June 22, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
No action yet!
June 22nd -2011
Kathy reports today that all three hatchlings are still on the nest ledge and although there is some flapping going on with at one of the older hatchlings, they are all still hanging tight to the nest ledge with not much eagerness to take their first flights. Both Linn and Rueben (the resident adults) are still closely attending and now starting to tease the the three hatchlings more often throughout the day trying to encourage them to start taking their first flights. By watch close, (and very consistent of this nest site), all three chicks seem to turn in long before darkness and disappear put of our view into the nest ledge and are inactive until darkness. After consulting with Marion who has spent hundreds of hours out here on the fledge watches in the previous years, it appears that this nest site is most unusual compared to many of the other nest sites that we have been monitoring and doing fledge watches over the past 17 years, in that the hatchlings historically become very inactive much earlier in the evening that many of the other nest site juveniles. By 8:37pm, and once again, all three hatchlings were tucked down in on the nest ledge out of our sight and down for the night.
Stay tuned……
Posted on June 23, 2011 10:24 am
June 21, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
June 21st-2011
A visit to the Scarborough Yellow Pages nest site this afternoon after the Don Mills banding to find all three hatchlings looking very good and almost ready to take their first flights. With all three of the chicks still on the nest ledge watching both of their parents very closely as they soared around in the winds above the nest building.
Upon my arrival, I tooo witnessed the incredible ariel display by both parents that lasted some 17 plus minutes as they soared around the top of the nest building and what was so spectacular, neither of the adults flapped their wings during the entire time. Utilizing the constant breezes, the adults did more than a dozen figure-eights and oval circles as they dove and stooped the three hatchling in the nest ledge and circled the building.
While spectacular to see, (and an obvious action on behalf of the parents to show the kids just how easy flight can be), I can only hope that the three hatchlings are reading more into the demonstration! As unskilled juveniles, (and still non-flighted), lets hope that they don’t believe that flight also needs allot of flapping to stay aloft!!
At around 6:30 pm, mom made a spectacular stoop on a pigeon hitting it mid air and in the same motion retrieved it before it dropped to the ground. She flew off to a roof top of a tall hi-rise building to the west and I watched her pluck it and removed what seemed to be hundreds of feathers as they swirled around in the wind and floated all over the horizon.
She finally flew over to the nest ledge and proceeded to beak feed the three chicks on waiting patiently on the nest ledge. A very tender moment indeed, and one that lasted some 20 minutes while I snapped hundreds of photos from my ground observation.
One of the hatchlings was waiting on the upper rim of the nest ledge, while a second hatchling was observed popping up and down from the nest ledge to the upper rim returning back to the interior of the nest ledge, and the third hatchling refused to jump up to the nest ledge rim seemingly unsure of the upper nest ledge position. The resident adult female beak fed them in their standing positions and all of the hatchlings seemed to get their full share.
Just as quickly as it happen, the adult female flew off the nest ledge with a small piece landing on the ledge directly above the nest ledge and proceeded to eat the small leftover. All three hatchlings disappeared to from the nest ledge rim down into the nest ledge and was never seen again during this watch. By 9pm, and now almost dark given the heavy over cast and clouds, I closed down the watch for the day and proceeded to the downtown Toronto King Street fledge watch to help Marion and Linda with their watch close down, and do the final examination and release of the young fledgling Cinnamon back to the Toronto Sheraton hotel nest site.
Posted on June 23, 2011 10:05 am
June 19, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
A quick spot check on the hatchlings this moring and all seems to be well and its getting close to their first flights. All three of the kids were still in the nest ledge laying down to escape the hot moring sun with mom roosting on the metal flashing of the nest ledge.
Sadly, no pictures today but they will soon be up on the nest ledge and the fun will soon begin.
Stay tuned….
Posted on June 20, 2011 1:52 am
June 11, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Tracy Simpson Reports:
It was another fantastic banding at the Yellow Pages building today with a great crowd in attendance. A big thank you to all that attended and helped to name our three newest baby falcons Striker, Jet and Rhiannon. It was also great to see the crew from Rochester, New York at the banding as Linn, the resident female, was hatched there and the ladies were ecstatic to see that Linn was now celebrating a family of her own right here in Toronto!! Enjoy the pictures!!
Posted on June 12, 2011 12:27 am
June 10, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
Friday June 10th - 2011
A very good day indeed at the Yellow Pages nest site! A huge thank you to the management and staff at Yellow Pages for hosting the banding in the lobby for all to see again this year, it was very well attended and a huge success! 3 very healthy chicks were banded this afternoon, 2 males and 1 girl named Striker, Jet, and Rhannon. Both resident adult peregrine parents were on hand to voice their opinion and defend the nest and the entire event went like clockwork without incident. With a packed lobby of spectators, the three young hatchlings were sexed, banded, named and quickly examined to check their overall health and returned to their parentson the nest ledge after a quick photo shoot, all in record time.
A big thank you to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for all of their support and for banding the young chicks, and to our special visitors from Rochester New York who travelled up from New State to see the banding.
The new resident adult female named Lyn was produced in 2007 in Rochester New York, banded Black 91 over Green V. The resident adult male is still Rueben, produced in 2003 from Wisconsin USA, banded Black 43 over Green M
Posted on June 12, 2011 12:06 am
June 06, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
Just a quick update, as we have booked and confirmed the Scarborough Yellow Pages nest site banding for Friday June 10th at 2pm! This banding will be held on the ground floor in the lobby and open to all.
Stay tuned for updates on the hatchlings as additional information becomes available.
Posted on June 7, 2011 11:11 am
June 04, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
A quick visit today during a short break in the rain paid off. With a very quiet approach once we got to the roof, also paid off. Just as we arrived at the nest ledge, the clouds moved away and the sun appeared and lit up the entire building. We got really lucky indeed and the photos say it all!
Our approach was so quiet and with the sun at our backs, I managed to capture a few shots of Linn and her 3 new family members before she caught wind me. From that point onwards, our visit got progressively more interesting and intense!
It only took Linn but a second to take flight from the corner of the nest ledge where she was sunny herself with her three new hatchlings, and from that point onwards, both Paul and I spend the entire time scrambling and ducking to get to the access door and and to the safety of the concrete walls.
Linn is most certainly a Mariah offspring!! I have felt the wrath of Mariah during my visits to Rochester NY while I was atop of the Kodak tower with the DEC when we satellite tagging, and I can tell you that Linn is a full contact body hitting peregrine, just like her mother!!! Fierce and feisty! No pain, no gain type of gal!
We were asked to leave the roof area by Linn, and we obliged her,,, VERY QUICKLY!!
Posted on June 5, 2011 2:50 am
May 27, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
May 27th - 2011
To days visit yielded some very good news indeed! For a few seconds at first glance my heart sunk as there were no eggs visible and an empty bowl on the ledge, and neither of the resident adults were seen. Moments later from under the overhang a white flash appeared, and then a second flash. Changing angles to the other side of the ledge and it seemed that all three hatchlings appeared to just spill out of nowhere!
Both of the resident adults were absent and no where to be seen. Several minutes after our arrival, both resident adults seem to came out of thin air and it was quite obvious that we were not welcomed. Surprisingly, the adult male was far more aggressive during this visit than the last. A few photos during our retreat and our visit was over.
It is worth noting that unlike most of the other nest sites we have been monitoring over the years, this female is really untidy, as she constantly has food on the nest ledge itself. While this is typical as the hatchlings become older and more independent, this is not typical of when the female is incubating or brooding young hatchlings. Keeping any food on the same nest ledge this close to the incubation and or young hatchlings attracts other scavengers and most always we see the resident female take the garbage and uneaten food away. This is one of the reasons that most of the resident females don’t eat on the nest ledge or eat close to the nest itself when there is eggs or young hatchlings.
As with our previous visits at this nest site, Lynn seems to allow both fresh and older un-eaten and old partially eaten carcases and other food scraps scattered around the actual nest ledge very close to the !
Upon entering and exiting the roof, we also noticed three more dead Woodcock carcases, - (two very old and one very fresh uneaten carcases). *See attached photos.
Woodcock seems to be in abundance and a preferred food by the pair at this site, as we have recorded many such Woodcock in the previous years at this nest site.
Posted on May 28, 2011 12:03 am
May 21, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Mark Nash Reports:
May 20th 2011
Great news indeed! A huge thank you to the Yellow Pages security and their of their support, we were able to confirm a hatch today. Today offered the first sunny day after more than a week of blustery winds and rain, we were finally able todo another site visit to check on the Yellow Pages birds. We are very excited to report that todays observations yeilded a confirmation of a hatch! Given the visual we were able to get of the hatchling, it is believed that the young hatchling is approx. three days old. While the resident adult female was not giving much up as she stay firmly planted to the nest bowl, we did get a peek of at least one new born hatchling. The resident male was on hand to show his support to his mate, although the pair were very quiet throughout our visit. We believe that the young hatchling was hatched on Wednesday May 18th given its size.. We were unable to see any unhatch eggs or other young during this visit, but it is believed that their could be more young that have hatched.
Stay tuned…..
Posted on May 21, 2011 7:42 am
May 10, 2011 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I know that folks have been anxiously awaiting the photos that Marion and I were able to take of Linn and Rueben. The resize work is now done and here they are!!!!
Posted on May 10, 2011 5:59 pm
