July 18, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
Mark Nash Reports:
Monday July 18th - 2011
It’s getting close to baby Courtney’s first flights, and we will be meeting with the fledge watch volunteers on Tuesday July 19th to go over the fledge watch protocols and rules of engagement as it applies to the Brampton fledge watch. We are meeting with the facilities management and court security Tuesday afternoon prior to meeting with the fledge watch team at 7pm to ensure that all is in place and we all understand the protocols and rules of engagement that we operate under while on the Brampton fledge watch. Officially, we will be starting the fledge watch in the morning of Wednesday July 20th, as baby Courtney will be 36 days old and will very soon be starting to take her first flights.
Stay tuned………….
Posted on July 20, 2011 12:03 pm
July 17, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Sunday July 17th - 2011
7:30am to 9am
Courtney was visible for a half hour or so. First time I have seen her flapping her wings.Three times this morning.
Milton dropped down from his watch position and flew quite close to the ledge prompting Courtney to run flapping and calling 20 feet up the ledge, he returned in just a moment with food (from a cache around the other end of the building I presume) She was so aggressive he left that for her to feed herself and resumed a watch position.
There is a large male white pigeon that regularly coasts quite slow right over the adults and even sits on the top of the building within 50 or 60 feet of them. Truss gave chase for a short distance, then returned to sit on a lower ledge in the shade. I have observed this before with the same pigeon.
At 9am all was quiet with the heat building and sun about to shine on the nest ledge. I will check again this evening with my niece.
Toivo
Posted on July 18, 2011 12:23 pm
July 16, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Saturday July 16th - 9:45 to 10:45 am.
Courtney was clearly visible from ground for 40 min this morning, about 6in from the edge. Stretching and preening, but no wing flapping yet. Milton was top corner on watch. Truss on a lower ledge in the shade napping? After Courtney laid down and Truss showed activity. Milton gave halfhearted chase to a pigeon, circled the building and landed on a lower window area in the shade , at that point Truss was alert and on watch just above the Courtney.
The parents certainly are not very aggressive …. Gulls and pigeons often fly within 50 to 100 feet. Pigeons even land on the roof in sight of whoever is on watch. They seem to conduct hunts well away from the nest … mostly North.
Toivo Asikainen
Posted on July 18, 2011 12:19 pm
July 15, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Friday July 15th - 2011
Today at the nest…
Shortly after 1pm Truss flew by the nest with food. Typically she would have landed near the nest, ate a bit of the kill, then feed the chick. Today she flew past the nest and landed on the Eastern side of the courthouse where she ate her fill. She did not then fly to the nest to feed the chick. Rather, she stayed perched in the shade until after 5pm when she resumed feeding on the kill. Then she took the kill to the nest where she left it up to baby Courtney to feed herself. While mom was in the shade, Milton kept guard duty on the roof by Courtney’s ledge. Milton, since Wednesday, seems to pay more attention to what’s going on at ground level. I get a lot more views of his face staring down at me and movement on the sidewalk. Once Truss returned to the nest with food, Milton was freed from guard duty and immediately dove at a gull over Hurontario. More of a warning than hunting; I’ve seen him try much harder to get the local male Kestrel. Once Truss took up guard duty, Milton headed to the shade on the Eastern side of the courthouse.
Prior to being fed, baby Courtney could be seen popping her head up from below her ledge. She seemed to have her eyes focussed on a feather that was slowly moving around her ledge.
Winston
Posted on July 18, 2011 12:13 pm
July 13, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
A huge thank you to Marion from the CPF for all of her efforts and the multi tasking that she has to do, including some great photos!
Posted on July 15, 2011 2:13 pm
July 13, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
A huge thank you to Winston for some great photos of the banding event at the Brampton Courthouse.
Stay tuned, as there are many more to come!
Posted on July 15, 2011 1:42 pm
July 13, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This afternoon at the Brampton Courthouse we had a beautiful day for banding the one chick at this first time nest site. We all gathered outside on the sidewalk to watch the extraction of the single chick and the staff at the courthouse were all eagerly excited about becoming first time falcon parents. It was decided that the ledge would be accessed by lift truck and all was in position for the Skyreach lift operator and Mark Nash to make the ascent to the ledge. Once they reached ledge level, Milton the resident male, took to the air and set his sights on the extraction team. Truss was absent from our view and it wasn’t until Mark was able to see inside the ledge that he found Truss taking a nap and her single chick racing down the ledge to the north. Truss was immediately up, airborne and looking to run the extraction team out of town. With the chick now on the opposite end of the building, the lift was lowered, repositioned to the north and then raised up as the crowd of onlookers maintained their vigil. Mark Heaton and Emma Fellowes of the OMNR began to suit up and prepare to help with the gathering up of the young falcon when Mark Nash was able to reach out and safely remove the young one and make ready to lower her down in the rescue bag. Once on the ground, Mark Heaton brought the chick around to the cafeteria in courthouse for the much anticipated banding ceremony. Marion Nash provided us with the opening remarks on the banding procedure and the CPF’s efforts in southern Ontario to band juvenile peregrines and then handed the microphone over to a very special guest, the Honorable Linda Jeffrey, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources. As a resident of Brampton, she was especially excited about the opportunity to have a Species at Risk successfully nesting at the courthouse; an excitement well evidenced in her speech to the crowd that had gathered.
The rest of the banding ceremony was focussed on just one other special lady and her name is Courtney. This female was a whopping 985 grams at weigh in and was easily identified as a female estimated to be 31 days of age. The Minister Linda Jeffrey held Courtney as her USFW band and her Canadian alpha-numeric band were attached and a strip of yellow electrical tape was fixed over top of the USFW band for easy identification in the field during the fledge watch period that begins next week. Before her return to the ledge and her parents, Courtney took a moment for a photo opportunity with Ed Czuchnicki of ORC Property and Land Management Services and Kevin Stanley of Skyreach who were both instrumental in making this banding day such an enormous success!!
Truly there are so many people to thank on a banding day that the gratitude list is always a long one but nonetheless a vastly important one!! If it were not for all of the folks that worked together with the CPF to make this day happen, Courtney, our newest peregrine juvenile in southern Ontario, would not have been banded and therefore left unprotected as a precious member of our Species at Risk. On behalf of all of us at the CPF, we would like to thank the Honorable Minister Linda Jeffreys, Mark Heaton and Emma Fellowes that represented the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources today. We also heartily thank the fantastic staff at the Brampton Courthouse that have embraced this new family of falcons. The folks here include staff of both the Provincial and Federal courts as well as Ed Czuchnicki, the Senior Facility Manager for ORC Property and Land Management Services and his exceptional staff. The banding would not have been possible today were it not for Aiden Houlahan and staff at United Rentals and Kevin Stanley and his crew from Skyreach Inc.; thank you all for making our access to the ledge possible. We also wish to graciously thank the Peel Regional Police staff members that were instrumental in securing the sidewalk where the lift truck was working and the cafeteria in which the banding ceremony was held. Thanks so much for your assistance in keeping all safe and secure. The staff and management of the cafeteria at the courthouse were outstanding hosts for the banding event itself and we thank you for opening up your doors to all of us. Last but not ever least, we extend a warm thank you to all of the CPF volunteers that attended today’s events from as far away as Burlington; the birth site of our dear Truss. A great day was had by all and it represents another success to celebrate; I love days like these!!
Posted on July 14, 2011 8:03 pm
July 13, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
Mark Nash Reports:
Banding Day - Wednesday July 13th - 2011
A great day indeed with many old and new friends present today to help out with the banding of baby Courtney. A huge thank you to the provincial court staff and the police for all of their assistance today that allowed us to complete the banding of baby Courtney today, as without their support the day would not have been such a great success. We all take for granted that these banding events are simple and without any challenges, but behind the scenes there are a huge amount of people involved that make the job look so seamless and simple.
Please stay tuned as we assemble all of the photos and collect all of our field notes so we can explain just what happened today and how it all played out to be such a great success!
Stay tuned…………….
Posted on July 14, 2011 11:14 am
July 12, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 12th - 2011
So today I was only able to watch the nest during the lunch hour. I was able to watch Milton attain great speed during some swoops around the courthouse. The speed also prevented me from getting any really good pictures as tracking him was hard in addition to all the wind. Truss was also seen hanging around a bit.
As Mark knows, after work I went to check out a reported injured falcon that had been trapped on a balcony. The great folks that discovered him were able to capture him in a box and called for help. Luckily the male American Kestral was not injured and I was able to release it in a park 50-75m from the building where he was found on a balcony. Peregrine fledglings are not the only one that needs some help at fledge time.
Posted on July 13, 2011 3:18 am
July 07, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 7th - 2011
During lunch Truss and Milton perched at opposite corners of the courthouse before Truss retuned to the nest.
In the late afternoon, Milton went off hunting and 20 minutes later returned with what looks like another young Starling. Upon return, Truss took the kill from him and flew off to another part of the roof to feed/pluck feathers from the kill for another ten minutes. The chick began vocalizing as soon as Milton returned but was kept waiting until mom was ready. Truss flew with the kill to the nest where both adult and chick were heard vocalizing. Truss was out of sight, presumably feeding the chick, for ten minutes before reappearing on the ledge where she cleaned her bill by rubbing it on the ledge. She flew off to a higher perch, leaving the kill in the nest area. Milton was circling the nest at this time and stayed on the wing past my departure.
Posted on July 13, 2011 2:12 am
