ON / Toronto - Apartment Block - 2008-14

[carly]

Well that was the fastest trip I've ever made to work..lol!  Angel was snoozing on her webcam in her usual corner so all is good.  NO sign of Jack but then I wouldn't expect to see him anyway. 

[carly]

Ack!!  Just saw this posted on Mathews site from yesterday!!

Today at approximately 5PM there was a confrontation between two predatory birds less than 1km north of our site. It was reported that two large raptors were on the ground, talons entangled, apparently trying to kill one another. A third bird was noticed in the air above the disturbance.

Within minutes a few of us were at the location, and one bird was noticed flying out of a nearby tree, no birds were on the ground. I would guess it was a red-tailed hawk flying away but I was too far away to be sure. A brief look in the area didn't turn up any injured birds.

Back at our nest site no falcons have been seen, but for this time of day (early evening) that's not uncommon. I will be checking for Mom & Jack tomorrow morning.

Thanks to the community members who took the time to find me through Building Security, as always everyone's help is appreciated.

I'm out, heading to check on Angel!!

[carly]

Sad to hear that TR male won't be released but I"m glad he's improving and am hopeful eventually he will be free to fly the skies and find mom again.

As for Jack...I'm not really sure what to make of him.  He seems to be spending 90% of his time at TR lately with his new mate and only comes by our site to check in.  The other day we all watched Angel, she was perched on the condo and from there she has a line of sight straight to his new location.  She never ever perches there and she sat there for 2 hours preening and looking around.

It's going to be an interesting season 

[Alison]

2010 NESTING SEASON

A couple of updates from this site: I'm glad to hear that the original male from this site is improving, and hope he will completely regain his flying ability. Jack seems to be maintaining two sites . . .

Feb 9, 2010 - Houston, have we a problem?

The past few days, the falcons are behaving strangely. I don't know if it's remotely possible (please contact me if you have any insights!), but if I had to guess I'd say Jack and Mom are in courtship mode.

One problem with the current situation is that lately, the location of choice for the falcons is the south end of the building, where I'm forced to stand on the ground and try to guess what the heck is going on above. No camera to observe with, no way to know what's going on within the ledge.

Yesterday, a tandem food run was observed. Today just moments ago (1:15PM), I watched two falcons sitting on different ledges. Next came the tell-tale squawking, the male flew out, came back to the ledge Mom was on, some hoopla ensued (hidden within the ledge), and after about 20 seconds the male flew out again. A bewildered looking female soon peered over the edge of the ledge. Ah yes, memories of matings of years gone by. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! NO!!!

Monitoring continues as possible. Frankly I hope they're just wrestling or something, it seems pretty early in the season to start counting eggs... Right?

**2PM Update** Kathy was kind enough to pass me some additional information. Kathy knows Jack well from the Bloor/Islington site. Kathy says "Jack usually started courting Angel second week of February - the last 2 years I observed anyway. They were always the first site to lay eggs and hatch them out. She usually laid them last week of March with him. Not sure how it will work this year but he was here yesterday morning making all kinds of noises and they were both in the nestbox for awhile." - Thanks Kathy!

And so, once again we can confirm Jack is a little two-timer, quite the busy boy! 2PM - An update has been received from the MNR regarding our original male, the one currently in rehab.

Feb 11, 2010 - Mom in HD Video + Update on our original male

This morning it's a chilly -7C and Mom was spotted at the nest ledge through the remote monitoring camera. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to shoot some video.

If you're interested, the video is on YouTube, click below to view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS9Hn8kNfMU

According to the rehab facility, our male is being kept in a serpentine cage where he's able to fly at his leisure. He has ~50 meters to fly, and has been doing so. He also has a pal in the cage with him (though they are separated), a juvenile Peregrine falcon.

Our male is apparently flying okay, but is showing a bit of weakness turning in one direction.

The MNR has said that our male will eventually be released, but not in time for mating this year. This is actually a relief, because I think our nest is already covered by "Jack", and there's been some tension amongst observers on what would happen if our original male found his way back here while Jack is around.

Our male will tentatively be released later in the season. I will get more information at a later date, and will share this info and document any release that takes place, whenever that may be.

[allikat]

AWESOME NEWS!!!!!  He looks great and proud!!!!

[Alison]

It's always great news to hear about one of the fledglings once they've gone.  We all wonder and worry about them, this is the reward   

I'm thrilled for Mathew, poor guy puts his heart and soul in that site and when all three perished last year..I really felt for him.  And with the male falcon in rehab, he must have wondered..why am I doing this again??  Now he finally gets to feel good about all the hard work he does - he should regardless but sometimes it's too easy to let all the bad news gets you down because you get so attached to them.

Well said, Carly! This is wonderful news. I know how I felt last year when all three juvies were lost, so I can imagine how Mathew must have felt. He must feel so good about Casper, who is a very handsome juvie. He looks so purposeful in the photos.

A couple of the great photos by Doug Round:

 

[Loriann]

Hey i work five minutes south of here !  I must pay closer attention from now on !..

[carly]

It's always great news to hear about one of the fledglings once they've gone.  We all wonder and worry about them, this is the reward   

I'm thrilled for Mathew, poor guy puts his heart and soul in that site and when all three perished last year..I really felt for him.  And with the male falcon in rehab, he must have wondered..why am I doing this again??  Now he finally gets to feel good about all the hard work he does - he should regardless but sometimes it's too easy to let all the bad news gets you down because you get so attached to them.

[kittenface]

How great is this I think this is the first time that I have heard of any juvie seen  this soon after fledging, remember though I'm still new to all this I get excited easy

[carly]

Awesome news from Mathew on his site:

Nov 25, 2009 - AWESOME NEWS!!! - Master Casper!

It's very exciting to post today's report!!! I'd first like to give a HUGE thanks to Doug Round and Lisa Cavello who spotted one of our juveniles, and using the band ID and some detective work found me and passed their findings along.

Master Casper (35Y) was spotted north of the 401 near Winston Churchill in an industrial area. He was observed on the ground feasting on a feathery pigeon. Doug had the good fortune of snapping quite a few great shots from indoors, and even had a chance to get closer to Casper outside.

After spending a few minutes stripping feathers from his prey, Casper struggled to fly away with his catch, flying as low as 5 feet from the ground! Fortunately there were no trucks passing when Casper was making his getaway.

Again, thanks so much to Doug and Lisa for contacting me!! This is a great example of how helpful the ID bands are in tracking the whereabouts of our feathered friends.

It's awesome to see one of our juveniles thriving out in the wild urban world, way to go Master Casper!

The pictures are fabulous, wow he's a beauty!

http://www.asic.ca/peregrinefalcons/

[The Peregrine Chick]

Spring releases are frequently safer, no migration for a newly re-released bird - also means that he will be rested, fat, happy and ready to resume his resident duties.  If he wants to go back (and he is hardwired to do so as he was the resident male) he will - and no he won't get lost 

[carly]

I think he will go home as well, he and mom had been together for a number of years through thick and thin so no doubt he will wing his way back to her.  And I think she will be happy to see him as Mathew says - Jack, not so much but let's hope he bows out gracefully when the time comes.

[Alison]

Thanks, Carly! This is great news - I've been wondering about him. I don't know where they are planning to release him, but I think he will find his way back to the nest site.

I hope everything continues to go well for him - he's been through a lot.

[allikat]

Great news Carly!!!  Thanks for that little report! 

[carly]

Update from Mathew on his site:

Yesterday I was glad to receive an email from a friend Lee in St. Catherines. Lee apparently made a visit to the facility where our resident male is being kept and passed a brief status update my way.

Our male is said to be healing well and if all goes as expected will be released in the spring! Not sure how a release like this works or if he will find his way back to the nest location, but it's safe to say Mom would appreciate seeing him again.

Safe to say CARLY will be happy to see him again too