A Tough Day at the Lift Bridge
July 09, 2009 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Sue McCreadie Reports:
Bill arrived at the bridge around 8:30am and was greeted by Barry who was already on site. Over the last couple of days, Barry had noticed that Maple did not appear well. She had a very large crop and was refusing food from Cirrus. You could see her trying to vocalize, but there was no sound. The Bridge Workers advised them that Maple was sitting on top of the Control Tower. After three attempts of walking and flopping her wings, she managed to get to the top of the bridge where she remained until approximately 3:00 pm. We watched her and she appeared disheveled and slept most of the time. She made a feeble flight and landed on the top rail of the bridge on the lake side and then again to the Burlington Tower. She spotted Cirrus at the Play Pen and managed a flight to her with a difficult landing. Cirrus shortly thereafter appeared with a meal which she took the bridge abutment above the boat parking lot. Maple, tried to follow but could not gain the height she needed and came to the ground landing on a parked car of some fishermen. An attempt was made to pick her up but she took off again, heading for the canal and this time landed on top of another vehicle that was parked by the canal. This time the rescue was successful by John and Barry and Bill with the rescue box. She was wrapped in a towel and immediately transported to the Toronto Wildlife Centre by Bruce Massey. Bruce had arrived about 10 minutes before the whole melee started. We are grateful that Bruce was on site so that we didn’t have to wait for him to get through Toronto QEW traffic. We are anxiously waiting to hear about “our” girl. Thanks to everyone who was involved in the rescue. Boy, Falcon Watching can sure be stressful.
