William Osler Flight School in Full Swing; July 21st Report
July 21, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Bruce Massey Reports:
Today it was my turn to open the William Osler Fledge Watch and hold the fort until the afternoon. I arrived at 6:30am and found Tobi on the south “H” sign and could hear, but not see, Ossie in the tower. Tobi left the sign and made for the north facing side of the nest ledge, missed the landing and ended up in the tower. After 10 minutes, Ossie flew to the retaining wall of the roof and landed neatly on the southwest corner. By 7am, Hurricane was coming in with food and had Chessie on his tail. This time it was Ossie who was the recipient of the morning feed while Hurricane flew up to the north corner of the nest building and Chessie flew up to the tower. At this point, Tobi made several flights around the hospital and looked like she wanted to go to the south “H” sign but finally settled down in the tower.
Once Ossie had finished eating, the two juveniles were actively flying back and forth between the tower and the nest building and landing very well. Ossie flew out to the northeast and out over the residential area taking longer flights than he has up until now. I went into the hospital for a brief moment and when I came out I checked the tower… …no one there. I could distinctly hear distant vocalizations and so I scanned north and found a bird in a tower to the north about 1/3 of the way up to Finch Ave. I walked up to the tower and found, much to my surprise, found both juveniles preening madly in the distant tower. I can confirm now that both of the young have explored beyond the footprint of the nest building. It wasn’t long before Hurricane flew up and joined the juveniles to the north and they all enjoyed a family moment together. At around 8:45am, Chessie flew over to the nest building with food and Ossie came off of his perch to take part in the feeding. Now fueled on pigeon power, Ossie was making short, quick flights from the tower to the roof and back to the northern tower, finally settling on the tower across from the nest ledge. Tobi finally decided to leave the tower to the north and head back to the nest building and on the way was stooped by her older brother!! This started a game of tag that lasted a good five minutes before both juveniles retired to their separate perches; Tobi to the hospital hydro tower and Ossie one tower north.
The next feeding was brought in by Hurricane at 11:15am and this time he brought it in to Tobi in the tower, at first with a touch and go and then straight over for the exchange. She took the food from Dad and flew with it over to the nest ledge. This was a good flight and landing considering that she had a bit of drag and weight and one foot was occupied. At around noon, Chessie was alarm calling and was off in defense of her site. I could see the intruder very high and it was another falcon about the same size as Chessie, another female perhaps. Just after1pm, Ossie and Hurricane did a “flight school” tandem flying demonstration that was rather impressive. Later on in the afternoon, I was treated to a kiting demo by Tobi over top of the hospital in a good, strong sustained wind. She handled the wind very well and landed safely. At first I thought this was Ossie but once she had landed I was able to confirm the red tape over her USFW band. Just after 5pm, Hurricane was in with another package and it looks like Tobi was the recipient this time. She ate her meal on the nest ledge while Ossie, after flying to the tower to beg for food unsuccessfully off of Hurricane, flew to the north “H” sign for a nap.