Canadian Peregrine Foundation

June 21st at Etobicoke Sun Life - Lizzy and Big Frank are Rescued

June 21, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

With all birds flighted and staying high yesterday June 20th, Bruce moved down to the MEC nest site to help monitor a bird that clearly did not have her act together.  After 4 rescues of Ashley at MEC, there was concern that she might come down again regardless of the numerous health checks that she passed with flying colours.  I was at William Osler with four young ones ready to go and so today’s watch at Etobicoke Sun Life was handed over to the amazing watchers Kathy, Baylie, Rob and Angie with support from the local community.  In the early morning, Kathy started the shift before work with a head count and was alerted by a local resident that a young one was in a flower garden at the Kingsway on the Park.  Kathy immediately ran over and found Big Frank on the sidewalk below the flower bed looking good but confused.  She scooped him up completing her first solo rescue.  Excellent job Kathy!!  With little Big Frank now in security cooling off, Kathy returned to the watch post.  With all of the juveniles now flying, the challenge was to identify who was who and complete head counts.  Not easy when they’re in and out and all over the place.  Kathy finished her spot check of the morning with all three birds accounted for and headed to work.  In the early afternoon, Mark Nash received a “Peregrine 911” call from the security at Etobicoke Sun Life that a falcon has been reported in distress on the mezzanine level between the Center and East towers.  It would appear that one of the juveniles had flown after Kathy left and had struck the center tower.  I was called by Mark and we immediately put the rescue team into action.  I called Bruce at MEC and dispatched him immediately to the site.  I then called Rob and Angie who were at a grocery check-out before their shift check and asked how close they were.  Angie immediately told Rob to drop her in the driveway and bolt!  Rob reached the Sun Life building first and called me.  I sent him in to security who then took him up to the mezzanine level.  It was Lizzy.  She hadn’t been there long as she was right outside the Goodlife Fitness and was noticed quickly by a member who alerted security.  I had Rob call me once he had eyes on her and describe what he was seeing.  She had clearly struck the building but was alert and responsive.  She was hot, spreading her wings out and appeared to be injured.  I walked Rob through what he was to do as this was his first rescue and he pulled it off like a pro.  Congratulations Rob on a job well done!!  Lizzy was now safely in the air conditioning in security and Bruce had now arrived.  The first thing we always do with an injured bird that is safely contained and stable is allow them to calm.  I know that sounds counterintuitive but in reality, they need to calm down first as stress alone could do so much more damage especially in such a high strung species.  Bruce quickly assessed both birds with a visual check looking for signs of bleeding and consciousness as well as assessing their breathing and posture.  Little Big Frank checked out, Lizzy was semi-standing but she was definitely stable and alert.  He then allowed them time to calm and cool.  While little Big Frank smelled a bit off as he had spent some time in the gardens of Kingsway, he was otherwise good to go.  Lizzy on the other hand was definitely injured and the calls went out to set the next path of action.  We contacted our avian and raptor specialist Dr. Markus Luckwaldt of the Greenwood Park Animal Hospital to arrange for Lizzy to attend.  As it was now late in the evening it was recommended that, given her current stable condition, that she be brought the following morning which would give her further opportunity to settle and calm in preparation for the exam.  She was to be monitored throughout the night to ensure that her condition remained stable.  Bruce released little Big Frank to the rooftop of the nest building and then took Lizzy to Mark and Marion Nash who took over her care and monitoring through the evening and overnight.  Mark and Marion then coordinated with Dr. Markus Luckwaldt to take her to the clinic for her exam in the morning.  At the close of the evening, Lizzy was calm and quiet, alert and responsive, cooled down and under full observation and care with Mark and Marion.  Good job everyone and many thanks for your quick actions to save little Big Frank and Lizzy today.  First and foremost, a huge thank you to the security team at Etobicoke Sun Life for their quick action alerting us to her condition and location.  You folks are amazing!!  We would also like to thank our volunteers for the fantastic job of rescuing these two today especially Kathy, Rob, Angie, Bruce, Mark and Marion.  What a team!!        

June 29th at William Osler - Yellow Missing and Then Found

June 29, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I started off the morning at William Osler watching as little Blue was really getting his act together flying.  He was following Hurricane as he travelled off site, flying to the north tower and trying out some new moves.  Red was catching up quickly to the skill level of her brother Blue but staying a little closer to home.  She did make a few forays to the south tower but beyond that, stayed close to home base.  What I found a little odd is that she also spent time on the east side of the low Medical Center roof looking towards the residential area behind the hospital.  White was quite content to fly from roof to ledge, ledge to “H” sign and then back to the roof again.  She did take one flight out to the east tower and landed like a pro before joining her sister on the Medical Center roof.  What were they looking at?  Blue eventually joined them and I now had all three on the same roof.  Ok.  What’s up.  I circled the hospital several times looking for Yellow but he was nowhere to be found.  Then the light bulb went on in my head.  It’s him they’re watching just as they had before when he ended up on the residential roof.  Hurricane and Chessie were both in the east tower looking down and to the north, Blue was now on the north tower looking back towards his parents and the two girls were on the east side of the Medical Center.  They had him, but I didn’t.  I searched the berm, the tower, the residential rooftops, the trees and everywhere else that was bordered by the family.  They had him contained, but where? Chessie took off to the hospital, circled back and made a low stoop of a set of trees on the berm.  Ok.  There somewhere.  But my search was not fruitful.  I called Bruce over from MEC to assist me as the eye infection I was sporting was making it incredibly difficult to see.  I needed his eyes, literally!!  Bruce arrived and we did a slow walk again around the area that the family seemed to be interested in and still no luck.  We decided to sit down on the berm and await a sign, a movement or anything that would reveal his location.  I went inside to get us some water and as I was headed in I said to Bruce, “Just you watch.  He’ll be sitting right above our heads in this willow.”  When I came back Bruce was grinning, almost laughing at my approach.  It would seem my statement was more prophetic than I thought as little Yellow was fully concealed in a short willow tree 10 feet to our left.  While I was gone he moved away from the trunk a foot into Bruce’s sightlines and bingo, we had him.  Due to the slope of the berm and tightness of the branches we could not even conceive of a rescue.  We waited for him to either extricate himself to the air or the ground.  To our surprise, he made his way to an opening and took flight.  He flew low over the emergency parking, gained elevation and landed on the low mechanical roof to the south.  Out and up!!  Great!  He took several more flights that Bruce monitored as I raced down to MEC to help locate a missing Ashley.  He took his final flight to the low roof of the Medical Center where he was greeted by his family.  He spent the night there resting up for his next big adventure tomorrow.

June 29th - Day 18 of MEC Watch

June 29, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Bruce Massey Reports:

Wait what? Day 18 of the MEC watch? I must be dreaming! I pinch myself but still it is a reality.  After Ashley extricated herself from the low tree at MEC 1 and crossed Hurontario St., we decided that the watch needed to be opened again until she was home and high up.  I took the watch for Tracy as she was now at William Osler with three inexperienced kids in the air and one working on it.  I checked the Accenture building which was her last known location and was unable to find her.  Katherine arrived at 8am to help locate Ashley and after searching the buildings on the west side of Hurontario, we found her on the low overhang of the CIBC building.  There she stayed for quite some time and I was joined by Margaret at my watch point shortly after 9am and Ashley was quite happy to stay where she was.  Cass brought in a pigeon that she tried to tease her daughter off with but it was not working.  She wanted her to fly for it and Ashley felt that her current location was the best eating ledge around.  Cass finally gave in and delivered the pigeon to Ashley who chowed down quite happily.  I received a call from Tracy that one of her juveniles was missing and that she had his location pegged but needed a hand (and a working set of eyes) to find him.  At this, Margaret took over watching Ashley while I headed out to Osler to assist.

Ashley filled herself to satisfaction with lunch and reluctantly left her pigeon for some shade on the ledge.  She flumped down for a nap and spent much of the afternoon there.  As Margaret was packing up to go at 4pm, Ashley’s snoring could still be loudly heard and she texted the last known location to us all.  Katherine arrived at around 6:30pm and checked the overhang where Ashley was last seen.  She could not see her, only a large dark bird on its back whose wing was flapping up with the winds.  Not having a good angle to see it was confusing as to what bird this was. As Tracy and I had located her missing young one, she headed down to give Katherine a hand at locating Ashley.  Was this dark bird on its back her?  Tracy arrived and having the benefit of a spotting scope, took a really good look at the bird on the CIBC ledge.  It was the remains of Ashley’s pigeon that she had left behind.  Phew!  Now to find Ash.  They searched everywhere.  They looked on every roof and ledge, under every rock and bush and found nothing.  Consequently, they also couldn’t find Cass either.  Tracy was joined by Shannon and Adam and after an extensive search until dusk they convened at the back of MEC 3 to formulate a plan for the following day.  Ashley was not on the ground.  Ashley was not in our view.  Cass was most likely either with her or near to her.  It was decided that by morning she would either become visible to our watchful eyes or the parents would reveal her location.  And so we wait.

June 20th Report - Etobicoke Sun Life

June 20, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Bruce Massey Reports:

0510 Hrs. Opened Watch for Day.

0600 Hrs. Layton making several good strong flights.

0615 Hrs. All Heck breaks loose, Jack in from W, Layton In Air, OC in to butcher                          block w/ food to be prepped.  As she flies off w/ food she attempts In Air food Transfer w/ Layton.  Layton successful but has trouble w/ weight of bird.  Both OC & Jack in 80  degree dive Eventually she drops it to the street below, Layton goes out of sight, OC  lands on Street light. The Pigeon ended up in the middle of Bloor St.  Being afraid that Layton or OC would attempt to retrieve it I picked it up and removed it.  I later found Layton up on the W Condo @ Roof level.

0825 Hrs.  All 3 “Outside” Juves accounted for.  There was some flying on and off of the NL. but 1 remained on ledge who I thought was Lizzie (Yellow).

1100 Hrs.   Single bird on ledge showed me “color” and it turned out to be Shania (Red). At some time in the morning Lizzie had fledged, and I had thought it was Shania.

1800 Hrs.  Jack Back , Flew in and interacted with each of his Offspring.

1900 Hrs.   Frank made 1st confirmed flight, fairly strong to W side of E condo. 

1955 Hrs.   All 4 Juves accounted For.

2010 Hrs.   Closed down Watch for night, Heading to MEC to assist Tracy with a release.

2100 Hrs.  At MEC assisting with Ashley’s release.

2145 Hrs.  Left MEC.

June 19th Report - Etobicoke Sun Life

June 19, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Bruce Massey Reports:

0515 Hrs.- Opened Watch for the Morning.

0625 Hrs.- Big Frank  Fledged, flew N between Center Building & NB back around to the E. and landed on the

                  W side of the E Condo 3 Stories below roof.  It appeared that he landed on a screen window. He briefly

                   balanced on the Window Ledge and flew back to the NB, did a fairly hard “Face Plant” on the NB,

                   8-9 Floors below the  Nest.  This put him going in a downward direction, he  flew south over Bloor and

                   back to a Balcony (W/ Pigeon  Netting) and got hung up and even ending upside down 5-10 sec.  He

                   self released himself an just missed a landing on the Bell building by about 6 in.   As he fluttered to the

                   grass and I picked him up.  He was accessed and put in Rescue Carrier.  He will be released in the

                   evening.

1115 Hrs.  Thought I had a 2nd Fledge while I was in checking on Big Frank (Cannot repeat conversation (His) as

                   this is a Family Web site.)

1230 Hrs.  Turned out Lizzie hadn’t fledged, just hiding out in the  Blind NL corners. Not even visible from 2

                  blocks S.

1500 Hrs.  Shania did a good long flight out to the W. “helped” by her sister Layton.  As they flew out over the

                  Islington Station, Shania called it quits, and Layton broke off and was content to to buzz her as she

                  landed on the Glass Condo on the SW corner of Bloor & Islington.

 1700 Hrs.  All 5 “Outside”  birds accounted For.

 1930 Hrs.  Shania returned to the NL the “Hard Way” by attempting & missing a landing on top of the NL 

                   Camera.

 2200 Hrs.  Big Frank successfully released to the Roof of NB.

 2215 Hrs. Shut down watch for Night.

Back at a Computer - June 18th Report for Etobicoke Sun Life

June 18, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Bruce Massey Reports:

I am finally back at a computer to get the updates done for the Etobicoke Sun Life fledge watch.  Thank you to everyone for their patience but as mentioned in other posts, we are short handed this year and my focus has been in the field helping dawn to dusk and there was no time in between to post.  With full time watches now becoming spot checks there’s a great deal to tell and the updates will be coming fast and furious.  Here we go!

Viewer reoprts

July 10, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

Have seen the three falcons many times together over the past couple of weeks.
Right this second they are on the roof of 2180 Yonge street snacking on a pigeon

Sandra

kids off exploring the world

July 09, 2013 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton

Marion Nash Reports:

I was out for a couple of hours today and only saw one juvie who I believe to be Imagine. I took a number of photographs and THINK I saw a blue band.
I also had a fleeting glimpse of Haven as she flew over Canada Square then south on Yonge behind 2180 Yonge before returning up Duplex with a pigeon well ahead of her and flying for its life. Haven cut across the bus bays and disappeared on the east side of Rio-Can

June 28th Report - Quick Check In

June 28, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler

Tracy Simpson Reports:

We are finally getting caught up as the watches are winding down to spot checks.  Here come the updates!! 

June 28th

I wasn’t able to spend a great deal of time at the site today as I was needed for a “Peregrine 911” at the Mississauga Executive Centre but made a point of stopping in for a head count.  When I arrived it was late in the afternoon and I literally had enough time to count and go.  I circled the hospital a few times before I could get eyes on all of the youngsters with certainty as Blue and Red are now leaving the property and following the parents on their forays.  As important as this is for them to learn the fine art of hunting, I`m sure it created some challenges for the adults as the kids followed them screaming as they went.  No chance of a stealthy approach there!  I found Hurricane in his favourite spot in the tower, front and centre looking the proud father while Chessie was somewhere out of view.  Two of the young ones were on the northeast corner of the nest ledge napping away while one female was on a rooftop antenna and one male on the retaining wall of the roof at the west end.  All was calm and quite during my brief visit and I will be back to check on the family tomorrow.

June 28th Report - Ashley Down, Treed and Freed

June 28, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

This morning when Katherine arrived, she did her morning check on Ashley before going into work and found her on the south ledge of building three. All seemed to be calm and well in Ashley’s world as was typical for this young girl these days. All that changed by 9 AM when our head office received a “Downed Bird 911″ phone call from MEC security at building four that Ashley was down and on the sidewalk. I was called and dispatched to the site and on route I contacted Katherine and Shannon to see if anyone was available to go out and take look. In the interim security had gone and retrieved the rescue carrier from building one and made their way back to where Ashley sat on the sidewalk.  The minute she laid eyes on that carrier she ran. She was not intending to go in that thing yet again. She took flight low over the building four parking lot to the east and landed on a residential roof four stories above the ground.  Katherine and I met over at building four and spoke with security about Ashley’s whereabouts. From his desk in the lobby looking out the window he could clearly see her sitting on the residential roof and pointed her out to us. She was high and certainly dry, for now.  She sat up on that roof, a little confused about how she got there but none the worse for wear. She spent the rest of the day running, flapping and preening on top of the residential housing to the east of building four. I stayed for the better part of the day and monitored her from the upper elevation parking lot behind building four until about 4 o’clock. It was at this point that I needed to leave the site for about an hour and Katherine came out to assist. When I returned to relieve Katherine, Ashley was still in the same position and had enjoyed several rain showers throughout the day. She was currently tidying up after her most recent shower and stretching the evening away when I was joined by Shannon and Adam later on to help continue the watch on Ashley until she made her next flight. But alas she did nothing. Stayed right where she was and so the evening hours for the most part were uneventful. It was at this that Shannon and Adam took their leave. They hadn’t been gone long. I knew it was coming. Ashley took that flight that was intended to get her home.  If close counted in a juvenile peregrines flight then Ashley did an awesome job. She made it within feet of the nest building. Unfortunately she was about 20 stories below her intended target. I found her sitting comfortably in an evergreen tree right outside of the front entrance of the nest building. There she sat trying to figure out what her next move was going to be. She looked up at the buildings and you can see the look on her face,” Boy, that looks so high from here “.  She didn’t move for a long time and it was almost dusk. I thought for sure she might stay in that tree for the night but oh no Ashley had other plans. She took flight from the tree, flew low over my head and across the street towards building two. She continued to fly low towards the back parking lot of building two and then banked right. My heart stopped. She was now out over Hurontario Street somewhere and she was low. I raced to the back of two with security following me and we scanned the horizon looking for her and to my surprise she was sitting on the rooftop of the Accenture building. She made it, good girl. There she stayed for the night and I quickly texted off her last known location to all of our watchers.  My grateful thanks go out to the fast acting Garda security staff who were amazing at identifying Ashley and contacting us right away about her situation.  Many thanks also go out to Katherine and Shannon for reacting quickly to Ashley’s situation, making sure that she was okay and helping me to monitor through the day. Excellent job everyone, but it’s not over yet.