Saturday July 3
Harry Crawford reports: At 7:15 this morning, two female peregrines were on the south west side of the CIBC building, half way up.  One was the immature female that has been around for a while.  The other one looked suspiciously like Mandy.  She was mostly beige.  The imm was darker and had a wide white band around her neck.  During the whole time, the imm faced away from 'Mandy'.  I went out around 11:00 to check the other sides of the CIBC building to see if there were any males around (Spike or the imm).  I didn't see any other peregrines.  On the way back home, I saw three kestrels soaring above the Manulife apartment building, eventually landing on the antennae up there.  By 12:10pm the female imm was gone followed by 'Mandy' at 12:50.

Sunday July 4
Harry Crawford reports: At 5:25am the immature female was flying around above the CIBC building, landing on the antennae from time to time.   She was in the area making an occasional visit to the south facing 'Bay' logo until 3:15pm.   During this time, a kestrel circled above the CIBC building at 10:30 and 2:45.   The peregrine was still in the area but didn't pay any attention to this intruder.   The imm was back on the CIBC building at 5:15pm, this time on the foot of the south facing logo. She was still there at 6:30.  There was no sign of Mandy today.

Tuesday July 6
Harry Crawford reports: At 8:20am the female imm was on the foot of the south facing CIBC logo.  She flew around quite a bit and ended up on the west side of the building.  By 10:20 another peregrine was in one of the concrete slots on the same side of the building.  There was too much haze to be able to identify it and the bird was also facing into the slot.  It was gone by 11:20 followed by the imm at 11:45.  She was back in the same area for a short while at 3:20pm.

Yesterday, there was a brief sighting of the female imm.  She was on the south facing CIBC logo at 6:35pm.

Saturday July 10
Harry Crawford reports: The female was on the foot of the south facing CIBC logo at 8:00am. At 8:40 two kestrels made a couple of close passes at the peregrine, trying to remove her.  She finally disappeared at 9:15 on her own. She was back at 12:20pm and seen in various locations on the same building until 4:15pm.    Thursday and Friday's sightings were similar, minus the kestrels.

Monday July 12
Harry Crawford reports: The female was seen between 6:30am and 7:45 as well as between 6:25pm and 8:45, always in various locations on the CIBC building. There were no sightings on Sunday.

Wednesday July 14
Harry Crawford reports: At 5:40am a male was seen on the north west corner of the CIBC building.  He was still in the area at 8:05am.  At 6:55am a female was on the south part of the Bay roof, eventually moving to the CIBC building east antenna.  She disappeared at 7:15am.  Both birds were back briefly at 7:55pm.  There were no sightings on Thursday.

Thursday July 15
Harry Crawford reports: The male was on the north west corner of the CIBC building for a short while at 6:15am.  He was back at 8:15am in the same position.  At the same time, three peregrines flew from the roof area of the Radisson Plaza, disappearing behind the Bay and CIBC buildings. They didn't appear on the west side so they must have landed on the roof of either building or disappeared lower and to the north.  They definitely were not kestrels.

Tuesday July 20
Harry Crawford reports: Both a male and female peregrine continue to be seen, sometimes separately and sometimes together around the CIBC and Bay buildings. This has been consistent since last Friday.  Sightings are more frequent in the early morning.  Saturday morning, the local kestrels were giving diving lessons to the youngsters from the roof of 77 Bloor West.

Friday July 23
Harry Crawford reports: Both the male and female were in the Yonge and Bloor area all day starting at 6:20am through to 5:55pm.  This last sighting was of the female on the southeast Bay roof.  Wednesday and Thursday were much the same as today.  On Thursday at 12:30pm a peregrine was observed circling just north of City Hall.  It was making a lot of noise.

Sunday July 25
Harry Crawford reports: There were a few mid morning sightings but otherwise a quiet day today around the CIBC building.   Yesterday, both peregrines were around, preferring the west side of the CIBC building.  They were seen between 8:45am and 12:25pm and once again at 5:40pm.

Thursday July 29
Harry Crawford reports: From last Monday until today, both peregrines have been spotted on and around the CIBC building.  The most frequent sightings are in the morning from first light until around 9am.

Saturday July 31
Harry Crawford reports: Both male and female peregrine spent the morning storm [10:55am to 12:50pm] on the south middle ledge of the CIBC building.  They were both back in the same spot for the afternoon rain between 3:10 and 5:40pm.  There were no sightings on Friday.

Monday August 9
Marcel Gahbauer reports: Another peregrine has arrived in Toronto!  Around 8:55 this morning, as I was driving across Eglinton Avenue near Don Mills Road, I happened to spot a kestrel chasing a peregrine north.  I fought the impulse to stop and watch in the middle of rush hour traffic, and instead found a parking spot along the vacant lot southeast of Eglinton and Don Mills.  From there I could see the peregrine perched on the second "O" of the Ontario Federation of Labour building's logo (on the north side of Eglinton, the first building east of Don Mills).

Just by chance, I happened to have the scope in the trunk of my car, and not long after I set it up, the peregrine was considerate enough to stretch its left leg forward into full view.  I was able to clearly see a bicoloured band, with black on the top half and red on the bottom.  On top was a "B" rotated 90 degrees to the left, and on the bottom a "D" also tilted to the left.  My thanks to Dave Scott, Peregrine Falcon Project Coordinator at the Ohio Division of Wildlife for quickly tracing the band number and identifying this bird as "Erin", a female raised naturally at the Froedtert Malt in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1998.

Erin stayed in view on the "O" for just over an hour.  During this time she was very relaxed, spending some time sleeping, and the rest of the time preening.    It was clear that she is going through a moult, as she has some feathers which look pretty worn, and others very fresh in appearance.  There were quite a few brown feathers on her wings in particular - at the time, I was too caught up in the moment to catch the significance of this, but of course it makes sense that if she hatched in 1998, she is only now losing her immature plumage (brown feathers) and growing in adult plumage (gray feathers).  As she preened, I also saw her right leg, on which she has a purple / wine-coloured US Fish and Wildlife band, which is quite well visible even at a distance.

There are two resident kestrels on the south side of Eglinton, and they were not impressed by Erin's presence.  The male vocalized incessantly, while the female launched an attack again around 9:40 am.  She dove at Erin at least 8 times, coming to within a couple of metres of her, but the peregrine seemed completely unconcerned.    Although she certainly did keep an eye on her attacker, Erin did not vocalize, and made no move to fly.  The kestrel eventually gave up and returned to the south side again, where her mate seemed to give her a scolding for failing to accomplish the task.

Shortly before 10 am, Erin becme a bit more animated, and started bobbing her head.    Within minutes, she flew off to the east, heading for a flock of starlings.    She separated one from the flock and stooped, but narrowly missed.  She continued flying to the east over the Don Valley Parkway, and disappeared from my sight.

There were a couple of reports of peregrines in the Don Mills and Lawrence area this spring.  It could be that these were also Erin, or it's possible they were another bird.  Either way, we will try to keep an eye on this site, and will post updates if we see her (or another) again.  We would also encourage anyone else passing by this area to keep your eyes open, and please report any sightings you do have to us.

Saturday August 14
Harry Crawford reports: The adult male was on the foot of the south facing CIBC logo between 11:45am and 1:45pm.    On Friday he was on the south side of the CIBC building between 12:50pm and 1:40pm.

During the previous days in August, the sightings have been infrequent.  Any sightings were brief -- just a few minutes.  The only difference from before was that the adult female, likely Mandy, was seen less frequently than the male.  The male was also seen on the south facing Bay logo and on the roof of 77 Bloor West.  On Friday, August 06, a partially consumed pigeon was left in the south east corner of The 77 Bloor West roof.  It disappeared later in the day.

Sunday August 15
Harry Crawford reports: The adult male, likely Spike, was on the south west corner half way up the CIBC building between 7:35am and 8:45.   He was later seen at 4:40pm on the foot of the south facing CIBC logo eating.

Sunday August 29
Harry Crawford reports: This morning, at 6:55, an unidentified peregrine was circling above the CIBC building at Yonge and Bloor.  It gradually moved southward along Yonge Street.  At 10:15 the adult male made a brief appearance on the foot of the west CIBC logo.  Two kestrels were spotted circling the area at 1:05pm.  At 3:25 the male peregrine was back on the south side of the CIBC building and shortly after, disappeared around to the east side of the building.

At 5:25pm an unidentified peregrine was chasing a kestrel northward over the Radisson Plaza.  It was shortly joined in the chase by another peregrine.  The kestrel disappeared and the peregrines 'played' in the air for a few minutes.  Two adult peregrines were in the area at 6:50.  The adult female [looking very much like Mandy] settled in on the west side of the CIBC building while the adult male [looking very much like Spike] put on an aerial display for around ten minutes.  He then settled into one of the concrete slots on the south side of the CIBC building.  The female was still in the same location at dusk [8:25pm] but I couldn't see if the male was around due to the poor light.

During the previous two weeks there have only been brief sightings in the area.    Construction and maintenance work is going on on several of the buildings including the CIBC and Bay buildings.  In addition, the Sanyo blimp has been making quite a few close passes.