Stuck on How to Tell This Story; Hurricane Not at William Osler
January 14, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
On Saturday, Bruce Massey and I decided to go out and check out some of the west end nest sites and see what pairs were up to. We started our tour at the William Osler Hospital where Hurricane and Chessie have been hanging around more often lately. When we arrived, I had a male peregrine on the nest ledge and the female had just flown up to the east tower. I started snapping pictures of the male on the ledge and stopped to take a minute to review them. To my dismay, the male in my photograph staring back at me was not Hurricane. The solid black recovery band could clearly be read and I recognized it right away. The band read 35 / Y and belongs to Casper, a 2009 hatch from north Etobicoke. Hurricane is 5 over X. Casper had been holding territory and successfully produced at least one offspring in 2012 at the Hilton Garden Inn on Caroga Drive near the airport. Casper and his mate Claire had both been seen and photographed on Dec. 9th and after scrutinizing the photos I took at William Osler on Dec. 22, the pair then was still Hurricane and Chessie. I have to admit that time stopped for a minute with a wrecking ball shot to the heart when I realized that this male on site was not Hurricane. What?… …What did this mean? I was really shocked.
I set my mind to trying to confirm the identity of the female in the tower. She had just taken a bath down in the valley and was soaking wet and preening. Her position on the top of the tower did not make it easy for me to see her legs as she sat in from the edge. I can say for certain that she has a silver USFW band and a black over green recovery band; this is consistent with Chessie, not Claire. Claire dons a purple USFW band. I have more pictures to review that may clarify the recovery band number for the female but I am confident that this is Chessie. Now, back to the male…
Casper sat on the nest ledge amidst a ton of activity. Work has been going on in the peregrine off season at the hospital to maintain the facility and there were swing stages active at both the southeast and northeast corners of the building. As the stages began to lift, Casper sat and preened without concern. When they reached the nest ledge level, Chessie took offence to this and was off the tower like a shot. Casper joined her in the air but it was more like he was following rather than being invited to participate. The pair circled around the west end of the hospital and then Chessie went into a fabulous stoop over the intersection and both were gone from sight. It was clearly not a coordinated effort. Chessie was the first to return to the east tower and Casper joined her moments later. Chessie sat in the very front ( west ) portiion of the tower and Casper sat hidden at the very back ( east ) portion of the four teired tower. Now HE was soaking wet. He left the tower and flew over to the southeast corner of the nest building where the swing stages were now down and he began to preen and deal with his wet feathers.
I’ve been doing this a long time now but I still left the site wondering what this all means. I have a lot of questions that remain unanswered as our conversation with the awesome and supportive staff on security revealed no incidence of a fight and no other peregrine located during their walks of the grounds. Bruce and I also conducted an extensive ground search around the hospital, hydro tower and medical centre which revealed no sign of Hurricane. Was there a battle? Is Hurricane still alive? Did he wander away, like O’Connor last spring, only to show up somewhere else? So many questions that are ricochetting around in my head. I will be back to monitor just what is going on here with Casper and whether Hurricane re-appears. Hurricane established this site back in 2006 as a two year old and has held it ever since. I will be watching for him and watching this site as I don’t think this is settled yet. My gut feeling and observations today have me believing that this is recent.
I have posted a few of the photos I took on Saturday that revealed this news to me. They aren’t fabulous as they are meant to show that the band number on the male is 35 /Y and not 5 / X. As much as we try to not get emotionally attached to these birds, it is almost impossible given the intense study, time commitment and monitoring that the CPF and its volunteers does. You invariably get attached to someone somewhere. Hurricane and O’Connor were my “IT” pair. Together they were unstoppable and as separate individuals, they are absolutely fabulous to watch. O’Connor shocked me with her disappearance and rediscovery last spring. Now Hurricane. Still, anything is possible.
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