and 4) didn’t go so well either!
After having a hissy fit as a result of getting soaked with a heavy downpouring of rain, she bolted from this elevation once again into the air again, this time flying to the north across Progress Ave away from the nest building,, once again loosing more altitude and ended up flopping down on the rooftop of one of the town homes.
Shortly thereafter for the third time this morning, she tried flight again (well sort of), after slipping off the townhome roof during another gusty serious of north west winds, she came down to the roadway pretty much defeated and out of gas! 
With Tracy and Bruce in hot pursuit, both soaked and rain drenched themselves, they were finally able to retrieve her from the roadway and get into the rescue carrier safe and sound.
Marion and I arrived for the afternoon and evening shift and had what would be best described as one of the most uneventful fledge watch shifts that we could remember.
Joined by Cathy after the diner hour, the three of us all agreed that little Velcro was living up to her namesake as both she and her brother NEVER left the nest ledge all afternoon or evening!! Yes, stuck to the nest ledge like Velcro with no interest in returning to the air!!!
As a matter of record, both of the two fledglings laid down and slept most of the afternoon into the evening right up until we closed the watch by days end and departed for home.
Neither of the adults did much flying at all,, nor did they feed any of the fledglings during the afternoon or evening watch!!
The overall lack of activity by all (including most all of the local resident birds) was likely because of the very aggressive gusty winds and heavy rain downpours that harassed us all afternoon and into the evening until we closed the watch down for the day.
There is nothing more satisfying like spending your day (and the holiday Canada Day at that) in a rain drenched, cold barren and empty parking lot, with gusty north west winds blowing everything all around, while trying to stay warm and dry (and trying to stay awake) on a fledge watch with absolutely no activity for 8 plus hours! 
Only the fledge watchers will ever really know what we all go through!
Despite all of our whining, you only have to look into the rescued fledglings eyes to have it all make sense and truly a rewarding experience!
Stay tuned,, we’re all back at it tomorrow…………..
Posted on July 2, 2016 3:23 am
July 02, 2016 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Great capture of both of the kids on the nest ledge today. Both Sprucer and Oakley are doing very well under the guiding wings of O’Connor and Lucky. It was nice to see them both at home today, a sure sign of their continued success.
Posted on July 2, 2016 1:21 am
July 01, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Bruce opened the watch this morning early as all three kids were last together in the nest ledge on the east side of the building. He wanted to ensure that he had eyes on all three and that he was ready for the days antics. All three birds have now flown from the nest ledge and are experiencing the world beyond. Kojis has already demonstrated that he is well on his way to becoming a good strong flyer; big check mark beside his name. The girls… …well, they’re working on it.
After Lorraine’s rescue and cheater flop down to the nest ledge she was raring to go for another flight. She took off the ledge and made her way around to the west side of the building landing on the lowest granite ledge. A nice flight that ended with her at a good elevation with lots of room for play. Kojis and Velcro were happy to stay in the ledge although Velcro did decide to try out her wings… just this once… and ended up back on the nest ledge again. Whoopie, I’m out and home, my work here today is done. ZZZzzzzzzz. Ok, so Velcro needs to unstick a bit.
When I arrived, I stayed on the west side watching Lorraine while Bruce stayed on the east side keeping an eye on the two ledge potatoes. Lorraine was having a lovely little flap fest up on her ledge and seemed to have lots of energy to burn. There were waves of rain moving in and out of the area and it in no way dampened her mood. She seemed really determined to get off of that ledge today and was busy working up the courage for that next flight. At around 2pm the rain started really coming down and so I headed back to my car over at Wynn fitness where I could still keep an eye on her but stay dry at the same time. Just as I got into the car she started freaking out as the rain was now coming in buckets along with thunderclaps and suddenly she slipped off. She started to pinwheel down the face of the building and at the last minute, she recovered and flew out about 20 feet away from the building in an attempt to get back to her ledge. She fell short of her landing by about 10 feet and now was making her way back east following the south face of the building. She was low and dropping with each flap as she was soaked and heavy. She passed Bruce who had dove under cover from the rain and he saw her whip past about 4 feet off of the ground out towards the back field. I raced over in my car and met up with Bruce. The search was on.
Bruce thought she may have tried for the trees and had come to ground based on her trajectory as she barreled past him. The rain was now just gushing down and the two of us set out regardless of the deluge. We searched that field several times including the trees and low bushes but came up empty. Based on her direction of travel I now started looking at the trees on the north side of Milner. I also scanned the rooftops and… Bingo! On a townhouse roof looking like a drenched rat. Bruce headed into the complex for a different angle of view and I stayed on Milner. She made an attempt at a roof to roof flight that ended her up in the middle of the road of the complex. Bruce came at her from the west and I came up the driveway. Between the two of us we had her cornered and I scooped her up for some chill out time in a carrier. She is not amused that she has been touched once again by a ground dweller and hissed at me with all her might. Pretty cute. Bruce and I must have looked quite ridiculous as we stood there with a hissy Lorraine in the driveway of the complex, both of us completely drenched and dripping wet. We weren’t amused but both agreed it was worth it.
I left shortly after the rescue but before I did, we checked in on the two ledge loafers and they were both tucked in for the duration of the rain. Neither Kojis or Velcro were interested in taking any flights at the time and with Lorraine secured inside Yellow Pages I handed the watch over to Mark and Marion. A few pics are attached that I took of our wee Lorraine and her adventurous day.
Posted on July 2, 2016 1:06 am
June 30, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
June 30th 2016
By the end of the days watch,, all of the young fledglings were back together on the nest ledge and obviously had a lot to talk about given their experiences on the fly over the past 36 hours. While Lorraine was the only one that had some extra help after being released back to elevation, she did manage to get back into the nest ledge cavity to join her siblings from the upper roof retaining wall where she was released.
It was nice to see all three of the fledglings back together on the nest with Linn (the resident adult female) roosting on the retaining wall edge just above them! Little Velcro, (OK, not so little),, was appropriately named for sure as she seems to be living up to her name so far,, as it would appear that she is really sticking to the nest ledge and building in comparison to her other two siblings!!!!
One picture of Lorraine above the nest on top of retaining wall, One of her after she hopped into the nest peregrine kissing with Velcro.
Posted on July 1, 2016 10:52 am
June 30, 2016 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Marion Nash Reports:
June 30th 2016
Got a call early this morning from Paul at security sone of the chicks was down on the ground on the Progress side so before the morning coffee we were off to the rescue.
We arrived to find Paul standing guard over Lorraine who was tucked face first in the corner between the glass window and the pillar she looked like a child who was sent to the corner by Paul for miss behaving. I scooped her up and in the carrier she went for later release to the roof. Good job Paul!
Mark and I set up to watch the other chicks and get a head count but could find noone at all no chicks or adults were in view so mark did a perimeter search to make sure Velcro and Kojis were not grounded and found noone. I know from past watches that the adults and chicks tuck down into the ledges when the sun is hot and high so I was not too worried just have to sit and listen for the chicks to scream when the adults get up and come into view. I eventually heard screaming of the chicks on 2 sides of the building but not on the nest so I felt sure Velcro hand also left the nest ledge and had taken her first flight but where no chick in view and any side if the building.
Shortly after I heard another chick yelling on the south side of the building and no adult was in site on that side so AH-HA I’ll bet that’s Velcro she has been the one that screams at nothing or when no adult is in site. Off I go to scope the south side I can hear her so I just waited and finally she popped up into view and took a nice flight to the glass column on the south east side gaining altitude and another to the north out of view. I went around that side to see where she went and again could not find her, but I was not worried she had lots of height so again I sit and wait.
I eventually found Mom in the nest ledge when she poked her head up to have a look around so I watched her hopping she would get up and fly setting the kids off screaming again so I could find them. I saw feathers floating above her on the wind and could see she had food and was likely eating. Bruce came for his shift and we both watched her for a few more minutes and she jumped up on the top of the wall and flew off and then up came Velcro from the nest on the top of the wall too. Ok got her now where is Kojis.
With mom up flying Kojis will be easier to find so Bruce went around to the north side to have a look and found him there lying down tail out in the corner against the windows as is his favourite place to nap.
The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful up until about 4:00. Dave came to join us late afternoon and we all like the peregrines sat tucked under out tent in the shade out of the sun and relaxed watching and late in the after Mom/Lyn took flight off the top of the building, wings folded into a dive landing on the industrial building directly east next-door was she hunting or protecting? We all watched her send the pigeons and a killdeer into a panic flight as she landed somewhere on the roof. The building in only one floor so shy land there what is she up to?
About 5 minutes later we saw 3 Peregrines come flying low from the eats up to the nest who was the third has to have been Kojis after all we have Lorraine in the carrier and Velcro in the nest. Bruce walked around to the north side to see if he was there but no not there. Mark came back from another rescue at another site and sat down with us to do the evening shift and minutes later said hay there are 2 juveniles in the nest, whack a mole again Kojis must have landed there and Velcro must have been down in so we have them all again. We sat and waited for another hour to make sure this 2 fledglings were settled down and there were not going to be anymore epic flights before we went up to the roof to put Lorraine back up to her parents care. All was quite and we watched the 2 siblings in the nest getting reacquainted and playing together for another half hour until the adults flew off on a hunt. Ok Mark good time to go put Lorraine back before mom and dad get back don’t want them to catch you up on the roof especially Lyn.
The release went very well and shortly after Mark got back to the ground Lorraine had made her way up out of the walkway floor on the roof to the top of the 6 foot retaining wall and into our view. Mom flew in and landed just above her and she screamed at her for a few minutes until she figured no food was forthcoming and started walking the wall. She walked the wall around to just above the nest and eventually hoped down into the nest to join her two siblings. What a great way to end the day all fledglings together and all safe.
Got a pic from one of the tenants who snapped a shot with his phone out the window of one of the chicks getting fed.
Posted on July 1, 2016 10:21 am
