June 15, 2020 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
TORONTO/DON MILLS/OLD HARLEQUIN: With fledge watch over as both Canuck & Seven flying well, I was surprised with a call from Security that a bird was down. Nooo. I was over in 5 minutes to find our girl Seven in a bit of pickle herself. She was on the upper parking deck, right at the stairs ugh. But with help from Ramesh, I scooped her up. Quest was NOT happy–the noise–esp. when the carrier came out. But we always give them back Quest. She was back to the roof in no time. Bruce said that the kids were really revving it up the last couple of days and that Seven did have a brush with a window, fairly hard but had recovered. This does do something to their confidence and can take them a while to recover from that. And now she got scooped up by an alien!!! I checked back on her in the late afternoon and was joined by Sally. We watched her get fed on the roof ledge, hop up and down from that ledge, wingersize and run along the roof. All good signs. She was joined by her brother for a bit as well. I hope to see lots of great flights from her in the next few days. I did see Canuck in action-chasing Dad, having fun playing with his Dad. And as Dad started alarm calling, so did he, off went Dad after a turkey vulture, then Canuck! Then Mom went after them-and sent Canuck home lol. What a crazy Canuck! Glad to see him doing so well. So the official watch is over for 2020 here. Sally and I will be doing lots of visits to check in on our little family here. Thanks to Sally, Bob & Bruce for all their time and help. Thanks so much to the security and staff at 220. Couldn’t have done it without them all. And great job Mom & Dad, our Quest & Mystery–what a great pair!
Posted on June 16, 2020 12:14 am
June 15, 2020 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
The watch was quiet this morning with both Artemis and Hope resting from their big day yesterday. Casey was spotted by Paayal and Sandye on the Kings Towers roof. One of the adults was on the CTV tower and the other was keeping an eye on Casey from the Kings Towers antenna.
The release was scheduled for 11:00. Artemis was released with a crowd of fledgewatchers cheering him on. Janice reports: “Artemis did a couple of flights including landing on the antenna and is hanging out on Kings tower. Casey is hanging out keeping Artemis company. Both parents are very vocal and are trying to get the boys back to the nest box.”
Hope is being held for a while longer as her left wing is a bit droopy. Rudy thinks it is only a strained muscle. Let’s “hope” so!
Dale reported: “Casey and Artie stayed on the Kings Tower roof from about 12:30 to just before 3:00 p.m. Casey then flew towards the CTV tower and Artie followed. He tried to land on the antenna at the top but couldn’t so he went back to Kings Tower and made some good flights around the building before landing back on the roof. Both Casey and Artie made a number of good flights shortly after, with Casey dive bombing and urging Artie higher each time.They finally landed on the Kings Tower antenna where I left them around 3:30. Artie hasn’t made it back home yet but no doubt will try again. Casey has no trouble landing there now.”
Heather reported: “6:30 and all is quiet. Artemis is way up in Kings Tower after sharing a dinner with Mystery. One parent on CTV tower and the other left a bit ago. We think Casey is on Kings Tower building roof.”
At the end of the watch, Fraser reported: “When I left at 9:10 pm Artemis was still on the tower at Kings Tower and one of the parents was beside the L on the Sun Life Building. I assume they were staying in those locations for the night. Casey was never found and had not been seen since sometime in the afternoon. Both parents spent about 20-30 min near the top of the CTV tower near 8 p.m. and both flew at the same time to the Sun Life building. One later returned to KT for a brief visit with Artemis and then departed.”
Sandye reported: “Earlier today when I couldn’t find Casey, he was hunkered down behind the nest box. I only figured that out when Wayne saw him jump onto the verandah and then into the nest box.”
Posted on June 15, 2020 11:40 pm
June 14, 2020 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
The watch started early as the search for Hope continued. Heather reported:” Karen, Tim and I have been here for a bit. Casey has flown a couple times. He’s probably hungry. We think Hope is in the same place on the hospital as last night. Parents have been over there trying to call her back. Artemis is on the platform behind the box.”
Others joined the hunt for Hope. Heather reports at 8:35: “Artemis is flapping a lot on the orange platform. Casey has been flying a fair bit. He’s becoming a pro! Casey and the adults have continued to fly over the hospital periodically.”
At 9:49, Sandye reports: “Kim, Karen, Christine and I are here. Casey has been doing some flying and is now back in the nest box. Artemis is hunkered down on the Pine Street level of the nest box level. The parents have both been flying around. Still no sign of Hope. Kim was able to get a contact of hers to look out the windows at the roofs of the emergency level. No sightings.” Paayal also contacted her unit at Grand River Hospital and convinced one of the nurses to help look for Hope.
Karen reported at 11:05: “Still no sign of Hope. Kim and Sandye are doing a ground search. Both parents have cruised over the same area as last night. No food drops that we are aware of. A short while ago, a food drop was made to the nest box and Casey is still eating it. Artemis has been out of the box all morning and making lots of wing slapping. No feeding. Girls are back and no luck. Saw an adult once again come out from the lower area at the hospital. Randy is here now and headed to the garage top and going to use his scope.”
After some searching and some help from a security guard, Paayal found Hope on the ground in the courtyard. Paayal and Rudy worked with security to rescue Hope. By 1:45 Hope had been rescued and examined by Rudy and she appeared to be in good condition.
Joy reported at 2:38, that: “Casey just did a short flight and had an awkward landing on the scaffolding above the platform and fell down to the platform.” David reported at 5:14: “I just stopped for a quick look, Casey was on the top platform. He suddenly took off, towards an adult soaring on the Kitchener side of Kings Towers. He flew around and past Kings Towers for a bit, finally landing on the antenna, half way up.”
Micah reported at 5:20: “In case there wasn’t enough excitement today, Artemis went down about 25 minutes ago, and we got Rudy to come down and rescue him. He could have been a bit banged up, but he should be okay. He had a pretty decent flight, circling around the tower a few times. Unfortunately, he did hit the tower a bit on his way down. After wandering around the parking lot, he made a beeline towards King Street, but we cornered him in some bushes before he got there. As I said, Rudy came and got him and everything is all right now. Surprisingly it’s been Enigma in the nesting box for a while now, just hoping that Casey isn’t too lonely tonight, provided he gets back from his perch about halfway down the tower okay.”
Rudy will examine Hope and Artemis more thoroughly and will hold them overnight. They will be released at some point tomorrow. Great teamwork and dedication from the Kitchener-Waterloo fledge watch team!!
Photos courtesy of Jim Bowman, Kim Woods, Randy Fowler, Paayal Burman & Rudy Kruppa.
Posted on June 15, 2020 1:12 am
June 14, 2020 - Toronto - Don Mills
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Absolutely heartbreaking news-on her second flight this morning, our beautiful Hope hit an unmerciful glass building and was killed instantly. Bruce saw her first flight, which she kept height and landed on 240, second ledge from the top. He missed her second one, but saw Quest and Mystery on the pink building at the back, looking down and went around to find her . Quest flew low over her baby and away.
I have put together a few pics of her, plus the last pictures I took on Saturday morning when I stopped by.
Fly forever sweet one 
Posted on June 15, 2020 12:15 am
June 13, 2020 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
Around 9:00 this morning, Sandye and Christine observed that Hope had fledged too! Casey and Hope took a little flight around and landed on the tower. Lots of vocalizations. Enigma had flown off while Mystery was on the top of the tower. When Karen arrived, just before 10:00, two of the siblings were in the nest box and one kid was on the tower.
In the afternoon, more fledgewatchers arrived to keep an eye on Hope.Dale reported at 4:00, “Hope is pacing back and forth on the struts below the box. Not much activity this afternoon after the one o’clock feed except the adults doing some flybys to entice Hope. The boys are hunkering down in the box.”
At 5:16, Micah reported: “Hope just left her perch about halfway down the CTV tower and took a decent (though quite wobbly) flight to the Pine Medical building roof. The others are flapping quite a bit as well.” At 6:15, Joy and Michal reports: “Hope flew again and is now on the CTV building. We are all in different spots so we can track her if she flies again! She does not get good altitude. Both parents were out trying to help her back for this last flight. At one point she was clinging to a balcony on the apartment building. She seems to start out okay but loses her height very quickly!”
David reported: “She did gain altitude on her flight from Pine St. over to Kings Tower. She had reached a level about 4 floors from the top, but got herself in a tizzy trying to figure out where to land, and ended up trying to cling to the vertical bars of a balcony railing, (one with blue tarp behind it) flapping wildly for a couple of seconds. When she let go, she tumbled vertically for about 2 floors, then regained flight, heading back towards the CTV tower. She barely cleared the roof of the Sleep Clinic building next to the Green Street lot, flew over the medical building, finally landing on the roof of the CTV building.
This is when I went to the Hospital roof, to keep an eye on her from that angle. She sat very quietly on the CTV roof parapet for quite a while, I’m sure she was pooped. Eventually she started walking along the parapet, gaining her bearings. She eventually started exploring the roof, hopped onto some of the equipment, and finally took a short flight over to the next building - the Grand River Hospital building next to the Green Street lot. She sat there for a bit, then eventually started exploring it, looking for something higher that she could launch from.
Then she finally took off, followed closely by one parent, and we think Casey, made a wide circle back around the CTV tower, and then across King Street to the Hospital, and must have landed there. I had my eye on her fairly consistently, and not the other birds so much, so I’m fairly sure of where she ended up.”
Karen reported: “I arrived just before 6 p.m. and left around 8:30 p.m Hope is on one of the lower roofs of the grey buildings at Grand River Hospital facing King Street. Both parents flew over a few times fairly low in that area. When I left one of the parents was on the top rail at that corner to probably keep an eye on her.”
It was a busy day for the fledgewatch team, and will be an early start tomorrow, looking for Hope.
Photos courtesy for Karen von Knobloch
Posted on June 14, 2020 12:08 am
June 13, 2020 - Greater Toronto - Private Residential 1
Marion Nash Reports:
Just to advise that Scarlet has safely fledged - is sitting on a balcony ledge two over from Roy - and I have perfect view of her - she is calm. Dad was just feeding Milburn so don’t be surprised if he goes today too! It’s a good day! Marlene
Posted on June 13, 2020 10:48 am
June 13, 2020 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
All went very well with the release this morning. There is a cage with an open end on the roof top and the chicks are placed in it one at a time with a rescue carrier at the front opening until all are out, then Mark and Lucie took the carrier and exited the roof leaving the 3 chicks to come out of the cage on their own.
Lucie, Mark and Erica watched for a while and soon saw all 3 on the leading edge of the roof then was joined by their brother who flew over to great them from the nest.
Great rescues and release thanks to everyone for the job well done!
Posted on June 13, 2020 12:58 am
June 13, 2020 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
Cathy and I released Ellie back to elevation on the balcony just below the nest ledge at Canada Square. Thankfully Haven did not see me go out in the dark. Hopefully she does better on her next flight.
Great rescue Bruce!
Marion
Posted on June 13, 2020 12:39 am
June 12, 2020 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
Fraser and Lucie were first on the watch and at 7:37, Fraser spotted Casey taking a flight towards the hospital!! He circled around and flew out of sight past the hospital. At 8:20 Casey could still not be accounted for and the call for reinforcements went out. Just after 9, more fledgewatchers started to arrive to look for Casey. Around 9:45, Sandye reports: Mystery was in the box feeding Artemis and Hope. Enigma was below the box feeding. Artemis has been flapping a lot on the verandah of the nest box and getting some lift. At 10:06, Casey flew back into the nest box!!
Karen reports, “It was relatively quiet for the next little while, other than the adults coming and going and trying to entice the young ones.” Looks like Enigma has been hunting meadowlarks. Photos courtesy of Karen von Knobloch.
David reports at 7:50 “Casey on upper platform, Hope and Artemis in the box. While we were there, we assume it was Casey who had a short flight (around 6:00 p.m.). We didn’t catch him leaving, or where he went, just saw him coming back accompanied by one of the parents. He at first landed on the inner white bars above the nest box, between the platforms. He hung out there for a while, periodically moving around. This while Mystery (we think) was on the upper platform, Kitchener edge, preparing (and/or eating) a fair-sized meal.
I think Casey knew it, as he kept moving around, and eventually flap/jumped to a slightly higher spot, then flew out again, a brief circle, and then up to the upper inner orange rail above the upper platform. No issue gaining altitude it seems. But he wasn’t satisfied there, watching his mom, fidgeted/moved around a fair bit, until he finally got up the nerve to fly down to the upper platform and joined his mom. Some sharing & some tugging away and back & forth ensued.
Eventually Mystery took the meal away, flew with meal first to Kings Tower, looked like she was going to land on the roof, disappeared briefly, then reappeared, flew to the Hospital roof, looked like she was going to land there, didn’t, then flew to the Sun Life tower and landed on the sign. Enigma was on the tower the whole time, on the outer railing of the upper platform.
After some time Mystery came back, Enigma took off and the two flew around for a couple of minutes, seeming to try to coax the others to fly. No dice, so they both ended up back on the CTV tower eventually, with Casey still on the upper platform and the other two still in the box, very active and vocal, but not ready to fly.
When I left the Green St. lot, Casey was still on the upper platform, the other two in the box, Enigma (I think) on the outer railing of the upper platform, almost directly above the box, and Mystery was perched on the middle of the cross-beam directly below the lower platform, on the King Street side.
As I was driving past the tower, I heard what seemed like an unusual racket, and pulled into the public lot behind CTV off Pine Street and got out to look. It looked like both adults had taken off, and chased each other around a bit. Finally one adult returned to the tower, and one disappeared. I think one ended up on the railing of the upper platform, above the nest box, (south corner) Casey was still on the upper platform, and the other two still in the box.”
Posted on June 12, 2020 10:55 pm
June 12, 2020 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
Update on MEC Fledge watch .. with MIDNIGHT & RENEGADE.
Tuesday, June 9, didn’t start off well as I got a call from security early in the morning that they found a dead bird. Sadly, it was our juvenile female. I arrived in time to see the boy hanging out with a parent on a letter. He’s flying very well! Winston took a photo the night before showing him with mom and another one of her attacking a crow. I did see her on another occasion actually going after several crows and managed to get them to leave the area. I was hoping to see our boy fly, but he decided that wasn’t going to happen. It was wonderful to see him doing so well, but every time I looked over at the nest ledge, I teared up.
Today, June 11, I received an update from Winston and a couple of photos of Renegade with a rodent!
“Although tough to find, the MEC boy is doing great. The family is spending very little time at MEC these days preferring the open area south of Square One. I found him on the Morguard building last night before he flew off to the condo buildings near Burnhamthorpe and Duke of York where he did an excellent landing. He is still landing on large flat ledges and not tricky shapes but his landings are very slow and under control. His travels are always with an adult around. Sometimes he leads the way and sometimes he follows a parent but he is never alone.
Of note was that Renegade arrived with food, which he did not share, in the form of a rodent. This small amount of food was brought to the Morguard building and he was quickly joined by Midnight who began screaming at him; perhaps to say, “You’re a peregrine, have some respect for yourself!” She never got too close to take it from him so I doubt she found it too appetizing. Needless to say, it didn’t last long and everyone left for shelter as the storm was close.” Cheers, Lucie
Posted on June 12, 2020 1:22 pm
