North York Pair Still Going Strong
December 31, 1969 - North York - Nest
Tracy Simpson Reports:
On Friday after I finished spending time with the Canada Square folks, I made my way north on Yonge St to see if I could locate the unbanded male and unnamed Buffalo female at the Trans America building at Elmwood. When I arrived I found the male at the very top of the building on the east side. He was perched on the edge of an area that Bruce calls “the prow” as it really is shaped similarly to the prow of a ship. The female was on the north side of the building on an upper ledge perch on a potlight. The male took off of his perch and made a spectacular flight northeast on a hunt that brought him at one point low over Mel Lastman Sq. He was back in a few minutes but without the prize he was seeking. Within 5 minutes he was off again in the same direction and this time was away for almost 15 minutes before returning empty taloned. The female remained on her perch throughout his flights and watched to see if he was successful. The female finally took off on a foray of her own, circled back and landed on the RBC building across the street. There she checked all of the cache spots for food on the signs, the corners and the roof but none was to be found. She flew off of the RBC and circled over Mel Lastman Sq. before flying to the north ledge of the Trans America and disappearing into the ledge. She remained tucked in and out of view for over 40 minutes while the male made another attempt at a hunt. He was much more successful this time and landed on the north RBC sign calling her. She didn’t emerge from the spot on the ledge that I had witnessed her entering and so he cached the prey and flew over to the northeast corner of the overhang above the ledge where she was located. She waddled out from behind a large potlight, looked up at him and started to wail!! “Dinner!! Now!!” She was relentless in her calling of him and when he didn’t move, she flew over to the Invesco building and waited, whining high and loud over the rush hour traffic. He flew in and mated with her but that didn’t stop her demanding. The male returned to his high perch on the “prow” of Trans America and she followed. She physically knocked him off of his perch, all the time whining and begging, and so he circled around and mated with her a second time. The male now flew down to RBC and showed her where the food was if she wanted it and took off to the northeast. She finally came down off of the “prow” of Trans America and ate before returning to the same spot on the north side of their building of interest.
While there has not been any signs off eggs yet it would seem that the pair have not given up. Bruce will be checking out the ledges this week to see if they have indeed picked a spot and whether any eggs are being laid.
