August 12, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Today I stopped in at the Hilton Garden Inn nest site to check up on Claire, her mystery man and her young one. I first went to the alt Hotel where all three birds will roost throughout the day and found Claire on the eastern sign preening. I circled the building and found no other peregrines and so I left for the Hilton which we believe is the actual nest location. When I arrived, I found the juvenile on the south facing Hilton sign and I continued until I could see the northeast corner of the building. There is a ledge just below the roof level that both resident adults use very frequently as a roost spot. It was there that I found the resident male preening. He didn’t stay there long but instead ran down to the eastern edge and sat briefly before taking off. He took off flying due south on a very serious mission followed closely by his juvenile. I moved positions over to the alt hotel and sat watching Claire for a while. It wasn’t long before the adult male came in and landed on the east face of the hotel and was ee-chupping away. The two adults, one on the east side and one on the south, sat preening and relaxing until a wailing juvenile arrived and chased the male right off of his perch. He flew around the building, circled back and headed straight east out of sight. I left Claire and her young one to enjoy the afternoon at alt and the adult male to seek out a quiet place to the east.
Posted on August 15, 2012 12:38 am
August 11, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Bruce Massey Reports:
As I arrived, an adult flew in from southwest and flew to the north of the nest building while vocalizing. Five minute or so later, an adult flew to the DeBeers building followed by a juvenile. The adult headed southwest and toward the Foresters building. The juvenile then met up with the adult and continued over to the Foresters building where they continued to fly about. After continuing around the nest building and getting my truck and going over to Don Mills, I saw a PeFa being stooped by a smaller bird (Probably a AK) to the west of the Foresters building.
As I was driving East on Eglinton and was just about to go under the Don Valley Parkway, a PeFa flew in from the north. As I was driving, I really only got a very quick look and couldn’t tell if it was an adult or juvenile.
Posted on August 15, 2012 12:36 am
August 15, 2012 - Toronto - Don Mills
Bruce Massey Reports:
It would seem that today all of the men were home alone at their respective sites while the females were out and about with the kids. When I arrived at 220 Duncan Mill Road, I circled the nest building and a few others, but only Kendal was home today sitting out front of the landing platform of the nest box. Seems its gents day on duty at both William Osler and Duncan Mill Road!!
Posted on August 15, 2012 12:33 am
August 11, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Bruce Massey Reports:
After spending a portion of the morning at the Hilton Garden Inn nest site, I decided to try my luck at William Osler as the proximity of this nest to the Hilton is quite close. When I arrived, I found Hurricane preening on the eastern “H” sign but there was no sign of the kids or Chessie. Tobi and Ossie have been flying so well, its not surprising that they are out practicing!! It was nice to see Dad was at home manning the fort!!
Posted on August 15, 2012 12:30 am
August 11, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Bruce Massey Reports:
I stopped in on Saturday August 11th to check in on Claire and her family at the Hilton Garden Inn. I started off at the alt Hotel and couldn’t find any peregrines there. I took a walk over to the Hilton Garden Inn, east towards Dixon Rd and back over to the Airport Rd. Hilton and still no luck. In the two hours that I spent looking, I think the birds must have been out on a breakfast hunt!! I will be back to try again soon!!
Posted on August 15, 2012 12:28 am
August 08, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
The past few days I have been attending the Hilton Garden Inn site just off of Viscount Rd in Mississauga to try and identify the adult pair, determine the number of juveniles they have and locate the nest site if possible.
Wednesday August 8th
I arrived on site at approximately 6pm and found Claire, the resident adult female, roosting in her favorite corner of the Hilton Garden Inn. I left her there sleeping while I circled around the neighborhood checking out the alt Hotel, the office towers and another cluster of hotels to the northeast. In all my searches of this local radius I was unable to find either the resident male or the juvenile that I have been seeing back at the Hilton on a regular basis. I came back around to the Hilton Garden Inn and decided to sit tight for the return of Claire’s family as I suspect that this is the nest location. I was not to be disappointed as the resident male flew in and landed on the eastern facing hotel sign and began vocalizing at his female. He ee-chupped and bowed with her joining him for a good 10 minutes on the ledge just beneath the sign. For the most part, he was hidden behind a cross bar that holds the sign in place but for a brief moment. It was in that moment that I was able to see that he has a solid black recovery band on his left leg and a silver USFW on his right making him of Canadian origin! I was determined now to try and see the band but he just wouldn’t sit still enough with his female in attendance. I was able to see a partial ID on him and can say for certain that the bottom letter on his band is a Y. There are two top digits and it is those that I will need to positively identify him.
Check back soon as I will stay on the case!!
Posted on August 15, 2012 12:22 am
August 13, 2012 - Stoney Creek
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Bill and I spent some time in Fruitland this afternoon. We we arrived there was one bird visible in the tower. It must have been Dad because as soon as a few sprinkles of rain started he flew directly into “HIS” drum. The other bird was not to be found.
Posted on August 13, 2012 7:16 pm
August 09, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
I was able to observe one of the girls dozing on the corner of the second tower at Sunlife today. She was there for almost an hour sleeping and then preening. I also saw a good poop shoot before she took off..so I know she’s eating well 
I watched her fly off south and headed to intercept another bird which I couldn’t ID from that far but she was on it at full speed. I watched them both until I lost them in the distant clouds.
I can not say if it was Olympia or Windward..all I can say is that is was definitely female as she was big and very healthy looking!
I did get a glimpse of O’Connor earlier this morning on the way into work, she was perched on the nest box ledge.
Posted on August 9, 2012 2:14 pm
August 07, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday, Bruce Massey and I responded to an observation sent in about a pair of peregrines hanging around on a hotel near the airport on Viscount Road in Mississauga. Bruce arrived first and sure enough had a female peregrine roosting on the west side of the alt Hotel at Viscount Road and the 409 exit. He watched her for a while and was able to ascertain that she was indeed banded but she wasn’t prepared to give up her ID just yet. I arrived around noonish and just before I pulled in, the female took off and disappeared somewhere to the northeast. I met up with Bruce and we chatted with staff of the alt Hotel about the activity that he had been seeing on the building. At the most he had seen three peregrines together that would indicate that this is a nesting pair and they had successfully produced at least on juvenile. After chatting with Marc for a few minutes, we decided to walk in the direction of the female’s travel to the northeast where a cluster of hotels were in close distance along Viscount Rd. As we neared the area, Bruce and I were able to see a peregrine who was now roosting on the Hilton Garden Inn sign and we made our way over to the hotel for a look. When we got there, the bird had left the sign and another peregrine, a confirmed adult, was now on a ledge around the corner sleeping. We walked back over to our vehicles, drove over and got out the scopes for an ID but this bird, the adult female, was now very busy and moving in circles around the hotel. What was keeping her busy was a very loud and determined juvenile!!
The adult female landed back on the northeast corner on the ledge she initially occupied and the juvenile landed on the ledge beneath the sign on the east side. The young one continued to vocalize and ran the ledge over to the adult female who clearly didn’t have any food but the juvie didn’t believe her. She took off over to the hotel next door, the Marriot, and landed on the sign on the west side while the young one just sat in the corner vocalizing on the Hilton. By this time, Bruce had spotted another peregrine back on the alt Hotel and he took off to monitor that one.
At some point between us leaving the Hilton and heading over to the alt Hotel, the birds pulled a switch-er-roo on us and it was now the adult female roosting on a ledge on the east face of the alt. We parked, set up our scopes and honed in on her in the hopes of getting her band number. I must say that the MEC female has me very well trained and I can wait an eternity… …apparently. It was hot and bright but I wasn’t giving in; this adult female would have to cave first and give me the ID!! I was rewarded for my efforts and I am pleased to introduce to you our first successfully nesting Michigan peregrine falcon named Claire banded black rotated S over green rotated B. She was hatched at the Blue Water Bridge nest site in 2009 and get this… …she is daughter of Tonga who was hatched at MEC in 2003!!! This is very exciting news and I look forward to identifying her resident male.
We still don’t have an exact location for a nest site but the Hilton Garden Inn looks rather exciting as a site and I wouldn’t rule out another cluster of hotels to the east at Dixon and Carlingview area. Still, I do believe that we are in the right area and all looks quite perfect for an aerie. I will be back soon to check up on Claire, try to identify her mate and see how their single juvenile is doing.
Posted on August 8, 2012 12:47 am
August 07, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
After being away on vacation for awhile, the first thing I did was check up on our family this morning. Found O’Connor perched on top of the building. Jack was on the opposite side of the building preparing some food on one of the ledges as was evidenced by the shower of feathers streaming down.
Later on in the day during my lunch break, I wasn’t able to find any falcons and was about to head in when I suddenly heard screaming juveniles! I ran around trying to get a visual but no such luck .
At work days end there was no sign of anyone on the usual perches.
Posted on August 7, 2012 6:12 pm
