Canada Falcons: All but those hatched in Rochester

[Donna]

Raptor activity everywhere!
October 06, 2010 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:

With a big thank-you to Andy McLachlan for his photos and observation report of a feathered visitor that dropped in for a quick pigeon snack behind the Toronto City hall much to the delight of the MANY onlookers.
Although not a peregrine falcon as earlier suspected, the juvenile Coopers / Sharpe-shinned hawk was not bothered at with all of the excitement that it was causing.

Danforth & Woodbine Drop-In surprize!
October 08, 2010 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:

With a big thank you to Cynthia Head for sending in a great photo and a report of a not so typical happening in this end of the city. The photo illiterates a great shot with one of our Toronto produced juvenile peregrine falcons with a very fresh pigeon kill as it stands on the kill on the roadway (of course in traffic). Another huge thank you to an unidentified lady that stoped and parked her vehicle in front of the young not so long ago fledged juvenile to protect it from the rush hour traffic while it carried on with meal.

Over the years, we see allot of these happenings in and around the urban nest sites where we are involved in the many fledge watches. Sadly, many of the young fledglings are not so lucky with their with interaction with the local automobile traffic. In this case, it appears that the quick thinking and actions of the unidentified lady likely saved this young peregrines life.

Lets hope that this young juvenile learns NOT to repeat this same action in the future to avoid becoming another casualty in our streets.

[Shaky]

The pics remind me of Hafoc at the Building 214 loading dock and in front of Media Play.

[MAK]

   Very cool Donna!   

[Carol P.]

Thank goodness for the lady who stopped to protect this young one from traffic.   This could have had a very bad ending.   

[Donna]

Not much happening in Canada lately but every so often:

Adult Seen In Area
November 14, 2010 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Frank Butson Reports:

Today while driving by the area of the Yellow Pages building,my friends and I observed an adult Peregrine Falcon in flight. Hoping this coming year they nest successfully!

[MAK]

Not much happening in Canada lately but every so often:

Adult Seen In Area
November 14, 2010 - Scarborough - Yellow Pages
Frank Butson Reports:

Today while driving by the area of the Yellow Pages building,my friends and I observed an adult Peregrine Falcon in flight. Hoping this coming year they nest successfully!

 On our way home from seeing Quest, Joyce and I went to the yellow pages building to see if we could find a falcon. We saw something on a building across the street and thought it was a falcon. We got all excited and drove closer. She got out of the car with her camera all set to click away when it became obvious that it was a pigeon not a falcon. Needless to say we had a good laugh over that!

[Dumpsterkitty]

Posted by Big Frank on the Yahoo side...Ei

From: "bigbirderfrank" <frankbutson@...>
Date: Mon Nov 22, 2010 11:47 am
Subject: Videos and Photos and CPF News
   

Hi gang. Saw the Screech Owl video and thought Id post my you tube sight. Ive
got many Peregrine,Owl and animal videos. If you go here
http://www.youtube.com/user/CPFFrank and click on see all,there should be over
30 videos available to watch. Many you will already have seen when loaded to
tinypic but they are all in one place now and I enjoy watching some many times.
There are banding videos,fledge watch videos and the CPF educational birds at
the shows. Enjoy at your leisure.
  This is my photo website,tons of bird and animal photos,always adding more.
http://bigbirderfrank.winkflash.com/
    For those who know us...Tracy and Marion are hard at work in the CPF office
trying to get alot of our website updated and humming along. A new members enews
letter is being worked on too. Monitoring at our nestsites continues,with
occassional spotchecks.
    My raptor watch is almost over for the season(as is the fall season!) but it
sure has been an amazing year. We sighted 83 Peregrine Falcons. We had record
high numbers of Bald Eagles(73) and Osprey(211) all great news for formerly
endangered raptors!
    Watch for more Owl news from me and videos. Our little Screech Owl has
returned to the park for the winter. His mate showed up in Feb last year. The
2nd pair hasnt been seen yet but soon Im sure. We'll be doing a big Owl and Hawk
outting later in the winter heading from Toronto to Lake Erie. At the power
plant at Nanticoke Bald Eagles gather every winter. We have seen as many as 20
in a day there. Security is more tight,but we have nothing to hide so dont mind
being quetioned. If lucky on this trip we'll see hundreds of Redtails,a few
Roughlegged Hawks,Snowy Owls,Long-eared and Short-eared Owls and the Eagles
among others.

[Donna]

Peregrines Acting Territorial
November 27, 2010 - Toronto - Uptown Yonge and Eglinton
Frank Butson Reports:

Lyn Reports from Yonge and Eglinton.. Peregrine pair - Saturday November 27th 2010.
I was at the bank at Y & E and seduced by the blue sky and sunshine I went out onto the sidewalk to look for our Peregrines. This was at 3:25pm. I looked up at the Heart and Stroke building and found nothing. On checking the Rio-Can building, top row of windows, I spotted one of the Peregrines. It was a large bird (when it flew I could tell) and so I believe it was the female. She flew across Eglinton,over the bank building next to the TTC lot and was joined over that building by the male,much smaller in size. When they came in to view over Yonge street I saw that they were both chasing a Redtailed hawk.
They nearly got it over the CIBC building on the east side of Yonge at the corner and the chase was on! The RT flew for dear life heading east,crossed over Eglinton around Redpath with the two Peregrines in close pursuit, diving on it periodically. They all disappeared from view on the north side of Eglinton.
I stood for a few minutes watching the sky and saw one of the Peregrines coming back along Eglinton until somewhere close to Dunfield Ave and then it disappeared again,on the north side.
It was very rewarding to see them still active in this area!
Cheers
Lyn

 

[Donna]

!!! Late Autumn Update
November 29, 2010 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:

Both our adult peregrines are still here too!   In October Jack was onsite for several hours a day spending time with Angel.  It was almost like the old days when he only had her as his mate.  But alas in November he’s been dividing his time between sites I assume as he is only here sporadically now.  I do sometimes hear them chupping to each other in the mornings before he flies off in the direction of his other site .

A few weeks ago when we had some Spring like weather, I did witness them go off flying together towards the lake.   The past few weeks Angel has settled into her usual routine of hunting off the towers in the early morning and dozing on her perch and keeping warm the rest of the day.

[Donna]

Both Adults On Site
December 06, 2010 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Frank Butson Reports:

Over the weekend of Dec 4/5 both adult Peregrine Falcons were on territory at the Burlington/Hamilton Liftbridge.  Great to know they remain in the area! 

[Donna]

!!! Peter Spotted In Toronto
-
Frank Butson Reports:

On Friday I was contacted by Iain,who sent a few photos of a juvenile,Peregrine Falcon he had seen at Tommy Thompson Park(The Leslie Street Spit),3 weeks ago.  The young Peregrine had the black band with white numbers/letters 46/Y. I sent the info to Marion Nash at CPF and she got back to me with the identity of the young male. His name is Peter,and he was banded in Hamilton at the Hamilton Sheraton Hotel site in 2010. Peter was 525grams at banding.  The Hamilton Peregrines are named with local figures or history in mind.This is how Peters name came to be:

 St. Peter’s Infirmary was founded in 1890 with room for 14 patients. Recognized as a hospital under the Public Hospital Acts in 1931, by the 1970s St. Peter’s had grown to accommodate 284 mainly geriatric patients. Presently part of the St. Peter’s Health System, the hospital now specializes in the care of adults of all ages with chronic illness.

A little of Peter’s history:
Peter took his first flight as per below:
June 16, 2010 - At 16:20 this afternoon Peter left the Sheraton ledge and flew out over King Street. It landed a few minutes later on the adjacent Thompson building and seems just fine.
 His adult Parents are known as Madame X(originally name Runaround Sue) who arrived in 2001 on site. Madame X was hatched on a bridge on Pennsylvania Route 309, the Cross-Valley Expressway in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Banded as a hatchling on 7 June 1999 she was known to the falcon watchers in Northeast PA as ‘Runaround Sue’, a name suggested after she was found running along the expressway guide wall one morning. Her Father is Surge,the resident male since 2004. Surge was hatched in Etobicoke at the Islington and Bloor site (now the Sunlife Centre) in 2002.

Information about Peter and his Mom came from the Hamilton Community Peregrine Project http://falcons.hamiltonnature.org/ . The co-ordinator there has been been given this good news about Peter and was glad to hear it.

Reports from bird watchers and photographers are very important  to the ongoing monitoring of Peregrine Falcons. Please contact CPF with your observations and tell your friends to as well. Send observations/photos to  postmaster@peregrine-foundation.ca or frank@peregrine-foundation.ca We will do all we can to provide information to you regarding the Peregrine you have sighted.
Posted on December 7, 2010 12:13 pm

[Donna]

!!! Bald eagles come to visit.
December 07, 2010 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:

With a big thank you to Ken Hale Sr. for his observation report and the photos that he took on December 7th from Balsam Lake Ontario, that show a good view of some first, second and third year juvenile bald eagles, and the adult bald eagles. He writes: Surprised to see Bald Eagles. There were a total of 9 birds. The photo date was December 7th, 2010 taken in the south Bay of Balsam Lake Ontario. They were a long ways out on the lake and I had to use a 300mm lens without a tripod.
Feel free to use any of the pictures.

Ken Hale S

[MAK]

 

[Donna]

!!! End of Season Wrap(tor) Up For Rosetta McClain Gardens Raptor Watch
December 13, 2010 - International, National and Local News

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2010/12/sightings/end-of-season-wraptor-up-for-rosetta-mcclain-gardens-raptor-watch/ By Big Frank

Gyrfalcon Photos - from Western Canada
February 09, 2010 - International, National and Local News
CPF Postmaster Reports:

With a thank you to Peter Zadorozny from Delta B.C. Canada for sending us some of his shots of a gyrfalcon that he photographed between Dec. 2009 - Feb., 2010

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2010/12/sightings/gyrfalcon-photos-from-western-canada/

Christmas Goose For A Peregrine?
December 15, 2010 - International, National and Local News
Frank Butson Reports:

Thanks for the use of your photos Meghan and sending us your exciting sighting!

Meghan Wetmore Reports:

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2010/12/sightings/christmas-goose-for-a-peregrine/

Lots of pics to look at on all links.

[Donna]

Recent School Visit
December 24, 2010 - International, National and Local News
Frank Butson Reports:
From The Stonewall Argus & Teulon Times
Endangered life at school
Great horned owl and peregrine falcon make an appearance at Stonewall Centennial as students learn about endangered species.

By Amanda Lefley
Two endangered animals entered Stonewall Centennial School on Oct. 28, as the Canadian Peregrine Foundation gave the Grades 5-8 classes an educational speech about birds of prey, specifically the great horned owl and the peregrine falcon. “It’s very important to bring them in because it gives a face to the animal,� said Kyle Holloway, an outreach programs educator with the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. Holloway also explained the aspects he talks about to students, such as habitats, communities, theory of flight, and endangered species, tie into what the students learn in their curriculum.
Before Holloway brought out the two animals – Alexandra, the approximately 10-year-old great horned owl and Oscar, the nine-year-old falcon- he went over some terminology with his audience. He defined what an endangered species was, as well as an extinct and extirpated species. He also had the students list the different actions that cause species to be endangered, such as destroying habitats and pollution, and list the different actions that can now help endangered species, such as protecting the habitat, planting more trees, and creating animal rescues.
Then he brought out Oscar, a fully-grown male falcon. Holloway explained the bird’s lifestyle to the children, his diet, what he eats, about the bird’s hearing and sight. He showed the children the bird’s wingspan as well as the animal’s nictitating membrane.
After Oscar was put away Holloway brought out Alexandra, a fully-grown female great horned owl. The bird was much larger than the falcon in size, which Holloway pointed out. He explained much of the same things to his audience, what the bird liked to eat, about the bird’s sight and hearing. He also went into some detail about the nocturnal tendencies of the bird and showed off the creature’s large wingspan as well.
“They are magnificent animals and they are on the endangered species (list)… I just want kids to appreciate that they are beautiful birds,� said the school’s principal, Ken Hoglund.
When Holloway’s presentation was finished he fielded questions from his audience. However, there wasn’t enough time for him to answer them all, but he did leave the student’s teachers with a workbook from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation to incorporate into their classes.
Hoglund says the school incorporates what the presentation outlined into the classroom in many ways. He said children at the school will go on to write stories about these animals, as well as read other articles about them.
“Hopefully it will open their interest and they’ll think more about all endangered species throughout the world. So giving a global perspective of animals and how we should treat them,� said Hoglund.
The presentation from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation was free of charge to the school as TD Friends of the Environment Foundation sponsored it.