March 24, 2019 - Oshawa - Oshawa Activity
Marion Nash Reports:
There is some good news to report from the Oshawa Lake Ridge Hospital nest site! We received word this week from the Oshawa Lake Ridge Hospital that there are once again two adult peregrines on site very active in and around the nest box,, and that copulation is also being observed between the two!
Once again, no confirmation as to whom the adults are as yet,, but it would appear that things are looking pretty good for the grins at Lakeridge.
Spring is in the air, finally!!!
Posted on March 24, 2019 2:48 pm
March 15, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Mark Nash Reports:
March 16/2019
There is some good news to report from the Don Mills nest site! Despite the change of the large signs on the 250 Ferrand site nest building, both adult peregrines were very active in and around the two office tower upper elevations, and seem to adopted quite well to the sign changes.
Once again, no confirmation as to whom the adults are as yet,, but it would appear that things are also looking pretty good for the grins at Don Mills and Eglinton nest site.
Spring is in the air, finally!!!
Posted on March 24, 2019 2:23 pm
April 30, 2015 - Oshawa - Oshawa Activity
Mark Nash Reports:
April 30th - 2015
Some great news indeed! With a huge thank you to Ken and Ernie out at the Oshawa Lake Ridge Hospital for spending the time with me today, getting me safely to and from the roof elevation where the nest box was installed for the grins to complete a site visit and nest box inspection in an effort to confirm what’s been going on with the peregrines.
I am delighted to report that we can confirm that the pair are in fact involved in full time incubation with 4 eggs in the nest box!! In addition, one of the other two important questions was also answered, (who are the resident adults)??.
Well, we can positively confirm after reviewing the photos taken during my visit today that the resident adult female is in fact still Alfrieda, (a peregrine that was produced in Buffalo NY in 2012), banded with a Black over Green 73 over AW .
Sadly although, we were not able to confirm the identity of the resident adult male,, (but highly suspect that it is still Simcoe, Banded Black 63 over X), a peregrine that was produced at the Canada Square nest site in Toronto at Yonge & Eglinton. While the resident adult male was observed today as dawning a solid Black coloured band, we were NOT able to get a positive ID on him and we can not positively confirm that it is Simcoe.
Over the past two weeks, there has been a territorial dispute and fighting between two males,, so it will be interesting to see who the “victor” is!
Over the past weeks, Ernie has been monitoring the peregrines as close as he can and provided some really important observation reports that helped us plan the nest box install, and with the support of Ken and all of the engineering staff for physically getting the nest box installed at its current elevation without the need of a crane that was originally proposed to be able to get the nest box to its final resting place.
In short, a lot of brute force and back breaking manpower indeed, as you know, the new CPF nest boxes are now being made from the newer marine composite materials, (with the composite boards that are twice as heavy as the equivalent sized wood products)! Then there is the typical 50 pound bags of pea-gravel, with each nest box requiring 5 plus bags!
The next step is the nest box camera. Because of the rather hasty install of the net box,,, (remembering that the birds wait for no one),, and we were just in time to get the new nest box installed, there simply was not enough time to get the camera in along with all of the power lines and internet feeds installed.
Also remembering, that we made the decision to install the nest box at a different elevation that was originally planned, (due to the fact that the peregrines decided to go to another location and different elevation on the hospital that they nested on last season)!!! Talk about having to scramble AGAIN and change your plans! As you know, working with peregrines, you gotta be flexible and be able to act / react quickly!!
Over the next few weeks while the pair are involved in their incubation, (and thank goodness things will be much more stable), we will be working on the new nest box camera. It is our plan to have it programmed and ready to be installed during the time that the young hatchlings are out of the nest box while they are being banded. We will install the new colour nest box cam when we have to go to the nest box for the extraction, as this is a time that we have to wait at the nest box until the banded hatchlings are returned.
The hospital is planning to make ready a temporary power supply and the internet connection so we can power up the camera and get its live signal to the internet.
Stay tuned……………….
Posted on May 2, 2015 12:55 pm
March 26, 2015 - Oshawa - Oshawa Activity
Mark Nash Reports:
March 26th - 2015
A quickly update on the Oshawa Lake Ridge Hospital peregrines. I was able to spend several hours today out in Oshawa after having delivered the new nest box that the CPF has built for them to provide a more hospitable nesting habitat for their resident peregrines. I was delighted to catch both peregrines in view, and I was lucky enough to have arrived on site with camera in hand when the “love-birds” were involved in courtship and mating activities with one another.
It would appear that the peregrines have decided to focus their attention on a lower roof top elevation as a possible location to lay their eggs this season, in comparison to the higher roof top elevation that they used last season. All of their attention during the three plus hours that I was on site, was focused entirely on this lower elevation.
Actually, after taking a close detailed look at this lower elevation, it appears to be a much better choice to nest, given that it has protection from both sides as well as a back wall that will protect them from any driving winds and rain. This particular spot emulates the typical “ledge” type nesting environment that peregrines look for when selecting a nest site. As we know only too well, peregrines typically don’t nest on the “top” of cliffs and prefer the safety and protection of a ledge on the side of the cliff. In this case, (and with most of the urban nesting peregrines), this particular elevation surrounded by walls on three sides is just that, a “big ledge” on the side of a man made cliff.
The other good news, is that I don’t see that this elevation is any more challenging to install the nest box on, although, it does remain to be seen when the time comes, as our initial plans was to install the new nest box on the other higher elevation roof top where they had nested and laid their egg last season.
While we have no visual confirmation of any eggs having been laid this season here at the Oshawa Health nest site, (and given the both birds were visible at the same time for over an hour, and copulation was observed during my visit), it is not likely that any eggs have been laid as yet given these events. (Also, in consideration of the cold unseasonal temps that we are still experiencing), if there were egg(s), the female would not have been off her incubation duties for this length of time if there was in fact any eggs,,,,,,
The colder temps usually have the females down in full time incubation regardless almost from the get-go regardless of the amount of eggs that they have produced.
It was obvious that neither of the resident peregrines were involved in any sort of incubation during the three hours of my observation period.
That being said, copulation has obviously begun, and egg(s) are very soon to follow!!!
I have attached some photos, (although not very good ones) as it was still spitting rain, somewhat misty and still quite breezy and cold! So there lies my excuse for such crappy photos! Hmmm, maybe I Just can’t admit to being a crappy photographer.
Stay tuned,,,, as there are more updates to follow………….
Posted on March 27, 2015 6:38 am
July 29, 2014 - Oshawa - Oshawa Activity
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 29th - 2014
Hi All,
I just saw all 3 of our peregrines in flight, Salveo was chasing one parent and the second parent was dive bombing her as they all flew around the hospital area. Salveo was doing a lot of screeching and also was very capable at landing on the roof ledge and taking off a number of times. What a thrill! Saw one of the parent do a very close fly by of a louvered area to try to flush out some pigeons.
Posted on July 31, 2014 3:53 am
July 27, 2014 - Oshawa - Oshawa Activity
Bruce Massey Reports:
On Sunday I travelled out to the Lakeridge Hospital site in Oshawa to check in on Salveo and her parents Alfrieda and Simcoe. After checking in with security I headed out to the west side of the hospital to take a look for the family and found all three at home. Salveo has made several flights since she fledged and today was sitting up on an elevation one step down from the nest ledge. Alfrieda and Simcoe were both around the southwest corner area keeping an eye on their young daughter and preening the day away. After about an hour or so Alfrieda took off on a hunt but did not return for a while so I called it a day with Salveo still on the ledge where I first located her and Simcoe on the southwest corner.
Posted on July 29, 2014 6:02 pm
July 28, 2014 - Oshawa - Oshawa Activity
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 27th - 2014Hi All
I went yesterday afternoon, from 2:30 to 4pm
Alfrieda (Mother) was around the corner for the first 15 minutes. She left and I never saw either parents again.
Two ravens flew buy at 3:30pm and Salveo hollered at them and then puffed out her wings. The parents were not in view at the time.
Salveo did not fly, spent most of the time on the ledge grooming.
regards
Kevin
Posted on July 27, 2014 6:33 pm
July 28, 2014 - Oshawa - Oshawa Activity
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Friday July 25th - 2014
Bruce reports from Oshawa today that Salveo is so far staying out of trouble and still high on one of the Hospital roof elevations.
He was able to hook up with Kevin and they watch Salveo for a time who seemed quite comfortable and relaxed about her situation.
Bruce reports:
Confirmed sighting of Salveo, she on W side of Hospital on the ledge the 2 Ladders coming down from N/L.
BE Massey
Posted on July 25, 2014 5:28 pm
July 21, 2014 - Oshawa - Oshawa Activity
Mark Nash Reports:
July 21st -2014
2:38pm
One of the parents just brought her a meal, (Swiss Chalet) 
and is sitting beside her on the same ledge, the other parent is 2 stories above watching.
Thx,
Ken
1:36pm
Hi to all,
Salveo has taken her first flight, she is now sitting on a parapet ledge 2 stories below the roof where we captured her for banding.
The parents are both flying on the other side of the hospital, again they could be hunting.
Very cool.
Ken
Posted on July 21, 2014 1:55 am
July 14, 2014 - Oshawa - Oshawa Activity
Tracy Simpson Reports:
On Saturday the CPF pulled together quickly to band the single young female chick hatched at the Lakeridge Hospital. The resident adults, Alfrieda from the Central Terminal nest site in Buffalo and Simoce from Canada Square here in Toronto, were in fine form giving Kathy Smith and I a good talking to. They came in several times but not too close as they are new to this and have some confidence building to do as productive parents. Still they were very active and did a great job.
Salveo, the single female chick, was banded downstairs and represents a new generation in the Windwhistler and Erin family tree. She is the great great granddaughter of this famous Toronto pair still nesting to this day at 18 King Street East, both now at the age of 16. Congratulations Lakeridge on your successful hatch and we look very forward to the future with Alfrieda and Simcoe.
Posted on July 14, 2014 6:41 pm
