Ottawa Fledge watch - day 23
June 29, 2009 - Ottawa - Delta Ottawa City Centre
CPF Postmaster Reports:
Our next to last day! We had no one on 6 - 9 so this report starts at 9am. I found Nihei still on the southwest corner of Tower B while Tailer was on the southwest corner of the roof of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Both our adults were on the Carlisle antenna.
Just after 10am, Diana brought food to Tower B where her daughter was sitting, but Tailer, who followed her there, grabbed it first and all Nihei could do was watch and wait until he had finished. Diana flew off and Connor sat on the antenna of Tower C. After eating, he flew to Tower A and his sister immediately jumped on the rest of the food for herself.
At 11:30 Nihei left Tower B. She headed towards the gap between Towers 2 and 3, changed her direction and went between Towers 1 and 2. Her flight was a good, steady one, maintaining her height and speed. She disappeared! We started our search, while Nancy put out the news. Our eyes searched every building top edge, every balcony and ledge, and in between without seeing her. Eventually I had the feeling she was somewhere on the top of the Minto Suites. That is a logical place to go when first flying in that gap. Diana then flew close to the top row of windows at the northwest part. Tailer went flying and showing off all his tricks and lessons, and most of that took place right above the Suites. We settled down to watch the roof from different places. We saw Tailer and the adults at various times flying around here and there, but mostly where they could see the Suites. We watched the new OC Transpo Double Decker bus pass by. We had many people pass by to see if Nihei had flown, and a few disappointed that they could not see any falcons.
Around 4, Tailer came speeding by to the antenna on Tower C, tickled the top of an upright post, and sped away again, as if practicing his stoop horizontally. He came back and landed on a red “hub” on that antenna. How comfortable he is with his flying!
And then the rain came. We still hadn’t seen Nihei, so I went up to the penthouse of the Crowne to have a look at the roofs around. I checked all the ledges, etc but still no chicklet.
Just before 7:30 there was another food drop to Tailer at the northwest corner of Tower 1, so up I went again with Nancy, for another check, still without our baby. Tailer was really working over what looked like the body of a pigeon minus the head and wings.
After 8, Chris came over and decided to go up on the roof of Tower 2 for a look. Sure enough, he found her, as he has in the past! She was on that roof, sitting on a satellite dish! We had thought she had moved from the Suites to Constitution Square, but thought Tower 1, not 2. So much for our thoughts.
Tomorrow should bring a day of eyes upwards, hoping to see Nihei flying, as well as enjoying Tailer and his parents. How lucky we are to have this family in Ottawa.
Eve Ticknor