September 10, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Seeing less and less of the kids and more of Jenna and Chester! Haven’t positively id’d Kepler for a while now… Maybe he’s gone… Maybe not lol. But have seen Tardis! She’s doing great… Last week she caught her dinner, right in front of me! It was just shy of six weeks since she was in that tree!! Amazing how fast they grow and learn… Way to go Tardis
Attaching some pics from the last week or so….
Posted on September 16, 2019 9:19 pm
September 12, 2019 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
On August 20th, Rochester Animal services picked a young peregrine falcon and brought it to a local vet/rehabilitator. The rehab facility has contacted me and provided me with the auxiliary band number (Black Band D/62). They tried to report the band, but have not received a response, but based on the information on your site, I believe this may be one of the young from the Sheraton Centre (Quinn).
Based on the X-rays, there didn’t appear to be any broken bones, just some bruising. The falcon seems to be doing very well, both eating and flying. It is being transferred to a facility with a larger flight facility so that it can strengthen its flight and be tested for release. If all goes well, it should be released relatively soon. I will let you know how it goes.
Cheers,
Jenny
Jenny Landry
Wildlife Biologist, Division of Fish and Wildlife
Posted on September 12, 2019 7:46 pm
September 08, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills
Marion Nash Reports:
Z70, from Duncan Mill Rd. was caught by some banders in Innisfil this morning. She weighed 1009 grams. Although she is north many of the females seem to head north then west ending up in places like Michigan while the boys head out across Lake Ontario.
Posted on September 10, 2019 2:15 am
September 06, 2019 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
Screaming Legals from Canada Square was caught this morning at a bander’s station at the Leslie Spit. He weighed 650 grams. He will be released to finish his journey south for the winter wish him well.
Posted on September 6, 2019 10:34 am
September 03, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Tardis and Kepler are still around and doing great! I see them often… They are hanging around together, today I walked out of Forresters and heard that juvie cry, looked up and saw one flying around the building, calling then chase his sister off the letter and settle on it himself, yep Kepler! Tardis tried to tease him off, failed and flew to ICICI… Then back and Kepler finally took the bait and they were off! So fun to watch… How much longer? Who knows… Late hatch so I hope to see them for a bit more.
Posted on September 3, 2019 9:29 pm
August 19, 2019 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Marion Nash Reports:
A few days ago I posted some photos from Nick Richardson of the peregrine couple that visit his window ledge. We have since identified the male as Typhoon (Y/17, 2015 hatch from Yonge/Eglinton) and the female as unbanded. Nick has named her ‘FALCO’ .. perfect ❤
Cathy Kerr and I took a trip to Brampton today to get familiar with the locations that have attracted these peregrines in the past. We could not see any birds at the court house and proceeded to downtown Brampton to hopefully find them at their other hang out. After perusing all the buildings in the area, we were thrilled to see someone fly to and land on a condo right near us! It was TYPHOON! Although we didn’t see his mate, we heard him eee-chupping (peregrine sweet talk) so he could see where she was, even if we couldn’t. Sure enough, our waiting paid off and FALCO appeared from the back of the ledge!
What a great day! We know where they are and hope for positive news next spring .. fingers crossed.
In the meantime, we are thankful that TYPHOON and FALCO are frequenting a ledge where they are welcomed! Our sincere thanks to Nick for embracing our couple and keeping us informed and with great photos! Cheers, Lucie
Posted on August 19, 2019 12:53 pm
August 17, 2019 - Brampton - Courthouse
Marion Nash Reports:
A few days ago I posted some photos from Nick Richardson of the peregrine couple that visit his window ledge. We have since identified the male as Typhoon (Y/17, 2015 hatch from Yonge/Eglinton) and the female as unbanded. Nick has named her ‘FALCO’ .. perfect ❤
Cathy Kerr and I took a trip to Brampton today to get familiar with the locations that have attracted these peregrines in the past. We could not see any birds at the court house and proceeded to downtown Brampton to hopefully find them at their other hang out. After perusing all the buildings in the area, we were thrilled to see someone fly to and land on a condo right near us! It was TYPHOON! Although we didn’t see his mate, we heard him eee-chupping (peregrine sweet talk) so he could see where she was, even if we couldn’t. Sure enough, our waiting paid off and FALCO appeared from the back of the ledge!
What a great day! We know where they are and hope for positive news next spring .. fingers crossed.
In the meantime, we are thankful that TYPHOON and FALCO are frequenting a ledge where they are welcomed! Our sincere thanks to Nick for embracing our couple and keeping us informed and with great photos! Cheers, Lucie
Posted on August 19, 2019 12:50 pm
August 11, 2019 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
Bliss band number Z 29 was spotted in a construction in the Distillery district on the ground with a broken beak. CPF got the call and Bruce went out to try to find her. Her wings were not broken or fractured and she was able to fly so although he tried he could not find her anywhere. Bruce then whent to the nest site hoping she may come home but she did not. Some kindly person did find her and took her into Toronto Wildlife but she was so malnourished she was just skin and bone and her beak was very badly broken. TWC made the decision to put her down. Sad but at least she is not longer suffering.
Posted on August 12, 2019 11:09 pm
August 09, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
All doing well here! I am lucky to get to see them on a daily basis - last Wednesday I watched Mom and Dad go after another turkey vulture and Kepler briefly joined in! And on Friday night, Sally, Lucie and I met up at the site and enjoyed an evening of watching lots of flights, chases and feedings-Kepler is doing great and Tardis is working to catch up, she’s looking great! We are meeting up again this week to watch them some more before they start taking the kids farther away. I have added some pics that Lucie, Sally and I took that evening.
Posted on August 12, 2019 7:04 pm
August 04, 2019 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Cathy Kerr Reports:
Sally reports:
Cathy kindly picked me up to return to finish the final day of fledge watch. Cathy felt confident (and had consulted with CPF) that we could move to spot checks tomorrow. Well, we had no idea what we were in for.
As we arrived, Kepler was chasing Tardis and she vocalized for him to “lay off!” while she flew to a roof top (one reason we returned was to enjoy the usual evening flights, a possible food transfer as Kepler had succeeded the day before - but no photos captured the effortless manouver - and a window ledge landing for Tardis (although Bruce had assured us she’d be fine and figure it out. Her brother constantly attempts to engage in play though and it’s been hard for her to vary her flights).
Both juvies were on a roof and Jenna was approaching with food. Kepler screamed and flew out to greet her and Cathy got her camera ready for what we hoped would be a food exchange. Was it ever. a full pigeon. He did it! And with difficulty flew to the nest building. Not surprisingly he wasn’t able to quickly figure out landing while carrying prey. He dropped it. Damn! Jenna flew to the garage roof, looking down at it and I know you’re not supposed to anthropomorphize, but, she really did look deflated and “are you kidding me?!”. We really felt for her and as Cathy had done this before, she suggested we go and collect it and attempt a toss in the air? I ventured down the slope to the pigeon, and chickened out. I’m hopeless at picking up dead critters. Cathy gave me the camera, put on her gloves and went to retrieve it. A toss in the air but no response from Jenna. It landed near her on a grassy strip below the garage roof though, and we backed off, discussing whether or not to collect it again. She decided it wasn’t necessary by flying to the ground, and proceeded to tear into her pigeon urgently(peregrines do not eat or prep on the ground, too dangerous but it was heavy and she was trying to lighten it….and she had two very hungry babies to feed). A very hangry Kepler looked down, voicing his impatience (and ignoring his Mum’s previous calls to be quiet as we’d approached the prey).
After removing feathers, and the head, and eating a little, we could tell Jenna was now concerned with flying off with the prey. She attempted twice to lift off the ground but couldn’t. She then managed to hop and flap and gain some altitude, flying and rising, with the intention of turning and flying to the nest building. Kepler had other ideas. He wanted another food exchange. She wasn’t high enough and he grabbed it but it was too heavy, too low for him and he flew with it to the base of the parking garage. Where he stood on it. We walked around to get a better view and could not believe what we were seeing–Kepler, on the ground eating! Not the smartest thing to do but he was so hungry. We were worried and decided we’d stay until we saw him fly up and to safety. Sure enough a dog walker came through and understood our vocalizing to move away and keep the dog on a short leash (the alarm calling had also started). A curious gull came in close as well to see if it could get it but wisely heeded Jenna’s warning.
While all this was going on, Tardis decided to get closer to the action and flew over to the top window ledge of the nest building. Yes, a window ledge! What we’d hoped to see! She hugged the ledge watching her Mom and brother. Another check mark for Tardis!
Satisfied, Kepler flew off and left Jenna looking at what remained of the pigeon. Kepler joined his sister on the top ledge window. Jenna appeared unsure of whether to come to ground again and retrieve it. Cathy was worried Kepler would come back and go to ground again , so she decided she’d go place it on the retaining wall of the garage . Possibly because Kepler had just been in that spot and wasn’t too far away, Jenna vocalized when Cathy picked up the food, and swooped over to a nearby light stand. Cathy placed the food on the wall and Jenna swooped again to settle above the food. We waited a good distance away, monitoring with binoculars and cameras. She’d gone to collect it, and accidentally knocked it into the garage. Kepler did come back on sat on the top of the garage watching his Mom. Determined to get it, she flew in to retrieve it and as she came out, Kepler shot in to finish off his meal. The two of them flew right up to the light stand near where I’d been watching. With me now almost below them, Jenna started alarm calling. Chester appeared, and I quickly realized he wanted me away from that light stand. I could tell he was diving to warn me and Cathy, who is usually very relaxed, was mouthing what looked to be “duck!” and “watch out!”. Yikes. We can add human to the list of escorts out of the area today! Chester backed off as I got to Cathy’s car where I took cover (thank god for the long distance range of the auto lock!), sneaking more photos from the window. At this point, all four of our falcon family were alarm calling, as employees were innocently walking to their cars, looking up but not realizing they were the cause for alarm.
Cathy and I talked a couple of familiar dog walkers to go elsewhere (they let their dogs off leash and throw balls for a half hour each day), and explained why the alarm calls had kicked up a notch (their dogs). They were very understanding plus they didn’t want their dogs to get hit by an angry peregrine!
Eventually all went quiet. Kepler settled in on the Sony Music “M” for the night, and Tardis settled on a corner ledge of the nest building after a couple of really good flights to the Sony Music and Intel building corners. Not easy but she navigated the corners with ease-way to go Tardis-another check mark. Dad was on the Intel sign and Mom was still eating lol as we drove away.
Hoo boy. What a day. God speed Kepler and Tardis.
This is Cathy: What a fabulous end to a great watch! Both the kids are doing great and I will continue to enjoy watching them pretty well every day as I am lucky enough to work a block away and can watch them from my office window! I will update you all from time to time…they don’t have a long time to learn a awful lot of stuff before they head south but I am sure these two determined little ones will give it all they have. I want to thank again , Sally, Lucie, Bruce, Mark & Marion for all their great help, support and great company on this, the latest watch I have ever been on but one of the best!
Can’t wait for next year!!
Our watch has ended….
WARNING: Our pictures today are all of the transfer, Peregrines eating their prey, very close up. Its what peregrines do :) but if you would prefer not to look, I understand. Sally & I took all these pictures
Posted on August 5, 2019 7:53 pm
