At 7:30p.m., two juveniles are seen playing chase in and around 18 King St., while two peregrines on Dundee Place watch. One peregrine on Dundee Place is an adult, but I can’t see if the other is an adult or the third juvenile. Nice to see them flying so well.
As I made my way back to the King St area from the Sheraton nest site, I saw one of the King St adult peregrines chasing a Turkey Vulture in the area of Richmond St and Victoria St’s. When I arrived at the King St nest site, Erin was on the nest ledge. No other peregrines in view at that time.
I down to visit the peregrines from the 18 King Street East nest site.
7.05 pm – 7.25 pm – saw an adult peregrine preening on southeast corner of King Edward Hotel, after the recent rain;
7.25 pm – the adult flies away westwards along Colborne Street;
7.45 pm – I can hear a peregrine falcon calling, and spend some time looking for the source of the calls;
7.50 pm ish – I locate the adult and one juvenile falcon on the northeast corner of the EDS Building (second terrace) on Wellington Street East. The adult has caught a pigeon, and proceeds to feed the juvenile;
8.01 pm – the juvenile flies across the street to the southeast corner of the roof of 30 Wellington Street East. I did not see the landing, but the juvie did not appear to have any problems flying up to the altitude of the roof of 30 Wellington East from the lower EDS Building;
8.01 pm – 8.10 pm ish – while the juvie is resting on the roof of 30 Wellington East, the adult prepares more of the pigeon, and feathers are flying;
8.10 pm or so – the juvie takes off, and makes a strong flight over the roof of 91 King Street East, where it looks like it is joined by another peregrine. I can’t tell if it’s another juvie, or the other adult, but the juvie seems to be enjoying a game of tag. The adult is still on the second terrace of the EDS building while the juvie and the second peregrine fly around the King Edward Hotel and environs;
8.15 pm – the juvie lands on a cooling vent on the roof of 91 King Street East. Again, I missed the landing, but the juvie does not appear to be having any difficulty reaching and maintaining altitude, and his/her flights appear strong and confident;
8.15 pm – 8.30 pm – the juvie takes off again, and appears once again to be playing tag with another peregrine. When I looked back at the EDS Building, the adult was suddenly gone, so I am not sure whether the juvenile was joined by the adult from the EDS Building, or whether it was the other parent, or another juvie sharing airspace with the first juvenile. Unfortunately, I was too far away to get a good look at any of the birds’ band colours. Eventually the juvie and another peregrine (which looks like an adult), land on the window washer support on the east side of the roof of the King Edward Hotel. This time I saw the landing, and the juvie seemed pretty confident in landing on such a small space.
I apologize for the poor quality of my photographs – I was caught on the roof without my camera and had to use my iPad. I attach photos of the adult on the King Eddie (from a distance), the adult and juvie on the EDS Building, the juvie on the roof of 91 King East (from a distance), the juvie on the roof of 30 Wellington East (from a distance), and the adult and juvie on the roof of the King Eddie. The close-ups (such as they are) were taken by putting my iPad camera up against the eyepiece of my binoculars.
Meg Langley Grainger
June 25th - 2012
Tonight we were up on the roof enjoying the temperate weather and saw two juveniles sitting on the roof ridge of 91 King Street East.
After a few minutes, we saw one of the juvies take wing and fly south east to a building in the direction of The Esplanade. Along the way, we heard a peregrine calling, and suddenly there were 3 peregrines in the sky around the Esplanade, the juvie, and one with dinner, and another one following closely behind. The adult with the food and one of the peregrines disappeared from view, while a juvie landed on the roof of 85 The Esplanade, looking westward in the direction of the parent (with dinner).
Out of nowhere, a smaller bird started harassing the (larger) juvie, making multiple strafing runs and eventually forcing the juvie to take flight. Out of nowhere, an adult raced up and engaged the smaller bird in a brief dogfight – raptorfight (?) – and ran the smaller bird off before disappearing behind Commerce Court.
At 8:00 p.m., two juveniles on the top of the King Edward Hotel and two peregrines on One Dundee Place. One of them an adult the other with it’s back turned, but I am guessing it’s the second adult. Thought I would see a lot more of an air show, but it’s quiet here , just like the Sheraton nest area.
Watching this afternoon, can’t get an accurate head count for all four. I think I may have had three at one time. Two are doing long flights, chasing each other and even flying in the heavy rain that went through the downtown area around dinner time. Adults have been sitting in odd spots, but I think that may be that the kids are venturing further away. This evening I had Aphrodite come south of Front St. I could hear a juvie screaming but could not see it. Then Aphrodite came flying over head and out of my view. Moments later, two flying into view and headed towards the King Edward Hotel. At 8:30 I have one adult on the nest ledge,in camera view, and two juvies on the rigging arm on the east side of the hotel roof.
Today, at least two of the fledglings are hanging around the area. Currently, Aphrodite and one of the males are on the King Edward Hotel, and Windwhistler and Erin are on Dundee Place. At times, I think I see a third juvie, but they move around a lot flying well and they all don’t stay in one spot long enough to get an accurate head count.
This evening at 8:10p.m. One adult on the north east corner of the King Edward Hotel. Second adult on # 1 Toronto feeding a juvie. Light is too flat after the rain, but I hope it’s Dundee getting a meal. That’s all in my view.
Also three fledgling Ketrals sitting on top of the construction crane on Church St.
Marion and Bruce arrived this evening to give Dundee the once over, the what now and the how now. After he was given the go ahead, Dundee was released to the north service side of the nest building under the cover of darkness. He wasn’t having any more of this and scooted out of carrier.
The heat is to continue tomorrow, so the north side will give him some shade if he decides to hang out for a while. I’ll check on him in the morning.
This morning at 8:45 I received a call from the film crew of “Flashpoint” to say they have seen one of our fledglings on a retaining wall on their film set. I gathered my things and off I go. Paul met up with me at the location and low and behold it’s Dundee!, Sitting on the retaining wall to the underground parking, watching people come and go. We quickly toweled him and transported him to the cool dark comfort of the rescue box at the nest site. He looks good, no apparent injury at this time. We’ll let him ride out the heat in the A/C comfort , recheck him and he will be released late this afternoon, if he is good to go.
Big, thanks to David Walsh and the film crew of “Flashpoint” for the keen eyes and alerting me to Dundee’s whereabouts.
More to come…
