Tobi’s Rescue; the Full Report
- All Reports
Tracy Simpson Reports:
I started the watch at 6:30am with little Ossie on the retaining wall of the roof on the south side and Tobi sitting on the southeast corner. This is the typical “launch pad” for this site and where many a juvenile have fledged from. Ossie was incredibly vocal on the top of the roof and ran back and forth along the ledge trying to garner the attention of the resident adults. At 7:48am, Hurricane flew in to the east ledge to Tobi and dropped off a small package of food. While she was working on it, Chessie flew in at 7:49am and dropped off another larger package. All I could think was, “Are you kidding me? If you spoil her she’ll never leave!” All the while this was going on, Ossie was freaking out on the roof as he could see food going in to his sister and not up to him. He ran all the way down to the southeast corner, bumped into a lightning rod and hissed at it, then stood directly above Tobi and screamed. Sister dear didn’t care too much for having her younger brother hanging out above her and at 8:23am, left! She flew out over the parking lot with much flapping and then glided beautifully for a few seconds as she banked around and made for the tower. She landed half way up and attempted to grab on but the momentum that she had and the baseball sized crop that she sported pitched her forward and she hung upside down for about three seconds. She let go and tried for another rung but was not able to grab on and so she was off again. I was instantly out of my seat, abandoning my coffee and all other sundries, and heading towards the tower. Chessie came in and guided her down to the roof of the Medical Centre building which is only three stories but Tobi made the landing well. Within seconds Tobi was up on the eastern edge of the roof surveying her new environs and wondering how she got there. Chessie flew up to the northern “H” sign where she could watch her and Ossie ran around the roof of the nest building and stood on the north edge just above Mom. Marion and Kathy arrived and took up the watch post which allowed me to retrieve my first coffee of the day. When I got there, it was full of bugs and leaves so after 5 days of 16 hours each I took the bugs out and drank it anyway, a sure sign of a seasoned fledge watcher!!
A noon feeding came in to Ossie and Tobi remained on the lower roof screaming her opinion. Tobi remained on that roof for the bulk of the day and after Bruce arrived for the late afternoon shift, she took another flight. Tobi tried for the tower and was unable to make a solid landing so she flew west over the parking lot and made for the low roof of the emergency entrance of the hospital. She banked around after aborting that landing and headed back towards the Medical Centre but instead ended up in a tree by the road. She stayed for about half an hour and then took another try at the medical building but the branches of the tree stopped her from getting a good launch and so she snowflaked down to the road. Bruce went over and she moved out of the road into the staff parking lot where she tried for the top of a car. Bruce was able to corral her, capture her up and into a rescue carrier she went. Ossie was now flying very well and making excellent landings on the nest ledge and the tower with the “J hook” up to the landing.
At dark, Bruce and I went and met Meghan at Paladin Security who took us up to the roof for the release. I took her to a dark, quiet corner and opened the carrier door that she amply filled. I slowly pulled out the towel the Tobi had be “killing” all afternoon and she came with it right up until she was at the door. She then grabbed onto the door and refused to come out!! Finally she let go and out she came. She stood on the towel and ripped at it several times in an effort to punish it for her time in the carrier and then walked hissing into the corner!! All is well and I’ll be back in the morning to see where her next flight is going to take her.
Many, many pictures to come soon!!
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