affordwatches

June 14th Canada Square

June 14, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

This morning started out with a call from a lady at 1 Belsize who had a falcon with a yellow band on her balcony trapped behind the glass. Ok so that’s where Neven got to. We headed there first to rescue the him but by the time we got there he had already flown off her balcony she thought to her neighbors balcony. We contacted building security and the Superintendent who took us up to the suite but no one was home. We drove down the street far enough to see the balcony clearly and there was no bird there. We searched the area in a block radius around the building no luck Neven was no where to be seen.
Disappointed we headed to Canada Square and just got sat down on the watch when Mark sees a fledgling on the black glass building beside the nest building. He took out the spotting scope and after a while the fledgling moved up enough for Mark to get a band number it was C 29 Neven. The Brat had us searching half the morning for him and I guess while we were looking he was making his way home.
Jamie however has graduated to grade 1 and has jumped down from the nest ledge to the concrete platform 4 feet below we call the veranda and spent the day flapping and running the new playpen.
Since we were now missing Sasha and had not seen Oli for 3 days I decided to take another walk around to see if I could find them but again no luck.
Not long after Neven took another flight hooked around to young St and landed on a 8 floor building safe. About 10 minutes later Haven brought him another big pigeon as his reward. We watched him eat his fill and Haven flew in and to take what was left but Neven was not letting it go without a bit of a challenge. Haven won and took the leftovers over to Jamie on the nest.
Neven feeling ripped off tried to follow her and flew over to the nest but missed the ledge and fluttered down very low before he recovered and hooked around back to young St. Out of our site.
Mark walked over to Young and found him on another 8 floor level structure beside the in Horton’s and directly across the street from the nest building.
While Mark was there I heard some fledgling calls and looked up to see 2 fledglings high atop the RioCan building and could see Jamie in the nest and Mark had Neven on Young St so we now have all 4 fledglings home at last!!! It was 8:30 PM and we could see they were all settling down for the night and we took our cue and packed up and called it a night, what a nice way to end the day.
Sorry pictures are with cell phone so not great
Picture 1 Neven on Black Glass building, Picture 2 and 3 Neven on Young St above Tim Horton’s and Picture 4 Jamie on Playpen.


May 13th update Canada Square

June 13, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

When we arrived Neven was no where to be found , Sasha was still on the copper building roof top Oli is still MIA and Jamie is still on the nest. I did a walk around the area to look for Neven and Oli but still no luck I hope they are up high somewhere. There are hundreds balconies they could be on here. Late in the afternoon Sasha finally took flight and went to the condo behind the TVO building and landed on the window washers davit and there she stayed until dark. No flight from Jamie and no sight of Oli or Neven by the time we packed up and left.
1st shot Jamie on nest, second Sasha on copper building and the others Sasha on condo davit.


Sunday Morning -Neven was rescued and released a second time

June 12, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Michael from the construction site behind 2200 Young st, called at 7:00 am to let me know he had another fledgling in a box in his office trailer, their 3rd rescue from that site and he would hold him for us until we got there. It turned out to be Neven again. Thank goodness Mickle was working on a Sunday or we would not have been able to access the constriction site and we are so grateful for the help from the crew there.

Mark and I saw Sasha who was released yesterday sitting on the balcony rail just outside the balcony door and if we released Neven now it might cause Sasha to bolt off in a panic flight so the release of Neven would have to wait until she flew off on her own or until darkness.

We sat in our watch spot and waited. Sasha did take flight, she flew west and tried to hook back to the nest building but missed and recovered and turned to try for the concrete columns the adults like to sit on on the RioCan building but missed that as well, again she recovered and landed on the lower building on the corner of Duplex and Eglinton that we call the copper building because of t’s color.

We could release Neven now but because Sasha was now on a building roof only 8 floors up we knew from experience at this sight that she would have a hard time getting any more altitude if she flew off now since there was no wind at all to assist her so we waited to see if she would go or stay.

About 45 minutes later Haven flew off the top of RioCan in a high sped dive and we figured she was on the hunt and Sasha was sitting and preening her feathers quite relaxed so Mark took Neven to do the release.

A few minutes later I saw Haven come back with a big pigeon and flew into the nest to feed little Jamie the last chick still on the nest. Since she was busy feeding and could not see the balcony from there it was safe for Mark to put Neven out but just as he opened to door to release him she flew off the nest with the rest of the food package over to Sasha and began to feed her and caught sight of Mark and the bell sounded for round 1.

Haven took off screaming got some height and dove on Mark at high speed and was joined by dad. Mark bent down as low as he could, released Neven and had to almost crawl back into the office and closed to door. Success!

Haven sat on the ledge above Neven for quite some time watching him below on the balcony and when Mark came back out to join me on the street she was still there waiting for round 2.

While all this excitement and screaming from the adults was going on Sasha was chowing down the pigeon Haven left on the ledge with her like nothing was wrong at all. Haven finally feeling confident Mark had thrown in the towel flew over to Sasha to see if she could grab what might be left of the pigeon and perhaps to feed Neven but it was obvious Sasha had no intention of giving it up.
I got a call from a lady who lives at 8 Eglinton Ave on the 6th floor who told me there was a falcon on her balcony with a green band on its leg and that it had just flow off 5 minutes ago so Oli is still alive. Mark went over to that building and searched all around that area and any low ledges of buildings from there back to the corner of Young and Eglinton and north and south on Young but no luck.

We watched the others for the rest of the day and no more flights Neven walked back and forth on the balcony retaining wall and Sasha with full crop stayed put and little Jamie who has not made the first grade yet and jumped down off the nest to the concrete ledge 4 feet below we call the play veranda was contend with a full crop and had already gone to bed. It’s going to be a while before he takes his first flight.

May 11/22 the release

June 11, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Mark and I picked up both Neven and Sasha , Little Neven was in a small pet carrier and Sasha in a cardboard box that could have held an eagle. Mark and I had a laugh over that :)

We arrived at the nest site at about 3:00 PM and made our plan to to safe release the two chicks. I went down to my usual watch spot sitting on Duplex Ave in front of the police station while Mark took them out on the balcony on the 15 floor one floor below the nest just in case one bolted or took flight in a panic and came down again and also so that I could scan the building with my binoculars to see where the other 2 chicks are to insure they were not in any spot where we might scare them off the ledge when he went out. I could only see 1 chick Jamie still on the nest who had not yet taken his first flight and who would not be able to see the activity below him.

Their mom Haven is very aggressive to anyone who gets near her nest and will make full contact hits if she catches you on the roof or at altitude near the nest. I always put rescued chicks out a night in the dark at this site so I can avoid her wrath but since both chicks had not had any food for so long and I had Mark to help and I wanted both chicks to be seen by Haven early enough that she would have ample time to catch a bird and feed them before it got dark.

Since Mark had no way to sneak out onto the balcony with the giant box in one hand a carrier in the other he put both chicks in the giant box. Well fortune was with us, while he was transferring Neven into the box I saw Haven fly off the roof and land on the back side of the RioCan building so I called Mark and told him Ok quick go out now Haven is on the back side of the Riocan building and wont see you.

Mark came out and quickly released both chicks together and ran back into the office and closed the door success! About 5 minutes after release Sasha jumped up on the rail of the balcony and Mark came down and joined me on Duplex and the watch resumed. Neven joined her 20 minutes later and it was not long before Haven took another flight and caught sight of both chicks. Haven swooped down above the chicks and they called out to her and she veered off havening recognized the voices as her own chicks again Success!

Haven did go out on a hunt about an hour after the release and brought a large pigeon in and fed both Sasha and Neven then dropped off a small leftover to Jamie on the nest.

We had up to this point not seen the 4th chick Oli and I went out searching all the usual places while Mark kept an eye on the other 3 chicks no luck Oli was nowhere in site. I know from many years watching at this site that a missing chick often shows up hours or even a couple days later having spent some time on someone’s balcony.

We had to leave them at about 8:00 PM and head out to the Bloor Islington Place nest to release Bip another rescued chick and all 3 at Canada Square looked like they were in for the night and ready for bed. Will have to take another look for Oli tomorrow.


Saha Also Rescued May 11/2022

June 11, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Sasha Also came down and a worker at he construction site Mitchel caught him and will take her to our friends at 53 Division so I can pick him up and release her with his brother Neven tonight.

Neven Rescued today May 10th 2022

June 11, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Neven was reported down in a backyard last night at 10PM so one of our rescue team members were dispatched to rescue him. Unfortunately the reporter did not provide enough information for us to find the location however they had already called Toronto Animal Service who had more information then we were given and were able to locate and pick him up. TAS then took him to Toronto Wildlife this morning who deemed him well and contacted us to pick him up for release. We will release Neven back to his siblings and parents care tonight. Stay tuned for updates on his release and pictures.

Banding Day May 17th 2022 Canada Square

May 18, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Steven McGough from Solar Group window washing said of Haven boy this girl gets more aggressive every year and yes true to form Haven gave him a through trouncing and peregrine mom scolding while extracting the chicks. If not for the bravery of these guys we could not have banded the chicks at this site, it’s not easy to find someone willing to take her wrath.
As always I would like to thank Security and Igor from Oxford building Management for helping make this banding happen and for being such great hosts.
There were 4 chicks 2 boys and 1 girl and one too young to tell for sure. The first 3 chicks were all banded but the last was a very late hatch and was at least a week younger than the others and too small for proper sizing of the band so we decided not to band him/her. We did get it weight on this little one at 315 grams and about 12 to 13 days old so we named this chick Jamie. If he/she comes to ground during fledge we will band it before we put it back to the roof. The others were as follows
495 grams boy 20 days old banded C over 28 named Oli with green tape on the silver band
645 grams Girl at 19 Days old banded 08 over AB named Sasha with red tape on her silver band
405 grams boy at 17 days old banded C over 21 named Neven with Yellow tape on the silver band.
We also had a special treat today Monica Brighton of TVO attended, filmed and assisted with the banding this year and we will post some of the video or links to it soon.


Update on Spice P 2019 hatched chick Canada Square

May 16, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

We went down to the Toronto Downtown Sheraton nest to check on the nest and can confirm that the female is Tardis produced at the Don Mills and Eglinton nest site in 2019 and the male is Spicy P produced at Canada Square Young and Eglinton Toronto in 2019.

The pair was seen bowing and chuping at each other as well as beak touvhing so they are still a bonded pair and they stooped the windows as we passed going into the mechanical room to the nest hatch however there were no chicks and no eggs laid as of yet.

We will continue to check on the nest and will post updates if there are any eggs laid.


Upcoming Bandings of the Peregrine Chicks

May 16, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

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

Great news re Canada Square nest site!!

April 04, 2022 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

AYALA (03/AB), 2021 hatch from Canada Square, has been seen and photographed today in Wilmette, IL! Thank you to Mary Hennen for sending us the information and to Woody Goss for this great photo! Ayala is still wearing her red tape. Cheers, Lucie