Mississauga - Executive Centre

Adults Still Present at MEC

September 29, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

While in Mississauga this past week, I was able to spend some time at the Mississauga Executive Centre site and check in on the resident adult pair.  Upon arrival, there was no immediate sign of either male or female until I circled back around the far side of building 4.  This seems to be a very popular roosting site for both of these adults as I have seen them there off and on all season.  The male was sitting right on the southeast corner of the building and a little further down the ledge, feathers were just a flyin’ out of the sunken section of the ledge.  At first I couldn’t see what was causing the shower of feathers until the resident female finally popped up onto the edge with an enormous pigeon in her talons.  It was clear that she had been eating for a while as her crop was quite full and her face quite decorated with bits of food.  After a good 20 minutes of continued plucking, she left the meal and headed directly over to the nest box where she stood and called her mate.  The male took up where she left off, moving into the ledge on 4 building and snacking on what remained of the pigeon.  The female remained on the landing platform of the box for the next 2 hours, enjoying the rain shower that was currently falling and then preening herself once it had stopped.  The resident male took up a better viewing position on building 2 and followed suit with his own preen-fest.  The female then left the nest box and headed back over to building 4 to finish off any remaining scraps of food only to return to the box for a good long nap afterwards. 

Although this pair diligently incubated their clutch of eggs this year, they were unsuccessful in hatching any young.  This is the first time in the history of this nest site that young have not been produced and is in keeping with the lower productivity we have seen at nearly all nest sites in southern Ontario this year.  This is where the vigilance of the monitoring the CPF does pays huge dividends in that we track these trends in productivity of this still recovering species year after year.  The decades of experience, statistics and knowledge we now have allows us to immediately respond to negative trends and assist the Peregrine falcons breeding in southern Ontario, thus ensuring their future success in producing strong and healthy young.  We look forward to seeing this pair continue to successfully breed at the MEC site next year as they did in the years past.  As I currently watch this resident pair reaffirming their bond, I am very excited about seeing them with young in the next breeding season and I will continue to visit with them again next week so please check back for further updates.

!!! Resident adults still on territory and observed on the nest ledge!!

June 28, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

CPF Postmaster Reports:

June 28th - 2011

Sadly, for the first time since the MEC nest site was established, the resident adults were unsuccessful in hatchling there eggs this season. While this is sad news, there is some good news to report. Unable to do regular site visits as often as we would have liked since the last egg disappeared from the nest box because all of the on-going fledge watches and overlapping bandings, we have received a observation report from Katherine reporting that both the resident adults were spotted sitting on the nest ledge around 4pm today.

This is good news indeed, as it appears that both adults are still hanging in tight to the nest box and holding the territory.

Thanks Katherine for the update!!!

!!! MEC Still Incubating Two Eggs at Day 63.

June 02, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

After spending a great morning at the Hamilton Sheraton banding, Frank and I stopped in at the Mississauga Executive Centre to check in on the resident pair and the status of the eggs that they have been incubating.  It was on May 21st that I noticed that the pair had gone from incubating three eggs to only two.  From initial observation of appearance of eggs on March 30th, this would indicate that we are now at day 63 of incubation.  Is this a second clutch or a well past due first clutch?  We will continue to monitor this site and keep you up to date on the events as they unfold.

MEC Still Incubating at Least One Egg; 57 Days Incubation Today!!??

May 27, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I was on-site at the Mississauga Executive Centre today to check on the resident pair and it would appear that they are still incubating at least one egg.  At the time of my arrival, I had just missed a change over so there was no hope of a really good view as the male was in the nest box and sleeping away the afternoon.  The resident female made her way out from the nest box and landed on the dot on top of the “j” in the large sign on MEC building #3.  I was able to see the male reposition himself and clearly there is still at least one egg.  From initial observations back on March 30th, that puts us at around 57 days incubation.  I will continue to check in and provide you with updates on the status of this nest.

!!! MEC Down to Two Eggs

May 21, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I was on-site today to check in on the pair here and the three eggs that they have been incubating for some time.  As I reached the monitor, the resident male was incubating the eggs tightly and would not let me have a look until the female returned.  During the shift change, I had almost a full minute of viewing the nest box on the monitor and was only able to see two eggs present.  Given previous observations back in late March and early April, this pair has gone beyond the incubation period where a hatch should have occurred.  I will be back out next week to see whether the remaining eggs are still there and try and determine whether the pair might reclutch.

Still Awaiting a Hatch at MEC.

May 09, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

Bruce Massey was on-site today at the Mississauga Executive Centre for a check up on the incubating adult pair and their three eggs.  A quick look at the monitor revealed that there has yet to be a hatch at this site.  The resident pair is certainly working hard on incubating and caring for the eggs and we will continue to check back regularily for a hatch.  Check back soon as it could be any day now!!!

MEC Coming Close to a Hatch

May 06, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I was on-site at the Mississauga Executive Centre today to check on the progress of the nesting pair and their clutch of three eggs.  When I arrived at the site, the resident female was on MEC 2 having just consumed a meal which meant the male was on incubation duty.  I went up to check the monitor and the male was huddled down on the eggs but not entirely settled.  The male was keeping his body arched overtop of the eggs as if something was moving beneath him.  It was very evident after watching him for about 1 hour, that he wasn’t going to lay down on the eggs enough to be comfortable.  He shifted and shuffled several times and although he looked like a nap would have suited him just fine, a snooze wasn’t going to happen as he continued to reposition himself.  When the female came in to relieve him, the three eggs were clearly in view and I couldn’t see any evidence of a pending hatch as of yet.  Even though there was no hatch today, I suspect that it is not far off now and we will keep you updated.

No hatch as yet - three eggs.

May 05, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Mark Nash Reports:

May 5th - 2011
I attended MEC today to check the camera monitor and the birds progress. Just arrived at a shift chance but couldn’t get the camera out in time to snap a shot of the three eggs. Thank goodness for the camera phone and I was able to get this photo before the adult settled down on the three eggs. Interestingly, two of the eggs are a strong reddish colour - (typical of what we usually see), and the third egg is almost pure white.

As you can see, the camera is working just fine, but we’re still having problems with the computer that processes the camera image and delivers it to the CPF web site. We’re still working on it!
Hatch is very soon, Stay tuned…………

We are still planning to replace the aging camera at this site with one of the newer IP cameras as soon as money becomes available so we can get ride of the computer, as they have always been the weakest link and our biggest problem at all of the nest sites where we have cameras!!

Egg Count at MEC.

April 28, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I was on-site at the Mississauga Executive Centre today in an attempt to fix the camera.  I was able to get a look at the monitor and see that the resident pair is now in hard incubation on three eggs.  Marco with Oxford Properties and I made all attempts to swap out the downed computer for the new one and restore the camera image to the website but ran into difficulties with the internet connection.  We have one cable attachment to repair and we should be up and running, hopefully, on Monday.  A huge thanks to Marco for his assistance in helping me to locate the problem!! 

I did take a moment to try and identify our banded resident female but the winds were too strong even though I had her clearly in the spotting scope.  I will make another attempt to identify her on Monday once the camera is repaired.

!!! Almost there, cameras and computers.

April 25, 2011 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

CPF Postmaster Reports:

Working feverishly over the last couple of days while refocused back on the CPF web cams, it seem that we get one step forward and fall two steps behind. We have been working behind the scenes at several of the nest sites on both the computer systems and cameras in an effort get them all up and running before a hatch, so please bear with us. Plagued with internet service disruptions, broken connections, a new camera install, and two crashed computers to deal with along with all of the usual “now what the heck is going on”, we are still working behind the scenes to get them back on line. You know what they say, when it rains, it pours!! Well, it pouring!!!

As you all know, we are usually stressed at the best of times given our typical financial shortfalls to deal with the surprises with the equipment, and it’s always a hurry up and wait for donations and contributions to come in to assist us with these expensive and time consuming equipmant challenges.

In the interim, we are getting some great nest site observations with LOTS of activity, and we are watching very closely to keep you updated.

Stay tuned……….