June 28, 2024 - Brampton - Courthouse
Cathy Kerr Reports:
FLEDGE WATCH - Brampton Courthouse - Thursday, June 27 & Friday, June 28
Lucie reports:
THURSDAY - It was my first time fledge watching at this location and I was looking forward to seeing PERCY, who had come down the night before and landed on a low building directly across the street from the nest building. When I arrived around lunch time, mom was on the roof of this building and then jumped down out of sight where Percy was assumed to be.
Finally, around 5 pm Percy made an appearance on the ledge! From that time until 9 pm, I got to see and photograph him up close, whether he was being fed by mom or just looking darn cute. I watched mom bring food for Percy .. a white pigeon .. she dropped it off in front of him and picked a few feathers to feed him. Then she stepped away while he just looked at the pigeon and struggled with it. It took awhile then it sunk it .. mom started to beak feed him. He ended up with a full crop very content. We wondered if she might be a first-time mom .. and even if so, she’s a great mom, constantly watching out over him!
It’s always a great feeling to be able to ID a peregrine and especially wonderful to know that it’s NICO, from the Duncan Mill site, son of Quest and Mystery, and first-time dad!
Cathy posted some of my photos a couple of days ago and I’m adding a few more from that evening of mom and Percy on the roof. And it was so nice to finally meet Toivo and spend some time on this fledge watch with him.
FRIDAY - A very noteworthy day for sure and one that will certainly be remembered by myself and Winston. I was on my way to the courthouse when I got a call that Percy was down and needed rescuing. Winston and Toivo thankfully were on the job and with their efficient teamwork got Percy in the crate. Congrats to Winston on his first successful rescue!!
When I arrived, the first thing I saw was mom on the light post right in front of me with food in her talons. With the help of the courthouse staff, we released Percy on the roof and almost instantly mom flew to the roof and Percy was grabbing the food from her!!
From his release until 9:00 pm, Percy remained on the ledge, with his parents very close by. He had several feedings. Dad dropped the food off in front of him, then mom came in to beak feed. The most activity that I saw occurred after 7:30 when a pair of kestrels decided to cause a stir. I watched as mom took the brunt of their swoops, while dad remained with Percy. My heart went out to mom who endured this pair who were probably protecting their own young on the other side of the building, where I understand is their territory. I left around 9 pm and all was quiet, including the kestrels.
Mom is unbanded and has no name, so we have decided to call her ROSE. Cheers, Lucie
Posted on June 29, 2024 10:30 pm
June 27, 2024 - Brampton - Courthouse
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Lucy and I are so thrilled to announce that the resident male at Brampton Courthouse has been positively ID’d as NICO, 2021 hatch out of Don Mills, son of our beloved Quest and Mystery!!!! Percy is their grandson! Beautiful
Sally, Bob, Mark and Marion and I fledge watched him… His first flight found him landing on a hydro pole, in wires, on a blistering hot day. We waited anxiously and he finally took off low, and Mark rescued him. Obviously, he was released successfully and now has a wonderful mate and the cutest son!!
I asked Lucie and Winston to try and get an ID as soon as Toivo let me know that the male was banded. Winston got a partial, and we suspected Nico but we needed positive ID. And Lucie got it!! Thanks guys for this wonderful news.
I’ve dug up some of Nico’s fledge watch pics but the best one is Lucie’s… Our boy all grown up. Sorry if this is a bit sappy, but we put so much into our fledge watches and CPF, and it’s for moments like this, that make it all worth while.
Posted on June 29, 2024 10:20 pm
June 27, 2024 - Brampton - Courthouse
Cathy Kerr Reports:
And we are off!!
Toivo has been keeping an eye on our little one and thank goodness for that!
He arrived to find him down, probably blown off by the strong winds we have been having. He rescued him. Way to go Toivo!!!
After a rest, I joined Toivo and Mark Heaton and we got that little guy (yes its a boy) banded, his name is Percy, and then back up on the nest building, and back to his parents.
Toivo and I were happy to see his parents up with him within minutes. Lovely. I headed back to work and left Toivo to watch.
Later in the afternoon a storm came up but Toivo had lost sight of him but just knew he was not on the ledge any more. After the storm passed, Toivo observed Mom bring food across the street on the very large roof. She popped down, then a bit later, up without food. Bingo! Our little guy was across the street.
And there he spent the night.
Yesterday was a long day for Toivo and Lucie. Percy got fed multiple times on that roof and didn’t make an appearance until late in the day. Such a cutie.
Hopefully they will get to see some nice flights today!
Go Percy
Thanks Lucie for her great pics of him on the roof.
Posted on June 28, 2024 3:56 pm
June 24, 2024 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DON MILLS SPOT CHECK:
Mike was over to see the family at Don Mills yesterday morning and is happy to report all 5 seen. And doing well!
Thanks Mike for the update and pictures!
Posted on June 25, 2024 8:31 pm
June 22, 2024 - Brampton - Courthouse
Cathy Kerr Reports:
BRAMPTON COURTHOUSE UPDATE :
Toivo reports :
On Saturday I got my first good look at the chick,
at least 33 to 35 days old but size indicates a male and surprised at how many pin feathers still there, where it is standing is kind of dangerous as no grip to hold on in all of the wind but he did.
Thanks Toivo for the update. Looking forward to your fledge report
Posted on June 25, 2024 8:20 pm
June 22, 2024 - Oshawa - Lakeridge Hospital
Cathy Kerr Reports:
LAKERIDGE UPDATE : Linda reports that little Echo is doing just great! After being off exploring, she finally saw him at the nest box. Wonderful news.
Thanks Linda.
Posted on June 25, 2024 8:15 pm
June 19, 2024 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Cathy Kerr Reports:
SPOT CHECK WILLIAM OSLER :
Scott reports that he sees the fledglings every day but cannot ID them as they are in the air or too far away. Except one day when the boy, Kai visited the staff lounge! He got a good pic that day!
Thanks for keeping an eye out for them and keeping us informed. And for your pictures.
Posted on June 25, 2024 7:59 pm
June 15, 2024 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
I am very lucky to have two great friends and photographers who are keeping me up to date on our family at Don Mills. Ted and Rob have sent me so many fantastic photos.
The kids are doing absolutely amazing (I’m not biased at all, lol ). So wonderful to see them learning and getting stronger.
Thank you again Ted and Rob!
There are lots of pictures from both of them and they are amazing! And more to com
Posted on June 25, 2024 7:46 pm
June 18, 2024 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Cathy Kerr Reports:
FLEDGE WATCH UPDATE - MISSISSAUGA EXECUTIVE CENTRE (MEC) - Saturday, June 15 - Tuesday, June 18, 2024
It is with great sadness that I am reporting the loss of our beloved COOPER (green tape). Winston found her body on Saturday on an overhang low down on MEC1 which appears to be the result of an impact with the building. Man, this is so hard
Because of this very hot week, Bruce and Winston came by in the evening, and I share Bruce’s report “From what Winston and I saw tonight, I think that the MEC watch can be scaled back to spot checks. It looks like the pair are flying together, and they weren’t getting into too much danger. They were respectful of each other and if one wanted to break off and land the other one was allowing it
I wish so much for ALDA and OLYMPIA to be successful in learning all that it takes to move on to their next phase in life
Cheers, Lucie
Posted on June 25, 2024 7:27 pm
June 17, 2024 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DON MILLS /AMEXON BANDING :
Our last banding for 2024 and Holden and Nagata had the best surprise for us—THREE CHICKS!!! Now as we were only expecting 1 chick(due to previous documentation) , there are a couple of possibilities here. After the first 3 eggs weren’t viable, she ate them for their calcium and reclutched 4 more. Or something or someone, interrupted the process and after laying the 3, she kept them viable until she could safely lay the 4th egg. Absolutely no way of knowing exactly what happened here as there was no way to watch this nest. And at the end of the day… We have 3 healthy, very fiesty, loud chicks! That is all that matters. Way to go Nagata! I am absolutely thrilled to announce 2 boys and a girl for them. If anyone is wondering why we did not go up to check again, it is because we do not want to disturb them any more than we already had. And the purpose of checking is so that we can confirm a hatch date, to help with determining the banding date and when we need to start the fledge watch. Glad it’s not this week as it’s going to be a scorcher lol.
What a wonderful way to end the bandings this year!
I want to thank Mark Heaton and Eva Bobak, of the Ministry of Natural resources for volunteering their time to band all of our chicks. I also want to thank my team (the best) of Sally, Lucie and Rob for helping out (also volunteers) at the bandings. And of course John Beals, our climber who is so great at this.
And a big thanks to all of the buildings the peregrines have chosen to nest on, from property management to security, and maintence staff, for their continued support.
And to Mark Nash
Introducing :
GIDEON , 894g, female, 44/AB, red tape
LERXST (sounds like Lurks, named after guitarist with the band Rush, his nickname, you are welcome Don ), 672g, male, X/73, white tape
And, PETER, (named after long time security and friend, who loved the peregrines, at Amexon, who passed away earlier this year,
X/74, Blue tape
Can’t wait for fledge watch…
Posted on June 25, 2024 7:22 pm
