December 14, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Frank Butson Reports:
Thanks to Vicki and Rodger for this report and photo.
Diamante and Gleig(hatched at the Hamilton Sheraton Hotel) perched high above the clock on Central Terminal! So sweet to see them together up there. One flew in to the other as we were driving in, I think it was him.
In the spring, they were constantly courting, flying together, and a bit slow getting down to the real work of laying eggs and making a family, but once they started, they were very good!
I’m glad to see them both still on site! Gleig’s main perch is at her nestbox.
Central Terminal is now “selling” roof tiles @ $150.US each for the upcoming re-roofing job. I have no idea when that will start but I hope not til late summer/early fall!
Posted on December 14, 2012 10:32 pm
December 14, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Frank Butson Reports:
While my late spring is full of Peregrine Falcon bandings and summer is filled with fledge watches, my fall is occupied from August until the end of November every year with raptor watching. Counting migrating birds of prey from Rosetta McClain Gardens in Scarborough to be more accurate. This season we set many day, month and species records. One that meant a great deal to me was that we counted 102 Peregrine Falcons!! That is almost unbelievable. Many of the birds were tundrius Peregrines, but a few were photographed well enough for us to see band numbers and identify the individuals. Those sightings were reported at the time on their individual pages. Again this season CPF did a release of a Peregrine Falcon who had been checked out for injury at Toronto Wildlife Centre. That was a real thrill for all those gathered. Below please find the final species totals for the season and records that were set. I was glad so many of my fellow Canadian Peregrine Foundation fledge watchers joined us this year, Bruce, Ann, Donna, Murray, Bill, Rob and Angie, Toivo, Harry, Paul, Zoey and dear departed Annie. Thanks to all of you for your support and friendships.
Turkey Vulture - 2223 (best year)
Osprey - 115 (3rd best year)
Bald Eagle - 65 (3rd best year)
Northern Harrier - 266 (4th best year)
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2208 (4th best year)
Cooper’s Hawk - 110 (2nd best year)
Northern Goshawk - 23 (2nd best year)
Red-shouldered Hawk - 76 (best year)
Broad-winged Hawk - 347 (2nd best year)
Red-tailed Hawk - 1002 (best year)
Rough-legged Hawk - 5 (7th best year)
Golden Eagle - 20 (best year)
American Kestrel - 604 (4th best year)
Merlin - 101 (2nd best year)
Peregrine Falcon - 102 (best year)
Total - 7267 (best year)
Here are the new records (14 new, 1 tied)…
Turkey Vulture - Day record of 1750 birds on October 12th, Month record of 2051 birds in October, Year record of 2223 birds.
Red-shouldered Hawk - Day record of 19 on October 26th, Month record of 41 birds in October, Year record of 76 birds.
Red-tailed Hawk - Month record of 601 birds in November, Year record of 1002 birds.
Golden Eagle - Month record of 15 birds in November, Year record of 20 birds.
Merlin - (tied) Day record of 17 birds on October 21st.
Peregrine Falcon - Month record of 51 birds in September, Year record of 102 birds.
All Species - Day record of 2066 birds on October 12th, Year record of 7267 birds.
I hope as many of you as possible will join us next fall! You can check out the watch blog at http://raptorwatch.blogspot.com Enjoy.
Posted on December 14, 2012 3:31 am
December 09, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I decided to defy the weather and head out for a drive to some of our west end nest sites and see what our couples were up to. When I arrived at Viscount Rd I first headed to the alt Hotel. Not a chup to be heard. I circled the office buildings down the road. Nothing. So off to Tim Horton’s to fuel me up and as I sat in the drive thru, two F-16 peregrines go whipping overhead towards the Caroga Drive hotel strip. I sped over and found a peregrine on the Marriot roof and pulled over for a better view. Claire flew in from behind the Marriot and out of nowhere Casper joined her in the air. The pair silently circled together for the next 5 min before Claire swooped up and landed on a suspended light on the south side of the Garden Inn and Casper landed on the “G” in Garden. Casper flew off to continue his circling and Claire was off. The two danced in the sky a little longer after which Casper then broke away and swooped up on the opposite light while Claire landed on the SW corner of the roof. They really put on quite a show in this spring like weather and spent the next 15 minutes flipping heads at one another. Claire then took off like a shot across the highway to the Holiday Inn and Casper followed. From my position I could tell that a pigeon was now having a very bad day as Claire went into a short stoop and clocked one. The pair disappeared on the east side of the Holiday Inn and were sharing dinner. It was nice to see the pair together as I have only recently seen Claire while she was arguing with a Red Tailed over real estate and Casper has been out of view.
Posted on December 9, 2012 9:48 am
December 02, 2012 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:
December 2nd - 2012
Wild Turkey now resident here in Scarborough!
Ok, its not a peregrine or a raptor, but now we’ve seen just about everything in Scarborough!!
Once again, thanks to Michelle and her quick actions with the her smart phone camera, she was able to snap a couple of photos of a wild Turkey feeding on one of the lawns at Morningside and Kingston road here in Scarborough this past week.
And they say that there’s no wildlife here in Scarborough! We can ad to ths growing list of wildlife, including deer, coyotes, red fox, possums, skunks and raccoons, beavers, mink, and a family of otters,,, and a host of other resident local (and growing population of wildlife)!!
Thanks for the pics Michelle!!
Posted on December 6, 2012 12:56 pm
December 02, 2012 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:
December 2nd - 2012
A frequent visitor!! Can you help us to ID this peregrine.
Midwest Road and Midland Ave.,, just one block north of Lawrence Ave East, on Midland Ave. Scarborough Ontario.
With thanks to a Michelle who has alerted us of a very frequent peregrine visitor that has been using the top of a telephone pole as its butcher block over the past several weeks, on a very regular basis. I was able to attend her location several times over the past two weeks and although I was personally not able to catch the mystery peregrine, it was quite obvious that this butcher block is being used quite often.
At the base of the telephone pole (located on the corner of Midwest and Midland Ave,, west side of Midland) there was no less than 5 pigeon heads, lost of other bird body parts and lots of fresh end-trails! The pigeon head count has increased since last week when I attended.
Attached to this posting is a couple of photos that Michelle was able to snap from her smart-phone. While they are long distance shots, they do confirm that her regular feathered raptor visitor is in fact a peregrine falcon.
While still un-identified, the challenge is on to see if her visitor is banded and has a known history! Ok all falcon watchers, who can get a ID on this mystery falcon?
Posted on December 6, 2012 12:41 pm
December 04, 2012 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:
December 4th - 2012
Earlier I sent you the email below. You have responded so thank you. I also have a peregrine pic (which isn’t as sharp) sitting on a Pintail (still alive). You also may have ths pic and use it as you wish….or don’t use it…up to you.
Don Hladky
Calgary, Alberta
Posted on December 5, 2012 11:08 am
December 02, 2012 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:
December 2nd - 2012
Nice shot Don, thank you for sharing!
This hawk was eating a female pheasant. I have only seen this hawk once.
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Fish Creek
Don Hladky
Calgary, Alberta
You may use this photo, taken by me, as you wish. Don Hladky, Dec. 2, 2012
Posted on December 4, 2012 12:33 pm
November 12, 2012 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:
November 12th - 2012
It would appear that the little immature male Gyrfalcon escapee has attracted allot of attention here in Scarborough over the past week and the media frenzy continues with most of the local major newspapers and TV networks that have been out to cover the story.
In addition to the local and national news coverage this little guy has attracted, many of the local birding community and local photographers are making Scarborough one of their regular stopping spots to get a peek.
In this case, (and unlike many of the other escapee falconry birds that we have dealt with), this little male immature Gyrfalcon seems to be holding his own food wise with the abundance of the available avian food sources in the neighbourhood. Lets just say, this is not a good place to be pigeon these days!
With a huge thanks to Ann and Big Frank, we have had allot of recent photos sent in that we would love to share with you. Sadly, no-one has been able to get close enough to read any of the falcons leg band numbers, so it identity and its true owner still remains a mystery.
In this case, given that the Gyrfalcon was produced in captivity and is privately owned as evident by the much smaller breeders type leg bands on its legs.
Even the much larger government issued silver and the coloured recovery marker leg bands are difficult to read even with a decent spotting scope, the tiny breeders bands and the identifying digits etched on them is almost impossible to read unless you have them in your hand.
In some of the photos attached with this update, you can see one of the two small breeders type leg bands, and even with a great deal of magnification and allot of photo-shop colour correcting and sharpening of the image, it is still impossible to see (let along read the band number identification).
Given the abundance of “easy prey” with several very large resident flocks of pigeons in the neighbourhood, it would appear that our little escapee will be want NOT for food that’s for sure!
Given its species, (a Gyrfalcon), it should have no problem with the winter weather conditions that are sure to follow over the next few months. This bird is very well adapt to handle most anything that our southern Ontario winter weather can throw at it,, especially given the huge benefits of the urban landscapes where our resident urban peregrine falcons are now flourishing.
As we know, most all of our resident urban adult peregrines don’t migrate south and spend all year on their territories here in southern Ontario. You can visit most of the CPF nest cams throughout the winter months and regularly see the resident territorial adults still hanging out on their nest ledges all winter long.
It will be interesting to see just how long this little Gyrfalcon will remain in the area.
Stay tuned…..
Posted on November 14, 2012 3:20 pm
November 12, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Frank Butson Reports:
I was up to check this bird out a few times in the past several days. It is thriving, hunting pigeons at the mall/plazza. It catches 2-3 each day, so is eating very well. It is in very good health(to see it at least). It has some local competition, with a Coopers Hawk that hunts the same pigeons, a local Redtailed Hawk that hunts the hydro field just north of the plaza and apparently a Peregrine Falcon who it had a tussle with on Sunday afternoon.
Leslie provided this account of the interactions of the Peregrine and the Gyrfalcon.
”
When we came back at 4:15 pm, the bird was perched on a white pole on the Bell building. It took off and all of a sudden an adult Peregrine Falcon started to attack it. The Peregrine would fly above the Gyrfalcon, then fold its wings and dive at the other bird. We could hear the Peregrine screaming at the Gyrfalcon. It would dodge the Peregrine and after a while it tried to grab the Peregrine. This had all the birders there oohing and aahing. The birds separated for a while, with the Peregrine on a hydro tower and the Gyrfalcon on a pole on the Bell building. It looked like a stand-off, with the Gyrfalcon continually looking towards the Peregrine. Then, the Gyrfalcon took off and pestered the Peregrine. We watched until it was hard to see them anymore. Wow!”
As I understand the owner has been to the site and hopes to get back his bird. I will try to follow this story and report what the conclusion is. Lets hope for the best outcome for all the birds concerned.
Posted on November 12, 2012 5:53 pm
November 12, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Kathy Reports:
A rare white Gyrfalcon has been spotted and photographed in Scarborough as per this article in today’s Toronto Star. Photo included..what a magnificent bird!
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1286192–rare-white-falcon-spotted-at-scarborough-shopping-mall
Posted on November 12, 2012 10:47 am
