March 30, 2019 - International, National and Local News
CPF Volunteer Reports:
March 26th - 2019
Just as a quickly update on Hamilton’s second pair of nesting peregrines,, we have been notified that the Dafasco peregrine’s are once again back on site at the Dafasco plant in Hamilton and are currently incubating an undisclosed amount of eggs.
Fingers crossed that the pair will be successful again this year in producing and fledging offspring!
Given the huge manpower resource at the plant and the many social and environmental programs that Dafasco has, we’re sure that their peregrines are in good hands and will be well looked after.
Posted on March 30, 2019 7:11 pm
March 29, 2019 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Marion Nash Reports:
March 29th - 2019
We have just received some great news from our friends at the Kitchener CTV studio…
A delightful surprise and very good news indeed has just arrived via e-mail late this afternoon that the Kitchener peregrines have once again returned to the Kitchener CTV / Bell tower and the CPF nest box and it has been confirmed that the peregrines are currently down hard involved in FULL TIME INCUBATION duties on eggs!!
Sadly, we are unable to tell you “who” is nesting in the nest box, (but they are peregrines),, as we have no idea as yet on any band identification of the birds there… but time will soon tell….. 
The challenge is on……
We have been running afield for the past two weeks and a little slow to get back into the CPF office to pick up e-mail, thus a little late in getting this news posted (along with all of the other 2019 updates we’ve got so far)….. BUT we are slowly getting there…… There is allot of running around!
We are waiting for confirmation from CTV Kitchener if they will be running the nest camera live again this season…..
Stay tuned,, more updates to follow……….
Posted on March 30, 2019 6:58 pm
March 29, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills
Mark Nash Reports:
Friday March 29th - 2019
Sadly, without a nest camera this season,, it’s back to our humble beginnings to get any detailed observations of the happenings going on, but my observations today yielded some very good news indeed. Just gotta do the time in the field (or streets as it applies to the urban nest sites).
As I look on, it still seems like yesterday that I held Quest in my hands as a while fluffy baby many years ago when I was down in Rochester New York while at the Kodak world headquarters nest site where Quest was produced, and painstakingly cut and trimmed her backpack harness and fitted her for the deployment of her PTT / satellite radio transmitter! I still have some of her baby pictures!
Both adults are on territory as we say and VERY ACTIVE indeed, on and off of the nest ledge and in the nest box itself! It would appear that while full time incubation has not yet started,,, I believe that is at least one egg in the nest box,,, as Quest,,, (YES, it’s still QUEST from Rochester NY) :-)) was fiddling with something in the nest box,, and holding pretty tight inside - (although standing, not laying down incubating).
Her mate,, (sadly no band confirmation / information as yet),, delivered food to Quest to another roof top to the west of the nest building,, and she left the nest box and joined him to eat there…… well, joined him is not exactly what happened,, as she flew over to him,, snached the food from him,,, ate it,, then returned back to the nest box :-))
Over the next 30 minutes or so during my observation, she remained standing upright in the nest box,, never actually laying down, BUT it was obvious that she had something in the nest box that she was “pussy-footing” around and fiddling with. The sun was really warm, with temps in the double digits of 10C and absolutely no wind,, it was a delightful warming observation period indeed.
Stay tuned….. more to come…..
Posted on March 30, 2019 5:19 pm
- All Reports
Mark Nash Reports:
Friday March 29th - 2019
Unfortunately we have some mixed news and updates to report from the Etobicoke nest site at Bloor & Islington nest site.
The good news,,, is at least there is a pair that is very visible and quite territorial at the Bloor & Islington nest site. Both adults were observed on the nest ledge, with one adult standing in the nest tray itself and the other roosting on the top of the internal nest ledge camera housing during my visit. Both adults seemed to be quite relaxed and content to soak up the afternoon sun and enjoy the warm mild temps this afternoon. This in comparison to the chilly windy temps that we have been experiencing over the past weeks!
The afternoon sun and warm temps were very soothing indeed, and with absolutely no wind to chill anything down, even I didn’t want to leave my rooftop elevation! It was incredibly relaxing!! Neither of the two adults seemed to be very interested or concerned at my presence from the adjacent rooftop, as they both remained in their roosting spots on the nest tray and camera housing throughout my entire visit. I didn’t even get a scolding or even a second look! It did appear that they had other things on their minds,, (each-other) :-))
The unusual and somewhat disturbing news is that there was a peregrine egg clearly visible on the concrete portion of the nest ledge itself,, (several feet away from and outside of the nest tray), with neither adults showing any interests in the abandoned egg. Incredibly, the egg was perfectly intact!!
: despite all of my efforts to try and restart the the nest cameras, sadly I was unable to get either of the cameras back on line to produce and up-load a live image 
It looks like its going to take the technicians and good folks at Daymar and their expertise to get things back up / online and running again. The new digital security cameras that they installed for us several season ago that replaced our older 1997 analog nest cam are far more sophisticated for me to deal with, especially without the specialized electronic equipment needed to deal with this type of challenge.
We have contacted Daymar and advised them that we have some challenges with the cameras and in need of their assistance….
Stay tuned…. we will get the camera’s back online soon……..
Until then,, its back to the old way of doing things,,, you remember,, the basics….. feet and eyes in the street, bins at hand… and time in!
Posted on March 30, 2019 4:40 pm
March 29, 2019 - Toronto - Mount Sinai Hospital
Mark Nash Reports:
March 29th - 2019
Full time incubation has begun!
While on site in midtown Toronto this morning during my visit at another rooftop east of the Mt. Sinai hospital, I was able to utilize the birds eye view of the Toronto’s west views to get a good (although distant) clear view of the east side upper ledges of the Mt. Sinai Hospital and have some good news to report.
It was quite evident that a peregrine was down hard in incubation duties on the nest tray that we installed several years on the east lupper edge of the hospital. The adult peregrine never moved of her incubation duties throughout my hour long observation. While I was on the much higher Bay Street street rooftop, an adult male peregrine flew in from the Mt. Sinai hospital rooftop and flew over our heads in an very deliberate effort to “check us out” and see what we were doing.
Sadly, I did not have the equipment to get any detailed information as to being able to identify any band numbers of the pair,, I can certainly confirm that the Mt. Sinai pair are incubating egg(s)!
Stay tuned….
Posted on March 30, 2019 3:57 pm
March 29, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
I am happy to report that Jenna and Chester have a least one egg! I have been watching them mating over the past week or more so we headed up to check and found Jenna brooding. She refused to budge for us to check how many…time will tell. Stay tuned….
Posted on March 29, 2019 10:32 pm
March 26, 2019 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Mark Nash Reports:
March 28th - 2019
Sadly, we have no updated information on the Toronto Sheraton peregrines,, as the time so far that we have spent there working on the camera and internet challenges, we have NOT seen any activity of the birds on the nest ledge! :-(( It has not been very encouraging news at all!!!! This is NOT to say that the birds are not there,, but we have not seen anything to report as yet………. Fingers crossed that they have been aloof and just not active on the nest ledge when have been there….
It’s been a very frustrating season opener for sure again this year with all of the camera’s and the internet challenges that we’ve been experiencing !! As you know,, with the usual limited resources and support, we are as per the norm, dealing with the typical hiccups and challenges with the technology that takes time to fix. Each site takes allot of man hours and time, especially with having do deal with the technology,, let alone dealing with the variety of logistics that each site presents.
The good news for the Toronto Sheraton nest camera, is that most everything is inside the building and very accessible (including the camera), so all of our work and activities does not involve nest ledge access , thus there is absolutely no disturbance to the birds. :-))
So it’s back to the basics, time in, feet and eyes on the street, allot of running around and hanging out once you get there to get some sound observations….
Time is always the issue with so many nest sites to visit and get update on,,,,,, getting the time to go, the travel time involved to and fro, parking and gas costs and with limited manpower to actually spend the time in the field doing the observations once you get there and staying long enough to get something useful,, it’s always a challenge. So please bear with us,, as its going to take us some time to get everything fixed and updated, especially to get all of the site visits in.
Stay tuned….. we’re getting there………
Posted on March 29, 2019 5:46 pm
March 27, 2019 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Marion Nash Reports:
March 25th - 2019
Yes, spring is finally here and despite the chilly temps that persist, our southern Ontario peregrines all have the same thing on their minds 
as eggs are popping up all over!! We have confirmation from our friends at the Etobicoke general that at least one egg is present in the nest tray with both residents adults on site and very visible indeed!
The live colour image being produced from the in-house video nest camera that we installed several seasons ago is producing a fantastic real-time live behind the scenes view of the peregrines nesting activities, and incubation has begun!
Posted on March 27, 2019 2:30 pm
March 26, 2019 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
March 25-2019
As usual,, we’re always playing catch-up trying to get a handle on the southern Ontario peregrines nesting activities, but we’re getting there slowly but surely. The good news is of course, despite our schedules,, the peregrines are on track, and never wait for us to do what they do at this time of year.
Its still pretty chilly, especially during the evening hours with the negative temps still evident, and as such, the MEC pair have been down hard in full time incubation with egg(s)!
While the camera is on, we have yet to get a peek to see the number of eggs in the nest box,, but we’re pretty excited that they are down hard incubating!
Stay tuned…
Posted on March 27, 2019 1:59 pm
March 27, 2019 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Mark Nash Reports:
March 26th - 2019
A little late to post the good news from Burlington, but good news never the less. The Burlington lift bridge pair have 3 eggs so far and counting! As a result of the chilly temps, as you might have expected,, full time incubation is well under way!
Posted on March 27, 2019 1:44 pm
