Peregrine Falcon Fledge Watching 2019

This really isn't a cheat but since I've been so busy with the Falcons lately, and we were due for our July Bird Canada blog, my latest one is over there. Click here to check it out. I really put my heart into this one so I hope some take a moment to view it.

Since publishing that blog, the adventure has continued with our young bird Avro.

About a week ago friend and fellow Falcon watcher Kathy reported that one of the kids hit the glass pretty hard, and people inside the office saw it then veer away from the building, flying lower and lower, then disappearing down into the nearby park. Any glass strike is a concern. At the moment, at the very least, it was good the hit did not kill him.

I got myself together and headed down to go on a hunt for Avro. Bruce who was doing some observations downtown quickly got on the subway and headed to the Etobicoke site. I texted another Falcon watcher, Lucie, who lives in the area and she also came down as soon as possible to help look for him. Kathy was also out walking the area (even though she was supposed to be working).

I should add that Avro's siblings, Bliss and Aries, were sitting atop the condo roof adjacent to the nest. That is how it was figured out who hit the glass. There's that perk of having banded birds which I touch upon in the Bird Canada blog. One of the adults was seen in the park area and we figured they were watching out for their kid. Sure enough, Avro was found on top of a hydro tower some ways down in the park. His stance was good although he was showing signs of getting quite warm as the morning quickly heated up.

I was messaged that Avro was found and was heading over to meet up with the others, and see him. During my walk I tuned into some angry Blue Jays. A sure sign that a predator may be about. Knowing Avro was found and people were watching him, I decided to follow the angry bird calls. What could be the reason for their upset? A Hawk? Maybe an Owl? To my surprise, I found Avro's mom Darcy sitting low in a tree over Mimico Creek. She was watching the ducks below. Way back in the day Peregrine Falcons were called Duck Hawks. We've seen the females, who are much larger than the male Falcons, bring home duck on occasion. I snapped a few photos and then headed over to where my friends were with Avro.

We chatted for a number of minutes before I had to leave and get myself ready for work. Kathy was quickly heading back to the office. Bruce was staying on site for a while to watch Avro, wait to see if he was going to fly, and if he could or not. Lucie was going to hang around for a bit as well but took a moment out to come with me and see Darcy since she was in a great spot for viewing.

Funny thing was I told them I would most likely find a Raccoon before I found Avro since I am good like that. During the dog days of summer I envy the animals.

About an hour after I returned home, Lucie messaged me that Avro took flight and headed for home. He made it to the top of the glass towers with ease. Thank goodness! This is his first known window strike and hopefully his last.

This year at the Etobicoke Falcon site sure has been something. We are quite enamored with the young birds. The new parental pair being Lucky and Darcy have been amazing to watch. At this year's watch, when seeing the kids struggle in their first days of flight, we witnessed on numerous occasions where the adults would come out and try to help the birds get to a safe place to land. The adults would fly under and bump the young up higher, or guide them away from certain points. This is something I have heard they can do but never witnessed in 8 years, well, until now. After these moments, I had wished I had my camera and got some photos, but deep down I know I probably would not have. For one, with a struggling bird, my focus should be on the bird and where it is heading, and not a photo op, especially since I was alone. Also I know that most likely what I saw with my own eyes could never be captured in a photo.

Thanks for stopping in. Next blogs will be over at my Toronto Nest Blog in the coming days.

The Raccoon and the Apple

We've got 2 Raccoon families wandering the neighbourhood this summer. One mom has 3 kids while the other has 4. The 4 kid family have younger Raccoons than the other, I can tell by their size. Like most nights after work, I toss my apple core out back for whoever to find and finish up. In the past it's been an Opossum. Lately, it can be anything like an Opossum, a Skunk, a Raccoon and sometimes it's there in the morning and a Squirrel finds it. Last night this young Raccoon found it. I sat on a cinder block near the shed and watched him, taking a few photos.

"Hello. What are you?" Even though I'm a hairy guy and probably have dark circles around my eyes, he knows I'm not one of his kind.

"Oh, what is this?"

"It smells okay."

"Mine. Mine. Mine."

"A is Apple. B is for Belongs and it belongs to meeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Then after a couple bites, he left it on the ground. I don't think it was something he really liked all that much.

He looked at me for a moment.

Then off he went back over the fence to where the others were dumpster diving in the neighbour's bin which he forgot to secure.

I Helped Some Chickadees

This is blog worthy and not just in my Toronto Nest Blog.

Back in May I had discovered some Black-capped Chickadees took to one of my nest boxes. I was rather excited about this. A few days later I noticed a House Wren at the box. The Wren had destroyed the Chickadees developing nest. I was upset about this. I returned a day later and was pondering on setting up another box. To my surprise, the Chickadees were back in the nest box, starting over. So I left them alone. I return a couple days later to find their 2nd nest was also destroyed by this Wren. Frustrated and confused was I on top of being upset.

I decided to move the nest box as I thought it was unfair to these Chickadees that every time they start to build a nest, in comes the Wren to destroy it. I felt responsible since it was I who set up this nest box. I remember as I took the box down and pulled out the t-post, starting my walk to where I was going to this set up next and in came the pair of Chickadees. They were voicing some disapproval or "WTF?" above my head. I'm trying to help and now the birds are making me feel bad.

Long story short is that the original box was moved slightly north/east of the original location, by 150 ft or so. I also installed a PVC tube style box about 200 ft west of the original spot. It was my hopes the Chickadees would find this one and the Wren would take the original. Half my wish came true as the Chickadees did find the new box and went to work right away. I had filled it with aspen wood chips and the birds were excavating within 2 days. The Wren never took to the original box. He seems to stay across the rail tracks and my guess is the original box was in line of sight, that this was some sort of territorial thing. Really I don't know.

End result is the Chickadees had 7 eggs. All 7 eggs hatched. All 7 young successfully fledged. I am so happy about this outcome.

I know what a Wren is capable of. Last year we had a Chickadee nest in another area, also with 7 eggs. Four young not much more than a day old with 3 eggs soon to hatch when along came a House Wren who tossed all the young out of the box and he pipped the eggs. Of course that was it for the Chickadee nest. The adults left, the young perished and those eggs would never hatch. The Wren was already building a nest over top of the Chickadees' nest. You can understand a little more on all that I was feeling with this nest, this year.

Falcon Rescue

I've been ridiculously busy. Early last week I swept through all of the nest boxes and had intended on doing a couple blogs about that. But then last Wednesday I happened to be right by the old Etobicoke General Hospital in Rexdale (now William Osler) and noticed one of the young Peregrine Falcons had fledged. So the next 3 mornings I spent some time watching that Falcon family, helping my friends at The Canadian Peregrine Foundation, to monitor the young.

This Monday I had a milestone moment with the Toronto Wildlife Centre that I will share another time.

Then from Tuesday onward, it's been helping with the fledge watch near us at what we all call ESL since the site is formerly known as the Etobicoke Sunlife Centre. Approximately 4 hours each morning so far. Tuesday and Wednesday there was a lot of screaming, jumping and wing flapping from the kids but nothing else. Then on Thursday the first one fledged at 8 am. Less than 30 minutes we had a second fledge. I had a busy stressful but also fun time watching these birds. Of course it was pouring rain for much of the time I was there.

One of the young birds who ended up being quite low to the ground and near where I parked my car. His name is Griffon.

I saw something incredible happen with Griffon. His first flight was decent but not as good as the first to go who is named Aries. Griffon had some struggles, played a bit of "Peregrine Ping Pong" off 3 of the buildings. He was exhausting himself, losing altitude and suddenly out came both of his parents, Lucky and Darcy. The adult birds were screaming and flying under Griffon, giving him a boost it would seem, and probably some guidance too as to where to go next. In 7 years of watching the Falcons, I had never seen something like this. I heard about it. This is probably one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life.

The watch got really crazy later that afternoon and it rained a lot more throughout. I got soaked during my time. The afternoon watchers got saturated.

I was updated on the status of the birds before I left work last night. I knew exactly where one was and decided to pass by on my way home, this being a couple hours after the watchers closed for the evening. The bird was still in the same low spot, getting rained on and just sitting there, dealing with it, preening throughout. Glad he stayed put. I knew I would see him in the morning.

I went home, and was in bed shortly after midnight.

Five hours later, I am out of bed. I slept horribly as my mind kept with these young Falcons. I knew they would need my help today.

I arrive on site about 5:45 am. I could see the last young Falcon still on the nest ledge. A large female, her name is Bliss. The females always go later than the males. I don't see or hear anyone else. I start a walk around the block of the towers as one was left behind the buildings on someone's balcony railing. No birds for quite a while.

I took notice to a new set of stairs that led to an upper concourse where they've put in a garden. This area wraps around the most western office tower. As I make my way around to the southern side, I spot one of the young Falcons sitting on the steps. He was halfway down the stairs from me. I thought about rushing down and just grabbing him but then feared he would dart down the stairs and out to the sidewalk, perhaps even the street. It's early but there's still traffic. I rethink things and back step to where I initially got to this area, get down to street level, walk around the building and to these steps. I figure if he tries to get away from me, at least he's going up the stairs and not out to the street. What I found funny was a woman sitting right in front of him, only separated by mere feet and a glass barrier. She was too into her phone business and enjoying her cigarette to notice this adorable young Peregrine Falcon behind her. Even as I walked up past her, she never looked. Even as I did a quick grab of the bird with a large light blue towel in my hands, the woman never flinched one bit. Even as I now walked past her with this Falcon wrapped in a towel in my hands, still nothing. Sad how shut out people are to what is going on around them.

Anyway, this bird I caught is the same one I saw late last night. His name is Avro. He's okay, just got into a silly spot and that glass barrier confused him. He was pretty pissed at me, which is always a good thing.

I tell ya, it was a loooooooong walk back to the Mazda with him. Then to get out my car keys, to open the door, and then more fun as I knew it would be better to contain him in the carrier inside the car and not on the sidewalk. He fought me every step of the way. But now he's safe and will be released later this evening.

I looooooooooooooove young Peregrine Falcons. Adorable or what, eh?

That is my first real rescue out of all the years of watching the Falcons. So much better than doing recoveries.

The morning got even more interesting with a 2nd rescue but that will be saved for another blog. Work becons very soon. It's going to be a very long day but overall a very good day.

Wish Avro all the best with new start tomorrow high above the city streets.

It's probably going to be a crazy watch weekend at this site. Anyone got nothing to do, come on down. Usually a watcher or two along Eagle Road, south of Bloor, just a couple streets east of Islington. I might be there at some point as well.

Mis-adventurous Tale from a Volunteer Driver

How's it going? Welcome back to my animal blog only this time it's not one of my typical blogs as you might figure by the title. A while ago I did a similar blog about the interactions I've had with people while volunteering; this one, not so comical.

I had an opportunity to help out my friends at the Toronto Wildlife Centre yesterday. It's always a fun time to release migratory songbirds, any releases are better than bringing in sick or injured animals.

As per norm in the spring when many of these birds are heading north of Toronto, we drive them, you guessed it, north. Not too far in most cases mind you, and to a great and large conservation area with a variety of habitats to suit just about all these birds' needs until they figure out where they are going to go. The destination is the Kortright Centre in Vaughan.

I know my way around Kortright because of helping the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, this is where their educational birds have been staying for many years. Kortright has a main entrance and you drive the road in a ways. I'm not a fan of releasing the birds any where along this stretch since it is the main road in and parking along here can annoy other drivers. The Earth Rangers facility is along this road, more traffic and a rather large building. If you go through the main gates, maybe having to pay an entrance fee (or not) depending on who the attendant is, you end up in the parking area and can go no further. The visitor centre is here as well as some other structures. Yes, there's still acres of green space from Pine Valley Road to the main parking area, actual time out of vehicle can be seconds to a few minutes... so maybe it's just me being really fussy and preferring a quieter release spot just how I like things whenever I'm out in nature, taking roads less traveled.

I know a service entrance into the area. A small dirt road that takes you into the back portion. It's gated after dark but usually during the day it is open. Just in from the main road here, there's a couple walking trails. It's normally void of people and I might have seen one passing vehicle in the last 6 visits here. If I am releasing any birds here, I am in and out in about 10 minutes. If I am going to the CPF facility, I am not parking on this road. Man am I ever detailed here!

Okay, so let's get on with this. I park the car about 40 ft down the road from this gate. I have it well off to the side so if by chance another vehicle passes, it can do so with ease. I get out of the car, throw my hoodie on since I know it's going to get rather buggy where I take the birds (Mosquito City). I get my camera and am about to open the back of the car when I see a much older man than I walking up the road. He's not saying or doing anything out of the ordinary but my "spider sense" is tingling. I decide to hold off on opening up the hatch and exposing the bags of birds.

As he nears me he starts to scold me in broken English. "You cannot park here. You did not pay to enter the park. I am calling the police. You will go to jail." I know trying to explain anything to him is going to get me no where but I try anyway. I tell him that I have permission to be here, that I'm only going to be about 15 minutes. Before I could say anything else like the fact that he certainly did not pay an entrance fee to enter the park, he's cutting me off and like a broken record, he's repeating those lines to me. He never stops, just keeps walking, still yammering. He really pressed the fact that he was calling the cops and I will be going to jail.

I stay by the car. I'm not going to be confrontational although I really wanted to tell him to go fuck himself.

He gets to the gate and tries to close it on me. He's pulling the gate and about 3/4's of the way over, it gets stuck in the gravel. He's trying harder to close it but he couldn't move it any further. I'm just like "are you fucking kidding me" in my head. I'm not concerned by this because even if he did lock the gate on me, I just follow the service road down and it takes me through the park and out the main way. I'm also not concerned if suddenly the police show up and question me. I was not doing anything wrong. I've found with past encounters with police while doing something wildlife related, no matter with what organization or on my own, they've been very good. Peregrine Falcon fledge watches have the most examples but that's for another time.

So this guy realizes the gate won't move any more. Now he grabs the chain and tries to drag it from the post to the gate, to see if he can lock it. I'm still in awe at his actions. It won't reach. He yells to me now since we are so far apart, "the police are coming to get you, you are going to jail!" I just say "Okay, thank you, have a nice a day!" Then he disappears around the corner, walking up the main road.

I shake my head, take my time getting myself and the birds together. Still no sign of him. I walk down the path about 50 ft and start the releases. I see him return. He's by my car. I stop and watch. I don't know if he can see me or not. He then proceeds to hock up a loogie, clearing his sinuses and throat, and then spits the mess on my front windshield. MOTHER FUCKER! I've still got a couple birds to let out so I just freak out in my head, my blood is boiling but I stay on task. The guy walks away, heading back to the main road and I am assuming he went home as I never saw him again, not even after I left.

Unbelievable!

The releases went great. I was happy to see these birds go free. I am sure the birds were happier than I could ever be, to be back in their wild world again.

This could have played out so much better if the guy wasn't such an asshole. He might have even been able to join me and witness these birds return home. Oh well, his loss.

With bird releases, I never know how it will play out. Some birds fly off quick. Some birds disappear, especially at this time of year with the leaves pretty much grown in. Some surprise me and spend a few moments rather close, taking in their surroundings. This Magnolia Warbler was one of them. I could not have asked for a better finale.

It's never about getting photos. I usually do have my camera with me and I let the birds decide how this goes. I won't chase them as I know they've been through enough and even those initial freeing moments are stressful too, like "where am I now?"

Despite this ending moment, I still grumbled throughout the rest of the day about that man. I told a few friends about the incident. The reactions were all the same, some with an expletive or two, but all shocked at the behaviour of him.

I've pretty much let it go. It definitely was a blog worthy moment, not that guy deserves anything, but it's head shaking awareness that not everyone you come across is nice.

This came up in my Facebook memories today. Rather suiting.

Oriole Party

Good day! A quick blog about a recent occurrence in our backyard.

Early last week it was unseasonably cold and wet. I'm talking +7 C and 10 - 15 mm of rain each day. Just not what we hope for in the middle of May, and neither did the Baltimore Orioles. Normally we may see 4 to 6 males around this time as they move through, and one or two will stay with us, finding mates and raising families in the neighbourhood. That cold wet spell sure boosted the number of Baltimore Orioles. Highest count was 22 birds all here at once!

It was a crazy awesome time. We couldn't keep up with feeding all these birds with just our 3 feeders, offering nectar (sugar water), orange halves and grape jelly. My mother donated a big bag of oranges and a few jars of jelly to the cause. I also made a make shift feeder using a slab of wood, driving some nails through it as spikes for old orange halves and filling them with grape jelly. It was obvious the birds were desperate as they were diving into my yard waste bin, going after all the discarded orange skins, and some even sat upon my jelly jar helping themselves while I was out back. Here are a few photos of the party.

The make shift feeder.

Just a few birds here.

A few more.

How many Orioles can you see here? 14 is what I see.

Another 7 waiting for a turn at the picnic table.

The kicker was this banded Baltimore Oriole. I wanted to try for his band numbers but couldn't sit outside through the steady rain with my camera. Also having 22 Orioles flying around, often chasing each other, no way this guy was sitting still for very long.

This fall out of Orioles only lasted a few days. Once things warmed up and dried out, the birds were moving along. I'm happy to report that we still have at least 6 birds.

Thanks for stopping in. Cheers to you all on Whisky Wednesday!

For Eva

I was doing a little bit of very local birding this morning. No shortage of Baltimore Orioles to say the least. Some new arrivals to the park included Great Crested Flycatchers, Blackburnian Warblers and 3 male Indigo Buntings. Who doesn't love to see an Indigo Bunting? I heard their song well before I spotted one, but it is a song that sticks with me year after year unlike so many Warblers' songs.

A nice short outing.

On my way out I was stopped by a woman who reads my blog, and has for a few years now. She recognized me as I walked past her. She introduced herself and had some kind words for me. Then we chatted briefly about the birds before parting ways.

Thank you for this moment Eva. It was an unexpected surprise. I know I haven't blogged a lot here lately, especially now that we are in nesting season and the other blog is fairly active; but your words inspired me to put a little more effort in here.

Have a great long weekend everyone!