Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

!!! Christmas Eve

December 24, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Haven had an early Christmas *pigeon*.
I was just exiting the ATM section of the bank dressed in summer sandals, clothes and a sweater, when I saw her land. She landed on the corner of the CIBC building at the corner of Yonge and Eglinton and had a pigeon in her talons. She rested there for a minute or two and took off across Yonge, west as far as the west side of Rio-Can and about half way up the building. I think her idea was to land on one of the window uprights but this was a bit difficult with a big pigeon in her feet so she flew across Eglinton, over the old TTC bus bays and disappeared. I was outside, in summer garb, and got some funny looks! Anyway I thought she might have gone into one of the balconies, as she was out of sight. She sure fooled me. She had obviously flown between Canada Square and the black building, up Yonge and landed in the same spot she had left!
She rested once more and then began plucking the pigeon. Feathers flew everywhere, like huge snowflakes. Whilst plucking feathers Haven kept a sharp lookout. I did not see Stormin anywhere around. Then she began to eat. She really tucked in non stop for minutes !
After that she had a good look around, shuffled her feathers, had a think and then grabbed the remains of the pigeon and flew again. From the direction she took I think she was aiming for either the north end of Canada Square, which is a favourite butcher block and dining room, or she wanted to stash the remains on the ledge under the nest level. I did not venture out again to verify which it was.

Lyn

!!! Really Dear I Was Abducted By Aliens!!!!!

December 01, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

A male peregrine was found on the ground in a parking lot in the Scarborough by a resident of the Thorncliff Park area unable to fly and drooping a wing.

The gentleman who found him had to chase him around the parking lot for 40 minutes before he was able to catch him up. I know from experience just how fast a peregrine can run and even hurt they can sometimes make some short low flights in effort to get away from you.

The man brought Stormin home and started calling everyone he could think of to get help for him as soon as possible. After several unsuccessful calls for help he was able to speak to Chris Risley of the Ontario Ministry of Natural resources Peterborough head office who called us right away with the information on an injured Peregrine needing our help and a band number 30 over Y who I knew was Stormin.

I called the man immediately and set up a time to pick Stormin up, despatched Mark Nash of The Canadian Peregrine Foundation to head out to collect what I thought was a very hurt Stormin. Called our Avian vet who was on stand by to help.

We were not able to get to Stormin until after 5:00 PM as the man who had him was out of town so later that day Mark did a quick examination of Stormin’s wings and body and he seemed OK no obvious break, no blood anywhere, very alert and very feisty.

As it turns out there were no serious injuries at all perhaps just a little bruising from a collision or he may have wondered too close to the Don Mills and Eglinton Peregrine nest territory and was put down by one or both of the resident adults ( that are very much still on territory) there. We will never know for sure.

Stormin spent 3 days at the CPF Raptor Center for close 24 hour observation and a little rest and lots of quail and seemed no worse for where. We were able to monitor his flight abilities and he was doing just fine.

While he was with us Bruce Masse and Lyn Thompson long time CPF volunteers went out to check on Haven Stormin’s mate to make sure she was still there and had not been part of whatever trouble Stormin had gotten into. They found her still on site and just fine but did say the she seemed to be looking for Stormin.

Since he checked out fine, was eating food and processing normally and flew up to perches and around in his pen at CPF it was decided to get him back to his nest territory Canada square and his mate Haven right away.

We set a time of 2:30 Today Sunday for his release and called CPF volunteers Lyn Thompson and Mark Thompson ( no they are not related) to meet us there to assist with the release.

Lyn got there before us and set everything up with our friends at Security at the Canada Square building nest site to get us all up to the nest ledge area to release the bird, we were then met by Mark Thompson one of our volunteers and a reporter from CTV and up we went to the nest area on the 15th floor.

Mark Nash extracted him from the rescue carrier looked him over one more time and took him out to the balcony and slowly set him down in the corner and backed away.

Stormin jumped up to the balcony ledge had a poop and a big shake and off he flew very strong hooked around the building out of site. So far so good.

We all trooped back down to ground level and headed out to our cars in the parking area brought out the binoculars and started looking for Stormin to see where he ended up. Within minutes he flew over out heads and landed back on his nest and was met in the air by Haven who obviously was happy to see him back. The both flew over to the TVO building to their usual roosting spots vocalized a bit ( I guess he was explaining his absence) then settled down like nothing had ever happened.

A very BIG thank you goes out for the efforts of the nice man ( who does not want to be mentioned) who rescued Stormin in his time of distress and to Chris from The Ministry of Natural Resources for getting to us right away and lastly but not least to Lyn and Mark for spending their Sunday afternoon on another successful peregrine rescue release.

Mark and Marion Nash

!!! Juvenile still on site

September 05, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

I was out on Thursday 5th September and as always glanced up at the Rio-Can building and found a large *lump* on one of the uprights on the top floor west end of the building. I had no binoculars with me but had a suspicion it was one of the juvenile females. I finally walked to a spot from which I could see her chest and it was definitely a juvie female. Not sure which one. Anyway she flew away and I was on my way home when she re-appeared much lower down on the building. I was on the north side of Eglinton and almost under her and I waited and watched. Wily bird! She flew south along the west side of Canada Square and around the south end to Yonge Street. I waited and sure enough she flushed the pigeon flock from the building south of the CIBC building and chased them across the intersection. The pigeons at the intersection have learnt their lessons well and now fly quite low to avoid becoming peregrine dinners!

She flew back onto the Rio Can building and sat for a bit then chased another pigeon in front of the building towards Duplex Ave but went over the roof of the gold building on the corner and disappeared from view. At the same another peregrine came from the east, struggling against the wind and perched on Rio-Can. I am not sure whether this was the adult male or the juvie male. From what I could see I think juvie male but am open to correction.

At least one juvie still in the area. I am wondering if this might be Imagine as she was the largest at banding time.

Lyn

Two Birds at Home

August 19, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Harry Crawford Reports:

At 10:30am, I was showing Peter from Australia a few of our peregrine locations.  A male was on the west side of the nest building facing in - couldn’t tell if it was an adult or juvie.  In the next segment to the south, the adult female was visible.

Hunting Lessons

August 01, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

On Wednesday July 31 I was outside at the Yonge-Eglinton intersection and noticed the Yonge/Eglinton pigeon flock going crazy.

They swooped up and down, mostly down and low over the CIBC building. I waited. Then I spotted Stormin setting them to flight. He was ummmm hunting, sort of. There was no determination in the chase. He appeared to be just alarming the pigeons. I wondered at the time if he was showing a juvenile how to hunt but saw no juvenile around.

Thursday, August 1, I was out again, same place and saw the pigeons undergoing the same *exercise*. They flew in a flock, low over the CIBC building, through the intersection, towards the Bell building and then back to the building next to the CIBC on Yonge street. I saw Stormin again creating this havoc. This time I also saw a juvie joining in the chase.

Stormin was not flying with speed. I think he was simply setting the pigeons to flight so that the juvie could make an attempt on a flying pigeon. The pigeons were low, just above the CIBC roof and in some cases below that level when on Yonge street so I do not think it possible for the youngster who was chasing them to make a successful catch. There was no speed at all. The youngster was simply chasing the pigeons.

Eventually Stormin stopped harassing the pigeons, circled over the Yonge/Eglinton and then flew off. The juvenile who was by this time just following dad settled on the Rio-Can building, squawking its protest.

Might this have been a *hunting lesson* from Stormin??
Lyn

Yes Lyn this sounds like hunting 101 for the youngsters. How to get the pigeons flying in order to catch them.
Marion

Kids are ranging farther from home now

July 24, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Last night I found four of the five peregrines.

I was not so successful today.
This morning I was out at 8 and spent just over an hour looking for them. I found three.
Juvie on the black building, someone on the Canada Square building and Stormin on the Rio-Can south face.

Stormin took off and went into a stoop south of Eglinton east and I lost him. The young one on the black building had been feeding on something but was squawking madly.
I was on my way into the mall when the peregrine from the west side of Canada Square flew to the Rio-Can building and I think this was Haven.

This evening I went out again and found two peregrines in the air, one chasing the other and squawking madly.

I saw one peregrine on the black building tucking into a pigeon for dinner and Stormin on the west side of the black building after he had buzzed her. I believe the juvie to be Imagine. I have one very bad picture with the band - dark. When I left, Stormin and Imagine were on the Rio-Can building for the night and a third peregrine, juvie, flew around the east side of the Heart and Stroke building.
Lyn

!!! Too Hot To Play-No Way!

July 18, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Short and sweet today. It was too warm and muggy to stay out for long.

Ramjet, Tinia and Imagine have a new “playground”. They were having a great deal of fun playing around the top of the apartment building at 500 Duplex Ave. They love the antennae on top of the building and that is where they practised their “touch and go” and kiting activities.

In addition to those two activities they also honed up on talon touching, catch-me-if-you-can, round and round the building, speed-flying and best of all “peregrine in the middle” in which poor Ramjet was dived on from two sides by his sisters and had to present talons to both of them. That was a funny manoeuvre!

I was amazed to see how much bigger Imagine is when compared with the other two. She has very large wings!

Lyn

Youngsters try to get their own food

July 15, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Saw all five peregrines this evening. Haven, Stormin and one juvenile female were really high east of Yonge and Eglinton intersection, at the same that I saw Ramjet and the other juvenile female talon-touching just above Rio-Can. The three high peregrines were also talon-touching.

Just a wee while later one of the juveniles was fed and the other two descended on the same spot but without luck.

One of the juveniles became annoyed at having to sit and watch the other one eat and so it took off and chased a pigeon over the bus bay and across the Yonge and Eglinton intersection east towards the Bell Canada building. Sad to say the pigeon was faster than the peregrine, who gave up the chase.
Lyn

Meals bring the family together

July 12, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Had all three juveniles in one spot on Canada Square today - last year’s nest ledge.

A drop off was made and all three juveniles flew in from their perches on Rio-Can rooftop.
Tinia ended up with the food, closely watched by Ramjet on the same level and Imagine on the level below the old nest.

Lyn

Stormin hunting like crazy to feed his family

July 11, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Canada Square report
Saw all five peregrines this evening.
Stormin and a juvenile female were on Rio-Can south face.
Ramjet was on Canada square roof, north west corner over the nest ledge.
Haven was hiding from everyone and catching the last rays of sunshine on the second ledge south of the concrete wall on Canada Square.
Bringing up the tail end of it all was the second juvenile female on the sw corner of Canada Square roof.

Stormin is intent on giving me heart failure. Early in my watch He chased a pigeon, west along Eglinton, at a level which was only half the height of the Hydro building at Duplex and Eglinton.

Just as I was walking away at 8:45 pm there was Stormin again, chasing another pigeon, over Duplex lower and lower between 53 Division and the houses on Duplex CR. The pigeon was just above tree level and so was Stormin!! Someone ought to have a chat to him about this low level flying, it is bad for my heart!
Lyn