September 12, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Sept. 11th - 2012
I’m being told that we will have some very exciting news to report. After a very long time, we will soon have an Etobicoke Sun Life web camera image back up and running with the addition of some very new technologies being added, new partners AND some other very welcomed and long over due nest tray replacement!!
Without saying tooo much and letting the cat out of the bag so to speak, (as we don’t want to jinx the processes), you are all going to be delighted to see what we have in store for the Etobicoke Sun Life Centre peregrines.
Oops, did I say nest cams?
You will have to wait and see. We are waiting for a ride via Skyreach Window cleaning who have one again pledged their support and expertise and agreed to get us to the nest ledge next week to get the jobs done.
In addition to dealing with the web camera’s, we will also be replacing the nest tray and new pea-gravel that is much needed. The old nest tray we installed is has finally starting to rot away,, (well, its been up there since 1997,, as has the old nest camera).
Much of the pea-gravel has been flicked out of the nest tray over the years by the annual scraping of the nest bowl by 15 years of producing adults and many hatchlings doing the same.
This summers visit to the nest ledge to extract the hatchlings for banding showed us that the wood drainage slats in the nest tray are also exposed to the elements due to the depleted pea-gravel and also now rotting away due to the exposure to the moisture over the past 15 years.
Stay tuned for some really exciting news and views out in Etobicoke!!
Posted on September 12, 2012 10:07 pm
September 11, 2012 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Sept. 11th - 2012
Good evening!
I finally managed to capture some pictures of Rhea Mae & Tiago renewing their bond at the scrape this morning! And they did some synchronized preening too!
It was very good to see the happy couple!
All the best…Eileen
Posted on September 12, 2012 9:34 pm
September 11, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Frank Butson Reports:
On Sunday Sept 9th, at the Rosetta McClain Gardens Raptor Watch, Rob Mueller, one of CPF’s volunteers visited me at my raptor watch in Scarborough. As luck had it, a juvenile Peregrine Falcon landed in the park and Rob was able to photograph it. Right away he noticed the yellow tape on the birds US Fish And Wildlife band, so we had a good clue it was a bird that CPF had banded this nesting season. After Rob sent the photo to CPF head office, the ID was confirmed to be BEN from the new ICICI nest at Don Mills and Eglinton.
The CPF volunteers were thrilled to learn Ben is alive and well and looking so handsome. Im sure ICICI staff will be excited to learn of this too!
Thanks to Rob Mueller for the great photos of Ben.
Posted on September 11, 2012 8:46 pm
September 06, 2012 - Stoney Creek
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Bill and I spent some time at the Stoney Creek Site this mornings. We arrived around 11:00 am and we found both birds at home and visible in the communications tower. Dad, Craig 17/Y was sitting at the top totally surrounded by Starlings. He was very busy watching the Starlings but never left his perch. The female was sitting down lower in the tower tucked in behind a beam sleeping.
Posted on September 7, 2012 11:20 am
September 07, 2012 - Toronto - Don Mills
Tracy Simpson Reports:
One of our friends south of the border was watching the Harlequin web camera and caught some wonderful activity at the Duncan Mill Road nest site. Kendal was home at the nest box doing some “housework” and was joined by Quest inside the box for a renewal of their bond. Good catch Donna on the web camera and thank you for sharing!!
Posted on September 7, 2012 10:05 am
September 06, 2012 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Tracy Simpson Reports:
As I was passing through yesterday, I decided to stop at the Burlington Lift Bridge nest site to check up on Cirrus and MacKenzie and see whether any juveniles could be found. The last time I visited the bridge, I was shut out as not a peregrine could be found. I had high hopes that today I would find someone.
At first I scanned the entire bridge and found no birds in sight. Blam goes the horn. A laker is coming through. A crowd of fishermen gathered to watch the ship while I continued to look for peregrines. After much scanning and many “blams” from the laker, I found Cirrus relaxing in the nearest hydro tower on the Hamilton side of the canal. A few more “blams” and the bridge was on its way back down. I watched Cirrus through the noise and movement of the bridge and am amazed at how accepting she is of the activity and sounds. I turned around to check the Skyway for loafing pfals and saw one come across the harbour and swoop up for a landing on the north side of the Skyway. I walked the canal up to the north and looked back up at the bridge. Lo and behold, I found MacK on the only piece of rebar sticking out of the concrete bridge. Sneaky!! I like it!! A great perch to hunt from and hide from the kids!!
I left Cirrus in the tower to continue to digest her rather large crop and MacK on his perch watching the harbour. So nice to see them both.
Posted on September 6, 2012 9:23 am
September 03, 2012 - Toronto - Don Mills
CPF Volunteer Reports:
Seeing as I was at Yellow Pages yesterday, I paid a visit to Harlequin and DVP/Eglinton sites today - not a falcon in sight at DVP - and only Quest at 220 Duncan Mill Road, but got some decent shots of our girl!
Patty
Posted on September 4, 2012 8:36 am
September 03, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday I attended the Mississauga Executive Centre nest site to try, again, to identify our new resident female. I found her sleeping on the west facing “J” in the Desjardins sign and set up to try and get a good view of her. She was in perfect position, the sun was right and I was ready but it wasn’t meant to be. Two osprey came bombing through, one quite low, and that sent her packing to the nest box!! She took off over to the box ready to defend it from all comers. This was a golden opportunity to head upstairs to the monitor and try and get the elusive bottom letter of her band!! The great folks at Garda security sent me upstairs and I perched myself in front of the monitor to watch. She was on camera in the old nest bowl doing some house cleaning and was initially facing the wrong way for me to see the band. When she turned, the bottom of the band was visible and so I snapped as many pictures as I could. Due to the curved surface of the monitor and its inability to process HD images as they are meant to be seen, all of the pictures are not usable for identification. Grrrrrr……
I headed back downstairs to check on her as she was now on the landing platform. I took several good pictures of her but again she is turned the wrong way for identification of her left leg. I swear she knows what I am after and is purposely giving me a hard time. In truth, this site is very difficult for ID’s due to the height of the buildings and the positions in which the birds perch on them. I will continue to work away at it as I was successful in at least acquiring the top letter so far. You can bet that I will have the web camera open often throughout the day today in the hopes of getting lucky on a visual!!
Posted on September 3, 2012 11:26 am
September 03, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
The next stop on my list yesterday was to visit Claire at the Hilton Garden Inn and see whether I could identify for certain the Canadian male that she is bonded with. At first arrival, there wasn’t a bird to be found. I checked out all of her usual haunts and couldn’t find her. At this point, Bruce left for the east end of the city and I stayed on for a little while and checked out the area. Still nothing. As I was leaving and heading down the highway, I could see that a peregrine had just flown in to the Hilton!! I was already committed on my route and so I decided to stop back in on my way to the CPF Raptor Centre.
When I returned to the site, Claire was still in her favorite little corner of the Hilton and had one enormous crop going on. She was quite content to sleep and digest away the afternoon in the cubby hole and so I went on a cruise for her mate. When I reached the alt Hotel, I found him on the eastern side on top of the sign. He was facing the perfect direction for me to get an ID on him so I pulled out the scope and focussed in. He didn’t sit for very long as it was clear that he was looking for dinner. Within a few minutes, he was in the air and headed south on a mission. I can now say with a great degree of confidence that the resident male is black 35 over black Y making him Casper from Etobicoke and another offspring of Milton, our Brampton male, who has gone on to breed. I will continue to try and get photographic confirmation of this yet I am 99% assured that Casper is our man as I have seen both the 3 and the 5 on the band clearly. After about 15 minutes of being absent from the site, Casper returned to the alt Hotel and landed on the southern sign in the sunshine. Again, not staying long as his first hunt was unsuccessful, he was off this time to the east. He was clearly active around the Hilton as a huge flock of starlings that were feeding over there came in a massive cloud over to the parking gargage across from the alt Hotel looking to beat a hasty retreat. As I left, Claire was still hanging on her favorite ledge, Casper was gone from my sights and there was no sign of the single juvenile that the pair successfully raised this year. I will return again soon so check back for more updates!!
Posted on September 3, 2012 10:41 am
September 01, 2012 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Frank Butson Reports:
Its great to get reports throughout the year. They let the community know that we are still watching, keeping an eye on their birds.
Lyn sent along this report to me:
I was out and about on Saturday September 1st and walking east along Eglinton when about three blocks from the intersection I looked up at Canada Square and noticed a *difference* on the balcon wall below the nest ledge. I watched it and the closer I got the more I believed I was seeing a Peregrine. At Duplex I was convinced. The bird had it’s back to the sun and was sitting under the railing. I charged home to pick up the binoculars and returned to find the bird still there ! I watched her for a long while before noticing another Peregrine sitting on the old nest ledge left of the concrete wall.
The Peregrine under the new ledge flew after sitting down on the balcony wall, wings out for a minute or two, then doing the amusing little pigeon-toed run along the wall to the side up against the concrete wall. I finally identified her as Haven. She looked really lovely. When she flew she dipped down from the balcony flapped a couple of times, swung over the black building and up to the ledge beneath the TVO sign on 2180 Yonge.
The Peregrine on the old nest ledge was Stormin. He kept to the shade and preened and scratched off and on the whole time I watched him. But he was not flying in the heat of the day 2:30 to 3:30 pm.
Good to see them in the area.
Lyn
Posted on September 3, 2012 4:52 am
