April 04, 2015 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday Rob and I met up at the William Osler nest site to check on Chessie and were pleased to find that Hurricane has returned from migration. He was sitting in the hydro tower just east of the nest ledge calling softly to her which drew her in to the territory. At one point both adults were in the tower enjoying the day and talking back and forth to one another. There were a lot of back and forth visits to the nest tray that ended with Chessie front and centre in the tower. Hurricane then pulled off a spectacular flight around the girders of the tower to fly in for copulation before going on a lunch run. Welcome home Hurricane! I will be back to check for the first egg very soon.
Posted on April 4, 2015 10:33 am
April 04, 2015 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday Bruce Massey was out at the Yellow Pages nest site and found both of the adults at home… …with company. A third bird, identified as a female, briefly entered the territory and was fully escorted out by the pair. The resident adults quickly returned and copulated on the nest building cementing their bond and intent. Although Bruce was unable to confirm band numbers yesterday he was able to see that the female was wearing a black over green recovery band with a silver USFW which is consistent with Linn. He will continue to work on confirming identities this week.
Posted on April 4, 2015 9:00 am
April 04, 2015 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Tracy Simpson Reports:
For the past week Bruce Massey and I have been visiting the Amexon site to determine what the pair have been up to. We were able to confirm the identity of both adults; the unbanded female named Jenna and the banded male named Chester who is solid black 95 over Y (Canada Square hatch from 2011).
Both adults have been focusing all of their attention on the north facing ledge of the DeBeers building at 250 Ferrand with only one bird in view at a time. One bird in… …other bird out. The bird that enters this ledge then disappears to the back and remains there until relieved by the other. This behaviour was observed on Monday March 30th and we believe that they are possibly fully incubating a clutch. Last year the pair used this building but were nesting on the east facing ledge. This season they seemed to have changed things up and are trying something new.
Posted on April 4, 2015 8:53 am
April 04, 2015 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
Laid overnight under the cover of darkness! This morning there is an egg in the nest tray!
Posted on April 4, 2015 6:51 am
April 03, 2015 - Toronto - Don Mills
Marion Nash Reports:
On March 23rd I snapped a shot of 2 eggs in the box and another shot today still only 2 eggs
Happy Easter
Posted on April 3, 2015 12:53 pm
March 31, 2015 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:
On Monday Mar. 30th at 6:30 am I turned on the monitor at work & and was pleased to observe one perfect looking egg in the scrape. However, only to discourage us this year as they have the past 5 years I witnessed at about 10:00 am the resident female broke & consumed the egg. This egg couldn’t have been much more than 24 hours old.
Posted on March 31, 2015 8:42 pm
March 31, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
CPF Postmaster Reports:
March 31st- 2015
While we are still waiting to see if CTV and Bell Media will be hooking the live camera up to the internet so we can get a live feed or link to display to you, local observation reports are suggesting that full time incubation MAY have actually started?? If that is in fact the case,,, we could start the countdown to an anticipated hatch date,, which would be 33 to 35 days from when the female actually started her full-time incubation duties.
Remembering that the eggs are laid approx. every other day. This gives the pair time to copulate and fertilize, and then gives the female enough time to actually produce an egg, ( then actually lay it). It takes allot of resources from the females to actually produce and lay an egg, especially that of a peregrine falcon as their huge demands for calcium that makes up most of the mineral content of the egg shell itself. Unlike other birds, peregrines get all of their calcium from the actual bones of the other birds that they eat, and as such calcium is always at a premium!
The female peregrine will only do part-time incubation during the usual egg laying period (which typically last a week for 4 to 5 eggs to be produced and laid). This part-time incubation is just enough from preventing the eggs from cooling tooo much or from freezing, and typically under normal conditions, the female will not start her “full time” incubation until the second last egg is laid, (regardless of the amount of eggs that she actually ends up laying).
This type of normal incubation routine has the eggs all hatchling at approx. the same time (given the actual time it takes for her to lay the first egg to the last egg), as that could be more than a week apart depending on the amount of eggs that she actually produces.
The only time we would see the females go down into full time incubation sooner (or full time cooking as we say), is if the whether, (in particular) colder temperatures persist and there is a risk of cooling or freezing the eggs,, then the female will be forced to start her full time incubation right away - from that point on. When the female is forced to start her full time incubation early on in her egg production, this is where we see a much wider spread of hatching and the age of the chicks will very dramatically from the oldest to the youngest.
This makes for a challenging time for the peregrine adults to raise their young given how quickly they grow and fledge.
Stay tuned………
Posted on March 31, 2015 11:51 am
March 30, 2015 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Mark Nash Reports:
March 30th - 2015
I was out to the Bloor & Islington nest site in Etobicoke this morning to provide some protection to the inspector while he inspected the anchoring system on the davits for the swing stage.
Last week, the same inspector attempted to access the upper roof area of the east tower in an effort to attempt the same inspection, but O’Connor and her new mate would have nothing of it, and aggressively stooped and went after both the guys while on the upper roof elevation.
Its egg production time for the pair, and we all know how a perceived threat “above and behind” a peregrine is dealt with, especially at this particular time when hormones are raging due to the breeding season in full swing for peregrines here in southern Ontario.
The good news, is that we all managed to get on and off the roof without being noticed this time! Later, back at ground level, I see how we managed to slip on and off the upper roof area without the peregrines noticing us. With the blustery winds howling at the upper roof elevation and with both of the peregrines being on the nest ledge, (well below us),, being quiet and staying away from the roofs edge obviously gave us a huge advantage.
Finger crossed, the pair will settle in to some serious egg production!
Although not the best picture, (taken with a camera phone from the street level), you can see both peregrines on the nest ledge, (one on the nest tray and other on the nest camera).
Stay tuned…………….
Posted on March 31, 2015 3:40 am
March 30, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Mark Nash Reports:
March 30th - 2015
I guess it would be an understatement to suggest that we got the new nest box installed just in time? I think by viewing the peregrines actions of late, that they BOTH like the new nest box!!
Wow, I think we have a very active full fledged occupied nest site!
CTV Video clip - http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=581432
Stay tuned……………..
Posted on March 31, 2015 2:36 am
March 29, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
CPF Volunteer Reports:
March 29th - 2015
Good morning All!
I have yet to back to the nest site but should today at some point. It was apparently on the news last evening with a video clip that our little lady has laid one egg…I missed the clip myself and can’t find anything on the CTV Kitchener new site…just wanted you to know if you don’t already 
Seems we may have been just in time.
Karen
***Also, a clear photo of the un-banded female’s lets. Great shot Karen!!
***Found the CTV video clip - http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=580585
CTV Kitchener video screen shot - 1st egg - CTV Kitchener
Posted on March 31, 2015 2:25 am
