12:55 on the corner of the West Tower!! In spite of the fact it is minus 16c with the wind chill, things are heating up here in Etobicoke!
February 15th 2013 Good news was received this morning from Donna in that both Quest and Kendal were observed back in the nest box again this morning. While a short visit, it appears that the love birds are still very much around and hanging close to the nest box. While the weather continues to be colder and there is plenty of snow events predicted in the long range forecast, there appears to be an abundance of renewed activity that is being observed at most of our southern Ontario urban nest sites. Toronto, Scarborough, Don Mills, Etobicoke, Mississauga, North York, Burlington and Brampton are all reporting seeing their peregrines active on either the area buildings and/or on nest ledges themselves. Stay tuned……..
Tuesday Feb. 12th - 2013
A huge thank you to Andrew for sending in this photo of a peregrine falcon that he caught on camera just after the lunch hour enjoying a freshly caught pigeon.
The photo was taken on Tuesday 12th Feb. 2013 just after 1.00pm in the car park of the mall at the intersection of Innes Rd and Blair Rd (just outside the Sushi Kan restaurant).
I saw it land having just caught it’s lunch, but did not see it take off again so unfortunately don’t know which direction it flew. I’m in that area quite often so I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled, it’s an impressive sight, that’s for sure!
Enjoy
Regards
Andrew
February 14th - 2013
A quick view of the MEC web camera this morning caught one of the resident peregrines in the nest box today doing some spring maintenance and bowl scraping. We’re not quite sure “who” was actually in the next box this morning, but there is obviously activity and interest!
Stay tuned…….
As any tiercel with two mates will tell you, you have to start early if you want to stay on track. True to form and almost to the same date that I first started observing courtship behaviours last year - today Jack was in fine form.
First he caught a nice fat pigeon for her to dine on. It was a big one too and he was flying quite low due to it’s weight - it just took my breath away to see him so close above me! He flew all the way down the road with O’connor cheering him on excitedly and flying after him..in case he dropped it no doubt 
He landed on the glass condos down the street - which is not his usual place but given the size of the prey I’m thinking he needed the runway to gain altitude. He then proceeded to prepare it and after indulging a bit himself brought it over to the center tower for O’connor to dine on.
I also witnessed some fancy flying earlier and both were in the nest box chit chatting at one point. Let’s hope for a trouble free courtship this year!
Yesterday, February 5th, Bill visited the Lift Bridge. As he walked towards the Pier from the Beach Parking Lot, Mom was sitting on the very bottom beam of the Hamilton Hydro Tower. She was looking directly down at him chirping. I guess she was sitting there digesting lunch as her crop was full.
Today, February 6th, we dropped by again. It was cool -6 degrees, but both were visible sunning themselves. Dad was mostly sitting on the old nest ledge and Mom was sitting on the corner of the nest box. They both took to the air, getting the pigeons up and moving. When they returned, Mom went to the nest box and Dad followed mating with her. Spring is in the air at the Lift Bridge!
O’connor is currently basking in the sunshine on her favorite perch and Jack is busy preparing breakfast on ledge 2. That has pretty much been the routine the past few weeks with these two.
It’s been pretty calm and peaceful lately, let’s hope it stays that way!
I took a moment yesterday to swing past both the William Osler Hospital nest site and the Hilton Garden Inn hoping to catch sight of a peregrine. At the hospital, there were none to be seen and so I headed straight for the Garden Inn. When I arrived I did my usual check of the alt Hotel and Caroga Drive hotels but not a bird to be found. As I made a second pass, I found an adult female on an antenna at the Hostopia building that is bordered by Viscount Rd on the east and Airport Rd on the west. This building is one of three where the resident adults are periodically seen and today this female was all over it. I pulled in for some pictures and a confirmation of who this bird was and it was indeed Chessie. There was no sign of Claire, the resident female up until recently, and there was no resistance to Chessie’s presence in the territory. Casper was not in sight but Chessie was nonetheless sticking tight to the Hostopia building. Again today, her head was swivelling madly about as she checked the airport, then the Hilton Garden Inn, the airport, Garden Inn… This went on for quite some time and then like a shot, she was off and flying on a mission towards the 427 highway. I drove around with the hopes of seeing her and as I travelled along Fasken Drive and was about to go under the highway to the other side, a raptor approached from the south. The bird landed on the light standard by the bridge and I quickly pulled over. A juvenile RT hawk. I was snapping a few pictures when a feathered bullet whipped past the hawk and scared the feathers right off of it. While I managed to photograph the hawks reaction, Chessie was moving through way too fast to be in focus! She didn’t make any serious attack on the bird but it moved along anyways. Chessie then flew back to the Hostopia building and remained on the corner as I left. She made some good and strong flights today and looked excellent in the air even though she was not relaxed at all. I did not see Casper but I will continue to monitor things at these sites as spring approaches.
I stopped in at the William Osler Hospital site to see if I could locate either Chessie or Casper in the area. When I arrived I found a peregrine on the southeast corner and after checking with my scope, confirmed that it was Casper. I left and headed down to the Hilton Garden Inn to look for activity but had no luck. I returned back to the hospital and found that Casper had now moved to the tower but was still in the territory. No sign of Chessie at either site.
It would seem that King Street wasn’t the only site enjoying the morning sun. I checked the camera and Rhea Mae was also enjoying the warmth on the ledge and taking some time to preen.
