affordwatches

Some house cleaning and chilling out at home.

August 07, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

CPF Postmaster Reports:

Aug 7th - 2013
Just a quick peek in at the Etobicoke Sun life Centre nest ledge at Bloor & Islington this afternoon catches the resident adult female, O’Connor at home today on the nest ledge involved in some nest tray cleaning and hanging out in some much needed piece and quiet after a long summer of family rearing.

For several hours we watched O’Connor move the gravel around in the nest tray and later taking the opportunity to catch some zzzzz’s. While the fledglings can now be called juveniles, as they are now hunting and killing their own food part of the time now, O’Connor at least can take some time to relax at home.

Jack on the other hand, is still very busy floating between the two nest sites and his two families and can only be seen part time at each nest location as he splits his time between the two locations.


It’s tough sometimes being a peregrine! Nobody likes you!

August 05, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower

Lisa Reh Reports:

On August 5th,

Kelly and John Schiedel reported that: “We were sitting in our high rise condo on Willow St. in Waterloo this morning, when on the next building, we noticed a juvenile Peregrine being harassed by a very brave Robin. The Robin flew all about the Peregrine, chirping loudly and getting in its face. When the Robin left, we saw that the falcon was mid-meal - looked like a white pigeon that it was ripping apart. At that point, 2 adult Crows appeared on the scene, followed by their 4 young. The adult Crows flew all around the Peregrine, who followed their progress by swiveling its head. Meanwhile the young crows perched atop the building, watching intently. After several fly-pasts, the crow family left, and the Peregrine made a very short flight to another part of the building, settling in on a ledge close to the wall, finally hunkering down into a rest mode. The juvenile Peregrine had the largest bulging crop we had ever seen on a bird - looks like he made quite a meal of it. One of our watchers reported a yellow band on one leg and a green on the other - though the yellow band might have just been the yellow claw of the bird being eaten.

The juvie actually stayed resting on the ledge for about 3 hours after its feed- it appeared to be sleeping, closing its eyes for a bit, and then opening them to gaze around, then closing them again. We did not see it fly away, which is too bad, as I wanted to see whether it flew to the tv station or the Sun Life building. I took a picture of the peregrine eating its meal, but not a very clear one, unfortunately.

Our daughter and son in law live in Thunder Bay and have been watching a family of peregrines who have nested on the mountain behind their home- we compare sightings…
You are welcome to share our information and to post it to the nest site.

John and Kelly Schiedel


!!! We have lift-off

August 04, 2013 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill

Doug Garbutt Reports:

I’m happy to report that sometime between 3pm yesterday & 1pm today Eve had a successfull fledge. She was high on the fire escape when I arrived today. Way up on the 11th floor. She was really squawking. Shortly after I got there, Mom did a couple of fly-bys with a food package. On her second pass, Eve took off after her. Her take off & flight skills looked pretty good. I did not see her land though. Mom rewarded her with the meal. I was lucky enough to get a couple of pics before she took off with Mom.


Eve on Fire Escape Let's try out the wings

Hunting Lessons

August 01, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

On Wednesday July 31 I was outside at the Yonge-Eglinton intersection and noticed the Yonge/Eglinton pigeon flock going crazy.

They swooped up and down, mostly down and low over the CIBC building. I waited. Then I spotted Stormin setting them to flight. He was ummmm hunting, sort of. There was no determination in the chase. He appeared to be just alarming the pigeons. I wondered at the time if he was showing a juvenile how to hunt but saw no juvenile around.

Thursday, August 1, I was out again, same place and saw the pigeons undergoing the same *exercise*. They flew in a flock, low over the CIBC building, through the intersection, towards the Bell building and then back to the building next to the CIBC on Yonge street. I saw Stormin again creating this havoc. This time I also saw a juvie joining in the chase.

Stormin was not flying with speed. I think he was simply setting the pigeons to flight so that the juvie could make an attempt on a flying pigeon. The pigeons were low, just above the CIBC roof and in some cases below that level when on Yonge street so I do not think it possible for the youngster who was chasing them to make a successful catch. There was no speed at all. The youngster was simply chasing the pigeons.

Eventually Stormin stopped harassing the pigeons, circled over the Yonge/Eglinton and then flew off. The juvenile who was by this time just following dad settled on the Rio-Can building, squawking its protest.

Might this have been a *hunting lesson* from Stormin??
Lyn

Yes Lyn this sounds like hunting 101 for the youngsters. How to get the pigeons flying in order to catch them.
Marion

!!! Quest at home chilling out in her nest box.

August 02, 2013 - Toronto - Don Mills

CPF Postmaster Reports:

Aug 2nd - 2013
A quick check in at the Duncan Mills nest site found Quest chilling out in her nest box where we watched her for over an hour preening and catching some quiet time in her nest box. The two fledglings are still very visible although not sticking as close to home these days as they investigate their new world no that they are fully flighted. We are still seeing Carina and Luna around meal times as they are still looking to Quest for food handouts, despite the fact that they are both chasing, catching and now killing their own food, (at least part of the time).

Despite the fact that Kendal is still in rehab and not around, Quest is doing an outstanding job in dealing with the situation and single parenting.


!!! Still watching

August 02, 2013 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge

Dennis Patrick Reports:

This is an email we received from Marlise, Thank You to all of the team members that took over for us this year. They are doing a great job and we are very happy to know that the Peregrines are still in good eyes and hands.

Greetings all from Marliese, Paul and Marilyn.  
 In case you are curious:  some of us are still hanging out at the bridge,  usually between 7 and 8 pm. Paul is the most faithful observer. He reports that Voltaire and Freddie can be seen most nights, but the youngsters are sporadic. We usually do spot at least one. We think they may have found another nightime resting place. But we have seen all three of them in the last week, and they do seem to be bringing their own food, although there is still occasional ‘feed me’ screeching.

!!! Eve is ready to go!!!

July 31, 2013 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill

Doug Garbutt Reports:

During the last two weeks, whenever I have been able to view Eve in the nest box she has always looked lazy & not too energenic. Normally we see juvies at this age very active.I think that because I can only view her on my lunch break for about 10 minutes that I could be missing the whole picture. I was actually worried about her health as she would just be laying around. Yesterday & today are a whole different story. Eve was scwacking and excercising her wings like she was ready to take off. At one point, I thought she was going to go but she had second thoughts and decided to wait. Mom & Dad are trying to coax her to fledge by not bringing dinner & doing some teasing fly-bys but Eve is so far staying tight in the nest box. I’ll be surprised if she does not fledge tommorow. Stay tuned!!!

!!! Quest has a new suitor!

July 30, 2013 - Toronto - Don Mills

Marion Nash Reports:

CPF volunteer Bruce Massey has been keeping an eye on the family to make sure Quest is managing to keep up with the needs of her kids without Kendal and has discovered today that Quest has a new suitor.

Bruce was able to confirm by the band number, recorded as being Black 50 over X that the new male has been identified as being a bird named Skye, who was produced at the Etobicoke Bloor and Islington nest in 2011 and is on site courting her.

We are still not sure whether Kendal will ever recover well enough to be released back to the wild but we certainly never expected him to be replaced so soon.

We will be keeping an eye on the site to make sure that this years offspring are doing ok and will keep you posted on how they are doing and on possibility of a new romance in the making.

Stay tuned………

!!! Kendal Update

July 29, 2013 - Toronto - Don Mills

CPF Postmaster Reports:

July 29th - 2013

We have just received an update on Kendal as of July 29th-2013

Kendal’s doing fine as of date. Both eating well and holding his weight and still receiving medication for pain management and to prevent Aspergillosis (not uncommon in captivity if peregrines are under stress). He still has the wing wrap on, and he’ll have it on for a minimum of 3 weeks.

Kendal is being housed in a room by himself to minimize stress and keep things as quiet as possible for him.

!!! All 3 in sight today

July 25, 2013 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge

Dennis Patrick Reports:

We stopped by the Bridge this afternoon, at first very quiet and then very loud. All three of the kids were flying very high in the sky, Hercules landed on the main beam, Freddie landed on his favorite spot. Voltaire and the other two kids flew away. It was good to see all five of the Peregrine Family once again. The blue tape was very visible on Hercules.