Resident Pair at Trans America Still Thinking Spring
May 10, 2013 - North York - Nest
Bruce Massey Reports:
This post is a few weeks late but an important one none the less. First off, I greatly appreciate the time that Intercon Security spared for Tracy and I on April 30th to visit the 21st floor and investigate the potential nesting pair of peregrine falcons at the TransAmerica Tower. While we did observe that the female was staying close to the light on the ledge at the north side of the building, a spot that she had disappeared into many times over the past few weeks, and the male was keeping a close watch on her, it was clear that there were no eggs present at that time.
I continue to maintain a watch on this pair every chance that I get and what we are watching for is the repeated use of that particular area by the resident adult peregrines and the presence of only one bird at a time. This would tell us that the other adult is occupied with the care of an egg or eggs. Most recently we have been able to observe that pattern of behaviour and we will therefore most likely return to confirm or deny the presence of eggs on the ledge.
The resident adult pair has been present in the area of Yonge and Elmwood for several years now. Initially the male and female were not bearing the recovery band that is common on most peregrine falcons hatched in an urban environment in North America. Last year, the resident female changed and the new resident is banded. We were able to trace her origins to the Statler Tower nest site in Buffalo, New York where she hatched in 2008. The resident male remains un-banded and we presume that he is still the original resident adult that colonized the area in 2007.
I have posted pictures taken by Tracy Simpson taken on the day of our visit through the windows on the 21st floor. We again would like to thank Intercon Security and the building management at the Trans America Tower for their time and will certainly return in the coming weeks to check once more for the presence of eggs.
