News Flash. Benny has just systematically pushed his two brothers, Sven and Winston, off the ledge and into the air. Sven made it back home. Winston is on the roof. Benny now laying down napping on the north H believing his work is done here. Peggy still on the ledge. Full story to come.
Yesterday at William Osler was a complete shift in behaviour for the family as the parents prepare their young ones for fledge. When I arrived all 4 kids were napping away when suddenly in came Chessie. She was on a very distinct mission; harass them until they fly. This was not a singular effort either as Hurricane joined in the effort as well. The chicks were all on the east side split two and two on either side of the H sign. Hurricane took the left pair while Chessie focused on the right. Their efforts were relentless and spectacular in the same breath. Both parents engaged in aerial flights that included barrel rolls, loops, flip overs, tower slaloms and Hurricanes famous pull ups against the wall and jetting straight vertical past the chicks. Back flips off of the ledge capped off the display as well as both adults in tandem at one point displaying their incredible skills. I can’t say it enough, the flights by Hurricane and Chessie here are just pure art… …and the chicks sat admiring the art instead of taking part. Their little fuzzy heads followed the path of their parents and in way of applause they just screamed and screamed. By the end of the display both parents were a little winded and flew up to the tower for a well deserved break as their efforts had gone on for over half an hour.
From noon to 5pm not a single drop of food entered the ledge. Parental displays and too many touch and gos to count continued throughout the evening and the chicks weren’t allowed much rest. Lots of running and flapping exercises filled the evening until supper arrived at 730pm. Then dinner at 737pm. Then snack at 801pm. They were all now so full they could hardly utter a sound. They were one large pancake by 815pm and so I closed it down for the evening to go and help Bruce at Islington and Bloor.
With this extreme shift in behaviour towards encouraging a fledge the parents have let me and the kids know that it’s time. The full time watch begins Monday in earnest!
Yesterday after Bruce and Rob arrived at the Islington and Bloor nest site, I left the watch in their capable hands and headed up here to William Osler to check in on the family for a few hours. My initial task was to locate all of the chicks which is like trying to find a green smartie in the grass. Hurricane and Chessie always have such handsomely dark chicks that match the color of the louvres quite nicely. It didn’t take long to find them as Chessie flew in with a massive pigeon and they were on their feet cheering her on. She flew into the ledge and spent the next 40 minutes beak feeding each chick that only stopped howling their excitement long enough to swallow. Two chicks then galloped down to the south H sign and pancaked out for a few hours leaving the other two lots of room in the nest tray for napping. Hurricane and Chessie also took the next few hours to nap in the tower which had me in my vehicle dozing a bit myself. All 7 of us had a good wee sleep and by noon Hurricane took off west. About 20 minutes later he came flapping in like mad with… …oh no… …NOT ANOTHER PIGEON??!! Yup. Chessie took the pigeon lunch onto the ledge and beak fed again. More pancaking followed and one chick was in such a food stupor that it leaned against a pillar and fell asleep standing up and screaming. Back to the tower for the parents and let nap number two commence. The third pigeon arrived around 4pm and now one of the chicks was screaming and running AWAY from the feeding scramble totally disinterested but screaming anyways ’cause everybody else was. Goodness gracious. By 530pm we were all zonked out again and Bruce was calling with a low bird report. I left my cell number with security just in case one of these two tonners came down and I headed down to Islington and Bloor to back up Bruce. On my way back north I stopped in for a head count and all four chicks crops could easily be seen from the Moon as they had recently been fed yet again. Sunday I will be spending the day once again checking in on how close we are to the start of the full watch.
This morning we received notice from Ross Bartlett at William Osler that we may have had an early fledge today. It appeared that one of the juveniles may have flown and ended up on the west side of the hospital on the 10th ledge. Tomorrow (Saturday) was our scheduled spot check for readiness to fledge as the oldest chick is now 35 days of age and we were concerned that we may have had a slip off or an eager beaver so off we went to check it out.
Bruce headed out there before going over to Islington and Bloor to take a look around and was only able to find three of the four on the ledge. Two of the chicks are still half covered in down and the other is looking more like a potential fledgling with little areas of down left to go. He searched the grounds to no avail and checked the nest tray camera while I did another round of the grounds from a little further out to get a better angle on the ledge. Chessie left on a hunt while Hurricane sat in the tower and returned with a pigeon for the kids. She took it around to the east ledge and up pops four heads, the fourth one sporting a really neat downy mohawk!
The good news is that all four kids are on the ledge safe and sound. I will be out tomorrow to continue my assessment of the young and start gathering the troops for the full time fledge watch to begin. Thank you so much to Ross at William Osler for keeping such a close eye on your young ones. We look forward to starting the full time fledge watch sometime very soon.
June 5th - 2015
Banding Day!strong>
A big thank you to Ross and the William Osler Hospital for hosting the banding today, as it was a very successful morning indeed! All four young hatchlings were banded this morning and returned safely back their parents in record time and everything went without a hitch! 
William Osler writes:
It was a pleasure to be a part of the banding process today. After receiving over 80 submissions from our staff over the past week, we have decided on the names: Benny, Winston, Sven, and Peggy. We hope you like them as much as we do!
All four hatchlings checked out very healthy with the typical feisty peregrine attitudes that we are looking to see.
Their particulars are as follows:
1st - A male named Benny - 580 grams - Banded Black Y over 14 with Green Tape
2nd - A female named Peggy - 795 grams - Banded Black Y over 96 with Red tape
3rd - A male named Winston - 606 grams - Banded Black Y over 15 with White Tape
4th - A male named Sven - 530 grams - Banded Black Y over 16 with Yellow Tape
Both resident adults were on hand to voice their dissatisfaction with or efforts, but waited patiently for their hatchlings return.
You can see some of the video footage taken with the CPF wireless colour camera that was recorded throughout the event on our YouTube page at:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSHlNQ5LCbkTPps432yxEaQ
May 27th - 2015
A quickly update, we have been able to confirm a June 5th banding date for the William Osler Hospital peregrine hatchlings!
The plan is to meet at 9am for set-up, and to start the banding process for 9:30am.
This is a closed to the general public banding due to the restrictions of space and time constraints.
Stay tuned for all of the banding details, photos, video and updated news.
May 21st - 2015
A quick visit to check in on the status oft the William Osler hospital peregrines this afternoon yielded some very good news indeed. I guess I couldn’t have picked a better time to drop in, as the moment that we opened the door and turned around the corner to take a look at the camera monitor, the resident adult female was right in the middle of an afternoon feeding with FOUR HATCHLINGS in full view!!
CONGRATULATIONS are certainly in order!
After carefully taking into consideration what I observed live on the flat screen monitor and looking closely at the photos (sadly although not the greatest photos), it would appear that the hatchlings are approx. 8 to 10 days old.
In consideration with this, it would appear that the optimum banding time frames will be some time between and second week of June.
Stay tuned………..
I stopped by at William Osler for a site check as Hurricane and Chessie were due for a hatch. I went up with security to check the monitor in the mechanical room and I got lucky. A shift of position by the female revealed the first fluffy chick under her wing. I had only one in view so this could be the first. Congratulations to William Osler!
Thank you to Ross and Marion for the report of two eggs at William Osler. That report encouraged me to go out and visit the site today to check in and see whether further eggs had been laid. When I pulled in I found Chessie sitting in the tower looking back at the nest ledge as if she was ready to return to the tray. I saw this as an opportunity to go upstairs and perhaps witness the changeover which would let me know where the pair is at in egg laying. I met with Ross and the two of us went upstairs to take a look at the nest tray through the monitor and the peep hole to see whether there has been any progression. We found Hurricane laying tight on the eggs and not moving. He certainly loves incubating as it is an opportunity for him to do his favorite thing which is to take a nap. While we were watching Hurricane Ross informed me that the second egg actually arrived last Thursday and that potentially they could have a full clutch by now. We didn’t have to wait long before Chessie came in and was demanding Hurricane give her her turn on her eggs. When the pair exchanged places, Ross was watching through the peep hole and I through the camera monitor and we were able to confirm that there are now four eggs in the nest tray. If the second egg arrived last Thursday then potentially number three would’ve been laid on Saturday and egg number four on Monday as they lay their eggs typically every second day. Congratulations William Osler on a full clutch and we look forward to a hatch around the second week of May.
April 14- 2015
Reports from the hospital today has 2 eggs in nest so far.