June 18, 2020 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
As the summer is upon us, our official fledge watch is now at an end. Artemis is flying well and confidently on his own. He has been sighted with and without his parents on higher flights.
On June 18, Karen reported that the peregrines had a wee visitor to the site: “…today while at the peregrine watch, Sandye and I witnessed a bird flying around the top of the CTV tower. We assumed it was Artemis as we had just seen him in that area and one of the adults was on the tower below him keeping an eye out. We witnessed a bird doing circles…maybe 4 to 6 times …around the top of the tower and thought that kind of an odd flying pattern for a peregrine and the adult especially not joining in. I did notice an odd flash of red but didn’t question it until all of a sudden it flew towards us and landed on a closer shorter tower…we both shouted…its an American Kestrel! (male) It perched there for at least 5 minutes while we observed it and the Peregrines made no move to try and get it out of the area like it does for turkey vultures etc. I assume there was no threat felt by either party.”
Hope is doing well, however her eye is pretty bad and the refuge centre is working with a veterinary ophthalmologist on that. She has soft tissue injuries to the shoulder and head and eye trauma. Unfortunately, she may not be able to be released anytime soon if at all.
Falcon fans in KW will still be keeping an eye on the skies hoping to see some more flight training of Artemis.
Posted on June 22, 2020 11:00 pm
June 17, 2020 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
The CTV cam is now an empty nest. Artemis is getting the full attention of Mystery and Engima now that he is the only fledgling at the site. There is still no sign of Casey and Hope is grounded due to her injuries. Rudy took to a wildlife refuge today. She is eating pigeon which is good news that she doesn’t have to be force fed. They are attending to Hope and will let us know what they find.
Karen reported at 9:09: “I found Artemis on the King Street side of the tower on the level below the nest box. Both parents are either a level above and one below. Artemis was preening. No signs of any other bird.” The parents are being very protective of Artemis as Sandye reported at 11:51: “Artemis, Enigma and Mystery are all on the CTV tower. Artemis took a little flight a short time ago, accompanied by a parent and landed on the top level of the tower.” At 1:28, Karen reported: “Artemis had a flight earlier. Both parents have been around and both left for quite awhile. When Artemis flew from the middle he ended up landing on the top level. Just now one of the parents brought Artemis a package.”
At 5:09, Dale reported: “Not much activity this afternoon. Both adults encouraged Artemis to fly but he’s staying put on the top level of the CTV tower and just moving around a bit.” David reported at 6:28: “A bit of action. I had lost Enigma, not sure where he went. Suddenly at least one adult appeared, and after some noise and possibly 2 adults appearing briefly, Artemis took off, I think followed by Enigma. They did a couple of circles, then Enigma led him up very high, and I think past the Sun Life building, and higher yet. After at least 2 minutes Artemis seemed to tire of it, and flew, soared and descended to the top of the Kings Tower antenna. He sat there for about 20 minutes, then took off for another flight almost as high and far, finally returning to the CTV top platform where he now sits.” At 6:51: “Found Artemis, top platform, lounging on the grate, just in front of the corner closest to the hospital parking garage. Can see him from below.”
Tara and Randy ended the watch and reported: “Artemis took off for a flight on his own north and when he returned Mystery seemed to attempt to ‘herd’ him. He’s now on the Hospital roof where we have eyes on him.” Just after 8:00, all 3 were on the CTV tower. Randy reported: “At 8:30, Enigma flew towards downtown Kitchener and has not returned. Mystery is perched between the platforms and Artemis is tucked in for the night behind the big drum at the top of CTV tower.”
Photo courtesy of Karen von Knobloch
Posted on June 18, 2020 12:21 am
June 16, 2020 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Update: Toronto/Don Mills/Amexon: June 15 & 16: Sally & I met up to check on this family Monday night to see if they had come home–all were over on the condos still! Two( we think they were different juvies, only ID’d one) flew home but then headed back. One was definitely Rey, guessing the other was Hopper. We called it a night as they did not look like they were coming. Last night, I headed over around 7pm and was delighted to see one juvie on a letter! And it was Eleven!!! Way to go! I saw the other two over on the condo so moved the car and settled in. And in came a second juvie, landed right beside Eleven–Rey!! They found a stash of Dad’s lol and nibbled on that and preened. I caught a flash going around the building–could this finally be the elusive Hopper??!! Yep. In he flew, around and around, chasing Dad. Landing and then off again, way over the DVP southwest to the apartments there-chasing dad off the roof—and a bunch of pidgeons. Then back again-a very hungry juvie. He finally landed above the girls. And there I left them..I am sure food would be coming soon so they could settle for the night 
Posted on June 17, 2020 8:02 pm
June 14, 2020 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
FLEDGE WATCH: TORONTO/DON MILLS/AMEXON: Sunday June 14, 2020 PART 2:
Well,I didn’t feel like staying at home, so I headed back over to close the night out. And was I ever glad I did! I got my bins on those dots over at the condos-and counted..one, two..THREE!! Do I really see THREE!! Camera out, got the pic, blew it up and yep, all three juvies on the condo roof!! Whoohoo. Back together again. I called Sally and she was there in a flash. We happily watched them flying around over there and then got to see a juvie fly all the way home and land on the Intel building!!! It ended up that it was Rey!!! Great flight . Would the other two joing her? Nope. And back she flew lol. We closed the night out watching those dots–tho we did try going over for a closer look(the condos are private and gated so no go). We had seen one juvie fly and land on a balcony(high up) on the outside of the glass. Now it looked like outside a party room, so thankfully no one to disturb him/her for the night(of course this happened at close to dark). So that is where he was for the night. A very sad start to our day but a joyful end to the day, to see these 3 together again. And since all are flying very high and well, we close this watch already with spot checks ahead(I was determined to see if they would come home). Looking forward to seeing some great flying from these 3 in the days, weeks to come!!
Posted on June 17, 2020 7:40 pm
June 14, 2020 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
FLEDGE WATCH: TORONTO/DON MILLS/AMEXON:
Sunday June 14, 2020 Part 1:
We arrived to find the two juvies still over on the condos off in the distance. We were just discussing how we were truly missing one juvie, ugh, we got the news of poor Hope’s fate. That really hit us. Bruce came by..it was sad. After Bruce headed off to Canada Square to check on the kids there, we sat and talked. Finally, I said we are literally watching dots playing…let’s go to Don Mills/old Harlequin, check on the remaining kids. Needed to be there I guess. So off we went and saw them both doing well. We decided to call it quits and go home for a bit of a rest. So here are some of the pics that Sally & I got that day….
Posted on June 17, 2020 6:45 pm
June 13, 2020 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
FLEDGE WATCH: TORONTO/DON MILLS/AMEXON:
Saturday June 13,2020: This morning started off with nobody in view.
Not surprisingly, Rey was not where we left her the night before. She’s moved on from her overnighter on the solar power panel scaffolding. We scanned rooftops for the parents as they often reveal a lot of information…
I met up with Cathy, and while my partner Don kept an eye on the nest ledge, we drove out to get a better view of the surrounding buildings. Cathy found two birds on the condo buildings across the DVP!!!. She soon confirmed a parent and a juvie. Fantastic, but who were we watching?
While focusing on the condo buildings, Cathy saw an adult fly overhead and heard the familiar affectionate e-chupping. Hmmm was there a juvie nearby? I walked back to Cathy and we made plans to walk around the area. I spotted two birds on the low garage roof wall. OK. Two juvies now accounted for. Mum was eating in front of Eleven, who didn’t seem too motivated to hassle Mum for food so she’d clearly had a good breakfast before we had arrived. This also meant that we were probably looking at Rey way over on the condo buildings. What a flight. As Cathy said “the force really is with Rey!”.
Most of our day was spent waiting for Eleven to fly off from the parking structure, and not doze off in the sunshine.
We also kept an eye on the nest ledge, seeing food being brought in and parents coming and going, wondering if Hopper would pop up but no such luck.
And then there came Rey back home!! Way to go Rey! But she didn’t stay long, she headed back to the condo building-better digs?
Finally, Eleven flew, off to the east where she’d seen her sister fly to, but missed the condos. Damn. Don Valley Parkway highway, lots of apartment buildings, trees, Eglinton Avenue and part of the Don Valley…where did Eleven end up? Uh oh. So much visual clutter! We waited a while, then after not being able to even spot a parent, curiosity got the better of us and we drove over to the area we thought she was in. No luck. Drove back to the nest building, and waited. Fledge watch teaches you to watch and wait. Eventually we saw peregrine silhouettes flying their way to the condo buildings again. Sure enough we ended our day watching Eleven and Rey having a wonderful reunion on an upper curved roof. Lots of beaking and catching up.
As we lost decent sunlight, we closed the watch with the two female juvies over on the condo roof, and the parents over by the nest building.
Hopefully tomorrow we will get to see some lovely flying, and we continue to hope to see Hopper up on the nest ledge, eager to finally fledge.
Cathy & Sally
Posted on June 17, 2020 5:51 pm
June 17, 2020 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
FLEDGE WATCH: TORONTO/DON MILLS/AMEXON: Sorry, I am late with this one! Doing two fledge watch sites is busy-I decide to finish Toronto/Don Mills first, then didn’t get home til 11:30pm Friday night and it just got away from me lol. So, with help from Sally and her notes(bless her), who was there every day all day with me–here goes(I am doing separate posts for each day with pics)
JUNE 11/12: Thursday I was running back and forth so only spent a couple of hours here. I saw all three FINALLY on the nest ledge and was thrilled to see them all. I got a few pics off then back to Quest & her brood.
Friday, Sally & I were there all day. We arrived to find only 2 on the ledge, parents on the buildings. Hmmm, please don’t tell me we missed a fledge! Parents weren’t looking or seemed concerned. Tons of food going into the nest-was there just a shy Hopper(we saw the other 2) at the back of the nest? He was old to be fledging(42 days already)-hope he was ok. We watch who we can see…all we can do.A late lunch contributed to nothing much happening until after 3pm–And we finally saw a fledge! A strong flight, southbound and losing altitude.Parents had the juvie in sight though and Cathy found the juvie…solar panels scaffolding. Juvie attempted to return but strong winds redirected the juvie to the solar panels. Jenna flew over and spent over an hour showing her girl how to get herself out of this-hopping onto rails and back and then flying out and back. It really was something to watch! Then she headed back to the buildings to watch. Seagulls buzzed and dived. Eventually our juvie flapped over onto the scaffolding, got clipped by a seagull and ended up looking rather defeated and unsure on lower solar panel railing.
I think the ultimate was realizing we hadn’t stopped to check WHO had fledged and who we were watching until near the end of the watch when Cathy looked up to check the juvie on the ledge and realized it was a red band (after we were convinced red may have fledged, because of her eagerness running back and forth and lots of wingersizing)
We’re pretty sure it’s Rey who fledged. NOTE: After looking at our pics, we knew it was Rey who fledged lol
Cathy & Sally
Posted on June 17, 2020 5:45 pm
June 16, 2020 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Update Toronto/Don Mills: June 16 & 17-After Seven’s rescue Monday morning, she spent the rest of that day and most of the next, on the roof resting up. When I stopped by near dark yesterday, she was gone. Could not see anyone, except Quest who was sitting on the balcony railing, 8th floor of that horrible glass building. Oh no…she was sitting looking in. It is a concrete balcony so I could not see in but she could. Was Seven down there and if so was she ok? I left at dark. I was back early this morning to only find a parent on that same spot. Ugh. No one else around. So I proceeded to try and get into that building, which is locked down due to covid. I buzzed a company that I figured was open and bingo, a very nice lady answered and came down and let me in. Then I spoke to the great security explaining who I was and what I was looking for. As I was speaking to him, a very nice lady came in with her dog(isn’t that great she can bring him to work?!) and she was a big fan of our little family. So that helped! The unit that the balcony is one that is vacant so up we went to see what was up-thank goodness no juvie yayyy! Just Dad-looking at us lol. While I was in the building—everyone showed up!! There was Quest and a juvie on the nest building top ledge and a juvie was on Kendall’s corner!! I was thrilled. Down to get a positive ID- Seven was with Mom, Canuck was in Dad’s spot lol. So all good here-she’s flying again! Sally is going to check in on them tonight, can’t wait for her report!! Here are some of my pics from yesterday and this morning.
Posted on June 17, 2020 5:35 pm
June 17, 2020 - Greater Toronto - Private Residential 1
Marion Nash Reports:
Milburn’s fledge & rescue, Saturday, June 13 - One fledge watcher reported:
“Lots of excitement this morning! After flying towards the golf course, he ended up on our outdoor pool fence. The blue jays were not impressed with the intruder and started to attack him. Our watchers waved towels without much success. Milburn took off and flew into the trees on the golf course side and landed on the ground. A couple of watchers drove over there, talked to one of the employees into letting them borrow a golf cart and the employee led them to where Milburn was stuck. Just like they were taught, the watchers took towels, got Milburn and placed him into a box. CPF volunteer Lucie Kirchknopf brought a proper carrier, and put Milburn into it. Security got in touch with residence manager who very willingly took Milburn and a watcher to the roof and released him.”
Scarlet’s fledge & rescue, Saturday, June 13 - One fledge watcher reported:
“Just to advise that Scarlet has safely fledged - is sitting on a low balcony ledge and I have perfect view of her - she is calm”
In the evening, one fledge watcher reported:
“Scarlet took off across the street to a parking lot and latched onto the fence. A brave person got her into his grasp/bare handed (said all you have to do is hold the wings) they placed her in the box. She was put back on the roof that night”
Cheers, Lucie
Posted on June 17, 2020 10:30 am
June 16, 2020 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
The fledge watch started with Tony reporting at 7:32: “I am here now and can see Artemis still at the top of the Kings Tower antenna and one of the parents is on the west side of the upper red rung of the CTV tower. Can’t see the other parent or Casey.” At 8:25, Tony checked for Casey from the Sun Life Tower but there is still no sign of Casey on Kings Tower or anywhere.
The last sighting of Casey was around 4:15 yesterday afternoon by Heather, Martha and Paayal. Heather reported: “There was a bit of flying shortly thereafter and it was difficult to see who went where. We split up a bit to try to see the King Street side of the building. I’m not sure any of us saw both chicks at the same time after that.” A ground search began shortly after 9:00. One of the adults was on the CTV tower and Artemis was on the Kings Tower antennae.
Rudy gave an update on Hope around 11:00: “Hope is still favouring her left wing this morning. No release today. The good news is that I gave her a half a pigeon and she ate it on her own with no force feeding required. I will be trying to get an avian vet to check her today if possible.”
Karen reported at 11:26: “Artemis flew along with an adult back to the CTV tower. He landed on the top level on his second attempt. We can’t see him now but Randy has checked and can see him on the middle of the platform near where the hole is. One adult is on the Mount Hope side of the next level. Can’t locate the other adult at present. Still no sign of Casey.”
In the afternoon, the team continued searching for Casey on ground, on the tower and roof tops. Dale reported: “The adults were trying to get him to fly all afternoon. I’m still not sure if he actually did. I looked at the tower from all angles about 3 p.m. and could not spot him. He must have either had a quick flight and come back when I was walking around the buildings and not looking up or he was hidden on top platform the whole time. I also did another check of the grounds around Sun Life, 18 Pine and the apt bldg at 75 York for Casey–no luck.”
Tara and I biked around Strange, Park, Glasgow and surrounding neighbourhoods. We also biked around some of the parking lots around Graffitti Market and the commercial buildings in the area. No sign of Casey.
Artemis was out of sight and Engima went in and out of the nest box a few times. He also perched above the nest box. Artemis showed up at 4:00 on the corners of the top platform, flapped a bit. He was just having a lazy afternoon lying around on the platform. Mystery headed south past Kitchener Collegiate Institute towards a crane and was seen flying with another bird with the same flight pattern of a peregrine. Could it be Casey? Enigma flew in and out and was squawking and calling for the kids from the north side of the tower for quite some time. Tara and I took a look through Mount Hope Cemetery on our separate way homes. A neighbour also searched the sports field perimeter.
More people were on the watch in the evening. At 6:46, Kim reported: “Artemis is still on the tower. Mystery delivered a package about 10 minutes ago. Enigma is back on the nest box platform (where he has been most of the evening). Short flight for both parents. Enigma is back on the CTV tower and Mystery on the Kings Tower antenna. Artemis just took a flight accompanied by Dad, and is now back on the CTV tower. Did not see anything in Mount Hope cemetery.” I walked back through Mount Hope Cemetery just before 7:00, and searched some of the perimeter, no sign of Casey. Still a few watchers out while Enigma flew in and out and Artemis back on the top platform.
The team alerted the Humane Society, Wildlife Haven in case Casey turns up. CTV was going to do a check below the locked up area of the platform.
Photos courtesy of Rudy Kruppa
Posted on June 16, 2020 10:12 pm
