August 19, 2019 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
A few days ago I posted some photos from Nick Richardson of the peregrine couple that visit his window ledge. We have since identified the male as Typhoon (Y/17, 2015 hatch from Yonge/Eglinton) and the female as unbanded. Nick has named her ‘FALCO’ .. perfect ❤
Cathy Kerr and I took a trip to Brampton today to get familiar with the locations that have attracted these peregrines in the past. We could not see any birds at the court house and proceeded to downtown Brampton to hopefully find them at their other hang out. After perusing all the buildings in the area, we were thrilled to see someone fly to and land on a condo right near us! It was TYPHOON! Although we didn’t see his mate, we heard him eee-chupping (peregrine sweet talk) so he could see where she was, even if we couldn’t. Sure enough, our waiting paid off and FALCO appeared from the back of the ledge!
What a great day! We know where they are and hope for positive news next spring .. fingers crossed.
In the meantime, we are thankful that TYPHOON and FALCO are frequenting a ledge where they are welcomed! Our sincere thanks to Nick for embracing our couple and keeping us informed and with great photos! Cheers, Lucie
Posted on August 19, 2019 12:53 pm
August 17, 2019 - Brampton - Courthouse
Marion Nash Reports:
A few days ago I posted some photos from Nick Richardson of the peregrine couple that visit his window ledge. We have since identified the male as Typhoon (Y/17, 2015 hatch from Yonge/Eglinton) and the female as unbanded. Nick has named her ‘FALCO’ .. perfect ❤
Cathy Kerr and I took a trip to Brampton today to get familiar with the locations that have attracted these peregrines in the past. We could not see any birds at the court house and proceeded to downtown Brampton to hopefully find them at their other hang out. After perusing all the buildings in the area, we were thrilled to see someone fly to and land on a condo right near us! It was TYPHOON! Although we didn’t see his mate, we heard him eee-chupping (peregrine sweet talk) so he could see where she was, even if we couldn’t. Sure enough, our waiting paid off and FALCO appeared from the back of the ledge!
What a great day! We know where they are and hope for positive news next spring .. fingers crossed.
In the meantime, we are thankful that TYPHOON and FALCO are frequenting a ledge where they are welcomed! Our sincere thanks to Nick for embracing our couple and keeping us informed and with great photos! Cheers, Lucie
Posted on August 19, 2019 12:50 pm
August 11, 2019 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
Bliss band number Z 29 was spotted in a construction in the Distillery district on the ground with a broken beak. CPF got the call and Bruce went out to try to find her. Her wings were not broken or fractured and she was able to fly so although he tried he could not find her anywhere. Bruce then whent to the nest site hoping she may come home but she did not. Some kindly person did find her and took her into Toronto Wildlife but she was so malnourished she was just skin and bone and her beak was very badly broken. TWC made the decision to put her down. Sad but at least she is not longer suffering.
Posted on August 12, 2019 11:09 pm
August 09, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
All doing well here! I am lucky to get to see them on a daily basis - last Wednesday I watched Mom and Dad go after another turkey vulture and Kepler briefly joined in! And on Friday night, Sally, Lucie and I met up at the site and enjoyed an evening of watching lots of flights, chases and feedings-Kepler is doing great and Tardis is working to catch up, she’s looking great! We are meeting up again this week to watch them some more before they start taking the kids farther away. I have added some pics that Lucie, Sally and I took that evening.
Posted on August 12, 2019 7:04 pm
August 04, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Sally reports:
Cathy kindly picked me up to return to finish the final day of fledge watch. Cathy felt confident (and had consulted with CPF) that we could move to spot checks tomorrow. Well, we had no idea what we were in for.
As we arrived, Kepler was chasing Tardis and she vocalized for him to “lay off!” while she flew to a roof top (one reason we returned was to enjoy the usual evening flights, a possible food transfer as Kepler had succeeded the day before - but no photos captured the effortless manouver - and a window ledge landing for Tardis (although Bruce had assured us she’d be fine and figure it out. Her brother constantly attempts to engage in play though and it’s been hard for her to vary her flights).
Both juvies were on a roof and Jenna was approaching with food. Kepler screamed and flew out to greet her and Cathy got her camera ready for what we hoped would be a food exchange. Was it ever. a full pigeon. He did it! And with difficulty flew to the nest building. Not surprisingly he wasn’t able to quickly figure out landing while carrying prey. He dropped it. Damn! Jenna flew to the garage roof, looking down at it and I know you’re not supposed to anthropomorphize, but, she really did look deflated and “are you kidding me?!”. We really felt for her and as Cathy had done this before, she suggested we go and collect it and attempt a toss in the air? I ventured down the slope to the pigeon, and chickened out. I’m hopeless at picking up dead critters. Cathy gave me the camera, put on her gloves and went to retrieve it. A toss in the air but no response from Jenna. It landed near her on a grassy strip below the garage roof though, and we backed off, discussing whether or not to collect it again. She decided it wasn’t necessary by flying to the ground, and proceeded to tear into her pigeon urgently(peregrines do not eat or prep on the ground, too dangerous but it was heavy and she was trying to lighten it….and she had two very hungry babies to feed). A very hangry Kepler looked down, voicing his impatience (and ignoring his Mum’s previous calls to be quiet as we’d approached the prey).
After removing feathers, and the head, and eating a little, we could tell Jenna was now concerned with flying off with the prey. She attempted twice to lift off the ground but couldn’t. She then managed to hop and flap and gain some altitude, flying and rising, with the intention of turning and flying to the nest building. Kepler had other ideas. He wanted another food exchange. She wasn’t high enough and he grabbed it but it was too heavy, too low for him and he flew with it to the base of the parking garage. Where he stood on it. We walked around to get a better view and could not believe what we were seeing–Kepler, on the ground eating! Not the smartest thing to do but he was so hungry. We were worried and decided we’d stay until we saw him fly up and to safety. Sure enough a dog walker came through and understood our vocalizing to move away and keep the dog on a short leash (the alarm calling had also started). A curious gull came in close as well to see if it could get it but wisely heeded Jenna’s warning.
While all this was going on, Tardis decided to get closer to the action and flew over to the top window ledge of the nest building. Yes, a window ledge! What we’d hoped to see! She hugged the ledge watching her Mom and brother. Another check mark for Tardis!
Satisfied, Kepler flew off and left Jenna looking at what remained of the pigeon. Kepler joined his sister on the top ledge window. Jenna appeared unsure of whether to come to ground again and retrieve it. Cathy was worried Kepler would come back and go to ground again , so she decided she’d go place it on the retaining wall of the garage . Possibly because Kepler had just been in that spot and wasn’t too far away, Jenna vocalized when Cathy picked up the food, and swooped over to a nearby light stand. Cathy placed the food on the wall and Jenna swooped again to settle above the food. We waited a good distance away, monitoring with binoculars and cameras. She’d gone to collect it, and accidentally knocked it into the garage. Kepler did come back on sat on the top of the garage watching his Mom. Determined to get it, she flew in to retrieve it and as she came out, Kepler shot in to finish off his meal. The two of them flew right up to the light stand near where I’d been watching. With me now almost below them, Jenna started alarm calling. Chester appeared, and I quickly realized he wanted me away from that light stand. I could tell he was diving to warn me and Cathy, who is usually very relaxed, was mouthing what looked to be “duck!” and “watch out!”. Yikes. We can add human to the list of escorts out of the area today! Chester backed off as I got to Cathy’s car where I took cover (thank god for the long distance range of the auto lock!), sneaking more photos from the window. At this point, all four of our falcon family were alarm calling, as employees were innocently walking to their cars, looking up but not realizing they were the cause for alarm.
Cathy and I talked a couple of familiar dog walkers to go elsewhere (they let their dogs off leash and throw balls for a half hour each day), and explained why the alarm calls had kicked up a notch (their dogs). They were very understanding plus they didn’t want their dogs to get hit by an angry peregrine!
Eventually all went quiet. Kepler settled in on the Sony Music “M” for the night, and Tardis settled on a corner ledge of the nest building after a couple of really good flights to the Sony Music and Intel building corners. Not easy but she navigated the corners with ease-way to go Tardis-another check mark. Dad was on the Intel sign and Mom was still eating lol as we drove away.
Hoo boy. What a day. God speed Kepler and Tardis.
This is Cathy: What a fabulous end to a great watch! Both the kids are doing great and I will continue to enjoy watching them pretty well every day as I am lucky enough to work a block away and can watch them from my office window! I will update you all from time to time…they don’t have a long time to learn a awful lot of stuff before they head south but I am sure these two determined little ones will give it all they have. I want to thank again , Sally, Lucie, Bruce, Mark & Marion for all their great help, support and great company on this, the latest watch I have ever been on but one of the best!
Can’t wait for next year!!
Our watch has ended….
WARNING: Our pictures today are all of the transfer, Peregrines eating their prey, very close up. Its what peregrines do :) but if you would prefer not to look, I understand. Sally & I took all these pictures
Posted on August 5, 2019 7:53 pm
- All Reports
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Bruce arrived to find Tardis on the white HVAC. Didn’t see Kepler.. Then Tardis flew back to 250, all by herself lol. Then parent came and she chased parent and Kepler joined in. Then back and forth before Tardis went down for a nap on 150., Kepler continuing to bug the parents and fly around.
When I arrived I got to see her fly over and onto the HVAC, Kepler came out a little late to chase but followed her over. He then did what bratty brothers do, he flew up to the HVAC and bugged his sister lol. Sally joined me then and Bruce headed out. We saw a few more flights and then it was quiet. We suddenly heard alarm calling to the south of us. Then it sort of moved around above us and to the north east…Sally hopped up to go out to look up and immediately spotted a peregrine and something larger. A hawk? And flying, as hard as he could, Kepler!! With the sun high and bright it was hard to make out at first but definitely a hawk accompanying Kepler…. That explained the alarm call and sure enough one parent, then the other, darted into to make their displeasure known! Kepler flew out of the fray, as we watched the hawk get hit, and chased, around 150 and all the way to the Forrester building! We lost sight for a second and then there they were on the north side of the building where it tried to land but Mom and Dad were having none of that! It was stooped and smacked and escorted out of the area. It was quite something and we hope the hawk was OK. This watch has certainly had its share of “intruders”. Not only have we watched the falcons, we’ve watched assaults on turkey vultures, a coopers hawk, a red tail and now what we think was another red tail. No rest for the parents this fledge year. Who knows. The Don Valley is full of parks and ravines that host all sorts of wild life. But perhaps the hawks are surprised that they’re getting beaten up in August, when they’re usually getting harassed in June! After all that excitement, everyone went down for their afternoon siesta….
Part two is tomorrow…I have to go to bed lol
Posted on August 5, 2019 1:48 am
August 03, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Bruce opened the watch finding all where they were the night before. Then both Tardis and Kepler flew out and around the building landing on 150. Tardis then spent some time watching Kepler fly before flying back to the nest building rooftop. Kepler was good and let her fly. Mom came in with food and Tardis went for it–and got it! More food was brought in and Mom attempted a food transfer with Kepler but it was unsuccessful. Mom made sure Kepler got the food though this time. Then about 9am, Tardis flew out over the highway, turned back and flew south over to the buildings with the solar panels. Bruce lost sight of her behind the garage so walked over and saw her on the solar panels. He walked over to those buildings but by the time he got there, she was gone. When I arrived he still hadn’t seen her. But I knew how much she loved her home building and we figured she was pancaked up there somewhere….and around 11:30 she popped up lol. Bruce headed off. And then I was treated to some amazing flights by the whole family!! I couldn’t keep up! Mom and Dad had a lovely reunion on the nest ledge and then were off…Kepler made many flights. And our girl Tardis flew too but this time, Kepler chased her every time! He wanted to play…he loves his sister. At first, Tardis was a bit thrown off, missing her landings-first one she kinda slid onto the roof but was fine, next one she missed and landed on the white structure up there and finally, she was landing fairly well on the rooftop ledge. It was so great to watch! Then it was down for their afternoon siesta…More flights and chases in the late afternoon…Sally and her friend joined me for the evening but things were quieting down and shortly after, the kids were fed with Kepler completing his first food transfer!!! Way to go Kepler! After that, Tardis was done for the night. Kepler tried very hard to get her to fly but no way. I closed the watch with Tardis on 250 roof and Kepler on his letter. Hoping to see Tardis make some landings on the ledges tomorrow but she is doing great! I am attaching one complete flight and chase, and a few other landings…I have quite a few!
Posted on August 3, 2019 11:45 pm
August 02, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DAY 7:
The day started off fairly quiet, Bruce reported that Tardis was doing short flights across the roof but that was it. I relieved Bruce and found the building setting up for a large party–tents were going up, bouncy castles, the works(like last year),noisy generators…ugh, not going to fly while that is going on. When they settled for their afternoon siesta, I escaped for lunch. I came back to find the kids where I left them. Lucie joined me shortly after and Sally in the evening. We enjoyed Keplers flights and the lovely interaction between him and his sister. We were getting ready to close at 8:55 when off Tardis flew…over to 150, she just missed the roof and down she went, bumping off ledges as she went. She finally flew off and over to the DVP-her parents were after her in a shot and directed her back to the east side of 150 but she missed the ledge again, and down she went further, bumping all the way. She now made a panicked flight low , with Mom right behind her, over the trees to the DVP and we lost sight of them. Seconds later, Mom was headed back, alone and landed on 150. Our hearts sank. It was almost dark and a fence and trees and bushes were between us and the DVP….Sally said she knew a path thru near Eglinton and we were off. We got to the ramp to the DVP and we split up, Sally up Eglinton and me onto the ramp(staying off the road of course). Thankfully it was quiet, and I headed up one side looking left and right at all the bushes and trees…ugh. I was more than halfway up(its a fairly long ramp), when on the left I heard a starling chirping…I would check on the way back down..I had to make sure she wasn’t on the ramp. Nope. I crossed and started back, came to the starling, and stopped and looked at the trees…was that her?? A brown lump-it was after 9 and sun was down..I stared…It was her! Jammed into a crook–but was it? She moved her head…thank goodness. I phoned Sally and Lucie and they joined me. But she was at least 12 feet up from the ground…there was no way we could rescue her. Even if we could attempt it, there was the danger she would panic fly out onto the highway and then…well we didn’t want to think about it. We were in contact with Mark and Marion and they advised us the same. They have so many years experience and said they had had birds in trees before and that we had to give her a chance to get herself out of this mess. We contacted Bruce and we all made plans for Friday…Bruce, Sally and I would meet at 530am to start our watch and keep an eye on our girl. With very heavy hearts, we went home…leaving little Tardis in that tree in between a very busy highway and its ramp…
DAY 8:
Sally reports:
Having left Tardis hiding in a tree only about 12 feet high (from the highway ramp) the night before, I arrived at about 5:40am to meet up with Bruce and Cathy who were already there, and had walked the quiet highway ramp to reconfirm Tardis’s location. She was a bit farther up in the tree and sitting upright….a good sign!
Bruce did a walkabout to figure out the best sight lines and advised us on where to split up. He wasn’t keen on us heading to the roof top of the parking garage (a tempting spot that would give a good view of Tardis, but also a potential landing spot, should Tardis attempt to return to the nest building). I confess, after feeling blinded by the rising sun, Cathy and I agreed I would sneak up to the parking garage, but below the roof. It was a good spot to try and locate her, but ultimately the best place to be was on the ground, ready to move when she did.
It was so, SO frustrating to know where she was, but not able to do anything other than watch and wait it out. Bruce got out his scope and found her! She had moved up the tree-it was great to be able to see her. I joined Cathy in a shady spot south of Tardis, and Bruce sat west of her, with all of us able to keep an eye on her. She wrestled with the branches and leaves, hopping over to a branch more suited to her weight. She climbed higher up the branch(smart girl). While watching Tardis, we laughed at Kepler chasing birds as if attempting to engage them in play. He certainly needed his sister back!
While Kepler was chasing birds, Tardis was getting harassed by starlings and robins. She turned this way and that (no don’t face the highway!), and several hours later (!) she attempted to fly home. She made it to the parking garage roof (Bruce called it!). SHE WAS HOME!! How happy we were to see her away from the busy highway and messy scrub! Close to home, but not there yet and she knew it.
A few more flights, each time attempting to get to the nest building but miscalculating and ending up back on the garage roof. While on the roof, she felt the wrath of the resident swallows. Ouch.
By this time, Lucie had joined us, and was able to confirm that Tardis flew high around the south west side of the ICICI building. We’d all lost sight of her but walked around to where we saw her last. Splitting up again, Cathy and Lucie were on their way to drive further back to view the ledges, when out she popped above me. She attempted to fly out and back up to the roof of the building, missed, bonked her head on the “I” letter, recovered, flew and batted against the building, and then flew out over to the nest building roof, batting against the concrete before hoisting herself up to the roof. Yay Tardis! You’re home! All that happened at the same time a poor red tail hawk was passing through and got a royal escort OUT by both parents. We hope the red tail hawk is safe somewhere, wondering what on earth just happened. Can’t wait to see Lucie’s photos!
She probably decided the roof of the nest building was the best place to be, because she didn’t leave for the rest of the day. Mark and Marion had joined us late afternoon and , it had been an exciting morning but no more flights for Tardis… Kepler fooled us into thinking Tardis flew, when he set off screaming and chasing after something. Tardis was no doubt loving the safety of the roof after a night in a flimsy tree, and after being fed, had no intention of embarking on any more adventures. Cathy confirmed it. Kepler showed Mark and Marion how far he’d come in a week. What a champ. Great stamina, cheekiness(he chased his Mom and gave her a bonk!), and some fancy landings now!
Mark and Marion closed the watch with Tardis on the roof and Kepler on his favorite spot-the letters. Well done Tardis. In under 3 hours you did an incredible job of coming home, gaining altitude and learning from some clumsy mistakes. Let’s see what you do tomorrow.
Note from Cathy: I just want to give a huge thanks to Sally, Lucie, Bruce, Marion and Mark for all their help and support, it was a very stressful 14 hours, and for the whole week! I can’t wait to see Tardis fly tomorrow!!
More pictures from Lucie to follow….
Posted on August 2, 2019 11:19 pm
- All Reports
Cathy Kerr Reports:
We have the best security people at our site! I got a call early this morning(woke me ) saying a peregrine was down…I was on my way in no time. The security guard at 250 had pulled into his parking spot this morning and saw one of our babies on the lowest level retaining wall. He called me and there I found her, Tardis! More than likely a slip and fly but we will never know. Bruce had just arrived so we both did the rescue…but not before she took one look at us approaching and slipped around us and was on the run lol…then flew low through the garage, thru the gate and landed on the wheel chair ramp, directly below the nest! Bruce and I worked together and had her scooped up in no time…she is a fiesty one…biting through the towel, hissing and kicking…just the way we like them. Full of piss and vinegar lol. We popped her into a crate and after a discussion with Marion Nash, it was decided that Bruce and I would release her back up onto the nest building roof. It has a high retaining wall, shade and a place for her to rest up and more importantly, her parents could find her there. The release went smoothly–Jenna and Chester didn’t even know we were there. By the time we got down, Mom had already flown over and found her, and so had Kepler! In no time it seemed, he had popped down to see her. And around 11:30, Mom flew to the retaining wall directly above the sign…and within minutes, up popped Tardis! She chased Mom off and then made her way across to above the nest…and it was her turn to look down onto the nest and see her brother there…he spent the afternoon siesta there as did Tardis…she never moved from that spot. Then around 3:30 or so, Kepler flew up to see his sister…lots of beaking and sweet moments between them. Kepler decided he would show his sister how fun it was to fly–and boy did he put on a show! Was great to watch…Tardis enjoyed it as well I am sure, but she decided she had quite enough today and stayed put for the night. Kepler chose the letters for bed again tonight.
Jenna and Chester had a big day today as well, they both chased and attacked a turkey vulture(he won’t be coming back–he really got it) and then we watched in amazement as a Cooper’s Hawk flew low and through the parking lot going east…couldn’t believe he made it without notice from the parents. But then he pushed his luck…he flew back through and this time Jenna went after him–whacked him a good one….doubt he will be coming back either. Good job by the parents, keeping their babies safe.
Thanks to Lucie, Sally, Mark and Marion for joining me today….great to have the extra eyes! Maybe tomorrow we will get to see our girl fly….
And thanks to Lucie for her great pics!
Posted on August 1, 2019 12:01 am
