Shot of one of the fledglings from 220 Duncan Mill Rd sent to us from Michelle Carter who got the shot of this visitor at 225 Duncan Mill Rd. So nice to see thanks Michelle.
Cathy Kerr and I looked at the pictures she took last evening and she thought she saw a 54 but on my screen I could only make out a 4. I like to make sure I have a complete readable band number before I confirm and ID but Kathy Majich reported she could also see a 54 and I was sure I saw a W on the band so that would mean it is still George from the North Grand Isle bridge in NY that was previously ID’d here.
Thanks Cathy and Kathy!
Piper had a couple flights again today. Bruce saw her take flight and do several great circles around the parking lot gaining lots of altitude however Lyn flew low off to the south east and Piper followed losing her gained altitude. When Lyn flew back to the building Piper followed but now being low she tried hard to gain height again and made to to about the 8th floor where she hit a window hard enough for Bruce to hear the impact. Piper tried to recover but landed on the ground at the front of the building. Bruce headed over to her and slowly approached her hoping to catch her up but again she evaded her rescuer. She flew off and landed on the same lower level as she always does this time on the north west side. She was fed by Lyn at about 8:30 in the morning and stayed there all day. When Mark and I arrived we watched her preen. Stretch her wings and flap so there appears to be no injury to her from the window bump other than possibly her confidante. Cathy joined us to close the night shift and Piper was fed by Lyn again at 7:45 PM and an hour later was down for the night. While Piper was being fed Cathy was able to get a photo of Dad and we can now confirm he is indeed banded although the light was very low, he was to high up on the building and the band numbers are not clear enough to read. We will bring our spotting scope tomorrow and hopefully he gives us a chance to see his band. I have lightened the photos but still can’t read the band but dad sure is a hansom lad. 3rd pic is Lyn.
We now think Piper is a female since we have seen several feedings with Lyn and her together and she is at least as tall as Lyn.
When Mark and I arrived Piper was still where we left her last night on the lower ledge. Bruce told us she did take a flight but bumped the glass at the 121th floor lever and landed back on the lower level. He said that Lyn feed her there. Bruce headed home and Mark an I set up to watch Piper hoping she would stay put until the wind calmed down as it was outrageously blowing from the west. Piper later made sever good flights getting lift from the wind that was crazy strong too strong for an inexperienced uncoordinated fledgling. Although she got enough lift to reach the top of the nest building and the 12th floor ledge she was not able to coordinate the landing and she came to ground. Mark and I tried to catch her up she flew off again and successfully landed on the lower lever ledge again above the garbage bins. At 7:00 PM Lyn brought in food and flew above her to prep it and that got her going again. She flew off the lower ledge out over the parking lot but again the wind was too strong and she landed on a low building across the street from the south end of the parking lot. It was not long before the small birds nesting in the trees at the front of that building started to dive on her with a very upset mocking bird who waked her in the head several times. Cathy arrived to join us on the watch just in time to see Both Lyn and dad diving on the mocking bird and Lyn landed on the roof with Piper to protect her from the mocking bird and now a Robin who were not happy about having a falcon above their nest. Lyn flew back and forth from the nest building and Piper several times showing her how to get home ,but Piper was not ready to go. Lyn finally grabbed her food stash and fed her there. When the feeding was done Lyn flew off to land on a light post in the Yellow Pages parking lot to watch Piper and not long after Piper did take flight. Piper flew back to the nest building but again did no get enough altitude and hit the glass on the east side of the building and landed again on the lower ledge this time on the west side of the building same level as she has been on for the last 3 days. Bruce planned to arrive fore the morning watch at 6:00 AM and since I now know for cretin she is able to get off the ground if she comes down and she has been fed at lest twice today she would be ok there for the night so we packed up and headed home with Lyn watching her from the light post.
Cathy’s photos from July 10th and 11th.
7/10/2022 I was down at the Bridge tonight to check on Daisy and Victor to see how they are doing i have not seen them in 2 weeks tonight while i was down there i found Daisy on the West wall of the bridge heard another call from under the bridge from behind it saw Daisy fly over and it was Victor taking off so i went over to see where they were both sitting found them both and heard another call but very faint and there it was a young Falcon with quite a bit of brown on it and a’lot of white fluff stuff Victor or Daisy was very close to it and no dive bombing i think they have at least 1 young Falcon of there own this year very late for them but still able to do it hope all goes well i will keep an eye out on the young and try and get some picture’s to post good news for Daisy and Victor after a rough start to the season.
Following Paul Gosselin’s post last night of a possible late hatch Peregrine Falcon nestling, I went down to the Ambassador Bridge at 9:30 a.m. this morning (July 11) in an effort to see if this sighting could be confirmed. After an hour of searching, EUREKA! I had spotted an adult as soon as I arrived at the bridge and occasionally heard a session of calling, but the adult kept moving around. I suddenly spotted a wing that was not fully developed fluttering over the side of the east-most beam north of Riverside Drive and north of the first support upright at that location. The wing and what appeared to be a portion of tail restricts showed for about a minute before disappearing. Subsequently I heard more rapid calling, and an unfeathered head appeared briefly. This nestling is definitely going to be a challenge to monitor. Sorry, no pics at this time. Photographers will have their own challenges
Bob
Bruce and I arrived for the morning watch and saw Dad sitting on the light pole in front of the shipping dock across from the ledge we left Piper on last night. As soon as we stepped out of the car dad took off followed by Piper who was to our surprise on the ground at the base of the light.
Piper flew around the parking lot and back to the building and landed on the same level and ledge we had left him on last night. I was a good flight but he just could not get any altitude.
Bruce and I set ourselves up one of us sitting on the north east side and one on the south west so if he took another flight we could see where he landed. Later in the morning Bruce saw Lyn fly over the Mastermind store on Milner with food and land on the roof and could no longer see Piper. I was in a position to see the back side if that building and spotted Piper there being stooped bu little birds. He sat there for only a minute and flew farther into the centre of the roof out of my sight line but not far enough for Bruce to see hi, I moved to a better position so see as much of the west side of the Mastermind building as I could sitting under the open top door of the dumpster since that was the only place with some shade thank goodness the dumpster was empty.
After a few minutes Lyn flew back to the North side of the Nest building with the food. Bruce still had not seen Piper and decided to leave his spot go to the south end of the parking lot wher he could see the back side of Mastermind since I had the west end in sight so if he trys to fly back to Mom and the food we could see him coming and spot where he lands. About half way across the lot Bruce looked back at the Yellow Pages building and sent me a text “ come out from under your shade and look behind you on the lower ledge. Well there was Piper sitting exactly where he had been on the ledge above the dumpsters. He must have flown back when we were changing positions and missed the flight. The ledge is so deep that if a fledgling sits up close the the windows you cant see it from ground.
We spent the balance of the morning and the early afternoon watching him there until mark joined us for the afternoon and evening to close shift later joined by Sally and Cathy who stayed with us until close. Again Piper stayed on the ledge tucked up close the the windows on the ledge above the Dumpsters until dark and we packed up for the night.
I at least know he can get off the ground on his own however he is far from being a great flyer and needs to gain a lot more altitude, hopefully he will get it together in the next couple days.
I will post some of Cathy’s photos tomorrow.
Piper has fledged. Bruce was on site by 8:00 in the morning and could not find Piper. He searched for him for 2 hours walking around the building checking all the possible ledges he could be on and there are many on this building. He finally popped up on a 12th floor ledge face the parking lot. Lyn came in later and fed him a small package so by the time Mark and I came to do the afternoon and evening shift and joined Bruce watching he was sitting in the shade on the ledge and there he stayed all afternoon. Seems like a boring afternoon right, not a chance. Bruce packed up and headed home for dinner and Mark and I were soon joined by a woman who was obviously either very drunk or mentally unstable, she spent the next hour yelling at us and threatening us getting right up in our face. Luckily the police were still on site at the far end of the parking lot because they of the body they had found yesterday and Mark went over to talk to the officer to see if he could help us and remove this woman from the property. While Mark was talking to the officer she began to therein my again and was leaning on the hood of our car using it to wright on so I nicely asked her to get off the car and she pounded the hood and refused. Mark came back and said the officer can’t leave but had called dispatch and police were on the way. He then gently pulled the woman off the car and stood between her and the car. While trying to block her from the car she kept trying to get at the car and duck around him yelling and screaming and grabbing him and finally punched him in the face and stabbed him in the face with her pen. I tried to help Mark and grabbed one of her wrists to pull her off Mark but she managed to pull free. Mark then grabbed her by the shoulders and gently lowered her to the grass just as the police arrived. She grabbed her backpack and ran out onto Progress and across the street I pointed to her so the police could see her and he went after her. I grabbed some napkins from the car and hand sanitizer and cleaned up the blood from the pen stab on Marks face. The office came back to take a statement and let us know she was arrested and a restraining order was issued so she could no longer enter the parking area or come within 1000 yards of us. In 26 year of doing fledge watches that often last well past dark this is a first. As for Piper he was happy to watch the crazy humans below. He finally took another flight when just at sunset Ln flew past him with food and the chase was on. He flew off the ledge after mom and hooked east around the building lost more altitude and landed on the first floor roof overhang. Mark and I watched him there until dark and since he seemed to settle down and resign himself to the fact he was there for the night we headed home. Hopefully he will wait for us to come in the morning.
Mark and I were on our way to Yellow Pages Scarborough nest to relieve Bruce on the fledge watch but got a call from a contractor who was doing work on the roof top of 2221 Yonge St he said there is a Peregrine Falcon stuck on the roof top patio 54 floors up. He explained that there are 20 foot high glass walls up there and the bird is hitting the glass trying to get out. We drove down and yes found Sasha (red tape) sitting in a planter on the patio. There is no way a fledgling could get off that roof because there was not enough runway to get enough lift to get above the glass wall. There were 2 food packages up there with her so the adults were feeding her there. Mark caught her in a net and towel and she is every bit as strong and feisty as her mom Haven. Mark took her over to the nest building at 2200 Young and put her out on the balcony just below the nest as we always do so she is safe and able to keep flying with a new knowledge of glass barriers. Hopefully so stays off that roof but having made it up 54 floors I have no worry about her ever coming to ground. It’s up the the adults and to her now.
When Mark and I arrived there were police cars and a coroners van on the street at the south east side of the building and police tape blocking off that part of the parking lot. I find out a body was found in the tall grass in a field near the parking lot. Creepy I am so glad I don’t have to do this watch alone!
Piper did a lot of wing flapping today and looks quite ready to go. He was fed at 5:00 PM and in bed by 8:00 PM so mark and I called it a night. Hopefully he takes flight tomorrow.
Lucie checked the Burlington nest site today May 25th after the Port Colborne banding and saw 2 chicks on the nest.
