Rhea Mae and Tiago's Webcam - Toronto - Canadian Peregrine Foundation

!!! Tragic news to report! Sadly, William has collided with a building and didnâ€™t make it.
June 21, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Mark Nash Reports:

Sadly we have tragic news to report this morning with regards to William, the young fledgling from the Toronto Sheraton Hotel nest site. I received a call at 6:50 am this morning where the caller reports seeing a large brown bird hit the windows high up in the concrete canopy and they watched lifeless bird fall to the street level out of their view. Moments after the first call, just after 7am, I received a second telephone call for a CPF supporter, and a friend who actually works with the Solar Window washing company, the great folks that support us with all of their services to get us and the Ministry of Natural Resources to many of the nest ledges so the young hatchlings can be removed for banding. In fact, the second caller was non other than Steve who was one of the Solar window washers staff on the swing stage to assist with the Toronto King street banding. He was able to retrieve the dead bird from the sidewalk before it was trampled or run over by traffic and take some photos for us to help properly identify the bird. He was also able to box the bird for us and hold it over for us to pick it up later today. Sadly, the deceased peregrine is identified by it s leg band as being William from the Toronto Sheraton nest site.

Sadly, one of the many dangers of urban living that we all have to deal with,,, (for us itâ€™s the traffic and all of the congestion), for the young fledgling peregrines it the windows and the concrete. We alway hope that the young fledglings actually had some minor hits and bumps with the glass and concrete early in their fledge, as the first week of their flights sees them much slower in their flights, and they are lucky enough to have some minor hits and bumps (and survive), they learn to stay away from these dangers.

If they are unlucky enough not to have some minor hits and bumps early in their first flights, and they start making contact the second week, they are usually way toooo confident, and have already built up incredible speeds in their flight, and contact with windows at this stage usually results in very serious injuries and mortality.

That being said, all of the young fledglings are highly influenced in their first flights with the gusty winds that surround our hi-rise office towers, and given their inexperience to dal with these conditions, they are often blown around off course at these high altitudes.

A grim reminder that live in the fast lane, especially for a young fledgling peregrine learning to fly is not a easy task. The good news, is that the larger percentage of the urban peregrine hatchlings do survive (some time with a lot of help from us in the streets), and many have gone to survive that are now adults nesting in other cities producing their own families.

For all of the CPF fledge watch volunteers, you should be very happy to know that you have saved far more than we have lost over the past 17 years that we have all being doing the fledge watches, and remember that we can only do what we can do. The rest is up to the birds and a little luck!

Th photos attached are a little graphic and caution is advised when reviewing them.
Posted on June 21, 2011 10:16 am
Observation for Toronto - Sheraton Centre

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