!!! Third Rogers centre fledgling down! Trapped in the mechnical room of the Toronto Renaissance Hotel! Three fledglings Banded!
June 16, 2015 - Toronto - Rogers Centre
Mark Nash Reports:
June 16th - 2015
Banding day!
Ok, just when you think that it can’t get any more hectic, trust me,, it can! Remember, its peregrine seasons!!!
Rules of engagement and supplies needed, forget your social life, family and friends,, don’t bother to waste your money to shop for food, as you’ll never be home long enough to eat it before it goes bad, bring lots of extra change of cloths, (and a pillow) because your going to be sleeping allot in the car, don’t forget to pack several rescue carriers, several nets, a couple of brooms, your fall arrest harness, banding kit, safety boots and hard hat, plenty of gas money and credit cards and Oh yes, don’t make any other plans for about eight weeks, as your going to quite busy working, sleeping, eating in the field and on the road in your car as you will be making new feathered friends along the way! 
lol
Well OK, your new feathered friends won’t actually consider you to be their friends, so don’t forget to bring lots of alcohol pads and a box of band-aids, as your going to need them!
Shortly after making arrangements with Mark Heaton from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests, (who by the way had to rush off immediately after the Ontario Power Generation Pickering banding yesterday to travel to North Bay Ontario to attend a bear training course), to get his OK to petition Anne Yagi from the Vineland office of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for her support to band the two rescued Rogers Centre fledglings.
After tracking Anne on her day off and at the golf course, she agreed to finish up earlier than planned and we arranged to meet her at her district office in Vineland Ontario so she could band the two young peregrines. It was moments after the serious of phone calls with both Anne and Mark that the phone rang again with a very familiar name and number, (from non-other than Dave, the Director of Engineering at the Toronto Rogers Centre).
Thinking the worst (that maybe his little rescued little peregrine may have developed some unforeseen medical challenges), I braced myself for the worst as I answered the phone.
Actually not really bad news, as Dave explains that the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel had called to say the they had one of the adult peregrine falcons trapped in the mechanical room of the hotel and needed assistance to have it trapped and removed. He knew that it was not likely an adult, and figured that if it was a peregrine eat all, it would likely be one of the fledglings. As some may recall, Marion and I were called down to the same hotel last year, and successfully rescued one of the Rogers Centre fledglings from the same area of the hotel!
Fortunately, Dave was able to go over to the hotel and confirm his suspicions that it was in fact one of the young fledglings and not an adult.
So Marion and I were back off on a road trip to the Rogers Centre and the Toronto Renaissance Hotel to hook up with Dave and the hotel staff. Stopping quickly at the CPF storage locker to pick up yet another rescue carrier, several towels, brooms and nets, it was a race to get downtown before the traffic chocked the highways with the start of the evening rush hours traffic.
When we arrived at the hotel, Dave met us with the CPF rescue carrier containing the young juvenile fledgling that he has rescued earlier. We stowed the bird safely in the car along side its sibling that had been rescued from the Baton Rouge restaurant and we proceeded to the upper hotel mechanical room to investigate. Armed with two nets, two brooms and a flash light and another rescue carrier, we were directed to an enclosed area where the young peregrine fledgling was last observed roosting on a pipe close to the ceiling.
Yes, this area was very familiar indeed, the same place that Marion and I had in fact attended last year and rescued a young peregrine fledgling that was produced at the Rogers centre. Utilizing a tall latter, broom and two nets, Marion and I were successful in catching the young fledgling and quickly had it in safely in the rescue carrier without further incident.
Back to the car, now with all three Rogers fledglings in rescue carriers, we headed out to meet with Anne Yagi from the Ministry of Natural resources at her Vineland office. I guess we missed the opportunity to dodge the evening rush hour traffic, as the it took almost three hours to get from the Rogers centre to the MNR Vineland office!!
Meeting with Anne at the OMNR Vineland office , we were able to band the three fledgling juveniles in record time and headed back to Toronto.
So, their particulars are: 2 females and 1 male
1st- Female - 865 grams, banded K over 40, named “Striker” with Red Marker Tape
2nd- Female - 855 grams, banded K over 41, named Chopper with Yellow Marker Tape
3rd- Male - 682 grams, banded X over 02, named Pop-fly with Blue Marker Tape
A huge thank you to Mark Heaton, Anne Yagi, Dave McCormick and the Rogers centre staff, the hotel staff and Marion from the CPF for all of their efforts again in assisting and supporting both the CPF and their peregrines!
What a great team of fabulous caring people!!
All three fledglings will be will be released back to the Rogers Centre and their parents tomorrow.
Stay tuned for more tomorrows release details……..
