A huge thank you to Winston for some great photos of the banding event at the Brampton Courthouse.
Stay tuned, as there are many more to come!
Friday July 15, 2011-8:00 a.m.
Good Morning All
Murray and I just left the Don Mills nest site. Daddy Kendall was sighted back hanging at the Westin Hotel. Harley was on the pink building and then Quest was observed flying in to the nest building and Harley flew over to her. Quest was on the very far left of 220 and Harley was 2 ledges over in front the of the nest box. Every one is in view and accounted for!
Have a great day.
Debbie and Murray
July 14th - 2011 PM watch report.
Once again today, the watchers had many updates of the days activities with Murray and Debbie starting out the day this morning around 7:30am while on their way to work, and Murray continued to do spot checks throughout the day right up to 9pm. Caroline was out around the mid day and Bruce shortly after 2:30pm until after 7pm.
Marion and I joined Bruce and closed the watch around 9:15pm with Murray and Debbie and Caroline.
Baby H made many strong flights today and is well ahead of others fledglings at this age!! With just under a week out of the nest ledge, she is doing incredibly well and was back to the nest ledge today for he first time.
While she has long since gained much higher altitudes than the nest ledge level earlier in the week, this is the first time that we have seen her actually back on the nest ledge (the very one with the nest tray) since her departure. It is at this time in the watch that we usually tone down the intense monitoring and street watch, as this action of returning to the actual “nest ledge itself” is a huge mental boost of confidence builder for the fledglings.
At this time in her development, one of the only things that the fledglings lack, is the confidence, as she is more than capable in holding her altitude and able to escape any perceived dangers. She can actually fly now like an adult big bird 
Today, Baby H made some soft hits and bumps to the windows and concrete walls of the building, which is exactly what we were hoping for! At this stage of her flights, she is still slow and cumbersome, and these hits are usually soft,,(which they were),, and these minor collisions are “leaning experiences” , ones that will not be repeated in the future.
The young fledglings do in fact “learn” through these minor bumps and grinds with windows and concrete walls at these early stages of their flights,, and avoid them in the future. It is our hope during the fledge watches is that the young fledglings have these bumps early in the first flights while they are still slow and cumbersome, and these bumps are usually nothing more than learning experiences that rarely result in serious injuries. Several weeks out of the nest, and the fledglings get over confident and are now building up a great deal of speed in their flights, and their recklessness usually results in far more serious injuries (and even mortality) if they start hitting windows and concrete walls. You know what they say,, “Speed Kills”,, and for a young fledgling peregrine, this holds very true when you start hitting solid objects!
This evening, we watched Baby H take a run at a Starling that passed by below her while she was roosting on the east side of the upper ledges of the nest building, and although she never came close to actually catching it, she did make the attempt to chase it. The Starling flew into the cover of the trees to the north of the nest building and Baby H quickly veered away from the thick branches and tree cover. She has also learned that these areas are not good places for peregrines! Her landings are almost adult like now, no longer hap-hazzard “do drop ins” and it appears that she’s got it!!
This evening, both Quest and Kendal were absent at bed time when darkness fell, and Baby H was noticeably stressed. She made several flights around over the three buildings unable to locate her parents. She finally landed on the upper south face of the nest building and was more than restless as she was very unsettled and noticeably stressed as she scanned the air and buildings to locate her parents. She stood up and layed down more than a dozen times frantically looking around for her parents before she finally layed down. She tucked herself in tight to the building wall, but was still very alert while looking around with her neck and head scratched out trying to get a sight line on her parents. We left just as darkness fell also feeling a little stressed that neither of the adults were anywhere to be seen in any of their usual roosting or hiding spots, and that they had been absent from any of our views for more than 40 minutes.
This was baby H’s first real night alone! Another lesson!
Stay tuned……
I’ve been trying to get a head count here but I’m not having much luck. Last night I had the 2 adults in my view. Dad was preparing a bird while mom watched. Out of my view, I could hear the unmistakable sound of a young one. Mom came & took the food package from dad & left my sight. Normally the 2 young are actively flying & squawking. We have not heard much of that the last 4 days. Perhaps 1 of the young has left. Early this morning when I arrived at work, a falcon was hunting. It appeared to be a juvie although I did not have my binocs. We’ll keep watching & keep you posted.
This afternoon at the Brampton Courthouse we had a beautiful day for banding the one chick at this first time nest site. We all gathered outside on the sidewalk to watch the extraction of the single chick and the staff at the courthouse were all eagerly excited about becoming first time falcon parents. It was decided that the ledge would be accessed by lift truck and all was in position for the Skyreach lift operator and Mark Nash to make the ascent to the ledge. Once they reached ledge level, Milton the resident male, took to the air and set his sights on the extraction team. Truss was absent from our view and it wasn’t until Mark was able to see inside the ledge that he found Truss taking a nap and her single chick racing down the ledge to the north. Truss was immediately up, airborne and looking to run the extraction team out of town. With the chick now on the opposite end of the building, the lift was lowered, repositioned to the north and then raised up as the crowd of onlookers maintained their vigil. Mark Heaton and Emma Fellowes of the OMNR began to suit up and prepare to help with the gathering up of the young falcon when Mark Nash was able to reach out and safely remove the young one and make ready to lower her down in the rescue bag. Once on the ground, Mark Heaton brought the chick around to the cafeteria in courthouse for the much anticipated banding ceremony. Marion Nash provided us with the opening remarks on the banding procedure and the CPF’s efforts in southern Ontario to band juvenile peregrines and then handed the microphone over to a very special guest, the Honorable Linda Jeffrey, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources. As a resident of Brampton, she was especially excited about the opportunity to have a Species at Risk successfully nesting at the courthouse; an excitement well evidenced in her speech to the crowd that had gathered.
The rest of the banding ceremony was focussed on just one other special lady and her name is Courtney. This female was a whopping 985 grams at weigh in and was easily identified as a female estimated to be 31 days of age. The Minister Linda Jeffrey held Courtney as her USFW band and her Canadian alpha-numeric band were attached and a strip of yellow electrical tape was fixed over top of the USFW band for easy identification in the field during the fledge watch period that begins next week. Before her return to the ledge and her parents, Courtney took a moment for a photo opportunity with Ed Czuchnicki of ORC Property and Land Management Services and Kevin Stanley of Skyreach who were both instrumental in making this banding day such an enormous success!!
Truly there are so many people to thank on a banding day that the gratitude list is always a long one but nonetheless a vastly important one!! If it were not for all of the folks that worked together with the CPF to make this day happen, Courtney, our newest peregrine juvenile in southern Ontario, would not have been banded and therefore left unprotected as a precious member of our Species at Risk. On behalf of all of us at the CPF, we would like to thank the Honorable Minister Linda Jeffreys, Mark Heaton and Emma Fellowes that represented the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources today. We also heartily thank the fantastic staff at the Brampton Courthouse that have embraced this new family of falcons. The folks here include staff of both the Provincial and Federal courts as well as Ed Czuchnicki, the Senior Facility Manager for ORC Property and Land Management Services and his exceptional staff. The banding would not have been possible today were it not for Aiden Houlahan and staff at United Rentals and Kevin Stanley and his crew from Skyreach Inc.; thank you all for making our access to the ledge possible. We also wish to graciously thank the Peel Regional Police staff members that were instrumental in securing the sidewalk where the lift truck was working and the cafeteria in which the banding ceremony was held. Thanks so much for your assistance in keeping all safe and secure. The staff and management of the cafeteria at the courthouse were outstanding hosts for the banding event itself and we thank you for opening up your doors to all of us. Last but not ever least, we extend a warm thank you to all of the CPF volunteers that attended today’s events from as far away as Burlington; the birth site of our dear Truss. A great day was had by all and it represents another success to celebrate; I love days like these!!
I received an email this morning from one of our early morning Watchers and this is what he wrote:
I was at the nest site this morning from 5:45 to 8:00 a.m. At 5:55 Voltaire and Spitfire flew by. They came from the general direction of the steeple, overflew the nest site, and disappeared over the river toward Detroit. I did not see them again. Voltaire had set a fast pace and Spitfire was working to keep up. Throughout the time I was there Freddie was at the nest site, making short flights from one perch to another but always in the close vicinity.
Have a nice day,
Ted Horvath
Thank You Ted, it’s always good to hear how they are doing.
Gwen & Dennis Site Co-ordinatos CPF
Wednesday July 13th - 2011
PM watch report:
A quickly update that combines several peoples observations, as there are so many fledge watch observations notes being sent in that I simply can’t keep up.
A huge thank you to all that have been spending time with us the streets on the Don Mills fledge watch, as without your support and presence, there could have been many lonely days and nights in the streets, and the fledge watch could have been incredibly more challenging given Baby H’s advanced flying skills and movements.
While baby H has not come to the ground and so far has not needed any “ground support”, her incredible activity has kept us all scrambling and running around the neighbourhood to keep an eye on her. Thank GOD that this nest site is not in a cluster of hi-rise office towers as baby Harlequin would have had us all expiring in the streets trying to keep up with all of her activity.
The heat and humid X over the last few days has been almost debilitating!
A huge thank you to all of the Harlequin staff that have been out to help, along with Murray and Debbie who have been dropping out in the early morning hours before, during and after work every day! Another huge thank you to Bruce, Carol, Ann and Caroline who have also been in the streets every day putting in some long hours on the fledge watch.
Bruce reports that he witnessed a mid-air food transfer with Quest and Baby H and something incredible to see so early in a juveniles first week of flights!! Late in the evening around 8pm, Marion and I witnessed Kendal in a long horizontal stoop on a hunting mission with Baby H in tow trying to keep up with her fathers incredible speed.
While Kendal was unsuccessful in his efforts to make the kill, Baby H was with him the entire time participating, and this was clearly a “hunting lesson”, and not a real determined focussed hunt. Maybe Kendal might have actually been successful if only Baby H had not have been screaming through the entire session Lol
Baby H’s landings our almost adult like, as she is no longer “ dropping in from above” in the typical juvenile fashion!! While she has still not been able to land on the rim of the huge satellite dish on the roof top of 220 Duncan Mill Rd,,, she is still trying! Practice makes perfect as they say, and we’re all looking forward to seeing her accomplish this.
Quest is still nagging Kendal mercilessly all the time, and even I’m feeling bad for him!! This evening, Kendal brought in two packages of food, one being delivered to the nest tray. Quest rushed in screaming and snatched it from him and flew off with Baby H following. Moments later, Quest appeared screaming at him again. Kendal flew off with Quest chasing him to the south west. Several minutes later, Quest returned an took up a roosting position around the north side of the nest building and appeared to be eating the package of food that she had earlier snatched from Kendal. No food for Baby H.
Moments after that, Kendal reappeared and tucked himself on a window ledge on the west side fo the nest building, quite obviously hiding from his mate. He stay there tucked in close to the window for close to 20 minutes. Then,,, Quest was observed flying high around he nest building and spotted him, and the screaming started!!! Quest pursued Kendal once again screaming at the top of her lungs and off he fly to the south with Quest in pursuit.
A half hour later, Kendal returned with yet another food package landing on a ledge on the south face of the nest building. Before the poor guy could even turn around after making his landing, Both Quest and Baby H were all over him, and the food was snatched from his mouth before he even knew what had happened to him. While Quest and Baby H flew of in a chase, Kendal spent several minutes on the ledge in what could best be described as “bewilderment” and shock!!
We were all shocked!!,,, and so was he!!! Not more than two minutes has passed, and Quest was back on the same ledge where Kendal was still standing, again screaming at him. Kendal flew off again to the south east and was not seen again by 9:30pm when we closed off the watch for the evening.
It is well worth noting, that you can almost set your watch by Kendals this activity around this time of the evening, in addition to Baby H going to one of the upper window sills and laying down to indicate to us that she is finished for the day. Quest takes up a roosting position and becomes completely in-active as well and you know that the days activities are over!
Marion and I packed up around 9:45pm and departed for home.
Banding Day - Wednesday July 13th - 2011
A great day indeed with many old and new friends present today to help out with the banding of baby Courtney. A huge thank you to the provincial court staff and the police for all of their assistance today that allowed us to complete the banding of baby Courtney today, as without their support the day would not have been such a great success. We all take for granted that these banding events are simple and without any challenges, but behind the scenes there are a huge amount of people involved that make the job look so seamless and simple.
Please stay tuned as we assemble all of the photos and collect all of our field notes so we can explain just what happened today and how it all played out to be such a great success!
Stay tuned…………….
Canada square report for July 12th 2011
I would like to thank the members of 53 Division, Toronto Police Force, for their wonderful community spirit and courtesy throughout my *watch*. Some of those members of the force, who stopped to inquire what was happening, came back at some point during the weeks to check on progress. They showed genuine interest in the peregrines, some even remembered that the peregrines nested here last year.
I salute you, men and women in blue, of 53 Division!
This will be my last regular post for this site. The juveniles are flying well and continue to hone their skills. I will continue to check and report on them when I am out and about.
Today’s watch began slowly but soon picked up. At 5:00 p.m. I had three juveniles on the TVO antenna. The juvies flew off the antenna and back at different times, practising their landing skills, I think.
The sun came out and so did the heat and there was quite a lull. I did not see the juvies for close to an hour before they picked up where they left off. I think there was a breeze up high and, once again, they made the most of it. The three juveniles came from the east of the smaller condo, kiting, soaring, drifting over to 411 Duplex Ave and the Rio-Can building, where they circled and then disappeared. Then they were up again! They seemed to spend a lot of time over the tall buildings today. They drifted upwards and over to the taller of the condo’s at the same time as a dark cloud was coming south. The juveniles continued upwards and were lost to me in that cloud.
I did not see them again until the adult male swooped in, to land on the nest ledge! He had a food parcel and no-one saw him land there. So he called! No response. He called again and then flew off and as he did so he was mobbed by two juvies but by this time he was at the second last ledge south of the nest. He continued his flight and the two juveniles landed on the ledge looked around, squawked their displeasure, checked the ledge next door and then flew over Canada Square and disappeared on the other side. After ten minutes the adult male flew up to 411 and perched for a brief period before flying off to hide.
Two juvies flew up over 411, later, and one appeared on the southwest corner of Rio-Can. None of them made it to the nest ledge to find the food, at least not whilst I was watching.
One juvenile practised his landings on the top of the tall condo, off and on. Then two juvies were in the air for a short period showing off their kiting skills at height!! They were way above that tall condo.
There was more flying, swooping on one another, landing and talon touching then they were gone again!
As it was quiet, I left at 7:50 p.m.
Lyn
At the Toronto Don Mills location many of us were treated to some great flying by Harlequin. She was soaring in the sky. Moving from building to building.
The best part for me was when Quest fed her on the ledge. Makes you remember Harlie is still a young falcon.
Ann
