Site Check at William Osler Hospital
February 02, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Bruce Massey and I spent some time this weekend checking in on things at the William Osler Hospital. As you know, Hurricane has not been seen since Dec. 22 when he was last confirmed on site and the male now hanging around here is Casper from the Hilton Garden Inn territory.
When I arrived, I found Chessie in the east tower on the very top in the middle of the tower. I checked in with security and then out to the parking lot for a look and some pictures. She had a very full crop that she was working on digesting and usually in “squish the food” mode, the birds are more relaxed. Not Chessie today. Her head was swivelling madly behind her to the east and then it she would swivel back around to look southwest. This went on for several minutes and as Bruce arrived we remarked how uneasy she looked. Boom!! She was off like a shot to the east on a very serious mission and disappeared from sight. It wasn’t 5 minutes and she had returned to the eastern end of the tower and was roosting. I snapped some pictures of her and as I was reviewing them, I could clearly see that there was a patch of bright red blood staining her undertail feathers, perhaps from a rather messy meal. No sign of any male at the William Osler site and so Bruce and I left Chessie preening in the hydro tower and made our way down to the Hilton Garden Inn. Little did I know that the staining on Chessie in the photo would play a very important role in what we experienced and came to understand next. The story continues in the post that follows for the Hilton Garden Inn.
