Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre

Finally at nearly 8, Diana flew to Tower 1 with a kill, followed by Tailer.  I went to the Penthouse of the Crowne to make sure it was Tailer ( yes).  Then the “fun” began……

Right at 9:45, Nihei left the ledge.  She flew towards Tower 1, circled a bit, headed towards Tower A, and ran into trouble as she had no height, having stayed level with her ledge.  She may have glanced off the middle of the west side.  We watched in horror as she tumbled down, down and landed with her wings spread apart on the down ramp of the Crowne.  Everyone ran over there and Chris rescued her while I called Bill.  Once he arrived, we went inside Tower 2 and Nihei was banded.  She is a hefty 1060 gms!  Wow!  We have never had such a large female.  She takes after her mother.  Her black band on her left leg has  80 over X, very recognizable in large white lettering.  Chris and Marie took her in the box back up to the ledge.  It took a minute for her to emerge as she seemed to like the box.

Suddenly she was off the ledge again.  And, once again, we watched in horror as she flew to the middle of the west side of Tower A and fell down, catching her talon on a metal bar.  She got free and continued to fall, landing on a ledge just by the down ramp, the same on as before.  This time she was rescued by Anouk, passed to Eve and taken back to the Constitution Square.  After being briefly checked, she was put into the box and put in a cool corner, and left to rest.  She was exhausted and slept for a few hours.

Meanwhile Tailer was found to be on the Marriott with a parent who soon flew away.  Amazingly, the parents never saw Nihei leave either time.  They did begin to look for her after a while, once they realized she was not on the ledge.

Once evening arrived, Lorraine and I took the boxed falcon up to the roof of Tower 1 to release her there.  She had more room than on her ledge.  She made her way to the side of the roof, tried to jump on the outer ledge, failed, and decided to take a nap, a wise move.  We descended to the street and all watched anxiously from the sidewalk.  Eventually she was seen on the outer ledge.  As we watched, she moved along the ledge, exploring one way, then the other, back and forth, walking like a little beetle. It was interesting to see her brother across on Tower 2.  He then flew past her to the ledge.  Show off!

Connor had brought a bit of food to her, but it wasn’t much.  Soon Diana brought more and fed her daughter on the ledge, with Connor keeping watch on the corner.  Tailer couldn’t stand it and flew to the ledge also.  The whole family there.  I raced up to the penthouse again with my camera to record this.  Diana was feeding Nihei and Tailer was creeping closer, one step at at time, watching his mother.  As soon as Diana flew away, he ran to his sister’s side, and jumped on the food, eating as fast as he could.  Nihei just watched him.  When he was done, both sat together.  What a sight!

Back on the sidewalk, we still stared up for glimpses of our chicklets, and hoping that Nihei would not fly anywhere tonight.  Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Eve Ticknor