May 16, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Marion Nash Reports:
Mississauga MEC May 17th 11:00.
Canada Square May 17th 2:30.
Etobicoke Private Residence May 24th 10:30.
Bloor Islington Place Etobicoke May 24th 2:30.
Port Colborne May 25th 10:30 AM
220 Duncan Mill Rd. May 26th 10:30.
Hamilton Sheraton May 27 11:00 AM
St Marys Cement St Marys Ont May 30th 1:00 Pending
Lake Ridge Health Oshawa May 31st 1:00 PM.
Kitchener CTV tower June 1st 1:00 PM
Waiting on hatch reports for
150 Ferrand Dr. Don Mills and Eglinton.
Yellow Pages Scarborough
Toronto Downtown Sheraton
Beachville quarry
Windsor Ambassador Bridge
Posted on May 16, 2022 6:42 pm
April 22, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
NEWS FROM DON MILLS/AMEXON: Our new residents have 2 eggs!! I’ve been watching the past 6 weeks or so, on and off. Lots of drama. At first the new couple were just hanging around, getting familiar with the new neighborhood. Then it seemed like they were settling down and getting down to business, if you know what I mean. Then I stopped by and saw the male on the rooftop looking west…I saw 2 peregrines!! Was that one new , one intruder?? Oh oh. But then as they got closer, the one on the roof was off like a shot after them! There was contact, screaming…and then out front 150…a 4th peregrine!! After a short battle, the intruders were chased off. As Marion said…we’ve got some “Hot property ” here! For the next 3 days I witnessed a single intruder bother this new pair as they tried to protect their nest and eggs. Finally , it seemed to finally calm down and I only saw one peregrine at a time…eggs!!! I have been quite busy plus the weather has not been cooperating but my son and I got up to the roof today . I peeked over and saw the female on the nest tray…she eyed me for a bit and then started alarm calling and was off…to reveal 2 eggs! She flew around calling for back up…we moved back to see if he would show up and he finally did. And then we left . Hatch watch will start in 2 weeks. My son has named this pair(with Sally and my blessing lol) ….so meet Holden and Nagata! Any sy-fi fans out there?? If so , you’ll know this pair from an excellent show “The Expanse”..the fun is beginning …..Cathy
Posted on April 22, 2022 10:47 pm
March 29, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Well good news/bad news here: I have edited this post after blowing up the pictures and consulting with Marion: Milli(formerly Don Mills/Amexon) has been spotted yesterday at Tommy Thompson Park. A volunteer naturalist group saw her getting her lunch there and sent us a couple of great photos of her. Thanks to Jack Alvo for sending us the pictures and the report. After reviewing the pictures, we are afraid Milli has a badly injured foot. The last time I saw her at Don Mills, it was a rainy day and she was far but I got some pics. I wondered then if she had an injured foot(I even mentioned it to a friend) but I never saw her again. And as she is in the air, there is nothing we can do. If she does come down, hopefully she can be caught. Poor Milli
Posted on March 30, 2022 8:52 pm
March 21, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
We have a new pair checking out the real estate ! I first saw them last Thursday, I was pretty sure they were unbanded but wanted to be sure before I reported and this morning, I got the shots and they both are indeed unbanded. Which is a bit disappointing as I would have loved to have known where they were from but oh well. Now let’s hope they like what they see and settle here. On a side note, I did see Millie on March 5 and 16th, but the next day she was gone. We’ll have to wait and see what happens…stay tuned
Posted on March 22, 2022 1:53 pm
February 17, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Well the news at Don Mills/Amexon is not good…I am heartbroken , again, to have to tell you that we have lost Chester . He was born 2011 at Canada Square to Haven & Stormin. He was found near Birchmont/Lawrence in a snowbank with his wing missing and picked up byToronto Wildlife. He was still alive- they quickly put him down. I hope he didn’t suffer long. He was the best mate to the beautiful Jenna, who we lost last year. They were a very special, loving pair. He was a great provider and dad, as proven last year when he stepped up and saved his last chick, Flynn when his new mate all but abandoned her. She’s alive today due to him. And he’s had lots of other kids, his son Lucky is still at Bloor/Islington (lots of grandkids hopefully still out there), Tardis was in Toronto last year, Kalisi was last seen in Ohio and Flynns in NY. He was special…I am really going to miss my handsome guy…this first pic I am posting is the last picture I took of him last year..I originally said he was saying hi…now it’s goodbye. Soar high with your beloved Jenna . RIP Chester
Posted on March 22, 2022 1:44 pm
December 08, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
On December 8th, Flynn was spotted in Summerville, Rochester New York!! After a horrible fledge but due to her fabulous father Chester for raising her right, Flynn is on her way and in New York!! Way to go Flynn–you keep on going girl!!
Thanks to Dana for spotting this picture and to “Auntiewood” for taking them!!
Posted on March 21, 2022 8:07 pm
September 21, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Exciting news! Hopper, Don Mills /Amexon, DOB May 2,2020, was photographed by not one but two photographers in Burlington!!! Hopper was banded male as was very small at banding day but Hopper fledged late for a male(42 days) and by my observations and pictures with the two female siblings, Hopper was either the biggest male I’d seen or he was a she! So I am thrilled Hopper is back not only might we be able to confirm either way but also Hopper is from the last brood of the beautiful Jenna(who passed away this spring) and her mate Chester. I sure hope that Hopper settles there (2 peregrines were seen there) and raises a family! Many thanks to Joel Marshall and Chris White for their amazing pictures and for sharing them with us! I added Hoppers banding pic and one with Hopper’s sisters after fledge.
Posted on March 21, 2022 7:58 pm
July 04, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DON MILLS /AMEXON FLEDGE WATCH 2021 : DAY SEVEN…
Sally and I were up at the crack of dawn and arrived very early. We checked out the building ledges, no Flynn. So we decided to drive over to where she was last night as you get a great view of the area. We drove in, with Sally in the back, with her bins checking it out. We saw nothing, so as we were driving out, Sally said wait, back up. No problem! We immediately saw a bird on the church roof.. Yep it was our girl, chowing down on breakfast! Yayyyy. So that’s where she ended up last night. And this was confirmed by two lovely ladies who live close by. They saw her come in last night! Wish we hadn’t been so tired, we might have drove around some more. Oh well. She looked good though her Beak was a bloody mess from breakfast and it took her over an hour to clean up lol. So we watched her for a while then, as we were tired, we headed home knowing that she was fed and safe. We were coming back to close so we’d see her then.
Bruce decided to come and check on her and she was still on the church roof. So he left and came back for the evening watch. He got here first and saw Flynn fly off the church as if to nest building but hooked north, and yup, landed back on the same building across Eglinton as yesterday, just on the highest level. Sally and I arrived shortly after, and watched her from the same spot as yesterday while Bruce watched her across the street. Dad flew over to tease her with a package and try to get her home but nope. Near 9pm Sally and I headed back to the nest building. At 915 she was off, going southwest and out of sight. Sally was off to Eglinton… Where she found her on the lower roof of the building southwest of where she was, still on the other side of Eglinton. But she had gained a bit of altitude, so good. And there she stayed. Thank goodness as the fireworks started around 930. Ugh. Hate them. But she was in a business area so none too close. She stayed very put. We watched til 10 and there we left her. At least we know where she is and that she is safe. Unfortunately rain and thunderstorms are supposed to start around 3am and continue all day tomorrow. No breaks for her. We’ll see what tomorrow brings….
DAY 8
AND SHE’S HOME!!! Finally, after 8 long days of so many ups and downs, flying out of 2 trees, onto parking garages, through said garage, ledges high and low, onto different buildings(some twice), flying at night(and a big flight too), surviving listening to fireworks and almost starving to death, she made it!! Whoohoo. Sally and I are so relieved and thrilled. I think she’s pretty pleased with herself too. Sally’s report below tell the story. I went by this morning to find her where we left her last night. Dad dropped her a package and she had barely started to eat it when her mother swooped in and took it! Ate it right in front of her…and Dad! Is this her inexperience? Or was it a lesson–don’t give up your food! She doesn’t have a sibling to fight over food-both fledged by accident(I think) and poor Logan didn’t make it. Anyways, she didn’t get much. I left shortly after..we weren’t spending the day watching her stay put.
I arrived early in the evening to, yes, find her where I left her lol. I settled in to wait…like other nights, she’d fly near dark. Milli was watching her from the sign. Sally joined me a while later.
Sally reports:
I joined Cathy this evening, with Flynn having spent all night and all day on the same building. She’d been visited earlier in the day, with food, which as Cathy explains, Mom stole! And I was there for the second visit, more food from Chester, this time she grabbed the food from him and mantled it until he left. He flew off to watch from the nest building. Milli had been watching Flynn from the nest building for quite some time, and thankfully she stayed put (but still called out for food, just like a whiny juvie!). When food is brought in, we usually see Mom take it and feed the juvies but we haven’t seen this from Milli. Flynn has never been beak fed since she left the nest, and has had to quickly learn to observe and then tear apart the packages brought to her.
Our biggest wish before close, was that Flynn’s next flight would be back to her nest building or the one next to it, and she did it! Around 8:45, Flynn set off flying. Cathy and I parted, ready to go wherever we needed to. She made for 250 and as she neared the nest building, Milli flew down to chase after and guide Flynn, who looked like she was aiming for the roof ledge, but probably would have batted the wall just below. Millie’s co-piloting helped Flynn circle out and back to do a pretty decent landing onto the top ledge. I foolishly realized I was running down the middle of the street yelling with my arms in the air, confirming yep, Flynn on the top ledge and Milli up above her on a sign. YAY!!!! Finally.
We’ve decided that even though it’s day eight since we started fledge watch, Flynn’s two rescues/roof releases and hiccups mean that she didn’t really properly fledge until a few days ago (day 4). So she has some catching up to do (Milli as well!).
We pulled our chairs out of the car, sat and watched her for a bit (Milli had by now flown off to her favourite bedtime spot: the nest ledge. We found Chester way over on the Palisades.
We closed the watch elated and looking forward to tomorrow to see what Flynn manages to do.
DAY 9:
As we are scaling back the watch(actually today is supposed to be our last day but….) I went over in the morning for just a short period of time to check in and only found the parents. So she had flown off the ledge and I suspect that she was on the nest building roof, pancaked down. I didn’t stay long as Sally and I were coming back in the evening for close.
We arrived to find our girl on the nest building roof, right above the nest ledge where Milli was. Chester was over on the Intel sign. A while later Milli flew off across the DVP. Dad left right after. Milli flew back onto the ICICI letters and proceeded to chow down, perhaps on some cache Dad had left? Then in flew Dad with a package(around 845pm) for Flynn!! Bedtime snack?? He flew back over to the Intel sign. Then strangely, Milli flew off, seemingly to land on the corner beside Dad but turned and flew to the top level ledge on the nest building, calling out like a juvie. This was at 9pm. Late. Chester then flew off south-was he going to get food for her? Who knows as we did not see him return. So now, at 9:15pm Milli took off over the DVP onto the roof of the condos way over there. Please don’t follow Flynn. She didn’t. But she started to flap, flew/hopped over to face 250 and yep, at 9:30pm, flew over there! Nice flight, good landing. But we weren’t done. Nope. Let’s give those two crazy watchers a fright. She flew south, out seeming to head for the condos over there, but no, turned(nicely too) and headed back. We lost her behind 250. Now it was dark. We thought for sure she had either landed on the back of 250 or was coming around. But no, didn’t see her. We drove over to check behind and while Sally was scanning the ledges, I thought I saw something over on the nest building, top ledge. Sally trained the bins on it and yep! Flynn! Whew. What is it with this peregrine who likes to fly in the dark?? I just don’t know. But at least she is high and safe. Milli never budged from her perch way over on the condo btw.
So now, Sally and I just have to go back tomorrow for one more day. See what she’ll do next.
Weirdest watch
And that’s a wrap! Another year, a very different year. I’ve never lost one on the watch at this nest site(after it was over, yes). It is tough, especially since I never really got to see him, just head shots. So unusual. So sad. RIP little one.
BUT, we had one successful fledge… She had a very tough go of it, I’ve never seen that either. The turning point for her was when she came down for the second time, too weak to go any more. Thankfully, Mark fed her that night and then her parents fed her on the roof the next day… And she started to fly. Low buildings but she flew, unfortunately she seems to like flying at dark. I mean, we’ve seen the odd late flight but every night? Lol. Guess it’s her thing.
I want to thank first and foremost, my fledge watch buddy, Sally. She joined me every single day, also had sleepless nights due to this little one but still showed up for her(and me). Thanks to Mark and Bruce for their help, Lucie too. And the biggest thanks to the security at 150 & 250 buildings!! They are the best. They watch out for our family (and me lol) and I really appreciate it. Also to the management of the building, Amexon, for their continued support.
Sally and I will be keeping an eye on Flynn for as long as she is there and we’ll report on her too!
Safe flying beautiful Flynn, stay high
Cathy
Posted on March 21, 2022 7:40 pm
June 29, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Now that we’re back up and running…time to finish off 2021!! Going to try and do it in one fell swoop to catch everyone up before going into a new season!! Here goes nothing lol
DON MILLS /AMEXON FLEDGE WATCH 2021 : DAY FIVE.
Bruce, (bless him, I actually slept in a bit!!) opened the watch this morning. He watched Flynn working on a food drop(Dad??), then about a half hour later, Milli brought her a very small package. Thank goodness.. Maybe having Dad there, and Flynn, has kicked in her maternal instincts?? We’ll see. After that it was pretty quiet. It’s extremely hot out here. I joined Bruce later in the morning. Dad was on the ICICI sign facing north(shade!). Milli was on the nest ledge and Flynn was on the corner facing northeast. She made her way over to above the nest ledge eventually. Cried at her mother, who flew off for a bit. Bruce headed out (thanks again Bruce!). It was getting dark to the northwest (thunderstorms were called for all afternoon), so I decided to pack up and sit in the car. I watched Milli come out of the nest ledge with a package! What? A storm is coming… She flew out over the DVP (ugh) and came back onto the nest ledge. Was she trying to get Flynn to fly(but why over there?) or was she trying to get Logan home? Dad was off like a shot to just the north of her but came back shortly after, just as it started to pour. And boy did it come down. I decided to go for lunch! Glad I did as the thunder started right after. It was quite a storm, lots of rain, thunder. Sally and I headed over when there was a break in the evening. Driving up we noticed a parent over on the condo across the DVP. Watching Logan? . We checked out as much as we could. Still raining on and off. So off to see how Flynn made out… Still on rooftop! Handled the storm well… Way to go Flynn. Dad was on his favourite sign. No sign of Milli. Then the thunder and lightening started, and rain. We stayed for a bit (in the car), finally left after Flynn jumped down out of sight (smart girl). The storms are supposed to be gone by tomorrow afternoon so hopefully Flynn will be fed and get to do some flying… And maybe Logan will be able to make it home…
DAY SIX:
I arrived to find no one. Sigh. Maybe Flynn will pop up when Dad and Milli show up. Nope. They flew in a little bit later and not a peep from her. Darn, not on site. I had already checked out all around, so kept checking, no Flynn. Lucie joined me and brought her scope! So as she was checking, I decided to do a walk about as I had seen both parents fly to the north. I put my bins up to check across Eglinton and there she was! Popped up on a rooftop on Wynford Dr! I was calling Lucie, and she was calling me, as she saw her too! I then left to get Sally.
Sally reports:
Joined Cathy and Lucie to watch the “bump on the log” yesterday and to help Cathy close the watch.
After a few hours, a parent eventually took food over to Flynn, who snatched the food, while the other parent settled south on 150 to watch.
We took advantage of Flynn eating to drive over to an excellent spot to watch the interaction between juvie and parent. Parent was alarm calling on and off, not highly agitated (maybe at the people walking by as it wasn’t that high up) and we’ve been told that Quest, Mystery, Milli and Chester will be able to see each other’s territories and nest site areas so perhaps the parent could see the family to the north? Cathy and I chuckled that perhaps Flynn was being given a pep talk. She needed to fly back and get a bit higher.
Around 8;39pm, the parent left Flynn picking at her food, and headed east but we weren’t sure where they’d landed. Cathy and I took turns taking some photos of the beautiful westerly light, illuminating the parent watching from 150.
OK, it was now 9:15 and we hoped Flynn would settle there for the night, but nope. as darkness closed in, she started flapping and took off towards the nest building. Parents immediately came in from where they’d been watching to help her. After her window bonks, and not yet actually seeing her land well (always finding her already on a low roof etc) it was good to see her slow down and pull up as if aiming to make contact with talons out. But the light was poor and we were straining to watch where she’d land. Damn she bumped the vertical class corner, came out and made for the other building, but seemed to blindly fly around it (maybe she was now in a bit of a panic). A parent definitely bumped her up before we lost sight of her. Oh Flynn. Now it was dark but the building grounds are well lit. We drove back over there and walked all around each building to ensure she wasn’t on the ground. Scanned the ledges but by now the lights were casting misleading shadows
I think it was after 10:30 when we finally headed home and decided that we would get up at the crack of dawn to find our girl
Posted on March 21, 2022 7:38 pm
June 28, 2021 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DON MILLS/AMEXON FLEDGE WATCH DAY 4:
This is a combination of reports from Sally and me:
I arrived to find Flynn on the garage-one floor down. Darn. Noticed no crop. Not fed. Double darn. What the heck is going on? Previous female, Jenna, would have fed her the second she saw her on the roof!! The behaviour from the resident female Milli, has been puzzling at best. She had been doing fine, from what I saw , up until fledge time. Anyways. Flynn. She made a very poor flight and ended up on the second level of the garage. She hung out with the locals for a bit, checked out the scenery and then flew into the garage! Oh for heavens sake lol. Now I had to leave for an appointment, Mark was on his way. I was just about to pack up when out she flew around 150 and landed 4 floors up. Now, I thought that wasn’t bad, considering the oppressive heat and the fact that she had not been fed in now 4 days. But she still was not fed by her mother. I had to go….
Mark took over the watch, joined by Bruce little later. Security spotted Flynn on the ground and notified Cathy and Mark, who captured her, into the carrier for another roof release and confirmed she was pretty bony and had not been fed in quite some time. She was quite dehydrated. I joined Cathy and Mark for the afternoon to close and and before being released she was fed some food, which she eagerly accepted without coaxing, that’s how hungry she was.
Mark and Cathy took Flynn up to the nest roof and I stayed on the ground to watch out for Flynn popping up. The alarm calling from the parents didn’t surprise us, but when she called out to her parents, Milli was not welcoming. This female just hasn’t seemed very attentive. Honestly, it’s been a strange watch. By the time Chester flew over to check Flynn out it was dark, so we are really hoping he brings some food to her tomorrow morning.
We closed the watch with a Milli in the nest ledge, Chester across and up on the Intel sign, and Flynn on the roof, visible above the nest. No sign of Logan.
Please let tomorrow be a better day.
Posted on June 29, 2021 12:31 am
