Canadian Peregrine Foundation

!!! Down on eggs!

April 14, 2013 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge

Dennis Patrick Reports:

Sunday April 14th - 2013
We thought we would let you know what we were down to the bridge on Sunday, April 14th around 6:30 P.M., Voltaire was sitting on the Church Steeple and Freddy was in the nest box. 7:25 P.M. Voltaire flew off the Steeple and into the nest box while Freddie then flew onto the beam. At 7:45 P.M. Freddie flew back onto the Church Steeple, things seemed to quiet down so we left. No sign of food from either of the parents. When Freddie and Voltaire were in the nest box they were lying very flat. Eggs? I hope so.
Gwen & Dennis

!!! Egg #3 for Madame X and Surge!!

April 23, 2013 - Hamilton - Sheraton Hotel

Kathy Reports:

Congratulations on Egg 3!!  Captured by Beth over at BCAW at 9:03 am this morning!

Thunder and Dougal Going Strong in London.

April 19, 2013 - London - TD Tower

Tracy Simpson Reports:

Last week I attended the London TD Tower nest site to check in on Thunder and Dougal and the progress they are making towards nesting this year.  At first when I arrived on Wellington, I couldn’t see a bird anywhere.  After just a few minutes, in comes Dougal to the south corner of the ledge where I often found him last year.  He roosted and preened for a while and kept looking into the nest tray.  Finally, with one last look, he took to the air and was off like a shot to the west over my head.  Out of the tray comes Thunder and she is on a mission in the same direction as well.  Thunder circled back towards the nest building and disappeared behind the building to the east.  I caught her swoop up so she must of landed there and Dougal was now above me circling.  All of a sudden he is joined by a third falcon, a male, and the two boys get into an aerial brawl.  It didn’t last long and Dougal returned to the territory looking for his girl.  He found her on the east side of the building and the pair did some tandem flying before Thunder flew back up and into the nest tray.

I will be back this week on my way home from Sarnia to check in on the pair and attempt to discern whether they have eggs this year.  Thanks to the London City Centre for once again being such a great host!

!!! First Egg for Jack & TR Mom - Finally!

April 21, 2013 - Greater Toronto - Private Residential 1

Kathy Reports:

Due to outside work on the building, Jack’s other site is much later this year with egg laying.   I’ve just gotten word tonight that TR Mom has laid her first egg today!

!!! !!Egg #2 for Madame X and Surge!!

April 20, 2013 - Hamilton - Sheraton Hotel

Kathy Reports:

It’s been hard to get a glimpse under the falcons due to the change from warm to cold winter like weather the past 12 hours or so but Joyce at Rfalcon and Hanny at BCAW both managed to capture her with her 2 eggs!

It’s wonderful to see Madame X at 14 years of age still going strong.

All’s Quiet at ICICI

April 16, 2013 - International, National and Local News

CPF Volunteer Reports:

I stopped in on my way through a few days ago for a quick check in on Chester and his female.  Not a bird in sight but lots of evidence of their presence.  White wash and food remains are around the area and it looks like the ledge of choice is the east facing corner of the ICICI building.  We will keep you updated as we are quite sure that the female is incubating an undisclosed number of eggs.

North York Pair Update; No Eggs Yet

April 16, 2013 - North York - Nest

Bruce Massey Reports:

I have been watching this pair for the past week very closely and it is clear that they have not laid eggs as of yet.  While they continue to use the Trans America, RBC and Invesco buildings regularly and are present daily in the territory, I am seeing both birds at the same time for extended periods.  I will keep a watch on these two for signs of nesting and which building they choose should eggs begin to be produced.

Peter and His Lady in the Old Nest Working Things Out

April 16, 2013 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station

Bruce Massey Reports:

Recently I reported that the nesting pair at the Hearn Generating Station were incubating at least one egg on the rooftop of the structure.  This report was supported by the photographs taken by Tracy Simpson and the observations of the female’s behaviour on the roof.  After the cold, slushy and wet weather moved through a week ago, the female has since abandoned her egg on the roof and Peter, the resident male, was able to convince her that the old nest ledge offered more cover and protection from the elements.

This past weekend, Tracy and I were back down to Hearn again to check up on their progress.  When we arrived, the female was in the old nest ledge and clearly incubating.  From both the scope view and photographs, we could see that there was one egg lying outside of her wing unprotected and at least one egg if not two underneath her.  She remained incubating for the first few hours of our observation period and made only a few feeble attempts to get the visible egg in underneath her.  She is very, very nervous about something in behind her and it is most likely a piece of metal or other object that is moving in the winds.  The entire time she was incubating, she was looking back into the ledge 75% of the time.  Peter…  …well he did what he does best, chased stuff!

Peter has matured into an incredible male and is so much like his father, Surge!!  He is a fearless defender of his realm and is doing an excellent job!  On Saturday, his “hit” list included two Red Tailed hawks and a Canada goose that tried to take him on!  All three birds escaped unscathed but not without learning a valuable lesson in territory.  Late in the afternoon, Peter arrived with much vocalization to the west of the nest ledge indicating that he brought lunch.  The female emerged from the nest ledge and Peter took over right away and pulled out all the stops to try and get the “front” egg closest to the edge underneath him.  It took him several tries but he was finally able to make the arrangement work and he finally had at least two eggs safely tucked away.  He lay there incubating and watching all the stuff he felt he should be chasing.  He would alarm call and chup for her to come back so that he could do just that but she wasn’t coming back until she was full, fluffed and folded!  She preened away on the top of the building for a good 30 minutes and then was off on a hunt to the north.  Just as we were about to leave, Peter couldn’t take it anymore and he was out and on the attack.  A Red Tailed hawk landed on a pole to the east of the nest and Peter didn’t dive at him…  …oh no… …he went straight at him!  This not only shocked us but the hawk as well.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen one jump so high so fast!!  The female watched from her perch on the roof and Peter, once done, returned to the eggs as it was still his turn.

Tracy went down on Tuesday for a follow up visit and found no one in the ledge at all.  At first this was a little disquieting as she expected someone to at least be visible somewhere.  After 10 minutes, both Peter and the female returned to the nest site; Peter swooping up to the ledge and the female landing on the buildings to the west.  Peter sat above the eggs on the beam and called to her to take charge of their care.  She was reluctant to move and was quite happy to sit up top and roost.  Peter then entered the nest ledge and took over incubation for a brief period and then he was out and off…  …chasing stuff.  This time he was well up into some higher altitudes and was addressing another falcon!  Photographs taken reveal that this appeared to be a juvenile female ( now a subadult ) that was coming way too close for Peter’s comfort.  While he didn’t make an attempt to full on attack the female, he did escort her out of the airspace.  The female followed Peter and then flew out of view to the south before returning just a moment later to the nest ledge.  She entered and settled down on top of the scrape and once again, the “front” egg was outside of her wing.  Watching her turning in the scrape you could clearly see that there was some difficulty for her in moving around as there was a few things that were restricting her movement.  This may be why the ”front” egg is so hard for her to attend to.  By the time Tracy left, the female had managed to wiggle herself forward enough to cover all of her eggs and was settled in for the night.  A local watcher who has been very regular at the site stopped by and suggested that we give this unbanded female an official name.  With thanks to our supporters for the suggestion, the Hearn female’s new official name is Angela!

We will continue to update you on the progress of Peter and Angela as incubation continues.  All photos by Tracy Simpson.

Milton and Midnight Continue to Incubate in Brampton

April 16, 2013 - Brampton - Courthouse

CPF Postmaster Reports:

We would first like to thank all of the watchers that have been keeping an eye on the pair in Brampton and their progress.  Toivo and Winston are an invaluable part of the Brampton watch team as well as Bruce and Tracy making forays to help out on weekends.  Both Toivo and Winston have been watching Milton spending time not only at the George St. condo with Midnight, who is currently incubating an unknown count of eggs, but also monitoring his activities at the Brampton Courthouse as well.

Over the past several weeks, Milton has been spotted on a regular basis at the Brampton Courthouse investigating the old nest ledge on the southwest corner of the building.  He has not been alone!  Both Toivo and Winston witnessed him at first hanging about with an unbanded adult and then later with an unbanded female juvenile from last year ( now a subadult ).  During the past week, the frequency of these sightings have been less but it looked as though Milton might try to run a second nest with another female.  A recent check of the ledge did not reveal eggs or an incubating adult and so, for the moment, it looks as though Milton’s nesting attention and energy is focussed downtown.

At George St., all of our watchers have been seeing both Midnight and Milton but for the most part it has been the male who has been out and about.  Midnight is clearly incubating something on her chosen ledge and changeovers have been seen between the adults highlighting the fact that they do indeed have something that they are attending to. 

Thanks to all who have contributed to the monitoring of the pair and we will keep you updated as to the progress that they are making.

!!! !!First Egg Hamilton!!

April 17, 2013 - Hamilton - Sheraton Hotel

Kathy Reports:

Thanks to Hanny over at BCAW who alerted us to Madame X and Surge’s first egg, laid shortly before 11:00 am today and she got this great view of Madame and her egg at 11:02!