Canadian Peregrine Foundation

!!! Egg #3 Just Arrived!!

April 13, 2015 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre

Kathy Reports:

Egg #3 has arrived just a few minutes ago for Rhea Mae and Tiago!!!

Saturday April 11th at Holcim

April 12, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I arrived at Avonhead Road in the morning and found Caspian and the young male flying through the centre of the plant.  It was clear that the chases going on were not entirely aggressive nor were they friendly.  It seemed as though they were getting to know each other and setting some boundaries.  Caspian broke away from the aerial chase and landed on the southeast corner of the nest ledge but made no move to enter and cover the eggs.  The male landed on the main building in the plant on the southeast corner.  The pair stared at each other from their respective perches for almost 20 minutes and then the male took off.  All of his flights for the next 10 minutes were around the main building in the plant which he circled half a dozen times before landing again on the top of the structure.  Caspian flew over and landed on the corner of the main building that the male had just left and he began stooping her as she sat.  She didn’t move for quite some time until the male decided to find a perch of his own.  He circled for about 5 minutes and finally landed on a light half way up the tallest stack in the plant.  He stayed there for about 5 minutes and then was off in a stoop to the north.  Caspian followed and the two disappeared from my sight.

Caspian returned to the main plant area but this time to a spot I did not anticipate; the old nest box on the east side of the main building.  She entered the box and vocalized drawing the male in to investigate.  He landed on top of the nest box and the two were vocalizing back and forth for a few minutes.  He was the first to take off and she bolted out of the box in pursuit.  It was an aggressive gesture but she did not make contact, just drove him out.  She flew back and landed on the southeast corner of the main building and he continued to circle, stoop and finally decided to soar above the plant.  And soar he did.  It took him about 10 minutes of soaring and circling but he succeeded in reaching his goal…   …the very top of the tall stack in the heart of the plant.  Just below the opening at the top of the stack is an enormous steel ring (for lack of a better description) and he landed neatly on the top lip of that ring.  Impressive.  He stayed for about 15 minutes and was off again to the main building stooping her on her corner.  He gave up trying to drive her off and into the air and flew over to the Avonhead side of the plant landing on the nest ledge.  Caspian was off like a shot and landed right in front of him.  She aggressively drove him off of the ledge and he disappeared from view.  She stayed on the nest ledge for about 30 minutes before taking off again and at no time did she step back onto the ledge to the eggs.  She flew back over to the old nest box and once again entered.  She stayed for almost 20 minutes; in and scraping then out on the porch roosting.  He didn’t visit her there this time but instead continued his flights around the main structure.  After about 3 hours I left these two to continue to sort things out.

One thing I can say for sure is that in the three hours I was there that Caspian is still on site and I once again confirmed that it was her.  She has abandoned the clutch of four eggs she was incubating, most likely during the intense rainfall we had on Thursday night.  The young immature male is still very much in the territory and I again confirmed his age through plumage.  I am also fully confident that he is the male I saw on April 7^th with a solid black recovery band and yellow tape over his USFW band as I was able to see these features as well.  All of their attention is focused on each other and working out their partnership in the territory.  Several Turkey vultures, Red tailed hawks and one Harrier came right through the plant and drew no attention from either bird; they were fixated on each other.  Bruce Massey will be going down today (Sunday) to continue the observations of the pair and attempt to read the band on the immature male if he comes close enough.

Friday April 10th at Holcim; A Brief Visit

April 10, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I visited the site briefly today to see whether Caspian was about and if the immature male was with her.  When I came down Avonhead Road she was on the corner of the low silos and preening intensely.  It was extremely windy so I set up my scope (she was too close not to try) using my car as a wind block and I was able to confirm that the female is Caspian with a black S over green 40 band.  She stayed out preening the entire time I was there and she kept glancing back at the nest ledge every once in a while.  After about 20 minutes she took off and flew into the heart of the plant where she landed on an exterior light housing that I haven’t seen her use before.  Just as she settled in the immature male came whipping in and dove past her.  She didn’t flinch or react in any way so I don’t see this as an aggressive action by the male; rather more like showing off.  She maintained her position on the top of the light and he flew out to the west.  I left after an hour of observation and at no time did she return to the nest ledge or the eggs.  I will be back down on Saturday to spend as much time as I can and will update you on her situation.  Coupled with the great observations by Armando we will have a good idea of what is going on for the 2015 season soon.

King Street Activity is Amazing!

April 10, 2015 - Toronto - King Street

Tracy Simpson Reports:

This past week has been odd for the pair down at 18 King Street East as the level of activity that we have been watching had slowly been reduced to nothing.  At the beginning of the week, we would see Erin or Stormin briefly on the ledge but they stayed off camera more than on.  Linda Woods was keeping an eye out for them and activity was quite rare.  By mid week, they had dropped off camera altogether and Linda was not seeing them at all in the territory on any of the usual perches and buildings.  Even local residents were wondering where the falcons had gone and why they suddenly became so quiet.  Late in the day Thursday the pair finally made their first on camera appearance in days and with that I decided to go down yesterday and spend some time at the site trying to determine what was going on and confirm identities of the adults.

Well… …wow!!  I was treated to some rather amazing activity.  It started off in the morning with camera image captures of the pair all over the ledge.  I can’t overstate that.  They were in and out of the ledge, down by the camera, back in the scrape and then over at the far end.  At one point the camera caught an image of the pair copulating but we were not quick enough to save it before the next refresh.

I arrived around 10am and found the female on the northern most nest ledge opening looking out and watching the bird activity.  The male was in the air and patrolling back and forth up Yonge Street over by 1 King and the Scotia Tower.  He went back and forth, back and forth and then…   …gone, but not for long.  The male came flying in over Toronto St. where I was watching from and he had food.  The female came off of the nest ledge and met him in the air over Toronto and Court.  He dropped the prey, she inverted and went to grab it but the prey was still very much alive.  Much to her surprise the prey took off up Court Street and in an effort to evade it grabbed a window frame about 7 stories up on the Mercato building.  She pursued, banked and tried to grab it off the building but it took off again this time towards St. James Cathedral.  She gave up and flew back over my head about 30 feet above me and headed for home.  Just spectacular.  It was then that I was able to get her on the ledge and in the scope confirming her identity as Erin with a black B over red D band.  She turned to face out and I could also now clearly see her black dot on the lower right side of her chest clinching the ID.  The male now took off to find something else for her to eat that was more appropriate to catch in an exchange.  He was back and forth again around 1 King, the Scotia Tower, behind the King Edward and over towards the Esplanade.  He stayed airborne for a good 30 minutes and seemed to be just loving the day.  I stayed watching Erin and at one point I watched her turn facing north, she bowed, waited and in zipped the male for copulation number 2.  What was nice to see is that it was her invitation rather than seeing her allowing mating reluctantly.  She may be 17 years old but she figures she’s not done nesting yet.  Off he went again flying, zipping through and soaring.  He came back to the ledge and landed briefly down near the camera and I was able to get him in the scope and confirm that this is Stormin with a solid black 30 over Y band.  Now both adults took off and were in the territory hunting.  They returned to the nest ledge for yet another mating after which Erin remained and Stormin continued to course through the territory.

While they may be behind schedule, it looks like Erin and Stormin are on track for possible eggs in the coming weeks.  They are both looking amazing and are working very hard towards having a family in 2015.  We look forward to more from this pair throughout spring and the possibility of young.

Holcim Observations on Thursday April 9th

April 09, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim

Tracy Simpson Reports:

With all of the changes at the Holcim nest site, I was very concerned about Caspian these past few days and so I have made regular visits each day to check in on her.  On Thursday with the heavy rains and intense weather setting in I came down for about three hours to see if she was maintaining her position on the eggs.  She came off briefly at around 11am and was sitting on the low silos to the east of the nest ledge.  She was there for about 15 minutes calling and looking for her mate Storm and received no response from the young male that I spotted the other day.  She returned to the nest ledge and disappeared into it.  The rain wasn’t at its most intense yet and she appeared to be maintaining her position.  In a perfect scenario, the pair would share the incubation, her doing most of it, giving her a break to eat and dry off.  Right now she is alone and doesn’t have a supportive male.  At noon the immature male arrived and flew through the plant landing on the high silos.  He called her several times but with no response from her.  He took off and flew through the plant again and after 5 minutes he landed on the high silos out of my view.  A few minutes later I caught sight of him off on a hunt and I hoped that if he was successful that he would instinctively think to bring her some food.  He didn’t.  Caspian came off the eggs again at around 12:30pm and went looking for caches on the low silos to the east of the nest ledge.  She found a little something there that she ate and then remained on her perch until 1:30 when she once again returned to the eggs.  I left after about three hours and can say that she has maintained her position on the eggs during my observation period with the exception of one brief perching period and one period out that lasted one hour.  No other bird went into the nest and took her place during that time.  I know that serious weather with heavy rains is moving in through the overnight and she will struggle to stay on those eggs and protect them by herself.  I will check back tomorrow and see how she’s doing.

!!! Kitchener CTV live nest box camera is LIVE!!! Thank you Kitchener CTV!!!

April 10, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower

CPF Postmaster Reports:

Friday April 10th - 2015

We have great news to report!!! The live CTV nest box camera is live!!!

I am delighted to report that I received news today from Jeff at the Kitchener CTV studios that they have the nest box camera producing a live real-time streaming image of the happenings and events from inside the new Kitchener peregrine nest box!!

Look to the below link and select the live peregrine nest camera
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca

As you know, after a huge amount of planning and allot of local support by many, we were able to build and install a new nest box for Kitchener’s resident peregrine falcons. Having to deal with delays in the construction and manufacturing of the nest box itself, with delays in the delivery of the building materials and the unseasonal bitter cold conditions and record setting cold temps that we have been dealing with in Ontario during the month of February, we were all really stressed that we may not have gotten the new nest box funded, built, delivered and installed in time.

But a little luck and cooperation from mother nature with a few milder days allowing us to build and assemble the nest box, arrange to have it transported from Toronto to Kitchener, and finally being able to pick a decent day without the blustery bitter cold winds, the nest box was successfully installed without incident.

And, just in the nick-of-time with the peregrines moving into the new nest box and actually laying their first of four eggs les than a week of the nest box having been installed!!!

Please come back to get more updates as they are available! Enjoy

!!! Another hostile takeover?? Life is never easy, especially for that of a peregrine!

April 10, 2015 - Mississauga - Holcim

CPF Postmaster Reports:

Friday April 10th
Hi everyone, this is what is happening here as of Tuesday morning April 7th.

After we heard about the tragic news of Storm, we wondered what the heck we could do to help insure a successful hatch. So we started really taking a close look at the sky to see if there was a new male active here or Caspian was alone. We did find a male Peregrine on site that looked different than our resident male Stormin. This new male peregrine is indeed much darker on the breast area, so I concluded that it was an immature bird, which made me wonder if that was possible. Well after some close observations and a few decent photos, we can say: yes there is a young male peregrine now on site.

On Thursday April 9th, early in the day, a male peregrine was observed bringing food to the very top elevation above the nest ledge, and a few minutes later, a female peregrine was feeding on it.

Today, Friday April 10th , all that seems to be visible is, one female peregrine, observed chasing the smaller male peregrine, and then he is later observed seen chasing her, while all this time though…no one is sitting on the eggs.

Sadly, I cannot really comment with any certainty about what it going on here other than the indicated observations.
Will update as news develops.
Two pictures attached showing these events.
Armando

!!! Egg #4 for O’Connor and Lucky!

April 10, 2015 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Kathy Reports:

O’Connor hasn’t allowed many peeks today as she’s in full incubation mode but I managed to catch her hovering a little while ago and I can see egg #4 has arrived.  I know it’s hard to tell but on zooming in I could see one egg behind the other three.  It was due today so it’s right on time.

Egg #2 for Rhea Mae and Tiago!

April 10, 2015 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre

Kathy Reports:

About an hour ago I was lucky enough to catch RM off the tray and saw that her second egg had arrived today!

First Egg for Canada Square Arrived Yesterday

April 10, 2015 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Tracy Simpson Reports:

A big thank you to Lynn and Bruce for their efforts down at Canada Square to confirm that the first egg has indeed arrived. Lynn was up checking yesterday and Bruce is on site currently and both were able to see the first egg for this pair but this year  in a new location. When they went upstairs to take a look and check all of the ledges, it would appear that this pair have chosen to use a ledge on the west side down near the south end of Canada Square.  Considering that this is Malik’s first year nesting it is not surprising that the location of the scrape has changed.

When Bruce left the office tower and made his way back down to the street, he witnessed what he believed initially was courtship flights.  It wasn’t long before Bruce was able to see the second male in the territory that the two resident adults were attempting to escort out.  So while we are celebrating the arrival of the first egg there is still much to be done and learned at Canada Square. Bruce will be back down this weekend to try and determine the identities of the resident adults as well as report on the situation involving this second male.