Canadian Peregrine Foundation

Two Chicks Confirmed in Waterloo

May 11, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower

Tracy Simpson Reports:

Bruce and I headed out to the Waterloo territory to confirm or deny my observation of a hatch on May 7^th at the CTV studio where Statler and Caster had chosen to nest in the communications drum on the tower.  When we arrived, Statler was in the drum and looking like a muffin top.  Based on photographs and observation that I had made previously from the same watch location, I could confirm without doubt that she was elevated and not lying flat in the base of the drum.  Caster was sitting above her on the center drum arm and was sleeping the day away.  The weather was cold and crisp so Bruce and I were in for a good ole fashioned sit in.  For an hour and a half neither of the adults moved much.  Caster stayed on the center arm of the drum and Statler, although sleeping, shifted and shuffled a great deal.  Several times she re-arranged her position but it was always with wings low and small movements.  She was not revealing a thing.  By 3:30pm, Caster moved to the top of the drum and then finally took off to the north and out of view.  Statler continued to sleep in her elevated position and again was not willing to share what she hid beneath her.  At about 4pm, Caster came whipping up King St. with food and Statler waddled to the front of the drum.  She took off over King and met Caster in the air for a most incredible food drop!  She caught the prey and flew up to the top of the drum to prepare it.  All this time Bruce and I were on that drum and not so much as sneezing as this was our chance, our one opportunity to see whether the news was true.  As the drum environment began to cool, we caught movement in the back.  First one, then another began to move and we could clearly count two little heads moving in search of Mommy and her warm belly.  It was a full 10 minutes before Statler returned to the drum and began to feed the two visible chicks in turn.  I snapped as many pictures as I could but from the high school it can be really difficult to catch the detail of the feeding.  Caster had since landed on the top of the drum and was watching closely as his offspring were being delicately cared for.  As the feeding finished, Statler consumed the remaining prey and snuggled back down on top of her brood.  This is when Caster began to alarm.

We scanned the sky for what caught Caster’s attention and at first we couldn’t see a thing.  Then out of nowhere, in comes a large and dark bird circling.  This was most definitely another falcon and a female at that.  Caster met her out in the air above the hospital as she was circling closer and closer to his family and it was a no holds barred battle between the two.  Caster eventually escorted this female by force out of the territory and to the west.  But she came back.  Within minutes they were once again locked in battle with Caster being the aggressor.  He smacked, dove and flashed talons at her in a complete defensive rage.  This time the two battled out to the east and Caster saw her out of range before returning.  Five minutes later, she was back again!  This time Caster was out of patience and went absolutely ballistic on her.  Full stoops and full contact was all we could see from Caster as he let loose on this intruder that threatened his newly hatched family.  She was again escorted out to the west and this time did not return.  But Caster was wired and was not spent yet.  A Harrier came loping through to the north of the tower and he took out all of his angst on this bird who was now beating a most hasty retreat, one that we haven’t seen in a long time!  Caster was on fire and this bird knew it.  It was amazing to watch this little male doing what he just did with two birds that were much larger by comparison.  He did an awesome job!

So, we have a hatch.  This is conclusive and without doubt.  The amazing staff at Waterloo Sun Life and the local community watchers have already mobilized and the resident pair has the full support of the people who adore them.  Congratulations Waterloo on your miraculous hatch!!

 Pictures will follow very shortly as they are edited.  Check back soon!!

To Hatch or Not to Hatch in Waterloo

May 07, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I was in the Waterloo area delivering Project School Visit to elementary school children and knowing that this was around the expected hatch date, if there was to be one,  I decided to take my lunch hour down by the CTV tower and monitor the activity in the drum.  As I watched, Statler stayed very close by and didn’t wander much beyond the tower itself.  She stayed mainly on the top of the drum and slept and moved only once to the railings above and once to the top of the tower where she continued to roost and preen.  Caster was clearly inside the drum and was now in an elevated position with his back and head now visible.  During the hour that I spent there he shifted, shuffled and wiggled about which had me believing that a hatch had either occurred or was imminent.  The all too familiar “razorback” position of the feathers down his spine was also visible and so putting all of these factors together, I considered that this pair had succeeded in doing the “next to impossible” in their chosen environment; eggs were hatching.  Statler eventually flew off of the top of the tower and entered the drum to relieve Caster of his duties.  She took up the same position as he did which was elevated above the base and with that telltale razorback spine.  Before I could share the definitive fact of this news I needed to confirm this with observations of chicks, spent shells or a feeding and so I planned to come back to the site and do just that.  The potential for a failed nest still existed as I was only going on my gut feeling and my 14 years of experience doing this.  Even with all of my experience and knowing what I was seeing, I still needed complete confirmation as in this particular case I was not going to report a “maybe”.  This was a unique situation and confirmation of a hatch would mobilize an entire community (no pressure).  I then decided to attend the site again in 5 days or so, when chicks if they were to be had would be able to sit upright for periods of time that would give me the look I needed.  More waiting…   …phew!

Statler and Caster Trying Something Different

March 24, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower

Tracy Simpson Reports:

Bruce and I attended the Waterloo Sun Life nest site on March 24^th to determine where the adults were located and whether nesting this year was on their minds.  We had several reports of sightings of the pair in the area and also in downtown Kitchener hunting throughout the winter.  When we arrived, we parked across from Sun Life and started our scan and walkabout.  We circled the building and checked all of the known areas for activity but none was apparent.  We could also see that the critical work that began in the off season that needed to be undertaken to safely upgrade the Sun Life building was almost complete and they were doing an excellent job moving that forward as quickly as possible.  We checked out the nest box for signs of an incubating bird but were unable to see into the depths and so we started to wander south towards the hospital for a better view.  As we walked we saw a peregrine on the communications tower at CTV, an often used perch by the resident pair, and we stopped to scan and identify male or female.  It was Statler and she was not alone for long.  Caster flew in from the south and mated with her; the pair being very vocal about this fact.  Caster then flew off of the mating perch and made a sharp turn that ended with him landing on the south side of the tower.  He was gone from view.  I suspected that he had entered the communications drum that Bruce and I had noticed when we were driving in that was missing a cover.  We walked up to CTV and sure enough, there was Caster on the center post inside the drum.  Statler by this time had flown off of the CTV tower and was now on a low antenna on the roof of the studio.  I snapped several pictures of both adults and was able to confirm their identities as the resident pair.  Statler stayed on the antenna for about 15 minutes and then flew off and into the communications drum.  We could see debris flying about as she was scraping out a bowl in the liner of the drum.  We moved back towards the high school for a better look and not only was she scraping, she was now lying down on the liner.  It was clear to us that she already had an egg she was attending to and based on the pictures I took of her, there was another on the way.  As much as we didn’t want the pair to nest in this drum it was already too late.  We have experienced this with many of the pairs that we work to monitor in southern Ontario in that they will have seasons in which they alter ledges on a building or sometimes a change of structure altogether but in the end they always return to what is familiar and what supports their success best and that is their nest tray, nest box or ideally suited and chosen ledge.  What was absolute was that the pair has an affinity for the territory and they intend to maintain their hold upon it.  As this communications tower was not an ideal nesting site and we could see the water dripping from the saturated environment, the likelihood of hatching viable eggs in the drum was scant.  The only thing at this point that could be done was to wait and watch.  If a hatch occurred it would be miraculous and if they were unsuccessful, a return to their nest box at Sun Life and the hopes of a re-clutch remained high in our minds.  Now we wait.

MEC Youngsters Getting Huge!!

May 20, 2013 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

CPF Volunteer Reports:

I was able to capture a few images of the MEC chicks during a feeding on Monday and their full crop ”drop and nap” afterwards.

Brantford Peregrines; Blink and They’re Gone, But Not Far!

May 18, 2013 - International, National and Local News

Bruce Massey Reports:

As a part of our ADM mill tour, Tracy and I decided to stop in at the Grace Anglican Church in Brantford for a check in on Skye and Rosie, our most recently discovered young pair.  The day we first located them, with huge thanks to a report from an alert resident of the area, their activity was centered around the Grace church and the commercial core near the river.  When we arrived we didn’t see either bird and so we retraced the path of our last visit across Wellington, down to the river and back up to the Grace church.  We looked everywhere and not a talon could be seen.  That’s not to say they aren’t there.  The last time that we attended Brantford the pair was mating on the church, Skye fed Rosie there and we believe they could be nesting somewhere that we have yet to discover.  We jokingly talked about the pair hiding somewhere and laughing at us as we scoured the area for hours looking for signs of them.  They were probably hiding in plain sight!  The pair certainly are very interested in the area and were quite comfortable last visit as evidenced by the bath that Skye took in the river.  We expect that they are still in town and we will continue to keep an eye out for them.

Buffalo Bill Back at ADM

May 18, 2013 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill

Tracy Simpson Reports:

Bruce and I headed out to the Port Colborne area to check up on Buffalo Bill and Trillium who we last saw at the Robin Hood mill 4km to the north up the canal.  It appeared that the pair may in fact try to reclutch in a vent on the canal side of the mill and there was much evidence of whitewash indicating they were here most often.  This was all due in part to the visit by a juvenile coming into her sub adult year that we believe was Lucky Seven based on her band configuration and tape colours.  When we arrived in Port Colborne, we headed to the Robin Hood mill first and all was very quite, too quite for nesting peregrines.  We checked the vents and overhangs very carefully and could not locate Trillium or Buffalo Bill.  We decided to head down to the ADM mill and see if we could locate the pair there.  After scanning the buildings and marina, we located Buffalo Bill on the gridwork of the main building roosting.  He sat for quite some time and we decided to wait him out as we were coming into the “witching hour” when peregrines look for the last food of the day.  We weren’t disappointed as Bill came off of the tower and stooped low over the canal.  He returned to the gridwork shortly with talons empty.  After a brief rest, he was off again.  This time he went out over the lake and out of our view.  He returned in 5 minutes without food for the second time.  Suddenly Bruce says, “Here he comes!” and he wasn’t kidding!  Bill came right over our heads fairly low and on a mission.  He flew past the marina towards town and went into a spectacular stoop behind some distant trees.  We waited for his return but after 40 minutes he was still absent.  Success!!  We are sure he was chowing down somewhere and so we left for the drive hack to the Raptor Centre.  With the observations of new eggs that Doug has posted, this all makes sense.  Bill was onsite for an hour and a half and staying very close to the main building.  Hopefully Buffalo Bill and Trillium can now enjoy a bit more privacy and we will eagerly await the potential hatch of young.  A huge thank you to Doug and the ADM team for keeping a sharp eye on their pair and being such awesome hosts.

The pictures aren’t great as Bill caught me by surprise but I have added a couple of him whipping through.

!!! Here we go again

May 21, 2013 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill

Doug Garbutt Reports:

I would like to report that our resident female is sitting on 3 new eggs. Hopefully all goes well this time.

A Very Noisy Morning

May 21, 2013 - Burlington - Lift Bridge

Sue McCreadie Reports:

Today was the first banding day in Ontario.  Given some changes to the protocol at the Lift Bridge, things were handled a little differently today.  At about 9:30 this morning Clare from the Lift Bridge accompanied Mark Nash from CPF to the nest box in the tower.  The board was placed across the opening and the little ones extracted.  They were brought to the garage in the parking lot for banding.  Anne Yagi and her assistant Karine Beriault from the Ministry of Natural Resources did the honors.  I’m really happy to report that we have 4 very healthy and VERY noisy baby peregrines.  The noise in the garage was unbelievable.  Cirrus and McKenzie did not take too kindly to being separated from the kids.  Within minutes of the young being put back into the nest box Cirrus was there to check on them and to inspect their new jewelry. 

The details are as follows:

Lancaster:  Male - 702 grams - 25 days old - black band 90/Y with yellow tape

Isabelle:  Female 974 grams - 25 days old - black band S/26 with red tape

Sarah: Female - 1014 grams - 26 days old - banded band S/27 with green tape

Hadfield:  Female - 987 grams - 26 days old - black band S/28 with blue tape

Many thanks to Ann and Karine from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Lee Chan, Clare, John and Todd from PWGSC for their assistance today.

Photos will follow shortly.

!!! !All is well here!

May 21, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Kathy Reports:

Sightings of Jack have been scarce the past week at both sites; perhaps he was dealing with intruders but we’ve been seeing him even less frequently than usual and that’s saying something! 

Today he decided to put my mind at ease and just showed up about 20 minutes ago with food which he took to the front ledge to prepare.  O’Connor was on top of the building keeping her eye on the window washer on the condo.  After watching feathers fly for a few minutes, Jack flew to the nest ledge - and O’connor met him there and a food exchange was witnessed. 

She started feeding the kids and Jack flew up to where O’connor had been perched to keep his eye on the condo.  I was told Jack has 3 eggs at his other site, due for hatch likely next weekend.  So all is well for another day!

!!! First full View

May 20, 2013 - Toronto - King Street

Linda Woods Reports:

The young ones are out for a walk today, finally get to see them.