August 01, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday I attended the Mississauga Executive Centre nest site to confirm the resident adults identities. When I arrived, I found the adult female on the northeast corner of MEC 2 digesting a rather large crop. I was able to confirm right away that this female has a purple USFW band on her right leg and a black over green recovery band on her left. She is the new resident female at the MEC site and this is her domain. My next challenge was to try and read her recovery band and put a name to a face. I left MEC 2 for a higher elevation and sat watching her for several hours. She remained on her perch at MEC 2 and Sante, the unbanded resident male, spent the entire time over at the nest building to the side of the nest box. Periodically, she would look my way to see what I was up to but was undisturbed that I had gained some altitude. Occasionally she would whine at Sante but stayed unmoved from her perch. I stayed until I felt like I’d blown a retina staring at her through the scope but not once did she give me even a hint of who she is. Every time she stretched her recovery band forward, she would immediately bend down to preen her leg feathers and obscure the view. By 8:45pm, I left the resident adults to their evening preen and headed off north on Hurontario to see if I could catch a glimpse of the adult female hanging around at the Eglinton condo complex. I was able to confirm the other day that she is in fact a different female with a black over red recovery band on her left leg. I took a quick swing by the condos for a fast look but was unable to find her in the maze of ledges that each building contains.
From there I headed further north to Brittania Rd and Hurontario…. …but that’s another story!!!
Posted on August 2, 2012 12:39 am
August 01, 2012 - Bowmanville - St Mary's Cement
Tracy Simpson Reports:
These observations were made back in the spring and were not posted until now as we did not have a nest page for St. Mary’s Cement. With the nest page now up and ready, we will be catching you up on all of the latest news regarding the pair of peregrines nesting here. All of the observations that follow were written at the time they were made and are therefore a little dated but no less important. Enjoy!!
In the early spring, I had the pleasure of delivering our Project School Visit program to children in the Bowmanville area and decided one day, on my way back, to stop in at the St. Mary’s Cement location to talk to them about their peregrines. A pair of peregrine falcons has nested at this location for at least 5 years now but they had chosen to nest in an inaccessible location that we could not monitor or approach. I stopped in to see how the pair was doing and whether they were still in that location. When I arrived, I immediately caught sight of the resident female who was roosting on a section of the plant located next to their administrative offices. I went inside to find out more!
I met with the Environmental Manager for St. Mary’s Cement, Rueben Plaza, and we had a fantastic discussion about the location and success of their peregrines. For several years they had celebrated the production of young up until last year when at least one clutch of eggs failed to hatch. They started off 2012 with a clutch of four eggs and again, a lack of success. Rueben and his staff were concerned about the birds and he remarked that just recently the pair had changed locations and were now attempting another clutch. They are currently incubating an undisclosed number of eggs and, talons crossed, the pair will indeed hatch their eggs during this second round.
We discussed the possibility of a nest box and where one might be placed that would be a perfect location for the birds. It looked as though there were two potentially good locations and Rueben was very excited about the idea of a nest box installation. Thanks go out to St. Mary’s Cement staff for doing an outstanding job looking after their peregrines to date and we look forward to helping them achieve future success at the plant!
More to come…
Posted on August 1, 2012 5:37 pm
July 30, 2012 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 30th - 2012
We havea family of Merlin’s in our neighbourhood in Transcona, Winnipeg, MB.
I think there are 2 juveniles.
I’ve attached several photos of a juvenile that has several times rested on a birdhouse next door.
Taken by: Judy Collins - Transcona, Winnipeg, MB - July 30, 2012
Judy Collins
Posted on July 31, 2012 12:13 pm
July 30, 2012 - London - TD Tower
Marion Nash Reports:
Today Mark Nash and Tracy Simpson identified the resident adult female Peregrine at St. Mary’s Cement as Buffy an offspring of George and Colypso hatched in May 2000 in London at the Canada Trust Tower, she was banded July 6th 2000 at 45 days old.
Buffy and her mate produced at least 1 chick this year story and photos to follow.
Posted on July 30, 2012 5:51 pm
July 30, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Our last stop yesterday ended up at the Mississauga Executive Centre site to check up on the resident male, Sante, and the new female that arrived a few months ago. She has so far eluded identification by even the sharpest eyes and the most powerful scopes we could carry. I have oodles of pictures of her and her black over green recovery band but the identifying numbers and letters are still a mystery.
When we arrived, we found Sante on the northern side of the nest building tucked back in on one of the ledges. Bruce took off walking north and I walked the perimeters of MEC 2, 3 and 4 but to no avail. No sign of the new female on site. As I came back around MEC 3, I looked for Sante and he was already gone. Bruce and I stayed for a while but neither adult returned so we decided to head north to the Hurontario and Eglinton area where we last saw Janet, the sole surviving juvenile. Last time that Bruce and I found her, she was well flighted and holding her own against this new female with help from the resident male. Bruce and I both felt that, from our subsequent observations, that Sante had taken her offsite to continue with her training as the adult male would regularly disappear from the site, taking off with a purpose even though he was already full of food. We have yet to ascertain just exactly where that is but it would seem that she changes locations within a 5km radius of the nest building but always keeps her distance, never crossing that imaginary territorial line drawn by the new female.
Up at Hurontario and Eglinton, I drove the neighborhood searching for any sign of a peregrine. I checked all of the buildings as best I could given that there is a large cluster of condos in that area with lots of great nooks and crannies. At just after 4pm, we still had no sign and so Bruce left for the day. I continued to search; lo and behold, I found an adult female! She was perched on a railing of a maintenance catwalk about 25 stories up on one of the western condos in the cluster. I pulled out the scope to confirm her identity and… …wait a minute… …this female was banded black over red!! I watched her for the next 4 hours and her behaviour was quite odd. She was acting like a silly juvenile at times which leads me to believe she is quite young, possibly 2 or 3 years old given her full adult colors. I must have rubbed my eyes and shaken my head a dozen times watching this bird and doubting what I was seeing. Alas, facts are facts and this was indeed a different female to the one currently holding fast at MEC. I raced back to MEC 1 to see if I could find an adult at the site… …no one. I drove around the back of MEC 4 and scoped the buildings, then the area. I found an adult female hunting off of the comm. tower on top of the Kaneff building on the south side of Burnhamthorpe. I could not see from that distance if she was banded so I tried to position myself somewhere within the residential neighborhood to the south for a confirmation look. I was unable, in the fading light, to confirm anything other than that this was an adult female.
I headed back to MEC and again was unable to locate an adult on any of the buildings. With the injury to the unbanded resident female back in May, this territory has been unsettled. It remains to be seen who the resident female will be here and I will be back every chance that I get until it is sorted out.
Posted on July 30, 2012 12:45 pm
July 30, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
The next stop Bruce and I made on the west end tour yesterday was at the Etobicoke Sun Life nest site to check in on O’Connor, Jack and their three fledglings. When we arrived, we found O’Connor on top of the webcam enjoying the peace and quiet of the afternoon. We searched all three towers but to no avail as Euro, Olympia and Windward were out and about. There was also no sign of Jack but I don’t think that O’Connor minded. She happily snoozed away during the high heat of the day without any screamie kids to disturb her.
I recently posted that I was successful in seeing both Windward and Olympia at home and was hoping to catch sight of Euro today who I am sure is out exploring and honing his skills. I will be back again to try and catch sight of the family when they are all home.
Posted on July 30, 2012 11:36 am
July 30, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday was a great day for west end nest site rounds and so I was off to visit with Hurricane, Chessie and the two fledglings at William Osler. I was joined by Bruce Massey for the afternoon and we decided to meet at the site. He beat me there and found the two young ones and an adult on the north side of the hospital not really doing much. When I pulled in, that’s when all the action started!! Chessie flew off and came into the nest ledge much to the chagrin of Ossie and Tobi. They wanted to know where she was going and what she had and screamed hoping they would get something out of it. Chessie had other things on her mind as her mate, Hurricane, flew in moments later with food for her. The two adults entered the nest tray with lots of chupping and bonding talk. Hurricane stayed with her in the tray for a few minutes and then left to the hydro tower for a nap. Chessie remained in the tray to eat her gift and do some housekeeping in the tray. The two juveniles were still on the north side; Tobi on the sign and Ossie on the northwest corner. Tobi took off of the sign and joined her sibling on the retaining wall but the pair didn’t stay long.
The first off was Ossie, soaring in lazy circles above the hospital. His circles began to get wider and higher as he explored the use of thermals. At one point I lost sight of him and asked Bruce if he still had him. Yup, up in the clouds. I asked where and Bruce told me he was in the big one. I looked and found a little, dark dot soaring in front of a huge fluffy cloud. Ossie was so high up, he was a DOT!!! He just kept going higher and higher until he disappeared BEHIND a low cloud. My first thought was, “Get down from there before you hurt yourself!!”. Bruce laughed at me and we then watched Tobi launch herself into the air. She did the same as her brother (she copies everything he does), starting out with low lazy circles and eventually soaring with him at a ridiculous elevation where all I could see was TWO DOTS. The two juvenile peregrine dots now soared over towards the Woodbine Racetrack and out of our sights.
What can I say. The kids at William Osler are doing very well. The flight display they put on today was incredible-stupendous-fantastic-amazing-are you kidding me!! They young ones here still have so much to learn from their parents about being a peregrine but they are definately learning very quickly!!
Posted on July 30, 2012 11:23 am
July 28, 2012 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 28 - 2012
7:45-9:45am - Junior on perch tallest parapet visible from park st corner - sqwaking alot - he’s hungry - Caster flew in around 9:00 onto the top perch to the right of the large bank of windows union st side with breakfast- SOBFBPITA swooped around to the same ledge and took the kill from Caster and flew onto the roof with it
3:30pm - Junior on king st side perch - 6 turkey vultures in the area - 1 flew in the no fly zone on king st
7:45-9:00pm - Caster on union st side tallest parapet - could hear jr squawking for about 1/2 hour
8:30 - Caster flew out around union st side out to us directly overhead and back to the building 2x - did this circle over out heads - maybe he recognizes us- a few minutes later Caster took a hunting flight over to hospital and dove at a bird who luckily escaped his clutches - Caster unfortunately, landed empty handed on the ctv tower - a cormorant flew around us and landed on the other ctv tower
9:00 - Junior took a flight from union side to king st and landed above the slf sign - he was squawking and hungry - Caster flew off the ctv tower around the same time and we lost sight of him.
Take care and happy falcon tales!
Lisa
Posted on July 30, 2012 10:26 am
July 27, 2012 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 27 - 2012
7:45-9:15 am - Junior sqwaking from union st perch for almost the whole time - hopped down to the roof - at 9:00am he took a flight around the top of the building - Caster did too in beautiful falcon formation like a fighter plane - Caster traded spots w jr on the union st perch
2:00pm - alot of turkey vultures around the Bldg today - Junior was on the louvres king st side - castor on union perch
5:45 - Caster on parapet king st side
8:00-9:00pm - Caster or statler on park st side girder perch
9:00pm - jr took 2 flights - I don’t think he crashed but could have been polishing some windows- looked like he flew right through the tower - the adult flew out toward him right after and he was squawking loudly- after he landed on John st side - ran down the runway (along the ledge in awkward falcon fashion) to the left hand side of the long ledge
Lisa
Posted on July 30, 2012 10:21 am
July 26, 2012 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
CPF Postmaster Reports:
July 26 - 2012
9:15 - Junior? Caster? On union st perch Statler? On park st side above “I” on roof flew off before I could identify her
12:00 - Junior on union st side - one of the adults in view of him - only screeching - hopped down and back up
5:45 - one wet falcon on union st side - Caster
8:15 - both adults on top of the Bldg - Caster came in and gave jr some food possibly - Junior hopped down Jr on union st side
9:00 - one of the adults feeding on top of the parapet left of sign king st side 9:15 adult flew off northagain are we sure these aren’t owls?
Posted on July 30, 2012 10:16 am
