by Kenn Chapman
(1995)
It was, I believe, Hardy's second evening of flight. Around 9 pm, the light was fading
quickly. We were keeping an eye on Hardy, as it was still quite a novelty to see at least
one of the chicks flying at last (Laurel had timidly taken her first flight earlier that
day, but wasn't really into the spirit of it yet).
Hardy was sitting on the east edge of the feeding perch at 33 Victoria St. She had been
there for perhaps a couple of hours, and we were beginning to wonder if she would stay
there for the night. Suddenly, a few feet away, a head appeared above the edge of the
roof. Soon, a man had climbed right onto the roof, and began to fuss about with something.
Then we saw him throw something in the direction of Hardy, while at the same time another
person climbed onto the roof. This second man was carrying a large bag. Again there was
some shuffling and movement at the east edge of the roof, and then both men stood up and
walked toward the north-west corner of the roof, carrying the large bag that was obviously
full of something. And that's when we noticed - Hardy was missing!
Our immediate reaction to this was that someone was kidnapping Hardy. We know there is a
rich market for young falcons in the Arab countries. That was one of the reasons for
keeping the news of the eggs and chicks away from the press for as long as possible.
What were we to do? Marion phoned 911, and asked that a patrol car meet Mark downstairs on
the street as soon as possible. Mark then put in a call to Environment Canada's Peter
Ewins at his home and also to MNR's Kathy Dodge on her cellular who, it turns out, was
already on her way down from the 1 Toronto St. observation post where tomorrow's press
conference was going to be held.
Mark then went down to the street and explained what seemed to be happening to the police.
He could also hear a lot of shouting; there were still several volunteers at the 1 Toronto
St. observation post shouting at these people to "leave our birds alone!"
The police called for additional units, and within minutes there were six cruisers on the
streets covering every possible exit from the building. In addition, the street was
crawling with people, including ourselves and some of the volunteers from 1 Toronto St. No
peregrine napper would escape alive!
Meanwhile, Kathy had gone into the building and found the security guard already on the
roof with these people, who now numbered six or seven. She went up there herself, along
with a couple of police officers. She was there for at least an hour, while the rest of us
waited down on the street. It was after 11 o'clock when she finally emerged from the
building and gave us the whole story.
And that was when we realized all this time a truck was parked on the street directly in
front of the entrance to the building at 33 Victoria St, with a driver waiting inside the
cab. That truck was part of the story, and the driver - if we had only asked him - could
have cleared up the whole matter in minutes.
Apparently, some film production company had made arrangements months before to film a
commercial on the roof of this building, and tonight was the night. The first member of
the production crew went up the ladder onto the roof, then threw a rope over the edge to
help pull up some equipment. This is what we thought, in the dim light, was a net being
thrown over Hardy. In fact, the crew members were completely surprised to learn that they
were that close to a peregrine falcon on the roof, when they were told this by Kathy. In
the poor light, they never noticed the bird.
The second man then arrived on the roof, just as his tool bag was being pulled up by the
rope. The two of them immediately began to inspect the contents of the bag. This was the
action we interpreted as putting the netted Hardy into the bag. Satisfied that everything
was in order, the crew members then proceeded to the northwest corner of the roof where
they began to set up their lighting equipment for the filming.
In the meantime, however, whatever happened to Hardy? Even in the dim lighting available,
she clearly was no longer visible on the east edge of the roof - nor anywhere else for that
matter. As we learned in the morning, when we took a much closer look at that side of the
roof for the first time, we saw a recession in the roof, perhaps 3 feet by 6 feet and
about 4 feet deep, which accommodated some of the air-conditioning equipment. Evidently
Hardy, seeing a large, strange creature suddenly emerge onto the roof a few feet away from
her, jumped down into this recession, where she remained until late the following morning
when the parents coaxed her back up onto the roof level.
Kathy Dodge, while on the roof, gave the film crew a good lecture on the perils of
disturbing Toronto's first-ever family of peregrine falcons, and advised them to proceed
with caution - having failed in her attempt to dissuade them from filming the commercial
altogether.
What was most interesting about this whole scenario, was the speed with which the
authorities - this time, Metro Police - responded to the perceived threat to these
falcons. In the end, of course, everything turned out just fine. The commercial was
filmed, and Hardy was safe for another day. But just another day - for it was that very
next day that she flew into the window.
RETURN TO COMPLETE SITE INDEX
(or choose from selected popular links below)
CPF INFORMATION:
| Home | News
| Talon Tales | Search
|
| Membership | Adopt a Peregrine | Gift Shop |
| About CPF | CPF Projects |
Project Track-'em | Education Program |
BIRD INFORMATION:
| Webcams | Photo Galleries |
Sightings | Identification
Tips |
| Peregrine information | Owls
| Other Raptors |
Links |
© Canadian Peregrine Foundation