[Is Will Gone? What is Going On? Oh MY!]

 June 25th, 2014 | by Laura James-Reim | 0 Comments

Is Will Gone? What is Going On? Oh MY!

Wow, my head is still spinning. Big news today in the Market Tower falcon world. It looks like Will has been displaced. Whether that means he is dead, I truly can’t answer.

There are lots of questions surrounding this story that I won’t be able to answer.

When I looked in this morning, I noticed that I saw a “6″ on the band of the bird that was right in front of the camera. Will’s band is 02/P. KathyQ’s is B/C. Logical conclusion? This bird was neither one of them. So I called on the peregrine patrol to keep their eyes on the camera to see if we could see the whole band number. And luckily this afternoon, Susan N. captured this pic:



The band clearly reads 36/R. A check in the Midwest Peregrine Society shows this bird to be….(drumroll and you may want to put down any liquid you might be drinking so you don’t spit it out)…Sesenta. This bird is the son of KathyQ and Kinney from 2012. Yes, you read that correctly. He is KathyQ’s son. The son of legendary Kinney. BTW – Sesenta means 60 and is in honor of Kinney’s 60th chick.

What? Why? How? Can’t answer any of that. But this is not an anomaly in the bird world as I understand it but not the usual way pairing up in the falcon world. I can’t answer anything about what birds do or don’t remember or who they may or may not recognize.

This may be a permanent stop for Sesenta or it may not. We just have to see how this plays out over time. Perhaps Will is not dead and there may be future changing of the male guard in this nest.

But wow, isn’t this just incredible? It is for me and I’ve been watching for a whole lot of years! Falcon Crest (a really old soap opera) has nothing on these guys!

I leave you with this picture…this is Sesenta on the perch and gosh darn, if it doesn’t remind me of my old love Kinney sitting there.





   

Sad news today at Harlequin. Rainbow Dash hit a window and died! Fly Free little girl! 

That's #7 since last week - Toronto no doubt retains the title of highest killer of birds due to glass buildings.  So many senseless, needless losses.  We brought them back from the brink so they could hit the glass and die 

Beauty looks particularly fetching this evening, the lighting really seems to accentuate her features 

 

Little stinker, scared us all stiff too!  I can breathe now!  

And thank you to DEC for sticking around to make sure all was well...

Yes big thank you and big sigh of relief. 

Little stinker, scared us all stiff too!  I can breathe now!  

 

No we noticed it too, it's not moving at all and is laying on it's back.

 

Here's Bloor & Islington kids this morning...!  Look how cute little Heaton is with his fierce face 

!!! Banding day success at the downtown Toronto King Street nest site!
June 05, 2014 - Toronto - King Street
Mark Nash Reports:

June 5th - 2014
Banding Day!
A huge thank you to Dream Property Management - (previously Dundee Property management), and all of the security and engineering staff at 18 King street for all of their support and for hosting the banding event again this year. With standing room only and a record crowd of onlookers to witness the happening, the young peregrine hatchling, named was named “Theia�, (named after the Greek goddess of light), was successfully banded and returned to it parents (Windwhistler and Erin) this morning.

The young female hatchling, weighing in at 855 grams with green tape was in fine form and good health! Out on the swing stage, a huge thank you to Kathy Smith from the CPF who did the extraction again this year, along with the stage operators and continued support from the Solar Window Group. Thank you so much Solar and Kathy again this year!!

Kathy was able to do some routine maintenance and ledge,,, cleaning up on the ledge during the banding, including cleaning the camera lens itself, retrieving the two un-hatched eggs and scooping up the dark mystery object that suddenly appeared on the north end of the ledge several days ago. In addition, she was also able to get a visual of the resident adults, and although couldn’t 100% confirm that it is still Windwhistler and Arin, she was able to confirm that the resident adult female is banded with a Black over Red band (which is consistent to Erin’s band colour),, and that the resident adult male still dawns a solid black band with is also consistent to that of Windwhistlers band colour. We believe that it is still Windwhistler and Arin.

So, the mystery black object at the other end of the nest ledge, was a large female (hen) mallard duck!! See the attached photos. Aside of the all of the other species of birds that this pair have been eating, it appears the duck is still on the menu these days!! A large Mallard is a huge size pray for even a female peregrine to actually carry up to a 19 floor elevation!!

While the peregrine has come out of the medieval times with a nick-name of the “Duck Hawk�, given that is a very skilled duck hunter indeed, (and rightfully so), a large mallard duck is a very heavy prey to carry for any peregrine never the less!

Thank you again to Mark Heaton from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (Aurora District) for supporting and doing the banding again this year. We were also reminded that this is the 19th year for the peregrines nesting at the 18 King Street nest site, and Toronto first!!

A big thank you for City TV who was out again this year to film the event.

William Osler Hatches Four!!
June 04, 2014 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:

A catch up on a most important post!  Chessie and Hurricane have hatched all four of their eggs and the chicks are thriving thanks to their awesome parents.  Bruce and I were out there on Sunday to check in on the family and found Hurricane in his all too famous babysitting position to the left of the nest tray.  Chessie was on the roof of the hospital sitting on one of the antenna and all of a sudden decided to take off after some crows.  After giving them a really hard time she returned and took over duty on the edge of the tray while Hurricane was out hunting.

It was a while before Hurricane returned but was well worth the wait.  Chessie flew out to the east hydro tower and waited for him to come in and he had food for the young ones.  She took off into the air and the two made a spectacular aerial food transfer right above the parking lot.  Chessie took the food in for the chicks while Hurricane flew up to the northeast corner.  He didn’t stay there for long as a Turkey vulture came wandering in to the territory.  He went nuts!!  He took off after the vulture and as we watched he stooped and contacted before grabbing it right by the tail feathers.  The two tumbled down in the air briefly before Hurricane then took off after the other two vultures coming in behind the first.

With the big birds vanquished he returned to the hospital but again it was brief.  Chessie finished the feeding and flew up to the antenna on the roof while Hurricane took off northwest.  He was gone for quite some time and when he returned he headed right up to the north side “Hâ€� sign.  He was soaked!!  He found himself a pool somewhere and had taken an enormous bath.  He spent the rest of the evening preening away while Chessie maintained her guard up top.

The foursome will be banded next week on June 11th so check back for an update on the event!

King St. Banding, ready to go
June 04, 2014 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:

Swing stage is in place for King St. banding tomorrow morning June 5th at 10:00a.m.

Erin is very protective of the single chick, guarding constantly and keeping watch for potential intruders. Windwhistler stands guard nearby

!!! Introducing Soleil, Pippin, Merry and Helia!!!
June 02, 2014 - Kitchener - Sun Life Centre
Lisa Reh Reports:

What an exciting banding day on June 2, 2014 at Sun Life Financial in Waterloo!  At 11:00 a.m., Anne and Karine of the MNR; Mark, Marion and Rudy of CPF; members of the fledge watch crew; along with CTV News, gathered to mark the special event. Equipped with falcon cam and a few people to ward off dives from the adult female, Mark made catching the young falcons look easy. Castor, the male, and the un-banded female (a.k.a. Mystery), are the confirmed resident pair at this site. With much excitement and anticipation, the crew inside waited for Mark and his compadres to return with the young chicks while Mystery could be seen swooping and screeching around the 19 floor windows. The fluffy little chicks were presented to the group and carefully banded by the dedicated MNR folks.

This year’s chicks are:

Soleil – female weighing in at 859 grams (band – 1687-19649/S33) at 23 days old, marked with yellow tape;

Pippin – male weighing in at 624 grams (band – 1156-06803/B02) at 26 days old, marked with blue tape.

Merry – male weighing in at 605 grams (band – 1156-06804/B03) at 27 days old, marked with white tape; and last but certainly not least,

Helia – female weighing in at 854 grams (band – 1687-19650/S34) at 22 days old.

All chicks have good healthy attitudes to help them on to the next stages in their young lives. Helia especially displayed very loud vocalizations to the group that were definitely heard by Mystery from outside and attracted many falcon fans at Sun Life. The 2 females were named for the Sun - Soleil (French) and Helia (Greek). The males, Merry and Pippin, are named after the 2 food loving, adventure seeking hobbits from Lord of the Rings. With 4 feisty chicks it certainly will be a journey of epic proportions this summer in Kitchener-Waterloo! Congratulations Peregrines and good luck with the next part of your journeys!