April 09, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
Tracy Simpson Reports:
With all of the changes at the Holcim nest site, I was very concerned about Caspian these past few days and so I have made regular visits each day to check in on her. On Thursday with the heavy rains and intense weather setting in I came down for about three hours to see if she was maintaining her position on the eggs. She came off briefly at around 11am and was sitting on the low silos to the east of the nest ledge. She was there for about 15 minutes calling and looking for her mate Storm and received no response from the young male that I spotted the other day. She returned to the nest ledge and disappeared into it. The rain wasn’t at its most intense yet and she appeared to be maintaining her position. In a perfect scenario, the pair would share the incubation, her doing most of it, giving her a break to eat and dry off. Right now she is alone and doesn’t have a supportive male. At noon the immature male arrived and flew through the plant landing on the high silos. He called her several times but with no response from her. He took off and flew through the plant again and after 5 minutes he landed on the high silos out of my view. A few minutes later I caught sight of him off on a hunt and I hoped that if he was successful that he would instinctively think to bring her some food. He didn’t. Caspian came off the eggs again at around 12:30pm and went looking for caches on the low silos to the east of the nest ledge. She found a little something there that she ate and then remained on her perch until 1:30 when she once again returned to the eggs. I left after about three hours and can say that she has maintained her position on the eggs during my observation period with the exception of one brief perching period and one period out that lasted one hour. No other bird went into the nest and took her place during that time. I know that serious weather with heavy rains is moving in through the overnight and she will struggle to stay on those eggs and protect them by herself. I will check back tomorrow and see how she’s doing.
Posted on April 11, 2015 9:43 am
April 10, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Friday April 10th
Hi everyone, this is what is happening here as of Tuesday morning April 7th.
After we heard about the tragic news of Storm, we wondered what the heck we could do to help insure a successful hatch. So we started really taking a close look at the sky to see if there was a new male active here or Caspian was alone. We did find a male Peregrine on site that looked different than our resident male Stormin. This new male peregrine is indeed much darker on the breast area, so I concluded that it was an immature bird, which made me wonder if that was possible. Well after some close observations and a few decent photos, we can say: yes there is a young male peregrine now on site.
On Thursday April 9th, early in the day, a male peregrine was observed bringing food to the very top elevation above the nest ledge, and a few minutes later, a female peregrine was feeding on it.
Today, Friday April 10th , all that seems to be visible is, one female peregrine, observed chasing the smaller male peregrine, and then he is later observed seen chasing her, while all this time though…no one is sitting on the eggs.
Sadly, I cannot really comment with any certainty about what it going on here other than the indicated observations.
Will update as news develops.
Two pictures attached showing these events.
Armando
Posted on April 10, 2015 11:42 pm
April 07, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
Tracy Simpson Reports:
After hearing of the recovery of the resident adult male Storm yesterday I was intent on visiting the Holcim site today to check in on Caspian and how she is doing. The last time I was out there the adults were getting ready to put down the first eggs of the season and I was sure that they would have their first by Monday March 3oth at the latest.
Today when I arrived there wasn’t a bird in view so I set up on Avonhead Road and waited for an appearance by, well, anyone. After 20 minutes of nothing I decided to head over to the roadway that parallels the west side of the plant and found a bird on the south silos. It took off and headed for the nest ledge so I headed back and found a male sitting on the east side of the nest ledge looking in. I had no doubt he was looking at the female laying on eggs. After about 10 minutes of this he reacted to movement on the ledge by bowing and taking up a defensive posture. It was mere seconds and the female jumped up and was on the attack. She chased the male off of the ledge and through the plant for a few minutes and was right back into the ledge and down. He persisted and she went at him again driving him out. Moments later she was back on the nest ledge and on her eggs. The male finally gave up landing there with her and decided to patrol the plant for about 15 minutes. He then landed on the short silos along Avonhead Road and I was able to get the scope on him. The first thing I noticed is that this bird is in juvenile plumage; last year’s hatch. The second outstanding feature was the yellow tape over the USFW on the right leg. Finally, I was able to clearly see a solid black recovery band on his left. I was unable to read the band due to wind shake and distance and will have to come back for another try. There are a few males that were banded last year in southern Ontario that were given yellow tape, the most notable being Trout from the Toronto Sheraton Hotel nest site who has been seen overwintering in Florida. Could it be that Trout has come home to Ontario? I will have to go back and confirm the band number before I can say for sure who it is. What I can say is that Caspian, the resident female, wants nothing to do with him at this time and this new male will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to participate in this nesting season with her. Should he stay with her and the eggs hatch, he will be helping to raise the final brood from Storm as eggs were laid well before this young male took over.
Posted on April 7, 2015 10:53 pm
April 07, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I stopped in at Holcim today and was able to confirm the presence of a new male and that Caspian is in full time incubation. Details on my visit later tonight.
Posted on April 7, 2015 5:14 pm
April 07, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
Mark Nash Reports:
April 7th - 2015
Hi All,
It is a shame about Storm, the little guy graced our skies for quite a few years, but, I guess that is the way Mother Nature works. We did observe territorial warfare going on about 3 weeks ago, but did not know the outcome.
At this time we can confirm that incubation is going on, and we have 4 eggs in the nest. (photos will be attached). The eggs were laid over the Easter weekend. (April 3-5). Yesterday April 6, we observed a change of shift at 11 am and a male did come to the nest. I guess now all we need to do is to ID this pair, or at least this male. The photos are of the 2 different birds.
Take care.
Armando
Posted on April 7, 2015 9:15 am
April 06, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
CPF Postmaster Reports:
April 6th - 2015
A big thank you to the great staff at the Mississauga Animal Control for chasing us down this afternoon, sadly although, with some not so good news.
We are saddened to report that a deceased adult banded peregrine was picked up by their wildlife officers after a report was called into them of a downed, banded peregrine falcon around Hwy. #10 and the Lakeshore Blvd in Mississauga,, (just on the boarder of Oakville and Mississauga) Ontario.
The leg band identification told another part of the story, with the Solid Black banded peregrine - 94 over D, identified as “Storm”, a 2004 produced peregrine from the Etobicoke Bloor & Islington nest site.
Most recently, Storm was identified last season as being the resident territorial adult male at the Holcim nest site in Mississauga Ontario,, (not too far at all from where Storm’s body was recovered).
The obvious head trauma and other injuries were very consistent of a collision type of injury. No photos will be posted due to the graphic nature of the birds injuries.
The obvious question now remains,,, is Storm still Holcim’ s resident adult male (or should I say, was he),,, and,, who (if anyone), has replaced him at the Holcim nest site??????????
Recent observations of a few days ago, had two adults on site at Holcim, with copulation between the two resident adults having been observed.
Posted on April 6, 2015 11:10 pm
March 27, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This morning at Holcim the resident adults are very busy working towards laying eggs this season. The female emerged from the nest ledge and flew into the plant area where she sat for quite some time looking as though she was deep in thought. Egg lethargy is very apparent. If she hasn’t laid her first yet it will be laid in the next few days. She has yet to come close enough for a reading of her bands but her lack of a USFW combined with her black over green recovery band is consistent with Caspian. In the past hour the pair have copulated twice and I could clearly see that the male has a solid black recovery band and a silver USFW. This is consistent with Storm. As I write this he has just delivered her breakfast!
I will try and confirm identities before I move on today but will certainly be back for more observations.
Posted on March 27, 2015 9:47 am
June 26, 2014 - Mississauga - Holcim
Marion Nash Reports:
The chicks have fledged and one of them checked out something you will immediately recognize. Kind of a Kodak moment! The other is one of the adults - she visits one of our electricians at the main stack. She visits him almost every time he is up there and sits just feet away - very calm and curious. The photo was taken from just a couple of feet away. Enjoy!
Barb Smith
Holcim (Canada) Inc.
Posted on June 27, 2014 7:33 am
June 11, 2014 - Mississauga - Holcim
Marion Nash Reports:
It was another successful banding day at Holcim. This years banding was very special for the Family of
Ron Osborne, the former CEO who sadly passed away last year.
His children Charlotte and David got to name one the baby falcons and held it at the end of the banding for a photo shoot, we were honoured to be able to help make this happen for them.
We would like to thank all the folks at Holcim for the great care they take of the peregrine family and for hosting the banding event. We would also like to thank John Miller our volunteer rock climber for being there for the birds again this year to extract the little ones from the nest for banding without him this could not happen.
This year there were 4 chicks 3 males and a female. All the hatchlings were weighed and checked over and were very healthy and of good weight.
905 grams female 26 days old named Tessa
635 grams male 28 days old named Roaming Rony ( named after Ron Osborne)
640 grams male 27 days old named Lindsay
650 grams male 26 days old named Kurt
Stay tuned for the banding photos to follow…………
Posted on June 17, 2014 10:18 am
June 07, 2014 - Mississauga - Holcim
Marion Nash Reports:
Barb sent some more great photos from Lloyd Davidson.
Thanks Lloyd!
Marion
Posted on June 8, 2014 1:21 pm
