Cathy and I released Ellie back to elevation on the balcony just below the nest ledge at Canada Square. Thankfully Haven did not see me go out in the dark. Hopefully she does better on her next flight.
Great rescue Bruce!
Marion
Fraser and Lucie were first on the watch and at 7:37, Fraser spotted Casey taking a flight towards the hospital!! He circled around and flew out of sight past the hospital. At 8:20 Casey could still not be accounted for and the call for reinforcements went out. Just after 9, more fledgewatchers started to arrive to look for Casey. Around 9:45, Sandye reports: Mystery was in the box feeding Artemis and Hope. Enigma was below the box feeding. Artemis has been flapping a lot on the verandah of the nest box and getting some lift. At 10:06, Casey flew back into the nest box!!
Karen reports, “It was relatively quiet for the next little while, other than the adults coming and going and trying to entice the young ones.” Looks like Enigma has been hunting meadowlarks. Photos courtesy of Karen von Knobloch.
David reports at 7:50 “Casey on upper platform, Hope and Artemis in the box. While we were there, we assume it was Casey who had a short flight (around 6:00 p.m.). We didn’t catch him leaving, or where he went, just saw him coming back accompanied by one of the parents. He at first landed on the inner white bars above the nest box, between the platforms. He hung out there for a while, periodically moving around. This while Mystery (we think) was on the upper platform, Kitchener edge, preparing (and/or eating) a fair-sized meal.
I think Casey knew it, as he kept moving around, and eventually flap/jumped to a slightly higher spot, then flew out again, a brief circle, and then up to the upper inner orange rail above the upper platform. No issue gaining altitude it seems. But he wasn’t satisfied there, watching his mom, fidgeted/moved around a fair bit, until he finally got up the nerve to fly down to the upper platform and joined his mom. Some sharing & some tugging away and back & forth ensued.
Eventually Mystery took the meal away, flew with meal first to Kings Tower, looked like she was going to land on the roof, disappeared briefly, then reappeared, flew to the Hospital roof, looked like she was going to land there, didn’t, then flew to the Sun Life tower and landed on the sign. Enigma was on the tower the whole time, on the outer railing of the upper platform.
After some time Mystery came back, Enigma took off and the two flew around for a couple of minutes, seeming to try to coax the others to fly. No dice, so they both ended up back on the CTV tower eventually, with Casey still on the upper platform and the other two still in the box, very active and vocal, but not ready to fly.
When I left the Green St. lot, Casey was still on the upper platform, the other two in the box, Enigma (I think) on the outer railing of the upper platform, almost directly above the box, and Mystery was perched on the middle of the cross-beam directly below the lower platform, on the King Street side.
As I was driving past the tower, I heard what seemed like an unusual racket, and pulled into the public lot behind CTV off Pine Street and got out to look. It looked like both adults had taken off, and chased each other around a bit. Finally one adult returned to the tower, and one disappeared. I think one ended up on the railing of the upper platform, above the nest box, (south corner) Casey was still on the upper platform, and the other two still in the box.”
Update on MEC Fledge watch .. with MIDNIGHT & RENEGADE.
Tuesday, June 9, didn’t start off well as I got a call from security early in the morning that they found a dead bird. Sadly, it was our juvenile female. I arrived in time to see the boy hanging out with a parent on a letter. He’s flying very well! Winston took a photo the night before showing him with mom and another one of her attacking a crow. I did see her on another occasion actually going after several crows and managed to get them to leave the area. I was hoping to see our boy fly, but he decided that wasn’t going to happen. It was wonderful to see him doing so well, but every time I looked over at the nest ledge, I teared up.
Today, June 11, I received an update from Winston and a couple of photos of Renegade with a rodent!
“Although tough to find, the MEC boy is doing great. The family is spending very little time at MEC these days preferring the open area south of Square One. I found him on the Morguard building last night before he flew off to the condo buildings near Burnhamthorpe and Duke of York where he did an excellent landing. He is still landing on large flat ledges and not tricky shapes but his landings are very slow and under control. His travels are always with an adult around. Sometimes he leads the way and sometimes he follows a parent but he is never alone.
Of note was that Renegade arrived with food, which he did not share, in the form of a rodent. This small amount of food was brought to the Morguard building and he was quickly joined by Midnight who began screaming at him; perhaps to say, “You’re a peregrine, have some respect for yourself!” She never got too close to take it from him so I doubt she found it too appetizing. Needless to say, it didn’t last long and everyone left for shelter as the storm was close.” Cheers, Lucie
Bruce has been on the watch and has seen the male chick Groucho fledge and is flying well. This morning the oldest female Ellie flew but did not do so well she came to ground and Bruce picked her up at Minto’s Little ground floor park. She is in the carrier at security and will be released tonight. Why tonight well Mom Haven is a very aggressive female and since I have to put Ellie out on the balcony just below the nest I am planing on using the cover of darkness to go out there and hopefully save my hide from Haven lol. She may take another flight in the morning or Have will find her in the morning and resume care. The suite with that balcony is currently vacant so there will be no issue with curious looks from tenants to scare her. The 3rd chick and the youngest Villain is yet to take her first flight. I will post pictures and information on the release tonight hopefully none with blood on me lol with me luck!
DAY 7 FLEDGE WATCH: TORONTO/DON MILLS/OLD HARLEQUIN: Seven of Nine has fledged!! And she stayed up–well done Seven. I started the day very early, releasing Canuck up on the roof at 6am. He was out of the crate like a shot and up onto the roof ledge. Mom joined him immediately-happy to see her boy! I went home. Carolyn reported about an hour later that Canuck was back on the nest ledge-loves his sisters.They love hanging out together and today was no different. When they went down for their afternoon siesta, Bob arrived so I headed over to ICICI for a hour or so. When I came back, Canuck was off flying, enjoying his freedom. He flew back into the nest an hour or so later. Bob left for a bit and I enjoyed watching the three. Suddenly Canuck spotted Dad, I think, and was off like a shot to the building across the street-roof no problem. I was watching Seven as she was getting antsy-and she was off-came straight at me, then banked to her right, over the field, just like Canuck’s first flight. Then she started back, then turned and went back, then turned back, gaining height and tried for the roof of 225, missed, fell, hit a couple ledges, recovered and was off around the back of the building! I lost sight of her. I waited a minute to see if she would come around, nope, so I walked around to see if she too came down at the back. Nope, around I walked , almost to the street when she came from behind me(maybe had been on the next building?). She was high and gaining, and easily made the rooftop of the nest building!! Landing was really wonky, but way to go Seven!! Well done. A minute later, out came a juvie off the roof-Seven? Where was she going?? Trying for the nest ledge but missing and landing very wonky two over. Then flew and landed one down and a few over, terrible landing. But wait, up popped a juvie on the roof–ahhh that made sense now! She was still up there, this was Canuck–fighting the wind! lol . Silly juvie. I was joined by Sally and we watched Canuck join Seven a minute later on the roof, congratulating her I think. Mom thought so too, and brought a big package for the both of them and beak fed them both on the roof. Lovely. Hope was NOT happy at all but it inspired her to jump to the top of the nest box-so that is another box ticked for her! We watched Canuck do some amazing flying, which was great! Then Seven decided she wanted to go back to the nest ledge and left the roof to try but was knocked off course by her pesky brother, wanting to play! Not on her first flights buddy!! She landed instead on the east side, top ledge of the nest building. And then proceeded to ledge walk and squeezed across the pillars, all the way home!! There was lovely greeting by Hope and Canuck joined them a minute later. And there they stayed the rest of the evening, hanging out together. And there we left them at the end of the night. This was my last day of watch at this site-I now turn my attention to the three at ICICI. But Bruce will be watching over them the next few days, so I leave them in very good hands. I will miss seeing Hope’s first flight, and the other two cuties. Its been lots of fun-I always enjoy Quest’s kids. I will be doing spot checks, so I look forward to seeing them fly! Safe flying little ones . Cathy
Mark and Lucie rescued 2 fledglings at Bloor and Islington Place yesterday and held them over to be banded today then this report came in from Rob who was on watch this morning. He will take the bird to Lucie who has the other 2 and all 3 will be banded today.
Robs report
Big shout out to the Bell workers. A man named Ron flagged me on Bloor Street about a Falcon in the alleyway. Thankfully the bird was in a narrow spot between the fence and Bell building so catching this guy was relatively easy. He did put up a fight and ran as far away as he could before running out places to go.
Thanks Rob and Great Job everyone!!
It was a hot and windy day today, starting off fairly quiet with Casey continuing to hang out on the orange platform. Christine, Sandye, Donna and Martha were watching in the morning. I arrived around 12:00 and relieved Martha and Donna. All 3 were chilling in the box and peering outside from time to time. Only one adult was on guard when I arrived and then disappeared not long after. The wind was quite strong and it was quiet for the most part.
Dale arrived around 1:00. When one of the adults flew back into the box and launched off again, they struggled to land lower down on the tower. So much so we thought it might be one of the juveniles. The other adult arrived at the same time. No food drops. Because of the strong wind we were worried that a first flight might happen if one of the juveniles was blown off. I left at 1:30, leaving Dale on the watch. David took over later on in the afternoon with Heather, Micah & Joy showing up later. We were under a severe thunderstorm watch. Checking the CTV cam from time to time, all 3 juveniles were accounted for.
At 7:30, I walked around the site from the east, Casey still hanging over the edge of the platform, and met up with Karen & David. Around 7:45, Mystery brought in a gull and prepped it on the top of the tower, with Enigma watching and the chicks waiting. She then flew with the heavy meal out over the hospital parking garage and over to one of the rooftops of the buildings facing Green Street continuing to prep the gull. The skies were really dark and just as it was starting to downpour, Mystery flew back into the nest box with the gull. All of the juveniles were feeding well as the lightning started and the skies opened up. Karen and I left to escape the storm. Safe and sound for tonight, it looks like the wind will be brisk again tomorrow, but not so hot. We may have a first flight from Casey tomorrow as she looks the most eager to go!
Photo courtesy of Karen von Knobloch
DAY 6 FLEDGE WATCH TORONTO/DON MILLS/OLD HARLEQUIN: Well, the day started out well–Carolyn opened the watch and reported that Canuck flew to 225(across the street) and got well fed by a parent! The girls were not happy lol. I went over to check on ICICI and came back to watch for a few hours. Canuck flew back onto the nest ledge, the girls got fed and it was HOT. So things slowed down, and finally Quest came in for the afternoon siesta. So I headed back over to ICICI to check on the family there. I was there for just over an hour when Carolyn called: we had a bird down! I headed right over and found Carolyn watching over….CANUCK! What the heck Canuck-he had been flying so well. Carolyn had just stepped off the bus, when she saw him flying a bit low so watched. He tried for 225, missed, headed for the nest ledge, missed, and then went across to the copper glass building where he batted, clung by a talon to the flat glass for quite a bit, before falling down, into a small tree(very small) and then to the ground. Carolyn caught up to see him head off, low across,and around to the back of the nest building and land on the back “porch”. Which has a glass railing around the porch and building. Well, he managed to fly up and over(well done!) but by now he had run out of steam. Too hot, humid out-he should have listened to his Mom and stayed put for the afternoon siesta! He landed on the curb at the very back of the building, which runs along the FOREST!! Noooo. At least he stopped there. So there I found him, and Carolyn. He was panting poor thing. Now, I wasn’t going to try and rescue him on my own and send him into that forest, no way. Since Marion & Mark were on their way anyways, I called and told them the situation and waited for them. When they got there, Carolyn had to head back to work–thanks again to her for staying with our boy and letting me know where he was and what had happened!! So now , rescue was on! Mark went into the forest and came up on him from behind, while Marion & I distracted him. He caught sight of Mark just as he got there, he jumped onto the grating in front of him–and stopped–ick what was this?? And Mark netted him(Marion was a second behind with the towel lol). Mark gently got him out of the net and we got him into the crate–he was NOT happy but he was ok. By now, the wind had whipped up incredibly and we are under severe thunderstorm watch for tonight. So the decision was made to wait and release him on the roof first thing in the morning. I will release him at dawn to a very happy Mom & Dad. The rest of the day was very uneventful as it was so windy and so very very hot, the girls just hung around, thank goodness. Sally, Don & Bob joined us to finish out the watch. Glad the heat will be gone tomorrow-our Crazy Canuck will be home and maybe Seven will fly!! I have put the rescue photos first 
One of the chicks have fledged have not got band colour yet so not sure who it was but he made it to The Northwest corner of the building patio level. a second chick has come down off the nest to what we call the front porch about 3 feet below which is their usual first step before they try to fledge. One more still at nest level.
All 4 fledged now.
Had 3 on nest ledge when I got there. The fledged boy was no where to be seen. Eventually came in, landed on nest building. Took another flight, headed to far east building and lost height. Adult tried to help. Juvi hung off wall for about 10 seconds then flew off. It went southwest of Islington and Bloor.
Then other 3 all fledged in about 20 mins.
Two stayed on condo roof. One went to nest roof, then to condo roof and THEN it went onto the nest ledge. Fantastic incoming and landing. My heart was in my throat through it all.
Sent from my He then flew back onto the condo roof. So all 3 kids stayed up there and both adults for a while.
A person was up on condo roof and adults went crazy. It did not deter person. Ugh!
Kids all went to south edge of condo roof. Person on north end with attacking adults.