Canada Falcons: All but those hatched in Rochester

[Donna]

Oh Carp! Not another one! 

carp - a fish
crap what this is   

its not a good year

hope he'll be OK

I love how you set things straight BC! Thanks for being real!! 

you're welcome  and Thank you MAK

I'm so used to saying Carp on chat as it won't allow you to say Crap!  LOL

[Donna]

Mississauga North… Oh Dear Its Getting Crazy!! Two Different Females Confirmed Seen!!
August 10, 2013 - International, National and Local News

Tracy Simpson Reports:

With the possibility of a new pairing shaping up, Bruce made his way out this afternoon for a check of the Hurontario corridor beginning with a quick sweep of downtown Brampton.  On the condo overhang he was able to confirm a single peregrine on the ledge that he believes, based on size, was female.  He then headed down to the Mississauga North territory at Hurontario and Hwy. 401 to check on the pair hanging out there.  Rob was fortunate earlier to get a photo of a falcon on the Revenue Canada building with what appeared to be bright red on its left leg.  While this could be tape on a bird banded with the USFW on the left instead of the right leg, Bruce aimed to find and confirm by scope who this was and confirm the second bird as well.  When he arrived, he walked the entire territory in search of the birds and none were to be found.  I decided to meet up with him and help locate and identify the birds and we also planned to travel further south to MEC where we are now void a resident female due to the loss of Cass a few weeks ago.  Well, the best laid plans went quite whacky after I arrived.

I met up with Bruce as a bird had just arrived on the southeast corner of the Revenue Canada building and was perched looking southeast.  The bird sat almost motionless for quite some time and I was able, when it turned, to get an absolute positive look at the band and read it without any doubt.  The band was Black 98 over Red E with a purple USFW on the right leg.  This was Midnight from downtown Brampton???!!!!  There was no sign of the female we believe could possibly be Alfrieda based on a partial reading of her Black over Green band two days ago.  What on earth was this now???

After 15 minutes or so, in came another falcon and landed on the upper retaining wall of the Revenue Canada building on the south side.  I heard him come in and vocalize and Bruce watched him land.  What made this interesting is that at the time Midnight was preening and his vocalization actually caused her to flinch.  She was on edge.  We spun that scope around to get a look at the bird that we knew to be the male and could only see his back and right leg as he perched.  We both confirmed that he had a USFW band on the right leg with yellow tape and that he appeared to be a subadult.  The left leg was hidden and with it, so was his identification.  The pair stayed on the building for almost 2 hours during which the male went in onto the sub-roof  area for almost 15 minutes out of view and Midnight remained on the southeast corner.  Midnight finally took flight and made a straight shot out of view.  The male appeared on the retaining wall edge but stayed back just enough to keep his left leg hidden.  I had him right in the scope view when all of a sudden he bowed.  The female had returned.  She landed just to his right and looked furious.  Her hackles were up, wings held out and neck stretched out towards him.  He took off like a shot and was out of view for a good 5 minutes before returning to the northwest corner of the building.  He then took off again, circled back and landed on the southeast rooftop.  At this point the female, still puffed up and aggressive looking, stepped forward and I was able to clearly see a Black over Green band but no digits were clear.  What????!!!!  In the space of three hours we now had two completely different females on the same face of the same building after the same male.  The male took another flight off of the corner around to the female and this time she pursued.  They both flew south and she took a shallow run at him that was not bonding but slightly aggressive.  The Black over Green banded female continued south and the male circled back alone to the southeast corner.  There he sat alone as the sun was setting looking off to the southeast with eyes as round as pie plates.  He was so on edge that he was flinching at passing insects!!

This whole experience this evening has completely reshuffled my mental deck and so I will attempt to summarize for you.

Last year between Bruce, myself and Rob we were sporadically catching sight of a juvenile peregrine female.  She was confirmed in the territory in May of this year and we were only able to confirm a silver USFW.  The past few months the sightings of her on the Revenue Canada building have increased and she was now being seen much more frequently by Rob who was keeping an eye on her.  I was lucky enough to catch her two days ago on the building and get a partial look at her band in the scope.  Black 73 over Green ?? is what I believe her to be.  Yesterday Rob had a second peregrine on the building with her and we set our minds to confirming who this pair is.  Today, not one female but two were in the territory, one confirmed as Midnight from Brampton North and the other confirmed as having a Black over Green band that came from the south.  It was very apparent by their behaviour that they are arguing over the dashing little male who’s identity remains a mystery for now.  Given that we are coming into migration soon things will be unsettled as birds move through but you can bet that we will be staying on it and will keep you updated.  Phew!!

Great! 2 females, 1 male. 

[carly]

Midnight was originally with Milton but then he was displaced by Striker (Linn and Reuben's boy).   Hopefully all birds stay safe.

[carly]

As the falcon turns continues:

The band number on this bird is confirmed as solid black O over 8 and is a three character band.  These bands that have a line dividing the upper and lower characters have not been used in a long time but last year, 2012, one was applied to a male chick at the William Osler Hospital and yellow tape was placed over the USFW band.  This is Ossie from the 2012 nesting season of Hurricane and Chessie at William Osler!

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2013/08/sightings/mississauga-north-male-positively-identified/

[Donna]

As the falcon turns continues:

The band number on this bird is confirmed as solid black O over 8 and is a three character band.  These bands that have a line dividing the upper and lower characters have not been used in a long time but last year, 2012, one was applied to a male chick at the William Osler Hospital and yellow tape was placed over the USFW band.  This is Ossie from the 2012 nesting season of Hurricane and Chessie at William Osler!

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2013/08/sightings/mississauga-north-male-positively-identified/

The black over green female was not seen today at either location. Hmmmm!

[Donna]

Here's the whole skinny!

Mississauga North Male Positively Identified
August 11, 2013 - International, National and Local News

Tracy Simpson Reports:

Well…   â€¦um…  Ok.  That’s how we are all feeling these days about the Hurontario corridor.  While right now we can expect that migrating adults, subadults and juveniles will be moving through shortly and that things won’t settle until next spring we are determined to at least try and understand who the local players in the game are.  Note that I said TRY!!

Yesterday, Bruce arrived at the Mississauga North location and did a full walk of the territory to little avail.  Sue and Bill joined him in the morning for some observation and there was one thing that they could positively ascertain and that was that the female roosting on the Revenue Canada building was confirmed again as Black 98 over Red E who is Midnight from the Brampton North territory.  There was no sign of the male during their visit and he did not make an appearance until about 1pm in the afternoon.  I started around the lunch hour at MEC, checking all of the buildings, rooftops, antennas and hideaways that I could and found no peregrines whatsoever.  I headed north and continued to scan the buildings for signs of a peregrine and continued to come up empty.  When I reached Bruce’s location on Avebury, he had Midnight now sitting on the Oracle building on the north side.  We bundled into my car and did a serious drive about of the territory to the east and although we found some interesting high points where these birds could be sitting, we didn’t find a single peregrine.  Back to Revenue Canada we went.  When we arrived the female, Midnight, came in and landed on the southeast corner of the building where she roosted and preened for a while.  The male came in shortly thereafter and the pair then took off around the building and north out of view.  We walked aroud the building and found the female on the northeast corner  but the male’s whereabouts were unknown.  He came in shortly thereafter from the southeast to the northeast corner and landed about 15 feet away from Midnight.  It was then that I was able to get a view of both his band and his tracking tape and identify this male.  The band number on this bird is confirmed as solid black O over 8 and is a three character band.  These bands that have a line dividing the upper and lower characters have not been used in a long time but last year, 2012, one was applied to a male chick at the William Osler Hospital and yellow tape was placed over the USFW band.  This is Ossie from the 2012 nesting season of Hurricane and Chessie at William Osler!

He sat on the corner for a few minutes and then excitedly ran down the ledge towards Midnight who currently had her back to him.  Her reaction was not “happiness to see youâ€� as she raised her hackles and mantled.  Ossie slowed his approach and stopped about 5 feet from her.  Good choice.  Midnight was very uneasy and unsure what Ossie’s intentions were and she turned to place herself in a launch position should things get serious.  With Ossie now relaxed, preening and nodding off to sleep Midnight also relaxed and dozed a bit herself.  These were the only two birds to be seen and the elusive Black over Green female was not sighted.

At this point, Bruce headed up to Midnight’s old territory at George Street in Brampton to see whether we now had a void there.  Oh no we don’t!!  Bruce found a male roosting on the overhang of the George Street condo and could confirm a silver USFW band on his right leg.  Moments after our phone conversation, both Midnight and Ossie took off and I left to join Bruce in Brampton.  Both Bruce and I scoured the downtown Brampton area and the only located peregrine was at George Street.  We set up to watch the male on the overhang in the hopes of a peek at the recovery band.  He was so high up and completely unwilling to share his identity but we maintained our position regardless.  All of a sudden he began to bow and vocalize and in plops a female to the ledge!!  She disappeared into the “cavityâ€� on the ledge that was used this year to lay eggs (they failed to hatch) and out of view.  After about 15 minutes of on and off vocalization by the male, he took off of the ledge and was soaring in lazy circles high above the territory.  The female walked forward and I was able to get band colours only.  Black over Red on her left and purple USFW on her right.  ??????????  She was way too high up for a read of the numbers and so I cannot confirm who this was.  I would just have to wait until she came down lower.  The male joined her once again for another raucous chit chat before stooping off to the east and swooping up to the low BDC sign.  Gotcha, I thought.  I thought.

I grabbed my gear and scrambled over to the Market Square in the hopes of identifying the male.  Nope.  He was sitting too far back on the sign to see his leg.  Grrrrr.  I waited him out and got one fast look at his legs during a stretch.  He definitely has a silver USFW on his right leg and a solid black band on his left with the lower letter being a Y.  Is this Striker?  I couldn’t say for sure.

So…  here is what we know for sure…    …Ossie and Midnight were seen at the Mississauga North location and both ID’s are confirmed.  A black over red banded female and a solid black banded male were seen at George Street in downtown Brampton almost 10km away to the north.  The black over green female was not seen today at either location.

While this will most definately settle out next spring but it is an interesting mystery in front of us nonetheless .  It will be very interesting to see who sticks around after migration is over and the winter settles in.  Those will be our early spring contenders!!

[carly]

As the falcon turns continues:

The band number on this bird is confirmed as solid black O over 8 and is a three character band.  These bands that have a line dividing the upper and lower characters have not been used in a long time but last year, 2012, one was applied to a male chick at the William Osler Hospital and yellow tape was placed over the USFW band.  This is Ossie from the 2012 nesting season of Hurricane and Chessie at William Osler!

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2013/08/sightings/mississauga-north-male-positively-identified/

The black over green female was not seen today at either location. Hmmmm!

That end of the city is really busy in terms of falcons it seems...and keep in mind that Sante is single now too, well last time anyone checked so that is another open spot just waiting for a female.  Hopefully once they finish playing musical nests - we'll have a few good pairs set up for next year. 

[AlisonL]

Etobicoke

I very rarely see Jack at the nest, but caught both Jack and O'Connor there around 12:15 p.m. today:





Seconds after the pic above, they were replaced by one of the juvies; I believe this is Lizzy.







Then she, too, was gone.

[MAK]

 

[Donna]

  And here's her story!

This was posted on an Indiana birding Facebook page. It's amazing this PEFA has traveled this far in her young life already!

"I thought I'd share an interesting story about this juvenile peregrine falcon I photographed last week on August 24th at Goose Pond in Greene County, Indiana. The falcon had legs bands on both legs. The right leg band was all yellow and t...he all black left leg band read S over 29. With the band information, John Castrale, Non-game Bird Specialist with IDNR was able to help track down the origin of the falcon. It was found that when only 23 days old the bird was banded on May 30, 2013 at Kitchener Ontario (about 30 miles west of Toronto). The bird was determined to be a female and weighed just 866 grams on May 30th and she was one of three chicks in the nest. I calculated that this peregrine falcon flew approximately 552 miles and was only 106 days old when I photographed it on August 21st"   

What a girl, like our Quest! 

[patsy6]

  And here's her story!

This was posted on an Indiana birding Facebook page. It's amazing this PEFA has traveled this far in her young life already!

"I thought I'd share an interesting story about this juvenile peregrine falcon I photographed last week on August 24th at Goose Pond in Greene County, Indiana. The falcon had legs bands on both legs. The right leg band was all yellow and t...he all black left leg band read S over 29. With the band information, John Castrale, Non-game Bird Specialist with IDNR was able to help track down the origin of the falcon. It was found that when only 23 days old the bird was banded on May 30, 2013 at Kitchener Ontario (about 30 miles west of Toronto). The bird was determined to be a female and weighed just 866 grams on May 30th and she was one of three chicks in the nest. I calculated that this peregrine falcon flew approximately 552 miles and was only 106 days old when I photographed it on August 21st"   

What a girl, like our Quest! 

Wow, what a great photograph and a great story!  Thanks for posting, Donna.  It looks like she's got cat ears.   

[Donna]

Canadian Peregrine Foundation
Cosmina Spotted In Stoney Creek!!!!

Another one of our girls is on her way south from her natal nest site! Branden Holden, birder and photographer in the Stoney Creek area, spotted a juvenile peregrine on Sept. 2 and was able to get a photo of her showing tape colour and partial band number. The bird is without a doubt Cosmina from the 18 King Street East nest site!! Great journey Cosmina!!

[MAK]

Canadian Peregrine Foundation
Cosmina Spotted In Stoney Creek!!!!

Another one of our girls is on her way south from her natal nest site! Branden Holden, birder and photographer in the Stoney Creek area, spotted a juvenile peregrine on Sept. 2 and was able to get a photo of her showing tape colour and partial band number. The bird is without a doubt Cosmina from the 18 King Street East nest site!! Great journey Cosmina!!

 

[carly]

As per Mathew's post this morning; Jack and TR Mom's son is being released today!

Sep 4, 2013 - Exciting recovery news!

It's exciting to report that our youngster who was take to Toronto Wildlife has now recovered from a fractured clavicle and has done some flying in captivity to help recuperate, and is ready for release!

Thursday Sept 5 in the late afternoon, we expect that the MNR will be bringing our male back home to be released. He is as yet unnamed but has been banded as 'W over 71'.

More details tomorrow!

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

[Donna]

Great news Carly, thanks!!    I wish him well.