[Tomsnood]

  Tomsnood

Two Fledges.
June 18, 2014 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre

Linda Woods Reports:

This morning we only had two on the ledge. One may have slipped out last evening either just before the storm or just after. The second one may have gone off early morning.  Ground search early this morning by Harry discovered Ralphie  sitting pool side at the hotel across the street from the Sheraton. While, Trout was discovered by the grounds keeper at “Osgoode Hall, north side of the Sheraton. Both were placed in carriers and appeared to be in good condition.

Today and this evening, Buzz and Oliver remained on the ledge, minimal vocalization and some flapping but only when one of the adults flew into view. No food drop was seen by me. Rhea Mae spent some time on the building across the street and in view of the juvies.  At dark she was seen on the south east corner of the Sheraton.

Trout and Ralphie were returned to the nest ledge after dark. Mark Nash, and Alex were on hand for the release. Both birds were examined a second time for injuries or illness and were given the OK to go back to the nest ledge.

It went well without incident. A quick camera check just after the release found the other two siblings in and near the nest tray. The two releases did not appear into camera view.

Many Thanks to Harry for his first solo rescue, great job and thank you for being there. Great big thanks to Irena at Osgoode Hall for scooping Trout and keeping him safe.  Thanks to Mark and Alex to do the hands on release. I appreciate it.

And finally, the Sheraton Centre Security and Staff for their patience and assistance. We couldn’t do this with out your help.

Many many thanks to all .

Lets hope the four siblings stay on the ledge so Momma Rhea Mae and Tiago can stuff them silly with food.

!! Fledge Watch day 3,, - Cosmo safe on the roof and little brother Hayes looses another floor!
June 18, 2014 - Toronto - Don Mills

Mark Nash Reports:

Wednesday June 18th - 2014
Quickly update as I was not here today, but received the updated highlights from Marion tonight. Sadly, I was not able to pick Marion up until after 11pm this evening as I was called to downtown Toronto after work tonight to assist Linda in the release of two of her fledglings that were rescued from the busy Toronto downtown sidewalks this morning from the Toronto Sheraton Hotel nest site. A long day again for all of us. A successful release by the way, with all four of the Toronto Sheraton hatchlings back on their nest ledge!

As for Little Cosmo at the Duncan Mills nest site, he was still on the lower roof top elevation by dark this evening and doing just fine. While he can’t be seen due to the high retaining wall that surrounds this lower roof elevation, Quest did come in with food on at least two occasions today and fed him, (food in, parent stays on the same room elevation for an extended period of time, then reappears without a full crop herself and no food in hand). Either Quest is suddenly shy about being seen eating in public, or she’s taking food into Cosmo :-) Quest also spent time throughout the day keeping a close eye on Cosmo from the same roof retaining wall.

Little Hayes lost yet another floor of height while involved in all of his ledge-hopping today, and despite both Sky’s and Quests teasing with food and screaming at him throughout the day, Hayes refused to fly,,, (preferring to run and ledge hop all day). As a result, Hayes was not fed today by either parent.

The two other siblings remained on the nest ledge all day, exercising their wings, running along the nest ledge and doing allot of resting.

By 11pm, all four hatchlings were present and accounted for.
Stay tuned……….

Nooooo!!!! He was such a pip squeak, ah so so sad!! 

That was awesome! She looks great, a well cared for adoptee!!    I hope all goes great with her 1st flight!

What a shame, he was just in a bad spot! 

Poor little one!  Speedy recovery!!

Raptor Resource Project:  This also happened last year. We treated the box when banding this year in hope of preventing a recurrence. Unfortunately, it happened anyway. Like last year, we are hoping MacIntosh survived the fall. We have never had this kind of problem with blackflies previously, but may have to incorporate it into our box redesign here.

Raptor Resource Project: We can't use a net. Nets are historically used to capture all kinds of birds because they easily become entangled - very undesirable in a wild nest. We will consider if changes can be done to box design to help avoid a new and so far (thankfully) very unusual problem.

Raptor Resource Project:  We installed the box after they tried and failed to nest on the ledge below. We don't really have many places to move the box. We may be able to make some changes to perch design, although they can't impact overall weight and size too much since we have to get the box over the cliff and place it using minimal tools. This is a new problem and it will take some careful thought and consideration to address.

Raptor Resource Project:  Boxes with this basic design have produced thousands of falcons since we began placing them in the late 1980s. Last year was the first year we saw a problem with black flies stampeding young from the box. We thought that might have been an exception, since we had never seen it before. GSB wasn't successful at all before we put a box here in the early 2000s. Falcons tried to nest on the ledge below the box but weren't successful, probably due to raccoon (we found raccoon poop on the ledge).

So what's going on with blackflies? They caused falcons to jump here last year, are implicated in the fall this year, and caused widespread whooping crane and loon nest failures in 2013 and 2014. Are monsoon weather and explosive blackfly hatches the new normal? If so, how do we deal with it - and how many other birds are suffering reduced production and fatalities as a result? A sobering thought. If we change some aspect of nestbox design - and that is an if, given how successful the design has been overall - we need to make sure that our response is helpful and accomplish-able given the challenges of installing nestboxes in places like this. It's a much more complicated task than it appears.

Mom and dad have been alarm calling for over an hour now! Something down there bothering them. Hope nothing after Mac! Horrible sounds worse then at banding!!

Oh, precious little one!  Let's hope he's not injured and his parents can find him and feed him.   

They both know where he is! They have been flying in and out of where he is!! He's screaming now!

http://www.ustream.tv/greatspiritblufffalcons

Was just over there, we can hear him!!!! 

That explains why she was back so soon! 

Beauty is alarm calling from some where above. As soon as Nettie heard it, she jumped back into the box!

Not again!! Poor little guy! I sure hope he survived! Thanks

Heaton all alone at the ESL site as ALL THREE of his siblings fledged today! All 3 came to the ground and were rescued. Kathy and Renee rescued Pierre, and I hear Tracy did a double rescue of Sunni (he fledged first) and Skyla, and she will be putting them back on the ledge tonight, so we can do it all again tomorrow!!! I'm exhausted and I wasn't even at the site today! Good job everyone!!!

  from CPF