An adult male peregrine was on the west side of the CIBC building at
3:22pm and was feeding. No activity has been seen for several days
but food leftovers have been seen on both the west and south sides
of the CIBC building.
With many thanks to Terri in Rochester NY, one of the first photos of Rhea Mae and Tiago’s hatchling was captured just after the first egg hatched.
Terri, Rochester NY
After an early start this morning, along with other volunteers, up and ready at their computers to see the first hatch at the Sheraton Centre Hotel.
Carol, from Rochester caught the web cam image with all the eggs exposed. If you look closely, what appears to be blurred part of the image, is actually the adult bringing in food to the nest. Read along to find out what they did.
When I arrived on site, I was surprised to find previously used avian footwear ( leggings included) under Rhea Mae, I assumed it was left overs, to my surprise, the owner was still wearing them. Why is the whole prey there?
I have never seen this before. Were Rhea Mae and Tiago keeping lunch warm? Or were they using the heat from the prey to assist in keeping the other eggs warm? Don’t know.
It wasn’t long before I was able to capture quick photos of a hand off of the nest and Rhea Mae checking the eggs beneath her
I also captured the second chick begin to break through the egg shell. Amazing! This is a first for me.
Expect another hatch later today, one tomorrow. They other eggs also appeared to have cracks in the shells.
Looking at the webcam very early this morning 6:00 am, and I think we have a hatch. Debris beside Rhea Mae, where in last evening photo, the nest tray was very clean.
In January 2002, volunteers with the Canadian Peregrine Foundationreported numerous sightings of a pair of Peregrine Falcons along University Ave, south of College St. to Dundas St. These two birds would be seen perched on various tall buildings along this stretch of city blocks including the Hydro building, St. Patrick Subway station and Mt. Sinai Hospital.
As the sightings increased and the peregrines developed a pattern of frequenting one particular building, we knew we had another pair of nesting peregrine falcons, looking for a home to choose a nesting area, lay eggs and raise a brood of “chicks”.
The building was Mt. Sinai Hospital.
March 2002, the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, along with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the enthusicastic blessings of Mt.Sinai Hospital, CPF installed a nesting tray on the east side of the hospital to encourage these rare birds to nest. Courtship behaviour continued after installation of the nest tray and everyone was hopeful.
Sightings of the peregrines in the direct area of the hospital continued throughout the month of March and well into April of that year, but slowly dropped off . By June of 2002, only chance sightings of peregrines were reported, perching on the hospital and in the direct area, Hopes of a nest at Mt. Sinai were dashed and no longer possible for 2002. We had soon discovered that this pair of peregrines had moved on and had taken over the active nest at King St.
Over the next 6 years, only occasional sightings of peregrines in the area have been reported, but these birds were actually the adult and offspring from the Sheraton Centre Hotel nest site, not any new birds to this area.
February 2009, while exiting the Queen’s Park Subway station, myself and another volunteer looked up and discovered two peregrines roosting on the far north-east facing ledge. We looked at each other and said “Peregrines!” Both surprised and elated by our find, that after such a long time, finally we have some activity.
Since February 2009, the adult peregrines have been seen on a daily basis in and on the east facing “ledges”. At one time it looked as if they were attempting to nest, but the next day, they were on different ledge areas again. The current behaviour, although encouraging, it is not promising that this pair will produce a clutch of eggs.
We do not have a positive identification of this adult pair, but reports from other observers lead us to believe it is the pair from the uptown area, known as Ranger and Hunter. This pair is has a history of nesting failures that we believe is biological. Observations to date lead us to believe that this pair has not put down any eggs to date, at the Mt. Sinai. Hospital nesting tray.
Monitoring will continue and observations will be posted as they are received. The Canadian Peregrine Foundation welcomes any observations regarding this pair in the area.
Today it is confirmed that there are 3 falcons here. They were all seen at the same time by Rolf. And if we were wondering if the remaining 2 eggs will be able to hatch, we are wondering no more as the birds were not on them all day or in the morning when I arrived at work at 6:00 am. I think our only hope to have young ones this year is if they have another clutch. We are also wondering if it is possible that the 3rd falcon could be Freedom. It is very difficult to get a good look at bands here in this situation as the falcons are guarding the nest box at all times and this is our best spot to view them. The intruding falcon is not able to get close enough for us to view his or her bands (providing it has any). Don’t worry though, it’s just a matter of time before we get that information.
Kathy reports as of this morning - April 29th -2009; there are now three hatchlings in the nest!
We waited after work for a feeding and observed 3 little ones!! When I was down for the 1:30 feeding there was only 2 hatchlings and this morning we observed 3!!! While we still can’t see another egg and I’m a bit confused as both Alison and myself took a screenshot with 4 eggs in it! So either they are laying on it or we were tricked!!
I will go in for 7 am tomorrow and see if I can’t see more. She’s sitting really tight on them, no doubt because of the cold and rain but I will figure it out!!
As incubation continues and anticipation increases for the arrival of 5 hatchlings, I am still not able to capture an image from the web cam of a hand off of the nest.
I’ll keep trying. I suspect we’ll have to wait until at least one egg hatches before we can see both adults and the eggs together.
On April 25th a falcon was spotted chasing another falcon forcing it to within 6′ of the water. I think there are 3 falcons here & a dispute is in progress. When I returned to work on Monday 27th , the clutch of 4 eggs was reduced to 2! To add to that, after about 3 weeks of hard incubation (we barely had a chance to view any eggs during this time), the birds were off the eggs most of the day even although it was a warm 70 degrees. Today was the same thing, the birds were hardly on the eggs all day but the temp. was a cool 55 degrees. It was also obvious that the birds seemed a bit on edge. I’m not sure what this means for the chance of these eggs being viable but we’re still hoping.
We have good news indeed! With many thanks to Kathy in Etobicoke, she has confirmed that as of this morning, Tuesday April 28th, the Etobicoke peregrines at the Bloor & Islington nest site have hatched their first two eggs! While the computer still causes us grief, the live colour monitor is still producing a wonderful colour live image of the happenings going on in the nest tray, and by 8:26 am this morning we were being e-mail that the first egg had hatched. By 10am, Kathy was updating us as to the presence of a second hatchling being visible. Congratulations to the Etobicoke pair!!
Thank you Kathy!!