Canada Falcons: All but those hatched in Rochester

[Donna]

  Mystery solved: This is Centennial, the falcon between Linn and Quest's nest a week or so ago. So it wasn't either of them. Ann got the band today. 79/H

And this is how she found out...turn the pic upside down!

[Donna]

Female Home at MEC.
December 28, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I was taking a look at all of our web cameras on Friday after the snow storm and when I opened the MEC camera page, I found a box full of snow and evidence of a visit.  There were tracks in the snow indicating that one of the adults had been back in the area.  I grabbed my camera and decided to head down to MEC for a visit in the hopes of seeing either Sante or the new female on site.  I wasn’t to be disappointed.

When I first pulled up I couldn’t see anyone but a quick scan of the building revealed the female at MEC 1 on the top retaining wall above the nest box.  She sat there for quite some time and preened away.  It was only when I ventured back to my car to warm up that she took off.  I swear she knows I’m after her band number still!!  She flew around to the Symcor sign and perched on the emblem which is one of her favored spots and was looking west with great interest.  It wasn’t long before she took to the air and flew west behind the CIBC building and out of view.  Her flight didn’t take her out to the left or right.  She went directly behind the building and didn’t reappear.  Normally I would leave at this point to another site but today I decided to try and relocate her and find out exactly where she’s going.

I drove west through Square One shopping mall which after a holiday is a big mistake.  I dare say that every car on the roads of Mississauga were in that parking lot at that moment!!  On the west side of the mall I found a spot where I could stop and scan the area and I found our girl on the top of a very, very tall condo.  I watched her head swivelling madly back and forth as she was clearly on a hunt.  She took off of the condo and I tracked her as she made a low pass over the western mall parking area and came up empty to the antenna of another tall condo.  She perched on the antenna for about 10 minutes and was off again swooping low over the mall.  This time she managed to capture a small bird and took it up to the top of the neighboring building’s antenna to eat.  She didn’t stay settled for long after her meal as this was just a snack.  She flew from antenna to antenna with no luck but she wasn’t giving up.  As I pulled away, I felt satisfied to know that she is in the area and that I had discovered her hunting / hangout area.  After not having seen either adult for several weeks, its great to know that they are close.

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2012/12/sightings/female-home-at-mec/ pics

[Donna]

I GOTCHA!!!!!
December 30, 2012 - Mississauga - Executive Centre

Tracy Simpson Reports:

I have been out at MEC almost once per week since this new female arrived on site.  I have struggled, squinted, sweated and sworn that I would get this girl’s band number by hook or by crook.  I am convinced that she knows what I am after and has been taunting me from her perch above with glimpses here and there of her band and I have repeatedly asserted that I would not give up!!  Sunday was a great weather day for some spotting, so out I went.

The day was bright but brisk so I stopped off at the local used clothing store to pick up a cheap and cozy sweater ( I forgot to bring one ) and as I reached the check out, I heard a deep voice behind me say, “So, have you got that peregrine yet?â€�.  For a split second I thought, “Are you kidding me?  Has the bird now hired people to follow and taunt me?â€�.  I turned to find the friendly and familiar face of one of our great supporters on the Garda Security team from the MEC complex.  I shared with him the news regarding the recent presence of the pair but that alas, I had nothing new on the female’s identity.

Ten minutes later I was at MEC 3 and met up with Bruce Massey for some recon and we immediately found the male Sante on the roof of MEC 1 just above the nest box and the female on the south side of MEC 3 under the Dejardins sign.    I grabbed the scope and headed across the street for a view of the female as her left leg, the one I needed, was facing outwards.  The scope had to be angled sharply up so that I could be as close as I could and tightly zoomed in for a read.  I set up and waited patiently for the look I needed.

She sat for 20 minutes without moving and then suddenly, Sante became very restless on his MEC 1 perch and alerted the female to something in the air.  She turned and slowly put her left leg forward.  With the sun just right and the female holding her position, I was able to see her entire band for the first time in dozens of attempts.  GOTCHA!!!  The right half of the lower digit was muddied with “gackâ€� but the lines and curves were unmistakable.  You have to imagine my elation at this discovery and picture the scene.  Here I am braced and tipped over to look into the scope at this sharp angle and now gesticulating wildly at Bruce to get over here and confirm what I was seeing.  I always like to have a second pair of eyes check and make sure I am reading this correctly.  Bruce and I have confirmed the band number on the MEC female with 99% accuracy as Black S over Green D both rotated left.  This female is Cass, hatched in 2009 at the Macomb County building in Mt Clemens, Michigan to Nick and Hathor.  Nick is the son of Miriam, a female nesting at the Whittier Apartments in Detroit that the CPF released in 2003 as a part of Project Release and Project Track Em.  Miriam and her offspring are famous for their ferocity at their nest sites and her grand daughter Cass is following well in their talon steps.

We only had a few minutes before Cass took off to the southwest and then reappeared above the roof of MEC 2 in stealth attack mode.  No alarm calling, just full contact strikes on a Red Tailed that was soaring too close to her buildings.  Sante had flushed it and it was Cass’s job to dispatch it.  The RT hawk flew around the back of MEC 3 with Cass striking and following in hot pursuit.  As I rounded the MEC 3 building, Cass was now sitting perched on the roof retaining wall and the hawk was nowhere to be seen.

After months of painstakingly watching this female, she now has a name; Cass.  A great way to start 2013!!!


Way to go Tracy! A Macomb gal eh?

[MAK]

Great job Tracy-perseverance prevails!!! 

[Kris G.]

!!! A New Year!
January 02, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

Kathy Reports:

Happy New Year Falcon Fans!  My first check in after an absence of 10 days and I was surprised, that in spite of the cold temperatures, to hear chupping coming from the nest ledge!

Jack was by the nest box and O’connor flew in from the South to land on the web cam and the chup-fest continued so all is well here as we start a brand new year!

Posted on January 2, 2013 9:38 am
Observation for Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre

[MAK]

 

[Donna]

!!! Bad Day to be Redtail Hawk
January 04, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:

This morning around 9 am a coworker cam running over to my desk to inform me that there was a dead peregrine falcon on the rooftop outside her window.   

It was not one of our juveniles but instead a Juvenile Red Tail Hawk, she was very large and absolutely gorgeous.  I saw her two days ago hunting over the Bell Building across the street and remember thinking - you better not let O’connor see you!

Mark informed me that an adult Red Tail wouldn’t come near the nest site however this gal being a juvenile wouldn’t have known the danger.    I expect she did run into O’connor as she was directly between the nest site building and the centre tower and her injuries and positioning would indicate she had been aggressively driven to the rooftop.

Both Jack and O’Connor have been velcroed to the nest ledge for the past 5 hours in the exact same positions so I expect this altercation happened very early this morning as both seem to be ‘on alert’.

Many thanks to the Security Team at Sunlife for taking me out and helping with the retreival of her body.

 

!!! RTH - Round Two!!
January 04, 2013 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:

So before I left the office I decided to see if our dynamic duo had moved at all and in fact by 3:30 both were gone from the ledge.  So I went out the back entrance thinking I might catch them on the Moneris sign when suddenly I saw O’Connor’s reflection in the glass doing recon over the rooftops and the area where I had removed the RTH earlier this morning.

She flew over to the West Tower building and landed on the edge as I walked down towards that tower.  I had to put my head down as the wind was so sharp but I swear only about a minute went by when suddenly I heard her and jerked my head up.  She was way over by Jack’s ‘Man Cave’ building and I honestly thought I’d lost my mind.  No way she could get there that fast could she?  Well she can and was engaged in dive bombing another RTH that was hunting over that area.

She dove and chased and wailed on that bird until I saw both go down, the RTH was by some new condo towers further out and O’Connor above the bird headingg into a partial stoop.  I only saw one bird come up and it was our fearless falcon.  I  waited and watched as she flew right back to the edge of the Moneris building and parked herself there looking quite pleased with herself.

She’s had a busy day and she’s quite a contrast to our previous female who, in weather as bitter as this, would rather stay somewhere warm and out of sight!   This girl is going to keep me on my toes!

[MAK]

Thanks Donna and Kathy for sharing this news. 

[carly]

Stuck on How to Tell This Story; Hurricane Not at William Osler
January 14, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:

On Saturday, Bruce Massey and I decided to go out and check out some of the west end nest sites and see what pairs were up to.  We started our tour at the William Osler Hospital where Hurricane and Chessie have been hanging around more often lately.  When we arrived, I had a male peregrine on the nest ledge and the female had just flown up to the east tower.  I started snapping pictures of the male on the ledge and stopped to take a minute to review them.  To my dismay, the male in my photograph staring back at me was not Hurricane.  The solid black recovery band could clearly be read and I recognized it right away.  The band read 35 / Y and belongs to Casper, a 2009 hatch from north Etobicoke.  Hurricane is 5 over X.  Casper had been holding territory and successfully produced at least one offspring in 2012 at the Hilton Garden Inn on Caroga Drive near the airport.  Casper and his mate Claire had both been seen and photographed on Dec. 9th and after scrutinizing the photos I took at William Osler on Dec. 22, the pair then was still Hurricane and Chessie.  I have to admit that time stopped for a minute with a wrecking ball shot to the heart when I realized that this male on site was not Hurricane.  What?…  …What did this mean?  I was really shocked.

I set my mind to trying to confirm the identity of the female in the tower.  She had just taken a bath down in the valley and was soaking wet and preening.  Her position on the top of the tower did not make it easy for me to see her legs as she sat in from the edge.  I can say for certain that she has a silver USFW band and a black over green recovery band; this is consistent with Chessie, not Claire.  Claire dons a purple USFW band.  I have more pictures to review that may clarify the recovery band number for the female but I am confident that this is Chessie.  Now, back to the male…

Casper sat on the nest ledge amidst a ton of activity.  Work has been going on in the peregrine off season at the hospital to maintain the facility and there were swing stages active at both the southeast and northeast corners of the building.  As the stages began to lift, Casper sat and preened without concern.  When they reached the nest ledge level, Chessie took offence to this and was off the tower like a shot.  Casper joined her in the air but it was more like he was following rather than being invited to participate.  The pair circled around the west end of the hospital and then Chessie went into a fabulous stoop over the intersection and both were gone from sight.  It was clearly not a coordinated effort.  Chessie was the first to return to the east tower and Casper joined her moments later.  Chessie sat in the very front ( west ) portiion of the tower and Casper sat hidden at the very back ( east ) portion of the four teired tower.  Now HE was soaking wet.  He left the tower and flew over to the southeast corner of the nest building where the swing stages were now down and he began to preen and deal with his wet feathers.

I’ve been doing this a long time now but I still left the site wondering what this all means.  I have a lot of questions that remain unanswered as our conversation with the awesome and supportive staff on security revealed no incidence of a fight and no other peregrine located during their walks of the grounds.  Bruce and I also conducted an extensive ground search around the hospital, hydro tower and medical centre which revealed no sign of Hurricane.  Was there a battle?  Is Hurricane still alive?  Did he wander away, like O’Connor last spring, only to show up somewhere else?  So many questions that are ricochetting around in my head.  I will be back to monitor just what is going on here with Casper and whether Hurricane re-appears.  Hurricane established this site back in 2006 as a two year old and has held it ever since.  I will be watching for him and watching this site as I don’t think this is settled yet.   My gut feeling and observations today have me believing that this is recent.

I have posted a few of the photos I took on Saturday that revealed this news to me.  They aren’t fabulous as they are meant to show that the band number on the male is 35 /Y and not 5 / X.  As much as we try to not get emotionally attached to these birds, it is almost impossible given the intense study, time commitment and monitoring that the CPF and its volunteers does.  You invariably get attached to someone somewhere.  Hurricane and O’Connor were my “ITâ€� pair.  Together they were unstoppable and as separate individuals, they are absolutely fabulous to watch.  O’Connor shocked me with her disappearance and rediscovery last spring.  Now Hurricane.  Still, anything is possible.

[carly]

Just an FYI:  Casper is an offspring of Milton and TR Mom - Toronto Residential which is now Jack's second site.

[Kris G.]

Just an FYI:  Casper is an offspring of Milton and TR Mom - Toronto Residential which is now Jack's second site.

"As the Falcon turns"!  What happened to Milton?

[carly]

Just an FYI:  Casper is an offspring of Milton and TR Mom - Toronto Residential which is now Jack's second site.

"As the Falcon turns"!  What happened to Milton?

Milton is in Brampton - going between two females last I heard.  He had a successful nest 2 years ago after Jack chased him out of here but not last year. 

We'll have to keep our eyes open as Hurricane may try for our site or the TR site as they all adjoin each other.  I hope he's okay, be nice if he could take over one site without any carnage instead of this dual site stuff...he's two years younger than Jack so definitely I'm on alert now. 

[MAK]

I know for me it's totally impossible to not become emotionally attached and we here in Rochester and all our followers know those feelings and questions you are asking yourself Tracy. Let's believe Hurricane is unharmed until proven otherwise as we do with all the unknowns. 

[carly]

Let's believe Hurricane is unharmed until proven otherwise as we do with all the unknowns. 

He comes from a fabulous gene pool so I'm going to believe he is out there.  Son of Windwhistler and Wind, half brother to Tiago and Kendal ...I'm hoping we see him again very soon! 

[jeanne]

As Ei always says, we think positive until we know otherwise.  Look at Handsome from Buffalo.  He was not seen for a while and showed up (living to, I believe, 20).