June 21, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
I arrived just after 5 pm. Cooper and Zee were having a meal, and Mac was sitting above on a letter watching them. Mac took off out of sight and the other two stayed put. Lots of beak kissing going on too. Cooper was walking back and forth along the ledge and, through the scope, it looked like he wanted to know what was on the other side of the windows (or maybe he was looking at his own reflection).
All quiet for an hour or so. Then some flying acrobatics between Zee and a parent (I couldn’t tell which). All three juvies flew to ICICI (and sat on the edge watching as a parent flew off, hunting, I assume. Cute photo moment .. gosh darn, I didn’t have the camera. Oh yes, and lots more beak kissing.
Later, Mac and Cooper flew to the top ledge of DeBeers (seems to be the favourite ledge) .. Zee was still on ICICI .. I saw my very first live catch .. wasn’t much of a chase .. Dad caught a … BUDGIE. Dad deposited it for the boys and Mac went at it while he sat on a letter and watched. I really didn’t want to see this, but looked long enough to know that Mac hogged it all and Cooper didn’t get much. As I looked over to ICICI, I saw Mom drop something off for Zee.
Around 8:00ish, Jenna flew to the top ledge of DeBeers. She stayed for at least 1/2 hour, looking around, and in the window and walked along the ledge .. maybe making sure the kids ate their meals, I don’t know. Then finally Zee flew over to her and Mom took off to the ICICI building. Zee took off after her and couldn’t land, so she flew around ICICI, where, at this moment I couldn’t see her. Then she flew back and took off eastbound, and kept going.
This is where things got confusing. The boys are on ICICI. Mom is at the top corner. I haven’t seen Dad for a bit. Everything pointed to Zee taking off but it couldn’t be?? That’s when I called you. I was ready to go home, but I couldn’t until I knew for sure.
So I waited, and around 9:00 while it’s still light out, the fun fly started. Two juvies (I’m assuming the boys) are flying all over the place having a great time. Finally, they settled on the ’s’ at DeBeers. Yay and so cute! Mom took off from the ICICI corner and went to Foresters .. yup, I see her. I’m missing two. Dad comes in from the east with a catch and goes straight to the kitchen (the east side of ICICI where he does all the prep work). So, I’m missing one…… And then, one more figure pops out on the roof of the ICICI and yes, it’s a juvie!!! Breath of relief! I don’t know who’s who at this point, but the numbers work, so I’m calling it a night at 9:15.
Happy summer solstice .. and all is well.
Cheers,
Lucie
Posted on June 22, 2014 10:04 pm
June 20, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
I don’t think I have mentioned before about how loving a couple Jenna & Chester are! Irma & I observed this last year–the two were rarely apart, would chirp and talk to each other from building to building and over the winter they would dine on my work building–if I found one, I would find the other. Amazing. And they have passed this on to their children. I was by the nest on Friday and was thrilled to see the boys on the R together–I had never seen siblings on the same letter together before! It was the two boys–I looked all over for our Zee but could not find her. As I was about to leave, up she popped! I was relieved, looked back at the boys then to her and she was in the air! I couldn’t believe it but she flew over to the R and landed in between her brothers!!! What a landing!! And how sweet to see all three together!! Great night!
Posted on June 22, 2014 10:00 pm
June 14, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Mark Nash Reports:
Saturday June 14th - 2014
Again sorry for the late postings, but its been crazzzzy busy in the streets on the various fledge watches and dealing with CPF head office business,, (now 6 active fledge watches on the go)!!!
A big thank you to Ann for sending in some of her photos from the Don Mill Amexon nest site at Don Mills and Eglinton.
Ann writes:
I was sitting at the back of the parking lot watching for any action. Suddenly Mac flew from 250 Ferrand drive building to the 150 Ferrand drive building when Jenna came out of now where from below Mac and followed him to the 150 Ferrand drive building. The love and care is so amazing. I am in love this series of shots. They are 80% crop.
Ann
Posted on June 20, 2014 12:54 pm
June 18, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Dropped in twice today at the nest! All are good. Zee is flying pretty good-she was in the air having a great flight but maybe was up there too long and tried for the Icici roof, missed but instead of batting she pushed off instead and flew back to the top floor of Debeers. Not the prettiest but she did well to get out of trouble! Then I saw some great flying by Cooper who ended up chasing Mom off her perch and landed quite nicely! ! So all in all a good day-love to see the improvement! What a great fledge we have had!!
Posted on June 18, 2014 9:41 pm
June 17, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
She gave us a scare but she is great! First she flew to the top of the Goodlife garage. Didn’t stay long. Then around the Debeers building to bat a bit on Icici then off to sit on the solar panels. Then she slipped down and was gone . I spied her on top ledge of Debeers!! YAY! Amazing! Now to work on her landings lol. Thanks to Irma for joining me for a couple of hours!! The extra eyes so helped!! Now will she stay put thru the rain?? No! She made it to the roof!!!! She joined her brothers!! Not a bad landing either!!!
What do newly fledged peregrine’s do in a downpour? Why, like any kid, they play in it!!! They were flapping those wings and dancing along the rooftop!! Almost gave me a heart attack but they loved it lol. Mac was on the N and stayed nice and still but his brother and sister danced up a storm! Oh my. Rain had slowed when I left and they had settled down. I will pop in and see them tonight. Hope they are wrong about the weather!
So not wrong about the weather!! Popped in to check on our family after that lovely storm! All safe. Mac doing his usual lovely flying! Zee is down for the night on the top floor under the Debeer sign. And little Cooper had chosen the top floor on the Icici building facing Debeers! Not sure where Mac will end up sleeping but I know he will be just fine!
I attached some pictures of our pretty girl 
Posted on June 18, 2014 9:36 pm
June 16, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Well the day was good-babies all on roof most of day. Awesome flying by Mac, good flying by Cooper and Zee just hung out…..until 7:45 when she finally flew! Only to bat on Icici then over toDebeers where she did the “bat” and then clung to the wall, then back to a short bat on Icici over to Debeers where Mac tried to help but she lit off over to land on top of the short building next door! 1 hour later she tried again. Made it to Icici about 8 floors up only to bat again! ! Back to Debeers..nope back to land 2nd level Icici. And there I left her at 945. I will be back at 530 am. Will she gain altitude or will she come down? I will let you know
Posted on June 18, 2014 8:46 pm
June 13, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Hey Cathy, just a summary of our shift on Sunday .. cheers, Lucie.
Richard and I arrived around 3:00 to relieve Irma. Mac and Cooper were on the roof looking down on Zee who was still in the nest. It wasn’t long until both boys jumped back into nest too! Cooper looked content to remain there (maybe because his flight last night was accidental). He didn’t seem to be in any rush whatsoever to leave. Mac and Zee did a lot of beak kissing (I was watching through the scope and it was so gosh darn cute). It was almost as though Mac was trying to convince her to fly. He decided to take off and flew to ICICI and landed doing a beautiful little ‘j’.
We saw a parent drop off food for Mac on the ICICI building. It was a whole bird and Mac looked like he didn’t know what to do with this. With no one to help him, eventually he started plucking and it looks like he got it.
Mac was doing a lot of beautiful flying and towards the end of the evening, he even landed on the ’s’ on the DeBeers building. He was on the top of the ’s’ and Chester was on the bottom. He even tried to land on the ‘D’ (too slippery), but eventually settled on the second ‘e’, and that’s where we left him.
Photos thanks to Ann Brokleman
Posted on June 17, 2014 4:46 pm
June 16, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 16th - 2014
Just a very quickly update until we can get the detailed reports filed and posted of the previous days on the watch. Very sorry for not being able to get any of the postings up sooner, but it has been a very busy time for all of us while still doing bandings and now with overlapping fledge watches, it has us all out in the field and not able to get any computer time.
Over the past three days at Amexon Don Mills nest site it has been a very busy time indeed with the three young hatchlings having all taken their first flights - (as of this evening). With the two young males going first as expected, the boys have both managed to stay off the ground and out of trouble!!
Please stay tuned for the detailed reports and photos from Luci, Cathy and Irma….
With McKinney having fledged first, followed by Cooper a day later, both boys are actually doing very well indeed! Oh my goodness, they are now flying like pro’s,, - (well at least McKinney is),, with Cooper now getting stronger and more confident with every flight. Both are now staying high and flying between the 150 Ferrand Drive and the 250 Ferrand Drive roof tops and back again.
As of this evening, both young male fledglings had successfully managed to actually return back to the nest ledge itself!!! Quite a feat given the high elevation of the nest ledge and difficult approach needed to actually get back into the nest ledge itself!! Well, OK, I can’t lie, they both cheated,, but they did manage to get back to the nest ledge safely! When I say that they both cheated, they actually dropped down from the upper roof retaining wall, directly above the nest ledge and kinda fluttered down back down into the nest ledge. Hey, what ever works
Ok, they did spend some time on the lower window ledges, had some very minor bumps and grinds but neither of them came to ground and needed to be rescued! So all in all, they are doing fantastic!!
Finally little Zeballos, (the young female hatchling) took her first flight ,, and as expected given her heavier weight, she didn’t do so well. After several short flights, and in an effort to get back to the nest building, she lost much of her altitude and ended up on several occasions clinging to sides the nest building walls (in what we have fondly named over the years as “the bat maneuver”),, clinging to the vertical wall of the two buildings like a bat.
Please stay tuned for a more detailed report from Kathy, Irma and Lucie, Richard, Bonny and Ann. They have some great photos!!!!
As of darkness this evening, she was safely roosting on a second story window ledge on the south east side of 150 Ferrand Drive overlooking the day care area and the parking lot.
Cathy will be back at 5am in the morning to deal with her at first light.
Stay tuned for updates and her report…………..
Posted on June 17, 2014 9:35 am
June 15, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Mark Nash Reports:
Sunday June 15th - 2014
Sorry for the lack of updates, but we have been busy in the streets on the fledge watch itself. Its been a busy week with six different banding events over the past 7 days from Windsor to Mississauga to Scarborough to Stoney Creek and overlapping fledge watches and our final school visits in between.
Stay tuned for updates as soon as I can get to a computer and the internet long enough to do some postings.
Quickly update, two hatchlings have successfully fledged and one left to take its first flight. So far so good.
Observation and photos to follow.
Posted on June 15, 2014 8:41 am
June 13, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Ann Brokelman Reports:
Mac successfully fledged but with some great adventures. He should sleep well tonight.
What a day at Don Mills and Eglinton. When I arrived Lucie and Richard - watchers had Mac (red tape) on the building to the south of nesting ledge. Mac had 3 short flights while on the south building - a hop step and a jump all before 3:30pm The other two on nest ledge and were flapping like crazy and look like they too are ready to fly and both adults on the letter N.
Suddenly Mac at 4:00pm is in the air and safely back to the nest building on the window ledge around the corner of the nest. Both adults were flying by and landing just above him. So this was his 4th flight and a really nice smooth flight and landing. Thinking that was it for the day we were all cheering him on. Suddenly again Mac was off and he is heading directly across the Don Valley Parkway with both Jenna and Chester behind him. He again flew strong but all the building were very high on the other side. We saw him try to hang like a bat but looked like he was getting lower and lower and then out of site. So somewhere over the DVP and around the 3 big private apartment building was Mac. Lucie and Richard took off to see if they could find him on the ground around the buildings. I called Mark and Tracy. Mark and Bruce were on the way.
The search by Lucie and Richard took a few hours but no luck. Both adults were going back and forth between nest ledge and the apartment building. Both adults would then come back to the nest building and to our amazement mated. OK. Lucie , Richard and Bruce went back to the last known site of Mac. Lucie got permission to check the top of the building and reported no sign of Mac but both adults were flying close by. To the right I saw one adult coming across DVP, then the second adult and there below them was young Mac following his parents. He did a hard landing on the roof of the nest building but was home safe and sound. wow.
What a great flight young Mac did. This was flight number 6 for the day and two very long and dangerous flights. Thinking we were done for the day I start to put my stuff in car when I see a peregrine in the air. Yup it was Mac going to the ICCI building. Finally an adult came to him at the ICCI with a huge pigeon. Within 10 min there come Mac back to the nest building and landed on another window ledge. Last I saw he was laying down sleeping on the ledge. Both adults were on the letter N and the 2 were still in the nest ledge.
Young Mac took 8 flights in one day. Scared many of the watchers . But it was a successful story for Mac.
I must admit I was so amazed by Jenna and Chester and the way they flew together and helped young Mac from each location. Loving and dedicated parents are the falcons.
Photos to come. Ann
Posted on June 13, 2014 10:24 am
