June 28, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DON MILLS/AMEXON FLEDGE WATCH DAY 4:
This is a combination of reports from Sally and me:
I arrived to find Flynn on the garage-one floor down. Darn. Noticed no crop. Not fed. Double darn. What the heck is going on? Previous female, Jenna, would have fed her the second she saw her on the roof!! The behaviour from the resident female Milli, has been puzzling at best. She had been doing fine, from what I saw , up until fledge time. Anyways. Flynn. She made a very poor flight and ended up on the second level of the garage. She hung out with the locals for a bit, checked out the scenery and then flew into the garage! Oh for heavens sake lol. Now I had to leave for an appointment, Mark was on his way. I was just about to pack up when out she flew around 150 and landed 4 floors up. Now, I thought that wasn’t bad, considering the oppressive heat and the fact that she had not been fed in now 4 days. But she still was not fed by her mother. I had to go….
Mark took over the watch, joined by Bruce little later. Security spotted Flynn on the ground and notified Cathy and Mark, who captured her, into the carrier for another roof release and confirmed she was pretty bony and had not been fed in quite some time. She was quite dehydrated. I joined Cathy and Mark for the afternoon to close and and before being released she was fed some food, which she eagerly accepted without coaxing, that’s how hungry she was.
Mark and Cathy took Flynn up to the nest roof and I stayed on the ground to watch out for Flynn popping up. The alarm calling from the parents didn’t surprise us, but when she called out to her parents, Milli was not welcoming. This female just hasn’t seemed very attentive. Honestly, it’s been a strange watch. By the time Chester flew over to check Flynn out it was dark, so we are really hoping he brings some food to her tomorrow morning.
We closed the watch with a Milli in the nest ledge, Chester across and up on the Intel sign, and Flynn on the roof, visible above the nest. No sign of Logan.
Please let tomorrow be a better day.
Posted on June 29, 2021 12:31 am
June 26, 2021 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
Marion Nash Reports:
Thursday June 24th Bruce got a call from Paul that one of the chicks had come to ground and that he had rescued her and she was sitting quietly in a carrier. Bruce and he worked out a release time for the following morning at 10:00 AM. Mark Heaton was contacted and he came down and banded her. Her band number is 07 over AB and she was named Shaheen Some challenges but eventually All went well. She was released on a lower ledge, She few around and tried to land underneath the old nest ledge but came to ground, however she then flew over and tried to land on a tent that is on the property but did not make it another try and she gained enough altitude to land on the building safely. Later on she was joined by her sibling. She was staying high so with showers coming in Bruce called it a day.
Posted on June 28, 2021 11:41 am
June 28, 2021 - Toronto - Mount Sinai Hospital
Marion Nash Reports:
Mount Sinai report- Arrived Saturday morning early to find both juveniles Had fledged. One Male (Kelly- Named by a member of the Public), and 1 Female, found on the Rehab Hospital Roof (Named - Bresa. - Spanish for Breeze) Named by me). Kelly did well, and was active throughout the day. Bresa not so much. Until 6:00 PM. She stayed on that rooftop. After that she made a series of Flights attempting to get back to the Nest Ledge. She didn’t make it, but gained a lot of flight experience. Mom finally had enough and she put her to Bed on one of the lower ledges for the night.
Kelly also spent the night on Ledge, but this was one window level under the Nest Ledge Level.
Fledge Watch- Mon. Jun. 21, 2021
I spent most of Monday morning watching the bird down on West side of Sick Kids Hospital just above the entrance thinking it was Kelly the male juvenile. But at around 12:30 when I came to the Street It was the female Bresa. I fortunately managed to Chase her off of University and she flew down elm street about 3/4 the length of the Toronto Sick Kids Hospital. She was then flushed from the sidewalk and flew up about 25′ to the top of a construction site gate. Is there a block for you when I was until she flew back in a couple of flights to outer side around the Southwest corner of the Is Sick Kids Hospital. As with the night before she disappeared and I didn’t find her before I went home. I didn’t have any indication that she was down or anything and as I laughed I had 3 falcons on the top nest ledge level and I could hear some Vocalizing. The problem was I had a 25 or 30 km or wind which caused the Sound to be going around.
Wednesday June 23, 2021
FLEDGE REPORT
Found both Juveniles on different levels of the Peter Monk Center. One Adult was in attendance. About an hour later, Brisa flew down to edge for a rest. About 2 Hrs later she had disappeared. Around 1:30 PM, I had a Juvenile fly from North end of Mt. Sinai S. It looped around and landed on A South Ledge. The landing was a little shake, but much to my surprise this was Brisa. She then flew around the Southwest corner and to the rooftop level. There she had reunion with her brother. The adult Female checked them out. She made a couple of good flights. One of them was an attempt to land on the new Princess Margaret (CD Rack) Structure on the roof top, she didn’t succeed but flew well & landed back on the Mt Siani roof. Later on she was seen on roof and flew down to Multiple ledges just below the Roof. Both Juveniles were tucked into Bed by 8:00 PM, so took advantage and called it an early Night. Also since she was flying so we’ll and staying high I also called the Day to Day watch concluded and it will be OK to Spot Check site.
Posted on June 28, 2021 11:19 am
June 26, 2021 - Greater Toronto - Private Residential 1
Marion Nash Reports:
Wonderful story and photos from Martin Dekkers!
“Well, we have had some eventful few days!
On Monday we reported Noah had flown off the roof shortly after we released him. Flew down to the area behind 284 and into trees on the golf course. After that we could not see him anywhere.
On Tuesday we saw the parents constantly circling and squawking overhead on the golf course. With the help of Markland Golf staff, a few of us were driven to the 4th green and scoured trees and bushes. No luck! Today the parents were sitting near the nest then circling and squawking over the buildings in the nest area.”
After NOAH’s return to the roof, Martin reports:
“Well, if you can fly from the golf course, up and down balconies,
into a tree and then up to the roof, guess we don’t need to worry
about your flying capabilities Noah. Thereby Masters Fledge Watch is over. Hope the three of you don’t mind us checking on you though just to see how Noah is growing up. On behalf of Marlene, here is to the Fledge Watchers…..”thank you for all your help and dedication”. Martin Dekkers, Unofficial Falcon Photographer!!!!”
What a great story! And a great team looking out for NOAH!!
With many thanks to all involved!! Cheers, Lucie
Posted on June 28, 2021 10:49 am
June 27, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Sally reports:
We arrived this morning to find Flynn two ledges higher than where we left her last night. Fantastic! Did a walk and drive about to see if we could see Logan but no luck (we remain hopefull the parents know where his is and we see him this week).
Returning from our Logan search, we found Flynn on the Intel building across from where we’d last seen her, but, she was lower and definitely wouldn’t be fed that low. We checked her for a full crop but no, definitely hadn’t been fed a big breakfast before we arrived. After a couple of hours, with the heat rising, and Flynn hunkered down in a tiny patch of shade, we headed out to get lunch.
When we returned she was still there, screaming for food whenever a parent flew over. She eventually flew over to the Good Life parking garage roof, a little higher, and when she finally flew over the large parking lot, to her nest building, it was quite a nice high flight. If she’d landed successfully she would have been high enough for a rewarding feed. It was windy though, and Flynn didn’t pull up and consequently hit a window quite hard. Too hard to drop to the ledge and stay put. She rebounded and flew around to a much low ledge. Damn. Too low to be fed.
She also stayed there for a long time, and had us a little worried because it was a while before we saw her stretch her wings after her window smack. She ran back and forth whenever she saw the parents, and eventually attempted to fly but literally flapped to the ground. Cathy almost had her but she flapped and ran into an alcove and Cathy scooped her up. She hissed and bit through the towel which was a good sign (still had some sass!). Into the carrier she went. OK, roof top much better than a very low ledge, and the easiest roof for us to access was the old nest building. We didn’t expect to see her hop up on the roof ledge before close. We just hope she’s reunited with her parents and gets fed.
I can’t believe it’s “only” day 3 of this fledge watch. It feels much longer, probably because we’ve had very long days and closed the last two days worried. We also have a new female at this site to observe, very young (her first year as a mom) and Chester is deferring to a new partner. I think Cathy and I have been fledge watching about 10 years, but we have been fortunate that this site has had the same pair until this year. Gone is the usual predictable behaviour of the adult pair.
Thanks as always to the security staff at this site who have been so very supportive, and escorted us up to the roof today.
Come home Logan, wherever you are, and fingers crossed for Flynn.
Posted on June 28, 2021 12:02 am
June 26, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Many thanks to my friend and fledge watch buddy Sally for writing up tonights report!
Sally reports:
Cathy and I arrived by 8am, resigning ourselves to a long day and hoping for clearer skies than the previous day. Thankfully our wishes came true. Very windy at times but clear overall.
Flynn was where we left her, still in the tree. A relief. Cathy moved to check the nest ledge and food was brought in to Logan around 9:30. All good there, we could both focus on Flynn’s wrestle with the pine needles.
After quite some time she finally moved UP to a more open branch, and bopped up and down in the wind, finding moments to preen and rip out the last remnants of fluff. Finally up on top of the branches, she could stretch her wings unhindered.
Alarm calling from parents alerted us to not one, not two…SIX turkey vultures, enjoying the thermals, and coming over our way and a little too low for Chester and Milli’s liking. Off they shot to “escort” the curious visitors out of Amexon building site. It worked for a little while but back came two, persistent and very low. Lower than the roof building and making for the nest ledge! That brought the parents back over and Cathy joined them below, yelling up at them to “get away! stop that!” Which subsequently brought a passerby jogger out of the Eglinton sidewalk tree border to check all was OK (much to our amusement later, but apologies to Mr Jogger if he thought a human was in distress!)
OK TVs off, all quiet (even the birds harassing Flynn). She eventually made an awkward flappy flight (literally a hop skip) to the nest building, hanging on to the wall doing “the bat flap” before coming to rest on a ledge below. Phew. Now if the forecasted storm came over she’d be safe on a ledge (lucky for us, that never happened but the wind really picked up at times and this no doubt prevented Flynn from attempting to fly across to another building). She screamed for food whenever she saw a parent fly over. Two days without food now. A very HANGRY juvie!
At some point we needed to check on the nest ledge. Mark and Marion joined us for a while and Cathy took the opportunity to move to the best spot for nest ledge watch. Nothing. We spent the late afternoon and evening taking turns checking the ledge, and walking around the immediate area where we saw the parents flying over. By dusk we realized that another accidental fledge must have happened. Turkey vulture spook? Crazy high wind? We don’t know but the parents made regular flights over a particular area and we closed the watch figuring they know where Logan is. As the darkness came we drove up and down our fave viewing spots hoping to catch sight of Logan. Fledge watchers always do stuff like this because we hate to not know! Even though we know by dark a juvie is tucked in somewhere, and you won’t hear a peep.
Tomorrow we hope to find Flynn on the same ledge, making a flight, and Logan getting himself out of a suspected pickle and accounted for. It’s not the first time we’ve closed a watch here with a peregrine in a precarious spot, but if Logan is like his half sister, Tardis, he’ll navigate his way home to a rewarding feast.
Tomorrow’s weather forecast looks decent.
Posted on June 27, 2021 12:46 am
June 25, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DON MILLS/AMEXON FLEDGE WATCH: DAY ONE
I arrived to see a parent fly up above the next ledge to join other parent, and heard one of the kids…seems ok. But after an hour, I started to worry–I should have seen Flynn by now. She was up yesterday and looking good…please tell me she did not fledge without me lol. Both parents had mostly stayed put above the nest ledge-even when a heron flew through! Very unusual for Dad. But I was glad he let it go through. By now Dad had done a couple of unusual flights just part way round to the north end of the building and back. Hmmm. Two and a half hours and Logan finally showed his cute little head. But that was it. Now I was fairly certain Flynn was no longer on the nest ledge. Dad did another flight part way round and then back over to the Intel sign. Ok. Now I’m worried. I did a walk about, no Flynn on the ground or any ledges or roof tops. But I knew Milli & Chester knew where she was. Only I figured if she was high, one of them would be with her. I kinda figured she was in trouble… Thankfully Sally joined me to help look for her. I’ll let her tell the rest of the rainy, damp day…
Sally reports:
I joined Cathy this afternoon, for the rainy portion lol. We watched from our usual spot and eventually saw Logan pop his fluffy head up, seeming to enjoy the rain. Still quite a lot of fluff!
Cathy was concerned she hadn’t seen Flynn pop up all morning, and still no sign of her as we watched from the car while the rain continued. The parents were up high, and earlier Chester had flown out and round part of the nest building and back again, a few times. Cathy thought this probably indicated that the parents knew where Flynn was. We took a slow drive around the immediate area to check rooftops and back yard fences and gates, and all sides of the office towers beside the nest building. Nothing to see, so then we parked, grabbed the umbrellas and went to check the scrub and treeline that separates the houses, condos and office buildings from Eglinton Avenue and the DVP access ramp (near where Chester had flown over). The songbirds were quite restless in a couple of spots , including the hilarious WAAAAAHS of the cat birds! Cathy’s hunches are usually correct. She was positive Flynn was somewhere nearby. So we walked around, observing the agitated birds, and as we rounded the nest building below the cluster of pine trees yep, Cathy found Flynn. Yay! and Uh Oh! She was on a fairly low tree branch next to her nest building. Not far from the lowest ledge, but it was raining and she’d be wet and no doubt lacking in confidence to make any move. Hmmm did she accidentally slip or get blown off early this morning? Thankfully she seemed OK, just wet and not able to maintain a comfortable footing on the slippery narrow branch, causing her to turn around and do a side shuffle from time to time lol. We brought our chairs and umbrellas over and sat out the rain with her until dark. When the rain eased up for a bit, she fluffed and stretched out her wings, turned around, and around…checking out the views. Don joined us briefly and brought us some food. No food for Flynn alas, but we could hear the parents calling above, and saw them bring food in for Logan, almost right above her. We closed the watch, disappointed that Flynn didn’t come to ground so we could safely contain her until a roof release. Hopefully we will find her tomorrow safe and sound. Current weather report for that area is a brief dry spell in the morning.
Posted on June 25, 2021 11:49 pm
June 24, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DON MILLS /AMEXON : Fledge watch starts tomorrow! I have been keeping an eye on these two, Flynn and Logan.. They really haven’t been seen much. Saw Flynn this evening for the first time on the ledge… Dad was flying over and that got her up lol. Logan was only seen (head shot only ) when Milli came in and took the food Away! Chester chased /went with her for a bit but then went back to sit above the kids. The pictures are from the past week or so… Flynn’s fluff is mostly gone,but girls fledge later so… We’ll see what tomorrow brings… The weather forecast is absolutely awful for the next week (rain)… Let’s hope they are wrong…
Posted on June 24, 2021 11:21 pm
June 21, 2021 - Greater Toronto - Private Residential 1
Marion Nash Reports:
Their beautiful little boy was banded today and named NOAH (C/20). Unfortunately because there was just one baby this year, banding was not possible unless there was a rescue. Today that happened! The pictures and commentary are credited to Martin Dekkers. Thank you Martin!!
The fledge watch team is ready and waiting to help NOAH if help is needed.
About the rescue, Marlene writes:
“Mark Nash from the Peregrine Foundation rescued Noah from the Juliette balcony - was pretty feisty and Mark had to work at it. Then Mark Heaton, CWS bander and CPF volunteer arrived with his son River and they banded him - due to the high winds, we will not return to the roof until early evening - likely 7:30 - 8. Fledge Watch will start again in the morning following the schedule - and we will maintain until the fur on the top of his head disappears and he has been flying and returning to the nest site - hopefully no more rescues for him”
Martin writes:
“We had no sooner left the roof and he managed to fly down all the way to the pond area behind 284. Had some people watch to ensure he did not go into Coyote territory while Marlene retrieved the crate. In the meantime, when approached he climbed the fence with his claws and sat on the top rail. Then flew, apparently quite eloquently, into one of the trees on the golf course. A whole group of people spent time looking into the trees but alas did not spot him. We wish him well and hope to see him in the morning somewhere!!!”
Fingers crossed keeping NOAH safe until he’s flying well. Great team watching out for him! Cheers, Lucie
Posted on June 21, 2021 11:31 pm
June 20, 2021 - Toronto - Mount Sinai Hospital
Bruce Massey Reports:
Arrived Saturday morning early to find both juveniles Had fledged. One Male (Kelly- Named by a member of the Public), and 1 Female, found on the Rehab Hospital Roof (Named - Bresa. - Spanish for Breeze) Named by me). Kelly did well, and was active throughout the day. Bresa not so much. Until 6:00 PM. She stayed on that rooftop. After that she made a series of Flights attempting to get back to the Nest Ledge. She didn’t make it, but gained a lot of flight experience. Mom finally had enough and she put her to Bed on one of the lower ledges for the night.
Kelly also spent the night on Ledge, but this was one window level under the Nest Ledge Level.
Posted on June 20, 2021 11:19 am
