Bruce went to check on the nest today and found Malik on incubation duty. He stayed until Haven came in to take over and saw 4 eggs in the nest. Should be a hatch soon keep watching!
Bruce went back to check for eggs and found Haven on eggs but not in the same spot as last year. Haven has chosen a ledge 2 south of the nest box and is on eggs. management said they had a picture of 2 eggs on April 4th so we expect the first was laid April 2nd.
As of Friday at 2:00 Pm there are no eggs yet will keep checking.
July 23rd - 2015
Great news, in that little Typhoon was successfully released back to his parents and sister this afternoon! After a short stay with the Toronto Wildlife, Typhoon was cleared for release back to his parents today. I met with Lisa at the TWC and picked up Typhoon late morning and drove him back down town to the Canada Square at Yonge & Eglinton nest building.
A huge thank you to the Canada Square security for accommodating and allowing us access to the outer balcony where Typhoon was released, and to Typhoon’s newest friends (and there were MANY of them) from Canadian Tire who occupies the entire floor and office suites directly below the nest ledge, and their balcony where Typhoon was released.
After making the necessary telephone calls to all involved to let them know that I would be late given all of the traffic congestion and delays, little Typhoon and I battled the overwhelming traffic congestion (thank goodness for air conditioning and a full tank of gas), we arrived just after 12:30pm.
With Bruce from the Canada Square Security in the lead, we arrived on the 16th floor office suites where we were met by 25 plus very anxious Canadian Tire employees that were on hand to witness Typhoons release.
Once the rescue carrier was placed out on the outer balcony with its door opened, Typhoon only took seconds to actually exit the rescue crate, then jumped up the top of the large rescue carrier, turned and watched us through the glass for close to 35 minutes!!! Moments later, he finally jumped again up to the hand rail on the outer balcony wall. There is stayed once again for yet another 15 plus minutes giving us all another great photo opportunity!!!!
Obviously not being stressed at all with our presence watching him - watch us, he was actually quite relaxed during the entire process and seemed very interested in what we were all excited about.. While we didn’t see either of his parents or his sister during the hour that I was there, the Canadian Tire staff had been watching his parents out their windows flying around most of the earlier morning, so we know that both parents are still very much around.
As Typhoon took flight from the balcony hand rail, he immediately gained altitude and ended up flying around to the upper roof elevation, way above our heads!! A great strong first post release flight indeed!!!
Just a I was leaving, we did see another peregrine fly up onto the upper roof area to join Typhoon, but sadly, it flew in so fast that we couldn’t identify if it was one of his parents or his sister.
Either way, we can be assured that he is not alone! A very good morning indeed!
Now, on my way to brave the traffic once again in an effort to meet Mark Heaton at the Aurora district MNR office to have yet another peregrine fledgling banded that I rescued yesterday from Kennedy and Hwy 401 area! She also needs to get back to her parents today!
I got a call from an old friend today, Joe Mota the past manager of 18 King st another Peregrine nest site contacted me to let me know he had a Peregrine Juvenile in a box at 2 St. Clair St west. The bird had fallen down the chimney several floors and was found by building maintenance.
I did not ask any further questions since I knew that Joe knew exactly what to do. I called and despatched Bruce to go and get the bird who I expected was one of our Canada square kids.
Sure enough it was Typhoon
Bruce told me that he looked like he had an injury to his eye so he was going top take him to rehab right away.
I will post information on his diagnosis as soon as I know anything.
I stopped in last week to check in on Typhoon and Omega at Canada Square. While I didn’t have either juvenile when I arrived, it wasn’t long before the two were making their way home and harassing the parents for dinner. Both are flying very well and even when they miss or overshoot a landing, they are circling back and making great recoveries in their flights. It looks like Typhoon and Omega are well on their way.
Got some great shots from Janice Swan of the adults Haven and Malik to share with you. How lucky to have an office to close to the nest. Thanks Janice!
I spent an hour over at Yonge & Eglinton today after work-I got to see Typhoon make some lovely flights! He is doing well!! I also saw one adult but Omega must have been out flying with her parent as I had no eyes on those two! But it was great to see Typhoon making those heights–keep it up bud!
Yesterday I stopped in at Canada Square in the evening to check in on Omega and Typhoon’s progress in their flight school training. I found Omega on the top of Rio Can on the points that she loves so much and Typhoon was nowhere in sight. After about 15 minutes he came off of the TVO roof where he must have been back out of view and headed straight for Rio Can and his sister. All through his flight he had good flaps and nice wing extension so it looked really good. Landing? Not so much. He flew straight for the roof and came up a little short. He flumped into the window just below the roof line (not hard at all and bumpers up) and recovered very quickly. He flew back over to TVO and landed on the antenna where he sat looking a little dejected. Omega left Rio Can and flew over to her brother landing right beside him on the antenna. Sister Omega was giving him a pep talk on landings for about 15 minutes before she took off again and headed back to her spot on Rio Can. The two fledglings sat in their respective places for about 20 minutes and then Typhoon was off again. He flew out over top of the nest building, excellent height, and swung around towards the Minto towers. He went past the south tower out of my view but he was at roof height so I wasn’t worried. A few minutes later and here he comes again. Heading towards Rio Can, his ultimate goal, and all I can hear in my head is the theme song for Raiders of the Lost Ark. He powered up and headed for Omega and her perch and once again came up short. He touched off the sidewall of the point and headed back to TVO again. Ugh! He was frustrated!! A few minutes later… …duh da duh DA!! Duh da DA!! He’s off! Back to Rio Can but this time with a new strategy. As soon as he got within feet of the roofline, he flung himself onto the roof and “tumbleweeded” with a sense of satisfaction that while not a pretty landing, he made it. He now abandoned all finesse attempts and gently flung himself onto every rooftop he could reach! He’s learning!!!
Omega went for several great flights throughout the evening and her landings are much more graceful than her brothers. During one flight, she had to abort several landings as she was either too low or going too fast and this flight in particular had her in the air for several minutes. Near the end of this flight she started wailing as she clearly wanted down but couldn’t seem to make down work for her. She finally landed back on Rio Can and stayed there for a while to catch her breath.
Haven and Malik were both perched on the concrete juts on the south side of Rio Can watching the shenanigans of their two fledglings. If they could have covered their eyes with their talons and shook their heads I think they might have! At this point the parents are letting the kids make their flights, and their mistakes, with little to no intervention and food didn’t arrive until the day was almost done.
It was a great evening of flights for these two and they are working out the details of being the fastest bird on earth in spectacular dives and aerial finesse. Not there yet but looking like they are both well on their way.
For the last few days Harry joined Tracy in the morning watch and joined Bruce this morning. They were able to catch some nice flights from Typhoon who is now keeping up with his sister with a little encouragement from her.
When I arrived at noon Bruce and Lance were watching Typhoon and Omega together sitting on opposite ends of the window washer swing stage. Lance had his scope and camera set up and had caught the siblings reunion and it was so sweet have a look it’s on You Tube here is the link.
https://youtu.be/UmfdgIab_NU
Just after Bruce and Lance left Omega flew off to the TVO building and called her brother who followed her there. The two played there for a while and she flew back to the nest building again calling her brother and he responded and flew to her again. With all the squawking Malik flew in with food and Typhoon grabbed it and ran down the edge of the roof out of sight. Omega rushed her dad yelling and chased him around in the air for several minutes looking for her share and finally settled down on top of the Rio Can roof just above the R. About and hour later Omega flew around above Typhoon and seemed to be showing him how to soar and it was not long before he joined her for a short fly together. They did a few circles around the nest building with Omega in the lead, gained altitude and both landed on Rio Can with Omega again above the R and Typhoon just under the N.
By early evening Mark Joined me and brought our my camera so I was able to get a few shots of the 2 who are now stuck together like glue. We caught them landing on the antennas on the nest building not bad for Typhoons first try and together on the TVO building where they both got food from Mom and ate together although it looked like Omega got the lions share.
Looks like Typhoon has caught us to his sister and both are now flying well enough to wind down the full time watch so we will be changing it over to spot checks next.
Keep watching for updates and photos to follow.
