Awesome Flying by the Adults at Waterloo Sun Life
July 09, 2012 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I arrived on site just after noon and met up with Bruce Massey, Sue McCreadie and Bill McCreadie who were manning the Watch at the Waterloo Sun Life Financial nest site. They informed me that it had been rather uneventful for most of the morning with the exception of a food delivery into the nest ledge area at around 6:30am. It was not to remain that way for long!! First off I was able to look at the resident adult male for the first time from outside of the Sun Life building. All of my looks had been through smoked glass at bad angles due to where he roosts and so I was keen to confirm his band information today. What I learned, thanks to Bill and Sue lending me their scope, is that the adult resident male is in fact wearing a black over red recovery band on his left leg!! I was fooled earlier last week by the distortion and tint on the glass but I am in no doubt today!! This was reconfirmed later by Bruce, Sue and Mark and so we have identified the resident male without a doubt to this point. Now for the tough part, the numbers / letters that pinpoint his identity and origins!!
At 12:30pm. the resident adults had both taken to the air and Statler, the resident female, had come up to one of the concrete walls we call parapets and had a pigeon with her. The resident male flew up to the retaining wall above her and watched as she devoured most of the meal over the next 45 minutes. By 1:40pm she’d had her fill and took off with the remains of her lunch. She flew for over a minute with long and swooping flights over top of the nest ledge area as if to incite some activity from the juvenile. After a good long swoop around, she flew directly onto the roof on the east side which has been identified as the nest ledge area. She entered with food, dropped out of our sights and finally exited after 5 minutes without any food with her. She flew up to the top of the north facing Sun Life Financial sign and perched on the westernmost girder that supports the sign; one of her favourite perches. The resident male was perched on the east side on the retaining wall right where it meets one of the parapets. If your not looking carefully, he can easily camoflage and disappear in that spot!! At just after 2pm, the adult male left on a hunt and by 2:30 had returned with food. He flew past Statler with it and she took to the air. This next little flight was amazing to watch!!
The adult male flew in circles with the food in his talons while the female circled just below him. He swooped up and almost inverted himself while at the same time letting go of the food. The momentum carried the food up into the air for a brief second before it started to fall. It didn’t have to fall far before the female was in and snatched it right out of the air. Awesome food transfer by the resident parents!! She carried the food around and out of our view on the southwest side of the building.
Staying true to the timelines that I witnessed last week, the male took off at 4pm on a hunt. This time he didn’t immediately return with food but rather stayed off site until 5:40pm when he returned to roost on his favourite eastern perch. The female was expecting a little more from him than just a visit and so she positioned herself on the northeastern retaining wall to await her mates next food delivery. By 6:30pm it was apparent that it was not coming and so Statler took to the air and headed west in lazy, climbing circles. Marion and I visually followed her through our binoculars and watched as she spotted a target and then made a spectacular stoop out of our sights. Within 10 minutes, she returned with prey and was on the east side louvers section stashing it away. As I left, both adults had taken up positions on the building near to the nest ledge area and looked to be settled in for the night.
Thanks to Tony Bergauer at Bentall Kennedy and Waterloo Sun Life Financial for all of their support in getting the Fledge Watch underway!! We look forward to an exciting week of meeting the community, sharing our stories and watching this wonderful peregrine family!!
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