affordwatches

BMO FIELD PAIR

March 11, 2024 - Toronto - Rogers Centre

Cathy Kerr Reports:
BMO Field Visit: Last weekend Sally and I finally went down to check out the BMO pair that was first reported last year. We were very interested to see if they were banded or not. Unfortunately, not. Sally suggested calling them Bea and Moe… What do you think
Hear is Sally’s take on our day(thank you Sally… Sorry it’s a little late)
From Sally:
Today exceeded our expectations!
We set off for BMO Field to see if we could find any evidence of peregrines in the area, based on the sightings reported last year.
Because it’s so quiet this time of year, we had no trouble meandering around the stadium, stopping at a north west parking lot to scope out the structure. No luck.
We then drove as close as we could, aiming for the southeast lot. As we drove up we could see an adult perched on a long horizontal steel lighting standard (that juts out from the top of the east grandstand). Soon we saw a second adult flying around a large sign across the road. Alarm calls could be heard and sure enough, they were agitated that a raven was perched close by (on top of a post with multi-sided billboard advertising). We were treated to territorial dives and swoops, as they persistently drove the ravens away. At one point a cyclist was surprised at two large birds almost clipping him, (the raven aimed for the shelter of a low shrub with a peregrine at its tail).
Lucie arrived with her scope and camera and we all enjoyed defensive flights overhead as gulls and ravens were confronted and escorted away from the building by two angry peregrines.
We can also confirm they enjoy perching on nearby Hotel X, but didn’t seem as agitated about keeping other birds away from that structure. One was seen prepping food there(we think the male, while the female perched below, as we had seen mating  earlier, so courtship and bonding well underway). But, any birds coming near the BMO structure, were not tolerated. We will return to try and confirm if the nest is on the BMO structure, or perhaps the sign across the street. We laughed when we spotted a raven fly into the grandstand and emerge with what looked like a small parcel of food. A stolen peregrine food stash? We think so because a peregrine bullet shot by in pursuit soon after.
The wind was icy cold, so after a couple of hours we decided to go north to check on ICICI and Duncan Mill Rd nest sites.
We were thrilled to see both adults close together at each location. Stay tuned…
Posted on March 11, 2024 3:25 pm

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