Little Boy Blue Fledges - Friday June 21
June 21, 2013 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Today was my first full day at the fledge watch at William Osler hospital and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. Shortly after I arrived here early in the morning the little male with blue tape decided to take his very first flight. All was calm on the nest ledge with all four juveniles napping and relaxing after having a big morning breakfast . The little blue tape male made his way down to the southeast corner of the nest ledge, typically the launch pad for fledges, and began to flap heavily. He stopped briefly, looked around and then he was in the air. It happened just that fast. He flew out over the north parking lot, circled back and landed quite dramatically on window ledge on the north side of the hospital. His next flight came very quickly and took him back out over the north parking lot where he circled around to the east and tried to make for the nest ledge. It was not meant to be and he landed low on a window ledge on the east side of the hospital. Back on the nest ledge, his siblings were wailing their encouragement as the little male made yet another attempt at a flight. This flight took him directly east and he looked to the tower to be his next landing spot. At first he attempted to grab a couple of Hydro wires and hang on but he was unable to get a proper grip. He circled out behind the tower and with assistance from Hurricane he was able to make a safe and happy landing in the East Hydro tower with his parents. He was so excited at his accomplishment for the next 45 minutes all this little boy could do was scream and scream and scream. His siblings sat on the nest ledge looking out at their brother now sitting in the Hydro tower. They were quite intrigued by the fact that he had somehow made it over to mom and dad hangout. As elated as he was to be out and flying, he wasn’t quite done yet. After a good little rest the little male took off from the Hydro tower and headed towards the nest building. He pumped as hard as he could, flapping as madly as he could with his ultimate goal straight ahead of him. He managed to get the height that he was looking for maybe just a little too high. The louvres at the back of the nest ledge became his backstop and he was finally and happily home. He ran down the ledge to join his siblings on the northeast corner and they greeted him with some of the loudest screaming I’d heard yet. It was all said and done by 11 AM, the first fledge out and back home and the rest of the day was spent preening, eating, sleeping and playing along the nest ledge and the south side of the hospital. Chessie and Hurricane were doing an outstanding job at controlling their bouncing brood . Any time one of the juveniles went down the ledge and out of their view Hurricane would chastise them and demand their quick return. What I found quite amazing is that the juveniles actually listened to their parents and would return to view very quickly so that mom and dad knew exactly where they were. Of the remaining unfledged juveniles, the most active of the bunch is the little female with red tape. She spent a great deal of time on the southeast corner hanging on for dear life and flapping madly and it looks like she’s probably going to be the next to fledge. I closed the evening with all four juveniles the northeast corner of the hospital and they were all vocalizing quite loudly for such a late hour at night. I look forward to tomorrow and the flights yet to come here at the William Osler hospital.
Fatal error: Call to undefined function post_gallery_get_images() in /var/www/html/w/wp-content/themes/cpf200903/index.php on line 29