Spot check done Friday night late, all three flying well! Watched a few lovely flights and then Quest got them all settled on the Thales building for the night ❤️.
4 chicks produced at St MAty’s Cement in St MAry’s Ontario. We are planning to band them on July 12th stay tuned for pictures and further news from that site.
All 4 seen on nest ledge last night at close of watch. Raptorette (red) not seen flying so only 2 flights seen by watchers so far the boys however are doing great.
Home of JOE (48/Y, 2010 hatch from Hamilton Sheraton Centre), VIRGINIA (76/AX, 2013 hatch from Buffalo), ROSIE (red band), GRACE (blue band)
One of the biggest fears a fledge watcher faces is the prospect of a young falcon coming to ground .. and coming to ground in the middle of busy street is absolutely terrifying! However .. in Beachville, coming to ground is a natural occurrence .. after all, the nest box is about as high as a three-storey building.
On Tuesday, I got to spend 4 hours sitting in the parking lot watching the girls! With nothing but the hum of the hydrator (yes, I find this very relaxing compared to all the continuous construction noise everywhere else), I also got to observe other species in the area, primarily barn swallows, which photo bombed a few of my pics.
Although most of my photos were challenged by the sun, I did get quite a few with some decent lighting. It was also refreshing to be able to watch without straining my neck muscles LOL
I hope you don’t mind all the photos. Cheers, Lucie
Both Bonvoy and Quinn are staying high. Bonvoy flying so well. He had a late meal on the south side of the hotel and will stay there for the night. Quinn is south of the hotel and high. Let’s hope they stay out of trouble. So far so good.
It is nice to see and hear the fledglings at the local nest sites doing so well. The cooler temperatures and light winds have helped a lot.
For the past two evenings I have gone down to Mount Sinai to check in on the family of four and their progress. I can tell you that all four are flying exceptionally well.The most recent to fledge is still working out the details of flight. The landings are OK, the flights are still butterfly like and the best part is that the fledgling is maintaining altitude whilst learning. The other three have been out for a while. The first to fledge is very apparent when you’re down on site watching. This little one is quite the daredevil. He has given me a heart attack at least twice over the past two days by flying through the gap between Mount Sinai Hospital and Princess Margaret. That little alleyway isn’t that big and there are obstacles in the alleyway that you can’t see until you’re in it. But seeing as it has navigated this well at least four times it is now become a game for this young one. I don’t find it funny or amusing at all. The most interesting thing is that every night the resident female, her identity is still yet to be confirmed, rounds all of the kids up and brings them to the east facing side of the hospital for bed. Last night I had three juveniles on the ledges and the fourth was somewhere on the west side. The female took off and headed around behind the hospital and came out on the northside chasing a juvenile. She chased it, steered it and harassed it until it flew back to the hospital for bed. This is obviously the most experienced of the four based on its flight. Not only was it doing a good job of giving the female a hard time it also came around the south side of the hospital, did a short stoop and then did what we call a J up into one of the cubbyholes on the east face. Now that’s flying! Given all that I’ve seen at this site we have scaled it back to spot checks now and feel very confident that the family is doing well. I’m not sure who the individual was, I saw the posted comment today but can’t remember who posted it, but this fan of the birds was downtown today and was lucky enough to witness a game of tag being loudly played among the three most experienced flyers. Awesome observation and please do keep them coming! Congratulations Mount Sinai!!
June 25th - 2019
We are happy to report that little Avro, (Blue tape) was successfully retrieved by Rob and released back to his parents care after being trapped behind one of the glass balconies overnight - last night.
The CPF head office received yet another call,, (one of the many that we get at this time of year from all over the province) about a trapped hawk on a balcony, unable to figure out how to get free from one of the glass balconies where it was trapped. This time, the call came in from the security desk at the condo’s out behind the Etobicoke nest site at Bloor and Islington in Etobicoke. The “hawk” was quickly identified by its band number as being Avro,, the young Etobicoke fledgling with the Blue coloured tape,,, (not a hawk).
A big thank you to both the owner resident for contacting their security, and security for calling us so quickly, and to rob who was able to respond to its aid so quickly! An additional big thank you to the management group CBRE and their security staff who have been so accommodating for the CPF staff and volunteers for allowing us access to their facilities and for housing the down fledglings that we have been rescuing until their release can be done safely. Some pretty great foster parents indeed!!
So today, the little fledgling named Avro, the one that has been struggling all along with his first few flights was re-released back to his parents care to the rooftop of the nest building without incident. It is quite evident that he is not the strongest fledgling that I have ever had to deal with, despite the fact that he is quite healthy and full of attitude!
By the time I got back down to the sidewalk, Avro had finally been able to get from the rooftop to the top of the 5 foot retaining wall that surrounds the roof and was roosting and balancing on the ledge of same just fine. He was joined by one of his siblings, and moments later, by one of his parents. :-))
Later this evening, reports / observations from Lucie who attended the Etobicoke nest site reported that he was fed by one of his parents and remained on the upper retaining wall ledge until dark.
I write these updates for Bruce as he is completely exhausted and wants only to get some sleep so I hope to do it justice even if it is just a short note on things. Bonvoy is flying aces!! He has been to rooftops, letters of the Sheraton sign and all around the block! Definitely a checkmark in the watchers estimation. Quinn is catching up quickly and with the hotter weather he is less active during the day and reserves most of his flight lessons for morning and evening when its cooler. His first flight following his release was to the top of the Hilton hotel where he spent the night. Today he tried a flight to 130 Adelaide and didn’t quite have the height so back he went to the Hilton. He spent the day up there and there he remains at the close of the day under the watchful eyes of Bruce and Linda. Hopefully tomorrow he shines with his flights and gets closer to being a fully flighted juvenile.
Tracy
Lance and I watched the chicks for a couple hours and all they did was sleep in the heat I think they had been fed and were not much interested in flying.
Late this afternoon Raptorette made a short flight out to a crane in front of the nest but missed the landing. She flew towards the Canadian Tire building and hooked back landing on a small scaffold just in front of the nest ledge.
Mark and Tracy joined me watching until early evening Tracy had to go to check on the Mt Sinai chicks. The boys spent most of the evening flying around and in and out of the nest. Spicy P is the best flyer of the 4. The boys are a check mark as far as the watch goes but need to check up on Raptorette who is a bit of a ledge potato and is not making many flights (we have only seen 2 flights from her so far). Mark and I closed the watch at dark and 2 chicks were on the nest ledge and 2 were 2 ledges over with Haven on the roof.
Not the best photos but best I could do with my little camera.
1st picture Raptorette on Scaffold after flight
2nd picture Blue Koji in flight chasing mom for food
3rd shot Green Screaming Eagles on balcony of Duplex apartment
4th shot white Spicy P on top of Nest Building
5th shot white Spicy P on antenna on roof of nest building
Looks like on June 24th 3 falcons fledged. The 4th one (we believe the only female) was dead in the box.