- Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Frank Butson Reports:
Today all hands were on deck again,as we had 2 young Peregrines that might just fly. Bruce,Linda,Zoey,Brian,Lyn and I attended the site today for various periods. We had many local folks who showed a great deal of interest and were glad to have the extra help from Deborah and John. The female juvenile Peregrine looks ready to go at any time. Her brother not so much. They were fed at least 2 times today. Mom did bring in a whole bird and left it on the ledge. The juveniles must have been abit confused as they never did get into it,letting Mom come some hours later and beak to beak feed them.
At 845pm,Mark and Marion Nash arrived with the 2 rescued birds. Mark Heaton of the Ministry of Natural Resources had attended at our Raptor Centre at Kortright Centre For Conservation and banded the 2. This is very important,as the US has a Peregrine Harvest..wild birds can be taken by falconers and kept. Any bird with a band is considered part of a recovery program and cannot be kept,so we took this opportunity to band both rescued birds.
The so far unnamed birds which were banded are:
Female..45 days old…898 grams band 21/x with green tape
Male…42 days old…*6/D (sideways 6 over D) with red tape
Mark,Marion,Lyn and I were escorted by security and the release was done under cover of darkness around 945pm. Thanks to the security crew at 2180 Yonge for their help. Tomorrow will be very interesting with 4 birds likely to be out flying. A full watch team will be on site to keep track of them!
Posted on June 28, 2010 1:30 am
June 27, 2010 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
When we arrived at the Lift Bridge this morning, we found 2 Juvies and Mom on the Hamilton Hydro Tower. Dad was nowhere to be seen. Everyone was just sitting around. It was quite foggy so I put the scope up to see if I could identify who was who. In a flash, Mom was off the Tower and heading towards Stoney Creek. We watched as she went into a dive and plucked a pigeon out of the air with no problem whatsoever. She brought it back to the bridge abutment over the Marina Parking Lot and before she had a chance to set it down, both juvies were off the hydro tower and screaming towards her. Diana won, and she certainly is not very good at sharing with her brother. He tried to get close but she would have none of it.
Posted on June 27, 2010 6:58 pm
June 27, 2010 - Greater Toronto - Private Residential 1
CPF Volunteer Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:40 am
June 27, 2010 - Toronto - King Street
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:39 am
June 27, 2010 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:38 am
June 27, 2010 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:36 am
June 27, 2010 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
While the “kids” maybe away from the house (or off the nest ledge) at the moment, its only for a short time. The resident adults still have the hardest part of their job still to come.
Ongoing protection, feeding and training the “teenagers” to fend for themselves is a huge task for the two resident adults.
So far, there has been NO mortality and everyone seems to be doing quite well, staying aloft and away from the windows. The very good news: Is that each of the juveniles have all brushed up into the windows, and unlike many other birds, the young peregrines actually learn the dangers of the windows, and if they hit them softly and don’t injure themselves on these initial collisions, they do learn to stay away from glass.
This is an important lesson learned, as they will soon be picking up incredible speeds as they get older and more experienced, and if they have not learned the “window lesson “ early in their flight development, collisions with the windows at advanced ages usually results in serious injury or most often mortality due to the speeds that the juveniles are now travelling. We actually hope that they experience the “window lesson” early in their maiden flights, as they are slow and sloppy in their flights, and usually hit them softly at this stage.
For the next 30 to 90 days, the juveniles will be utilizing the nest ledge and still sleeping there most nights. Far from independent and able to feed them selves at this point, the youngsters have much to learn now that they can fly.
The adults will have to teach them many of the life skills that the juveniles will have to learn to survive to adulthood, or should I say, just survive another day)!!
Remember that by mid September, thousands of years of hard wired instincts will have the young juveniles head south on a migration and with upwards of an 80% mortality and many perils and risks, the juveniles will need all of the help that they can just to survive their first year.
The adult parents have their job cut out for them while teaching the juveniles how, what and where to hunt food, and how to recognize and escape from all of the “bad guys” out there. At this point, even their landings are terrible, as it takes allot of practice just to brake and coordinate a good landing!
Even after the juveniles have learned what to hunt (where and how to hunt it), there will be many trials and errors (misses and failures) before they are actually able to catch anything them selves, and this will take some time to hone their hunting skills.
Stay tuned, and look to the skies, as the best viewing is yet to come!!
Posted on June 27, 2010 10:35 am
June 27, 2010 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
There has been an interesting development with the Ottawa falcons. After more than five weeks of incubating three eggs to no avail, Diana and Connor were expected to abandon their nest. Last Tuesday brought a surprise: While one of the old eggs was fractured and now outside the nest, there were still three eggs in the nest. That means Diana laid another egg while still incubating two of the old ones. By Wednesday, the egg outside the nest was gone, but they continued to incubate three eggs as usual.
This behaviour — adding a new egg to an existing clutch after weeks of incubating - (and whle currently still incubating) — is unusual, to say the least. If anyone has ever encountered this phenomenon before, or can explain it, please let us know.
It’s not likely that the new egg has been fertilized, but we continue to monitor the nest to see what our falcons might do next.
Anouk
Posted on June 27, 2010 9:50 am
- Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Frank Butson Reports:
After a hectic first day of putting together a watch team and many calls,day 2 saw everyone come together. Bruce arrived for a very early start to the watch and witnessed one feeding. I arrived at about 9am,and located Bruce easily. Soon Lyn and Zoe joined us. Jan and Linda later came by to see the nest. There was a steady rain for most of the day. We saw both juveniles and both parents. We know the adult female is unbanded and the adult male is Black over Green..so far alphanumeric ID hasnt been made. This indicates he is from the US north-east. We are hopeful that with a scope we will read the numbers. We saw another feeding before the rain got much heavier and we left for the day,youngsters well fed and thoroughly soaked. As one watcher lives very near the location,we asked she call us if it stopped raining long enough to warrent going back. Stay tuned for more!
Posted on June 26, 2010 9:05 pm
June 25, 2010 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Mark Nash Reports:
A brief update as we are all scrambling. Four hatchlings produced!! Surprise Surprise!! Oh my goodness!! Quick calls yesterday, Building management, Mark at OMNR, Big Frank, Tracy, Bruce, Linda and a host of other calls burning up the telephone lines! One dead battery on the cell phone, and starting on the second battery!
One fledgling rescued that was trapped behind the glass balcony way up on a condo. Rescued by Toronto Animal services, transferred to the Toronto Wildlife and in the bag safe and sound as we say.
Calls to some old friends at Yonge & Eglinton - Northam Realty property managers - (nest site building), quick talking and some very quick reintroductions. Great folks, and many thanks to Neil Armstrong for his assistance and support!!
Emergency call from Bruce Massey while he is on site in the afternoon, - as he watches one of the resident adult parents - (the female) fly to a huge tall condo building east of Yonge Street,,
- yet another fledgling observed trapped behind a glass balcony on the 43rd floor. Oh my goodness!!! Quick contact with building security at Minto for help. Long story, (many calls later), Tracy dispatched with yet another rescue carrier,,, - end result, Tracy and Bruce do the rescue,, - (second fledgeling in the bag as we say) safe and sound.
Two fledglings still on the nest ledge. Sizes indicate one female and one male still on the nest ledge raring to go!! Mark Heaton from MNR to band both fledglings
later prior to their re-release,,, and likely more to band as they tooo will be coming down to the streets! Very busy part of the city!!! Lots of congestion, NO PARKING ANYWHERE without a kings ransom or your first born!! Oh my goodness, - $ 12.00 for 3 hours of parking!!!!
Metro police Sargent very nasty at 47 div. demanding that we not stand in front or around the station, and forced to move from our watch position! Right,,,, To serve and protect. I must remember that.
Many more calls for help and logisicts!! Still scrambling, but its pulling together and making head way. Our team are some of the greatest folks on the planet!!
With a huge thank you to all that has been involved so far - (way tooo many names to mention during this rush e-mail), a watch has started. First priority to the birds!!
Stay tuned for many more updates and photos to come…..
Posted on June 26, 2010 9:30 am
