Storm Returns to the Nest Ledge at William Osler
June 18, 2011 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Last night after a time out in the rescue carrier, Storm was given a health check and released to the roof to give this flight thing another try. I can tell you that this little guy has his mother’s charm as he attempted to foot and bite me continuously throughout the release process. This morning, Bruce Massey was on site by 5:00am and could clearly see young Storm donning his yellow tape on the retaining wall of the roof. He had a slight crop visible so the adults had been in to feed him at first light and his sisters, Rain and Wind, were still on the nest ledge and working up the confidence to try flight for themselves. Throughout the morning, Storm remained on the retaining wall and often jumped down to the roof and back up again. It would appear that his confidence had been a little shaken by his ineffective landings and he was happy to remain right where he was. I should tell you that Hurricane, the resident male, has absolutely run out of patience for the lack of flight time by his young. Just after 12:00, he took to the air and circled around to the west. As Storm sat on the edge of the wall on the east side facing out, Hurricane came bombing in behind him and buzzed right over top of his back by no more than an inch. It was a clear attempt to spook him off the ledge. The chick was caught by surprise and ducked at the last minute; the plan had failed ( drat!! ). Within a half an hour, Hurricane tried a different tactic; a series of stoop bombs that were close enough to the juvenile to instigate flight but Storm had the fine art of ducking down to a science. Both parents then tried the “come fly with me” soar about and still no movement by Storm. That was it, O’Connor had just about had it!! Off she went and returned with a huge package of fresh food that she took to the “H” on the north side. Storm ran the perimeter of the wall until he was positioned just above her and she took off leaving the food displayed in front of him on the sign below. Irresistible!! Within minutes he was airborne, circled around the east side and successfully landed back on the roof on the south face. He ran the ledge until he was right above the eastern nest ledge and made an attempt to fly out and into the ledge; not happening, must adjust trajectory. A second try and some “put the breaks on” back flapping and he was in to the nest ledge!!! The running, screaming and jubilant Storm raced over to his sisters, tapped beaks and then passed out cold on the ledge. Good job Storm for making it home!!
Fatal error: Call to undefined function post_gallery_get_images() in /var/www/html/w/wp-content/themes/cpf200903/index.php on line 29