June 18, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Tailer decided to stay home today, although several times he looked as if he was going to fly again. It is not unusual for a chicklet to rest a few hours or a few days before flying again. Food drops were scarce as well. Both chicklets were seen together off and on all day. They went to the northeast corner, where some wing-flapping was seen.
By evening both were back at the southeast corner. At one point they were side by side near the string that hangs down from the roof about 1/2 way along the ledge, Tailer in his usual pose and Nihei with her face turned outward. We have had the opportunity to see more of her, and we do believe we have a female. Although neither chicklet would sit up side by side, we have seen them together, from the shoulders up and she is bulkier than he is. She has not yet sat with her tail out and hanging down as her brother does. Maybe tomorrow.
The adults were not as active today, possibly due to the light rain that arrived part way through the day. They did fly around the Crowne occasionally. Connor was seen fleeing from the inside of the ledge, probably having checked out the possibility of leftovers. Nihei took exception to this as she determined she was starving and let everyone know all evening. Diana was on Tower 2, which crew both chicklets to the southeast corner. As we left, we still heard loud persistent calling, volume stepped up at times. How can Diana and Connor ignore that?
Eve Ticknor
Posted on June 19, 2009 12:18 am
June 17, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
It is amazing that we have put 10 days under our belts already. So many sore necks will attest to that. How many of you have spent 4 hours at a time staring up at a ledge on the 25th story level? Some of us have.
Tailer was still on the Constitution Square, Tower 1 this morning. He spent lots of time up there, exploring the edges, going back and forth. Nihei was seen briefly on the ledge, but still not the whole body.
Around 1pm, Diana and Connor had been flying around, trying to get Tailer flying again. It worked. He tried to fly to the hotel ledge, but couldn’t do it, so returned to Tower 1. Then he tried to fly over to the top of Tower 2 ( higher than Tower 1 ) but missed and started to tumble down. Anuok watched as he fell. Then he stuck out his wings and caught himself. He leveled out around 30 feet, and crossed over Albert St, heading into the outdoor eating area below Tower B of Place de Ville. He landed on the patio, and made his way back to a corner with a glass window. There he was expertly picked up by our Liz Greene and popped into our rescue box where he waited for Bill Petrie to come band him. We thank Lisa Hill and Donna Morgan-Linde for coming to help! Once Bill had finished, he, with Liz and Anouk took Tailer back up to his home ledge. There he stayed for the rest of today. For those interested, he weighed 614 gms. His black band has 02 over Y in white lettering.
And now for Nihei. She was seen a little only once in a while, and heard calling. Later on we did see her at the northern end. We saw wing-flapping once in a while. Then we did see more of her, from below the crop up. One volunteer thought we were looking at Diana as she seemed big. We should see more of her over the next few days and soon she will also be trying out her wings. Let’s hope Kathy will give her namesake good luck!
Posted on June 17, 2009 11:53 pm
June 16, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
After a quiet morning, Tailer finally let go and flew. He didn’t go far, but he did stay up high. He is now on the top of Constitution Square Tower 1. His parents are nearby and brought him something to snack on. Nihei stayed home and is rather quiet, adding to the feeling we have a female. We have yet to see her whole self on the ledge. Tailer spent some of his time exploring the edges of his new world, running along each part of the ledge, stopping to check on the whereabouts of a parent, then running again, and then back again.
Chris and I went up to the Penthouse of the Crowne Plaza Hotel and had a good look at him from a banquet room. We took a few photos and left, to continue watching from the sidewalk, just in case he decided to fly again.
Eve Ticknor
Posted on June 17, 2009 12:21 pm
June 14, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
As I arrived downtown shortly before 9 this morning, Danielle greeted me, very excited to share her news. No, no flights yet. But she had her first look at Diana feeding our boldest chicklet right out on the ledge! It is very moving to see such a fierce predator being so gentle with her chicklets. After feeding the first one, she leaned over and fed the other one.
Our next bit of excitement was shortly after noon when a 2nd face appeared while we saw the first one further along! I had gone up to the 21st floor with someone who works up there and looked in vain for a glimpse of the 2nd one. Nap time! Once we had seen it, we only got glimpses of wings flapping later on, but at least we know that it is ok now. A big relief……..
Brian had a heart-stopping moment this afternoon. Everyone has one here. Our bold little falcon was out on the ledge when it decided to do some vigorous wing-flapping. That’s ok. But it was only holding on with a couple of talons, right out on the edge with its tail hanging out! Everything was fine in the end, still no flying.
We spent the rest of the evening looking upwards, wondering if this would be the moment. Chris and Marie were ready to run, I hope they still are tomorrow and the next day, and the next……. Our bold one is ready any time. He just needs to let go.
We cannot be sure of gender without having a closer look, having both side by side eachother or a parent. But we can make educated guesses based on behaviour and things we see and don’t see. Therefore we think we have a male and a female. Perhaps we’ll confirm this if they ever need rescuing. At any rate, we have given them gender-neutral names.
Our male is now known as Tailer since we have spent a long time today seeing much of his tail, both when he hangs it out over the ledge and when he flops down to sleep on the ledge leaving it sticking it out.
Our female will be known as Nihei ( pronounced ni-hay), to honour Kathy Nihei who started the Wild Bird Care Centre and who gave us support and assistance with our Peregrines when needed.
Posted on June 16, 2009 12:52 am
June 15, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Volunteer Reports:
Today was apparently not to be the first day of flying for Tailer. He was active at times and seems ready to fly, but the final push hasn’t come.
Breakfast was served around 7:30. There was some activity at the north end by Tailer, but wing-flapping didn’t equal flying. A good part of the day was quiet. If anyone was exercising inside the ledge, we didn’t see it.
Just after 2 we saw both chicklets on the ledge, together! Little beaks touched together, tails were together when Nihei turned around to face out while Tailer faced in. However neither were sitting full bodies side by side so I have yet to confirm gender. That will still come.
Around 5, Connor suddenly flew in to the middle of the ledge. We were surprised to find that he started to feed both chicklets! Tailer was up on the ledge so we could see such a fierce predator gently passing bits of meat to his offspring. Nihei was on the inside so all we saw was Connor leaning in to feed her. Awhile later we saw wing-flapping at the north end, so Jennifer was sent to watch from Queen St. She was joined by Chris. They could see Tailer but we couldn’t. What we did see was near 8pm. Diana, who had been on the Carlysle Antenna was at Tower A in a second, screaming and circling overhead, joined by Connor, also screaming and circling. I suspect the intruder on the roof was Security doing their regular checks.
Once the intruder was gone, Tailer headed towards the southern end of the ledge, to join Nihei , hopefully to settle down for the night.
Where will our volunteers find him in the morning?
Eve Ticknor
Posted on June 16, 2009 12:27 am
June 13, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Volunteer Reports:
One little chicklet seems to be gaining courage as time goes on. It has been seen often right out on the end of the ledge. There has been wing-flapping and more movement along the ledge. In fact, Diana was seen to bring food to the northern end. No one could see who was there to receive it, so it could be both, or just our little adventurer. I will feel better once we get to see both chicklets up on the ledge at the same time. For now, we have to be content with hearing both voices.
Maybe Sunday will be the day to see both. At any rate, it certainly will be a day for more sightings of our intrepid chicklet who seems to be determined to master its wings.
Posted on June 14, 2009 2:55 pm
June 12, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Volunteer Reports:
I was not downtown yesterday, I am doing both days in this posting.
From time to time we can hear the little ones calling and calling every time they see a parent, to let them know they are hungry!!!!! It is fun to see new volunteers as they suddenly realize what a calling chicklet sounds like, and that they can hear this over the dulcet tones of rush hour traffic!
Our volunteers have been treated to a superb display of Connor chasing a pigeon in and around all the buildings in this area, eventually joined in this effort by Diana. Although they had to call it off (pigeon 1, peregrines 0), Diana did shortly after produce breakfast for her chicklets. 1 chicklet has been seen up on the ledge with occasional wing-flapping. It has also been seen at times simply sitting and taking in lots of new sights and sounds, its little head bobbing and turning from side to side, up and down. It is so cute doing this. We hope its sibling joins it up there soon.
We can hear both calling and are getting anxious to see both, especially to see what genders we might have. I hope they take their time with fledging as they have heavy bodies to keep up in the air!
Paul Leger and Jorgen Rasmussen have recently taken photos for our album. Thank you, both.
I am sure Connor was a little upset tonight. He dislikes hot air balloons. We had a few pass overhead this evening.
Cheers, Eve
Posted on June 13, 2009 9:39 am
June 11, 2009 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Matt MacGillivray Reports:
If you have photos of any of the CPF monitored nest sites, birds or fledglings in this exciting time, we would love to see them! If you have older photos or videos from CPF events, like the 2009 Sportsman show, we would love to see those too.
We’ve got a flickr group that you can upload photos and short videos to. If you have longer videos, upload them to youtube and tag them with cpf and peregrine and I will find them.
Example shot from the Sheraton Banding in the Flickr Pool -
We might include some of the videos or photos in our updates, or around the site. You could be famous!
Matt.
Posted on June 11, 2009 10:29 am
June 10, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Volunteer Reports:
You never know what a new day will bring. As usual it starts off quietly, NOT! According to Jordan, noise, noise, noise……. The dulcet tones of hungry chicklets calling, no demanding breakfast. And, they got it. In fact the volunteers watched as Connor dispatched a pigeon in front of their eyes, something that few ever get to see.
There was not much activity today, other than several meals delivered on time, and presumably lots of sleeping. We did have people coming over to see what we were doing, or to get updates. One lady from Scotia McLeod came to say that she would be back in a few days and that we should be able to go look out their kitchen window at lunch time. They are directly across from the ledge. I also had 2 members of the Dutch Embassy also invite me up for late afternoon when I can show up. Scott is checking with Revenue Canada for me to see if the officer who had let me in his office in Tower A is still there.
The glass windows over at 240 Sparks St will be covered with flagging between Thursday and Sunday, just in time for fledging.
Back to the Watch now. Connor and Diana moved around from time to time. And, then, around 8pm I spied a brown body near the south end, just up from the corner by the indented area. Sure enough, there was a chicklet closer to the edge, little head bobbing around as it checked out new sights. It was there for at least 15 minutes! Feathering would make one believe it was older than it is. Lots of brown, with fluff on the crown and bloomers, but next to none showing over the front or shoulders. We could not see the back, but it was browner than I had expected. Here we go…… Joan, you should have stayed a little longer!
Cheers, Eve
Posted on June 11, 2009 3:49 am
June 09, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Volunteer Reports:
What a rainy, cold day! Breakfast was served around 7:30 by Connor. Most of the day was quiet. I arrived around 4 this time and shortly after we saw the crown of a fuzzy head near the corner! In spite of getting my scope set up, we only saw adults after that. That is until nearly 7:30. Of course, I was inside when the sighting happened, but the fuzzy crown was seen again, nearly beside the 3rd column……… Diana flew over there and probably made it move back inside as it wasn’t seen again this evening. Diana did bring food earlier. When we left Connor had been on the antenna of the Carlysle Building and Diana had been on the southwest corner of Tower A, but she moved just before we left, out of sight somewhere. At least it wasn’t raining anymore.
Cheers, Eve
Posted on June 10, 2009 9:49 am
