Im Back..an update

[BIGFRANK]

Today we didnt mind it was Snowy!! Snowy Owls were  abundant! Tracy and I had planned to meet Ann at a spot near our home to see a Snowy Owl. We did and when we arrived we soon ran into another birder we knew named Skip. We all teamed up and started watching a Snowy Owl out quite a distance in a field. It later moved even further away. We ran into a few local people who wondered what we were doing and they said ohh see waaay over there thats our place. The owl often is around our house,so go ahead and go on the property. Ann promised the family a photo if we got any and they were on their way. Soon we decided to try another area abit further afield, which had reports of as many as 4 Snowy Owls on one stretch of road. It is a well known location,especially in irruptive years. We arrived to the last reported location and there was a car parked at the end of the road. It was a fellow Id met at my Raptor Watch named Bruce(not CPF Bruce).  Bruce let us know where 4 Snowys were. Bumping into Skip, worked out well as Skip had a telescope and drove an SUV. The scope came in handy as a few of the Snowy Owls we saw at location 2 were distant. The SUV came in handy as we ran into a worker who allowed us access to an unkept road which neither Tracy's nor Ann's car could have handled without damage!
  We saw a beautiful adult male first,he sat on a pile of trees that had been cleared from the farm field long ago. He was a poser. We approached slowly getting better shots as we did . Next the other side of the field had a juvenile Snowy Owl. That side of the field held no fewer than 7 more Snowy Owls!! That made our total for the day 9!! Great fun,great friends,great birds and even great though cold weather!

[Donna]

Holy Snowy's BF, you hit the Jackpot!! Beautiful photos and thank you so much for sharing!!

[Wing Goose]

Great report and pictures Big Frank.
How fortunate for you and all the people you met
enroute to see all of those Snowy Owls.  They are
so beautiful!!  Thank you so much.

               
                        Lola
Love those Snowy Owls !!

[MAK]

Thanks BF! Great pics too!! 

[BIGFRANK]

Tracy and I headed out to do a run to several westend nests over the past 2 days. She was alone on Friday,when she checked our MEC, Brampton and William Osler nestsites. With noone home at the later 2,Tracy was disturbed by what she believed she saw at MEC, that Infinity was not on site, but a rogue. Infact she told me that evening she thought it was the same rogue female that had been present when we released Infinity after rehab.
  With that in mind, we set out Tuesday for MEC to confirm Tracy's observation of a now unbanded female on site. Upone arrival, we immdiately found the unbanded male. Tracy got photos of his bandless legs. Before long the female joined him at a stash. The male flew off with the food, female following. When we relocated them, the female had the leftover pigeon and was eating it. We confirmed with good shots Tracy took, that the female was also unbanded. This means Infinity is no longer on site. Tracy was disturbed by this as she enjoyed watching Infinity. See Tracy's account of the 2 days at http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2012/01/sightings/two-days-at-mec-infinity-is-gone-the-rogue-is-back/ along with several photos.
  We grabbed a bite to eat and being not too far from another of our sites,we went there. It is at a cement plant. I had never been to this site before. We pulled down the road next to the plant,as our access due to VERY HEAVY machinery is limited and searched the buildings, silos and the surrounding area. Eventually we spotted one very well camouflaged Peregrine Falcon sitting atop part of a structure. Distance didnt allow us to ID whether it was the male or female but our impression was it was the female. We will make an effort to visit again soon,with a scope. Staff at the plant observe the falcons and do the fledge watching there.
  Next weekend big plans for another visit to our local Snowy Owl with the chance that Sunday we will do a grand tour de Peregrines in the westend again.
  The past 6months with Tracy and CPF has been a whirlwind for me. Ive been to many sites that I just never had the ability to get to, and Tracy's dedication has allowed me opportunities/experiences I otherwise wouldnt have ever had. Naturally I look forward to many more and around here the wait isnt very long.
 February isnt far off and I will be going with other CPF staff to take our educational birds to the Ottawa Sportsmans Show in late Feb. This will be CPFs first time at the Ottawa show. I cant wait.

 

[Donna]

Very sad about Infinity BF. What ever happened, I hope she is still alive and well. Glad your going out and doing what you love and your reports show it. Good luck, have fun and keep the posts coming. Thanks to Tracy for making this possible. 

[MAK]

  Oh no, I hope Infinity is alright! Hi Big Frank and Tracy and thanks for keeping us informed. 

[BIGFRANK]

Tracy and I set off on a busy day. After moving a few of CPFs educational birds back outside after a frigid night, we set out to visit 3 Peregrine nesting sites and then go looking for Hawks and Owls.
  Our first stop was William Osler Hospital. We hadnt seen either Hurricane nor OConner recently so we were very pleased to spot both of them together on the hospital H. We saw that both had eaten recently and that there was a leftover bit of pigeon on it with them.
  From there we went by to check on MEC. The new female has sort of settled in, not appearing so nervous as the last time we saw her. Both birds were on the Desjardins building, on different sides, on different letters. Satisfied that it was the new female, we went to our 3rd nesting site.
  We went to Holcim again. Last visit we saw only one Peregrine and werent entirely sure which it was male or female. Today we arrived and couldnt readily see anyone home. I decided to brave the freezing temperatures and get out of the car to scan. I found one bird, the male atop one of the many buildings  and while Tracy tried for some photos, the female came into view on the same roof. I hollered excitedly to Tracy.
  We soon left, headed to the Cayuga/Fisherville area to view roadside Hawks and Owls. We 79 Redtailed Hawks!,2 Northern Harriers,4 American Kestrels and 3 Roughlegged Hawks(all dark morphs). 2 of the Redtails flew along making their fierce sounding call. One did it repeatedly. The Roughies are from the high north and even Arctic.
  Thrilled we proceed to Fisherville to search for Short-eared Owls. We struck out there,but we had one more stop to make and we thoroughly enjoyed that. We stopped at Ruthven Park. After a short walk we came to some of the parks feeders. We saw Red-bellied Woodpecker and a bird we dont see very often called a Tufted Titmouse.
  With that we were on our way back to the barn to feed the birds and bring some in. Or should I say Tracy did the work while I napped off and on and stayed warm in the car. What a great day,we really enjoyed ourselves.

[MAK]

  Wow 79 RTH's! That would make for a great day all by itself!!!!  
 

[BIGFRANK]

Hi Mak the Redtails certainly did make our day. We got pretty competative as we went along the highway as to who was ahead counting..Tracy claimed victory! We are headed out within the hour (by 730am) to check out 3 nest sites and attempt to confirm/get IDs. We have 2 scopes borrowed and will have extra eyes down at King St. Both Linda and Ann are supposed to meet us.
If there is time we are going to go look for a pair of well known nesting Great Horned Owls. They live in a small woodlot,so in general U almost have to find them. Will definetly get pics and post upon our return.

[BIGFRANK]

Well..Tracy and I dipped on the owl,saved that for Sunday afternoon. We started our day not so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but early and went to Holcim,hoping to learn something about the resident pair. We eventually found both birds and ridiculous cold winds be darned we stood eyes to scope until we couldnt stand it anymore. We saw that the female had bands from the US,without more we arent willing to speculate and cause a flurry of emails or posts. Suffice to say we will be back in short order to try to discover the ID of both birds. Ann messaged us that she couldnt meet us at King St,so we took our time at Holcim. When we finally decided to leave we proceeded along Arrowhead Rd to the lights..almost, when we saw a huge flock of European Starlings or murmuration,(flying together and going crazy) and when they landed we tried to get photos to represent some of what we saw. While Tracy snapped away,I noticed an American Kestrel, just into the field beside the corner. We delayed our turn,reversed abit out away from the corner and took photos. As we decided it was time to get moving,we hear a Starling scream. Soon we see a bird of prey, cross the road low and land on the other side, on the snow covered grass. WOW its falcon species #3, a Merlin. It has plucked a Starling from the sky and is finishing it off on the ground. It mantled over its prize, but soon is spooked off its' kill. The Merlin flew up to a powerline just above where it had made the kill, at which time there was a movement in the tree behind it! It was a Redtailed Hawk! Holy no wonder the Starlings were going nuts! 4 species of BOPs in one block,3 at the same intersection!  The Merlin sat above its lunch, looking around and down at it.  Clearly it didnt want to abandon its hard earned meal and eventually it made a pass of the prey, before successfully snagging it on its 2nd attempt, after which it flew off out of sight. What a series of sightings! Tracy's photos are far superior to my own and I hope to share a few of hers,along with her description of things late Sunday after whatever adventure we get up to.
  We finally tore ourselves away from Holcim and headed for King St. It was frigid again downtown,but we hung in as long as we could. We did veryify that the male had black over black bands,making him one of ours(a Canadian banded bird). We got several short decent views of both male and female. They were acting abit weird, uncomfortable with something that was going on in their territory. They didnt sit still very long each time they landed and then were bopping around the skies.  We half expected to see more then 2 Peregrines in the sky at once, but never did. We are going to make another attempt Sunday morning to view this pair.
  From there it was a few stop ins on the way back to the CPF Raptor Centre. We stopped in at Islington and Bloor to see if Jack and Angel were about. Jack was, Angel wasnt. We saw Jack atop a pipe on the roof of one of the towers, very near some sort of exhaust pipe which was spewing hot air! Smart Jack! Tracy got a few decent shots of Jack,given the distance he was away. We then dropped into William Osler and found OConnor to be away, but Hurricane on their favorite hospital H. More good photos were taken and it was time to head for the CPF barn. In all an exciting and successful day! Here are a few of my less than stellar photos. Im thrilled just to have a record of everything, to help remember the day.

[BIGFRANK]

The Redtail and Merlin. You can see the Merlin keeping an eye on the meal it had to abandon momentarily on the ground.

[MAK]

  Thanks Frank! You and Tracy sure do have some great watches! Say hi for me. 

[Donna]

Hey BF, are you an OWL? You seem to be up with them into the wee hours. What a great day you 2 had and some great stories. Thanks.

[BIGFRANK]

The hours I keep are insane. I sleep when I need sleep,honest these sightings arent dreams or hallucinations!
 Today was another one for the books!  Tracy and I went to the barn and she put a few of our birds outside as the weather was warm enough to(warm enough being relative). On our way out,we saw our first good birds of the day,several Eastern Bluebirds! Their vibrant blue with rusty chest really popped on abit of a dull winter morning. Well,off to a good start. At King Street nest of the Peregrines,we were shutout,no sign of anyone. We left and headed to view a Great Horned Owl to the east of Toronto. We found one of the pair there fairly easily,but out of good camera view. Good for them. From there we went to Whitby Harbour. We stopped when we saw a Trumpeter Swan near the roadside. While I walked down the sidewalk with it and took a few photos of it,Tracy was watching a drama unfold that myself and 3 or 4 others were oblivious to so far. A hawk had caught itself a gull,and somehow ended up in the water. Finally Tracy calls me and says its going to drown! I thought she was seeing a pair of ducks mate as sometimes the male holds the female under when mating. Nope it was a bird of prey..immediately on seeing it,it was flailing around,more or less in a swimming motion,moving towards the shore, with its prey in tow.(I dont know if it actually took the gull down but I think so..no idea how). As it "swam",we could see she was laboring. It was a female Coopers Hawk,we think a sub-adult. She didnt have much left in the tank and soon sank below the water. Both Tracy and I briefly thought of going in after it,but it was frigid down near the lake and waters were barely above freezing. After disappearing under the water,with a final burst,the Coopers Hawk let go of its meal and flew just above the water onto a log/sticks in the water. She collected herself and eventually flew ashore. We still had concern it could freeze to death before it could dry but there was no way to get to the bird. We left to view other things hoping for the best.  There wasnt much further into the bay,so we turned around and headed out. We were going to check on the Coopers and see if it was ok or in need of help. We were suprised to see it in a roadside tree, across the street from where we left it. She was already considerably dryer then we'd left her and started to preen and sit in the sun(what there was of it). We left thinking it would be fine. Holy moly what a weekend! From there we dropped into Yellow Pages nestsite,but no luck there either. The Coopers Hawk was certainly the highlight of the day!