Been reading this board for a while now but finally decided to register. Anyway I don't know if anyone feels the same way, but in my opinion the number of Red Tails in the city has increased greatly this year in comparison to years past. I don't have any sort of data or anything, but this is just based on what I have observed in the city over the fall/winter. In the past Red Tails weren't hard to find if you knew where to look but it seems that these days they are flying around all over the city, even in areas which don't have much wooded area.
I live right next to the Don Valley and this winter on any given day there would be quite a soaring over head. Many of them looked to be adults so maybe it's just the juveniles from previous years are more active now.
Another thing is that they don't shy away from people now at times. A friend and I were walking on a path leading to Leaside Park a few weeks ago when a massive Red Tail landed about 15 feet away from us to feast on its pigeon. We approached a few feet but not too close to scare it away and it didn't mind (I was kicking myself for not having my camera or even my phone on hand to snap a few pictures). It was only until some teenagers decided to chase after it like idiots that it flew away. I see them perched on balconies quite often these days as well.
Here's a pic of one I saw on a balcony of an apartment building in East York last friday when it was snowing quite a bit. Quality isn't too good though because of the snow and I took it through a plastic bag to prevent snow from getting on the lens. :?
