April 28th - 2015
Here is an update with photos, thanks to Stephanie, of the nest site on Tuesday April 28.
Notice in one of the pictures labeled: (Possible 5th egg?),, certainly looks like an additional egg.
Armando
This morning the MEC cam is giving excellent shots of the triplets having breakfast. There is still one egg left to hatch but so far three really cute chicks. Two of them crawled on top of Midnight’s feet giving her the appearance of wearing fuzzy slippers. Congratulations MEC!!!
Hi Everyone,
Here is an update on the Peregrines situation at the HCA plant, as of April 27, 2015.
April 27, 2015, Incubation is taking place, as in any other year. At 12:30pm, I observed what
looked like a change of shift, however when I noticed it, I could not say for sure that the male had come out from sitting on the eggs. All I noticed was him sitting on the corner of the nest ledge, and a couple of minutes later Caspian was on the ledge of the building directly to the east. Within 5 minutes she flew to the nest. I hurried up to the top of the silos to confirm this, and she was sitting on the eggs. The male flew off. (I was able to get a glimpse of his tag, but can’t confirm the bottom number on the black band.) The top letter was an “R”.It looked like (R over 12).
April 23, 2015, at 7am we observed that 3 of the eggs had been been turned over (reddish color
facing up) and Caspian started sitting on them. The same goes for Friday April 24th.
On Wednesday afternoon, April 22, the eggs were still undisturbed, and were already fairly
faded in color.
April 7, 2015, Storm (male) found dead. No incubation takes place from this day onward.
Monday, April 6, 2015, 4 eggs in the nest, likely laid over the weekend.
Armando.
Wow!!! Triplets coming!!!
Get to the cams folks cause here comes baby #2!!!!
Here is the first look at the new little one for 2015.
A few of us early birds were up checking cams and we discovered that the first hatch at MEC has now arrived. Just before 5am the resident adult female, Midnight, can be seen pulling aside an eggshell. We have been waiting all morning for a truly good look at the first of 2015 in Ontario but she is not budging. She may actually have a second working its was out into the world right now. I have attached the camera image of the egg shell before dawn and what little peeks we’ve had so far. Congratulations MEC and great going Midnight. After many battles and male changes, lost clutches, bad weather and bad luck in downtown Brampton, Midnight has hatched her very first egg. Such great news.
April - 2015
I apologize for the lack of recent news and happenings from the Oshawa Lake Ridge hospital nest site, but we have been incredibility busy trying to stay ahead of the peregrines with regards to all of the work that we’re been involved in while out in the field this spring. We have manufactured, delivered and installed three new nest boxes and two new nest trays all in time for the nesting season,, and as you might imagine, its been a very hectic time indeed!
The birds wait for no-one!
Remembering that while we are a Federally chartered Canadian Charity, (a non-profit organization), we are for the most parts, a volunteer run organization, one that receives absolutely no funding or financial support from any form of government, and as such, we are solely dependant on the support of the community through sponsorship support, contributions and tax deductible donations from the private sectors to do what we do.
That being said, in short,, here is a very short update on the Oshawa peregrines,,, - (until we can organize our field notes and get them chronologically posted).
There is renewed territorial activity of the peregrines at the Oshawa Lake Ridge Hospital site, - (although the pair remained territorial on and around the hospital all winter long, and never did migrate)! As such, the CPF manufactured a custom made nest box that was later installed by the hospital staff just in time to catch the peregrines involved in courtship. Copulation between the pair was observed and later, the resident adult male was successful in convincing his mate to use the new nest box! Given the recent observation reports, we believe that the pair have in fact now laid egg(s) and involved in full time incubation of same,,, (in the new nest box)!!! 
Stay tuned for more detailed notes and the full story to follow…..
Dale from Waterloo Region Nature, observed that after the 3rd egg was laid on April 2, Mystery seemed pretty intent on full-time incubation. The fourth egg was laid on Saturday April 4th and full time incubation likely started then. According to Dale’s calculations, the hatch could be around May 7-9 or about 32-35 days after full-time incubation started.
Thanks to our friends at CTV, it will be an exciting time this year to witness the activities in the nest box. Already, the expectant parents have been observed numerous times switching off incubation duties. On April 13th and 15th, Caster was observed taking the afternoon shift. Mystery switched off with him after a few hours at almost the exact same time of day at 3:30. On April 20th & 21st, Mystery was hanging around the Sun Life King Street sign at around 11:30, preening and looking around while Caster was in the nest box and he was on the eggs for at least a couple of hours. Both adults have been hanging about on the Sun Life signs and also have been seen on the King’s Towers media tower. This chilly week, the dutiful parents are keeping those eggs toasty warm!!
As reported by Bruce & Tracy, our resident pair have changed locations again this year! Mark & I were up to check on the roof conditions and to confirm nesting this afternoon. Jenna was brooding and wouldn’t let us have a peek at the eggs, but the window washer(!) told me this morning there were 4 again this year. As Mark first peeked over, Chester was over in a flash to warn us(quite nicely I thought!) not to get too close! I even managed to get a peek in and a couple of pics of our lovely Jenna before I got my warning!! All looks good–as Bruce & Tracy saw incubation activity on the 30th of March, we could be looking at a hatch as early as next Friday May 1st, according to my calculations!! I know I am excited!! I attach a couple of pics–not the best as it got quite dark while we were up there(cold & windy too–anybody else sick of this??)
