June 22, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
SPOT CHECK DON MILLS : The fab four are doing great! Made it through all the windy weather and the extreme heat just fine. I try and check whenever I can.. I stopped last night and immediately saw 3 on upper ledge of 240, with Quest 3 sections over. ID’d Nitro, Yeager and Ace but had a feeling Zigzag was back in. After Yeager and Ace did some cute beaking and nipping, Ace went for a few flights. Looked back at the ledge - 3! Hello Zigzag. It was fun watching them interact. Then Ace flew back into the middle of the boys and they were back together. Nice to see them still hanging out. I’m starting fledge watch at Don Mills/Amexon so I might not see them for a while. Hopefully Mom keeps them around a bit longer!
Posted on June 23, 2022 9:52 pm
June 18, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
POT CHECK DON MILLS : I checked on the fab four last night after all the winds and all 4 were accounted for! I could only positively ID Nitro but definitely saw all four. The wind was unreal, I could hardly get a picture lol. Glad they were all good. I did a very quick check this afternoon and only saw 2 juvies and Quest and Mystery. I went this evening hoping to enjoy some flying but there was a bunch of kids partying there so I just stayed in my car and checked. I only positively ID’d Zigzag. First he was on roof of the nest building but the noise from the party sent him off. I next saw him being chased by one of his brothers to the back of 225, he safely landed on a ledge. But not for long, off he went. Both parents were on the nest ledge. Dad took off with a juvie chasing. Then I saw another flying low past the copper building going north. Next Zigzag was back around and chose to land on the top ledge back of 225. Next I saw 2 juvies over the parking lot next to the nest building, and one was doing a dive, and then Quest was off like a shot(to intercept?) and next thing I saw was the 2 juvies chasing mom out of sight. Wish I could have seen more but I wasn’t comfortable staying there by myself. Still quite windy but they seem to be handling it well. Hope to see all 4 tomorrow!
Posted on June 19, 2022 10:58 pm
June 14, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Sally and I went to watch the fab four June 14th in the evening….and boy did we have fun! We drove up and spotted 3 immediately and when I went to park the car found #4!! Great. They all were facing in so it took a bit to ID. As #4 was the lowest, though still on top ledge of the nest building, we guessed that it was Nitro(yep). Zigzag was on the copper building on an outside ledge. Ace was on top of 225 and Yeager was on the upper roof of the nest building. Dad was on his covered corner even! Only mom was missing so we were waiting for her to bring food..so were the juvies lol! All was quiet for a bit-Sally’s friend joined us and enjoyed seeing everyone and she got a great show. Then Ace was off flying west, Yeager a minute later then Zigzag and Dad lol. Yep Nitro stayed behind. In a short time we heard the cries and here came Mom with a big bird, Ace on her tail and Yeager behind him. Ace did a flip and an exchange was done!! It was right over our heads–so cool-well done Ace! Now it was a pigeon so Ace lost altitude fast, as Sally said he discovered that flying with a pigeon is like joining a high level gym class lol. They were out of our sight but we ran-by the time we cleared the nest building, they were out of sight but Dad flew by and around. so we kept going and found Mom on the light standard on the west side of the nest building. Now either Ace dropped it or he was on the ground…yep I walked a little further and there he was in the parking lot, with Mom looking down on him. Dad was watching from across the street. He went at that prize I’m telling you lol. Now I have seen this before so I wasn’t worried. Nitro ledge hopped all the way around until he was right above Mom and Ace. Zigzag flew to 220 and was just below Nitro. Yeager was beside himself, he tried to fly to the light standard above Ace but missed, flew to the top of a tree, on a tiny branch, that didn’t work so then tried to land on the hydro pole one of the juvies from last year used. He just touched off that and then flew around and ended up on the hydro pole right at the cross walk near Sally!! Whew. There he stayed and watched. I stayed watching and taking pictures, watching him from the west and Sally took up a little ways to the east. She stopped a very nice man with his 2 dogs(Dad was alarm calling, getting louder as they got closer), advised him of what was going on and he wisely crossed the street and headed back the way he came. Mom finally came down and very carefully walked up to Ace-he wasn’t giving it up yet. She took some and they both ate, right on the ground!! Then Mom finally took it from him and beak fed him. The brothers really ramped it up. Nitro flew off and around 225 and ended up on the first level of 240, where he stayed for the night. Mom finally took the food, Ace jumped onto the railing and Mom took off with it, low over the parking lot, out over the street and the parking lot across the street, gaining altitude and then flew up down past 225 and then around 220 out of sight and had Yeager on her tail in hot pursuit! Ace took off low, right straight below the first level of 220 gaining altitude as he rounded the corner. We found him on the 1st level of 240. When Mom finished feeding Yeager, she went to the roof of 220 and Ace joined her there and got some more food. In the meantime, Zigzag flew off around and ended up high on the window ledge of 225(where he spent his first night of flying!) and remained there for the night. Yeager popped up on 240 and flew to join Zigzag for a short bit..landed pretty good beside him lol. But he didn’t stay long, flying over to say hi to Ace but ended up on another ledge of 225, where he stayed for the night. And Ace remained on the roof of 220.
As Sally said. Wow Ace! We hope we get some lovely flights for a little while, before Quest takes them away to wherever summer school is for her offspring! Thanks to Sally for her cliff notes!!
I know this is long but it just was so amazing to watch and so much fun!!
I stopped by tonight and found all four together on 225…Ace and Yeager on the tiptop and Zigzag with Nitro, who was lying down at first, on the lower roof. Watched a few flights and then headed home. All are doing great..as Sally said, hoping to see some more great flights before they head off!
Posted on June 15, 2022 10:49 pm
June 13, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
SPOT CHECK…DON MILLS : Spent a couple of hours watching the fab four this morning…Nitro was on the nest building roof! Everyone accounted for…and I then enjoyed a great show from the Ace, Yeager and Zigzag! Ace saw Dad on his favorite railing on the copper building, and being hangry, flew over and chased him off lol, and landed quit e nicely on the railing! He spent some time checking that out . He flew back to the nest building. Mom flew onto the copper building so Zigzag decided to go complain to her about the lack of food! Yeager joined in lol. Then Ace buzzed mom and then flew north heading for the forest! Mom was off like a shot! She headed him off and then a chase/play ensued…it was great. Tho Nitro did get one touch in(naughty..to your mother!!) But Quest just stayed ahead of him just enough…if he got too close, she kicked it up just enough to stay out of his reach but not enough to exhaust him. It was so fun ! Things quieted down(it was siesta time after all) .
Evening:
Arrived to find all 4 boys together on the upper roof of 220!! Eventually all left one at a time. Nitro to follow Zigzag to the top of 225 but missed, touching the window, recovering then landing on 240 2nd from the top. Zigzag followed and landed one level above Nitro. Ace joined Zigzag, then Yeager flew from 225 to rooftop above his brothers. He then tried to fly back to nest building, tried grabbing the flashing ,slipping and headed back to land practically on top of Ace lol!! And that is where they were when I left for the night! All safe and high.
Lots of fun..can’t wait to see what they are up to tomorrow!
Cathy
Posted on June 13, 2022 11:51 pm
June 12, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DAY 4 FLEDGE WATCH DON MILLS:
I arrived to find Zigzag on top of 225!! Well done! Clearly fed as he was sitting near Quest, no screaming or chasing her. And Nitro was on the roof of the nest building!! Excellent. But he was still screaming, so still not fed. I saw the other 2 flying around, doing great. Then both landed on roof of the nest building. Mystery flew into his covered corner and then we got some rain.
When the rain stopped, mom brought a package and dropped it on the roof of the nest building for Ace and Yeager. Nitro was running back and forth screaming looking down. Then Zigzag flew over to wait …So if any left over maybe they’ll get it…
But then Mom flew by with more food, Ace (I was sure it was him) chased after her and they landed on the roof next door and then was beak fed by mom. Then another juvie flew over to join them- he flew so well I thought it was Yeager. They were down on the roof and mom was leaning over to feed them so I couldn’t see their bands at first. But then the one that flew over popped up and was being beak fed by mom and it’s…Nitro!!! So glad to see him get fed finally! Once he was done, she fed the other one some more and left. Nitro walked to the corner, and sat there for the siesta time. The other juvie popped up…and I confirmed it was indeed Ace. Ace fed/pulled at the carcas for awhile…big boy now. He flew back to 220 to join Yeager and Zigzag.
I decided to go get some lunch as I did not have any juvies on sight!
When I returned, Nitro, Yeager and Zigzag were hanging out on the roof of 225. Ace was also on 225 but on the second level facing west. He slept out of sight at first but popped up when a food package was dropped off up top but he stayed put. Nitro grabbed the package and took it out of sight lol. Then Zigzag made a lovely flight over to the top of the copper building. Yeager followed! Lots of flights followed, mostly by Ace and Yeager but little Zigzag did some too. Our ledge potato Nitro stayed put. I then left to feed my pets. When I returned, Bob was there. Had 3 on the nest building. I found our Nitro on 225, 5th level. Oh oh. I knew he would be there for the night and that is where we left him. He needs to figure it out just like his brothers Ace and Zigzag before him. There was lots of encouragement from his parents to leave the ledge…fly by with and without food. Nope. His brothers tried too…right up til dark!!! No luck. But Yeager and Zigzag stayed on the rooftop of 225 while Ace decided at the last minute to return to the nest building!
So, the official watch is over! All are flying well and staying high. Bob and I will be going tomorrow morning(a little later) to check on Nitro and we’ll be doing a few evening visits (I live close, so drive bys will be frequent lol)but the full days are done! Well done our fab four!! Thanks so much to our wonderful security at 220, Ramesh and Mano plus management there for their continued support. And I couldn’t have done this without Sally, Bob and Marion! The best fledge watch team!
I will continue to give updates on the fab four until Quest and Mystery move them out of the area.
Cathy
Posted on June 12, 2022 11:33 pm
June 11, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DAY 3 FLEDGE WATCH: What a day! I arrived to find Zigzag had fledged! All four in 3 days! A very nice photographer told me that when he arrived Zigzag was on the 1st level of the nest building facing east. He ledge hopped around to the front when he lost sight of him. He had flown out and back, where this gentleman saw him fly up, hit the flashing of the 3rd level and drop to the 2nd. And up he popped! I found him on the second level facing east. He ledge hopped back and forth. Bob joined me at that point. After a time he tried the exact same move, with the exact same result. And the second level he remained until evening. When I drove in, I immediately saw Nitro, still on the garage rooftop….and there he remained, walking back and forth, back and forth, until evening. Yeager was still on the roof when I arrived but not for long! He was off and flying rooftop to rooftop, I really can’t remember how many, he did so well! And Ace just went from 0 to a hundred in 2 days, it’s really amazing.
Sally joined us just before noon and she has been nice enough to report the rest of the day:
I joined Cathy and Bob just before noon, and Zigzag had fledged. Nitro was still on the parking lot roof. Ace and Yeager were doing great.
Our day was spent mostly focused on Zigzag, and periodic checks that Nitro was indeed still in the same spot. It was a very rainy afternoon, so everyone stayed put.
Cathy left for a couple of hours to feed her fur babies, and Bob and I kept watch. Zigzag started ledge hopping west and Bob remarked hmmm this is where he flew last time. Bob grabbed his net, and we repositioned ourselves to follow him, east. Yep, off he went. South towards Nitro on the parking arcade. Bob walked east in case he’d circled right around 225. Instead, he circled back as if towards the nest building but then up up to an 8th floor window ledge of 225. I was happy to see him pull up and not bump the window. A controlled landing. I texted Cathy the good news.
So now we were stationed in a new spot to watch if Zigzag flew again and then we saw two juvies flying north out over Duncan Mill to 240, with one looking a bit clumsy. He attempted to reach the roof, missed, and came to settle on a west facing ledge with the other juvie on the 220 roof. Bob went to see if Nitro finally left the parking arcade roof and yes! We checked and confirmed all four in sight. Yeager and Ace on 220 roof, Nitro on 240 and ZigZag on 225.
Cathy returned and we stayed in our new viewing spot for quite a while as we had good sight lines. No babying today from Quest. She was quite tough with all four. At one point it looked like she came in to prepare food for a very hungry Nitro. He screamed from the next ledge, attempted to fly out and around but misjudged and ended up flying across to the copper building, bumped the window, flying back to a lower ledge, facing south. And, Ace had other plans. He chased Quest for the package, with Mystery coming in to take a food transfer, inches from Ace. He’ll now be wanting more of that we’re sure! Quest beak fed Ace and Yeager predictably attempted to join, but Ace was having none of that. He flew out to block him, chased Yeager and pulled at his tail. Ace is getting very bold. Our worry now is his progress in comparison to his siblings. He’s quite dominant, and if he starts either hogging food or wanting to interrupt other feedings to play, we are probably in for a few nail bites spot checks!
We closed the watch with all four juvies accounted four (ZigZag never left his window sill).
Tomorrow is more rain, maybe thunderstorms in the afternoon, hopefully done by the evening so tomorrow night we should see some more exciting flights!
Thanks Sally for her help and report..thanks again to Bob for his help!
A very quick fledge watch, we just need to see some higher flights from Nitro and Zigzag. They’ll need to get strong to compete with their brothers!!
Cathy
Posted on June 12, 2022 12:14 am
June 10, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DAY TWO DON MILLS FLEDGE WATCH: A great day!! My day started off with a phone call when I was on the way, from the wonderful security(both Mano & Ramesh from 220 are the best!!) guard Ramesh advising me we had a fledgling on the 2nd floor. Sounds like Ace figured out how to get off that building! And when I arrived, it was indeed Ace! Well done. Yeager and Zigzag were on the nest ledge and Nitro was not in sight but no worries as he was on the roof. Good start to the day! I was joined by Bob shortly after and we settled to watch Yeager ledge hop to the corner and see Ace try to climb the window(like Nitro the day before). He batted and clung for a bit before letting go and dropping down. Then Yeager had our attention, and then he was off! He flew beautifully, but it was windy and he kinda hovered for a sec(we were hoping he’d fly back to the nest building but no.) then flew out, Quest was off like a shot, and escorted him around 225 and out of sight! By the time Bob & I were around the building, we lost sight of him. Quest returned so I knew she knew where he was so that was some comfort. Sally joined us at this point to help with the quick search and we found him on the top of the parking garage behind 225, atop of the staircase, the highest point.
Ace, who’d been on the low level of 220, took off flying. He circled and came towards 225 with Quest intercepting his flight to slow him down and redirect. He landed on the 8th floor window ledge (he’s quite familiar with those!). He didn’t stay there long, before he flew out over us, circled again, gaining even more altitude than before, made for the nest building but then turned and flew west, landing on the roof of 180 (Herjavec building). Beautiful flying!
Mystery flew over to join Yeager on the parking roof, as he was being harassed by robins and what we think were grackles. Ace didn’t want to be left out and flew over to join them, but due to the strong wind he landed clumsily and out of sight. When he hadn’t shown himself, Sally walked south along Valleybrook, to see if he’d flown further. As I was returning Sally could see and hear very agitated birds diving into one of the pine trees close to the parking arcade. Unbeknownst to Sally, both Yeager and Ace had flown off the roof, Ace landing beautifully on the roof of the nest building but Yeager went out of sight. He was in the pine tree, getting clipped by the angry birds. He had a couple of clear pathways out of the pine trees, and eventually flew out, but into the dark parking arcade, and straight back out (no thank you!), over to 225 aiming for the roof but bonked a window, recovered and flew around towards his nest building, bounced off the aluminum flashing, came low and circled back, landing on the glass wall near the entrance. After joking we’d just watched a pinball wizard, Cathy distracted him and Bob netted him. Into the carrier to wait for Mark to give him a checkup. All good. Marion joined us at this point. After a few quiet hours, he was released.
Ace was very hungry at this point(don’t blame him) and chased Dad past the nest building, over the Purolator parking lot, all the way to the building behind, landing nicely on that rooftop!! He returned to the rooftop of the nest building and was finally rewarded with a nice meal from Mom–we know Nitro got some too as Quest was feeding him at the same time, reaching down to him. But as Ace “aced” his flights, he got the lion’s share!
Now, we had been wanting to see Nitro since his release yesterday. He was still on the roof, and decided to fly as we released Yeager. A good flight, south over to what seems to have been a popular spot today: The 225 Parking arcade roof (where he stayed until close).
Ace lived up to his name today, flying really well, and when Yeager jumped up onto the roof ledge they hung out for a bit, allowing us to keep an eye on Nitro. Shortly before close, Ace chased Quest across to 225 roof, then a beautiful flight right back home to the nest ledge and a happy, unfledged Zigzag.
Hoping tomorrow has Zigzag joining his brothers in flight. Nice to have all four accounted for when we closed the watch. We had beautiful weather today, unfortunately the weekend weather doesn’t look the best for flying but we’ll hope for the best!! It was another long day but a good one…one more fledge to go!!
Cathy
Posted on June 11, 2022 1:31 am
June 09, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
DAY ONE FLEDGE WATCH DON MILLS: Well, busy morning!! I arrived to find only 3 on nest ledge..oh oh…but as I was going to park, I found Ace, across the street, 4 floors up(not bad height) but this building doesn’t have much of a ledge and fledglings have always had trouble getting off this building. Most come down, a few figure it out. Well, Ace had ALL day to figure it out and didn’t. He’s still there lol. Fingers crossed for what I find tomorrow. Later I was joined by Bob. And then parents brought food to the other three so I saw my chance to take a quick break while Bob watched Ace. And of course, Nitro decided to fledge! Bob almost missed it..he saw a large bird flying low below Ace and realized it was one of the 3! He watched him fly low , cross the street, hook around and back to nest building, where he just missed the 2nd floor and fell gently to the first! Too low. We were joined later by Marion and then Sally in the evening. Nitro spent most of the day ledge hopping back and forth, back and forth. He finally slipped and came to ground. As Bob and I approached, Quest started alarm calling lol. Poor Nitro was a bit panicked but I managed to scoop him up with my trusty towel, with help from Bob. We put him safely back up on the roof in the evening and hopefully he’ll have better luck tomorrow. Yeager spent the day ledge hopping. Zigzag was a ledge potato though once Yeager was back in the evening, he finally took his first jump up onto the nest box!! He’s coming along…long day! And more to come..stay tuned
Posted on June 10, 2022 12:29 am
June 09, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Marion Nash Reports:
Cathy has been joined by Bob on the watch. She just sent a pic of Nitro who also just fledged but lost altitude. All is still good though as he landed on the first floor ledge safely. Hopefully his next flight brings him up higher and same for Ace. Zigzag and Yeager still on nest.
Busy morning
Posted on June 9, 2022 11:05 am
June 09, 2022 - Toronto - Don Mills
Marion Nash Reports:
Cathy arrived on site this morning and knew right away someone fledged seeing only only 3 on the ledge. As she was parking she spotted a chick on 225 Duncan Mill on the window ledge of the 4th floor. she was able to see the green tape on his silver band so Ace is the first to go.
Cathy was bang on with her predictions of fledge date. Way to go!!!!
I will be joining her this afternoon hope we stay dry.
Posted on June 9, 2022 9:57 am
