Saturday, Day Two of the Watch. MEC Fledgling Rescued!
May 11, 2014 - Mississauga - Executive Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This has been quite a week for our little man out at the Mississauga Executive Centre! A week ago, he disappeared off of camera view and so Bruce went out to investigate on Monday. The little explorer had left the box and was now in the window well next to it playing away. By Tuesday he had made his way back into the box again and was amply rewarded by Rogue for his work with some nice pigeon.
Bruce was out again on Wednesday for another site check and watched the little one lounge in the box for several hours looking quite happy to be home. On Thursday, our little adventurer once again went out of the box and ended up plopping down into the well again. Shannon checked in the morning and found Rogue on the nest ledge beside the box looking down into the well so we were certain he was there. At some point, he came out of the well and at the tender age of 36 days, had an “oopsie” and came off of the building down to the low first floor roof on the north side of the nest building.
On Friday, Bruce and Mark spent the day watching him as he wandered around his new environs with Rogue and Sante trying to tease him off into flight. Rogue finally gave in and flew down to the low roof to beak feed little man and tuck him into bed
Bruce started the early morning shift yesterday watching him preen and move about on the lower roof. I arrived at around 8am and joined Bruce and I must say, the winds were just blazing through. Our little fledgling was careful not to do anything too silly as the winds were so strong he would not be able to control himself. He spent much of the first hour on the east side in the sun occasionally going over to the west side exploring. He did a few short practice flights on the low roof that Bruce gave an 8 out of 10 for effort and 6 out of 10 for the landing. Still much more practice needed! He worked away on all of the down that he still has and every few minutes, a cloud of three or four feathers would get taken away by the wind as he preened.
Shortly after 10am, he got this look on his face… …concentrated, serious, intending to do something here… …and he took a short flight across the roof. I went around to the west side and found him on the edge of the low roof and he was looking to go. He hopped and flapped several times and next thing you know it, he was airborne! The winds quickly buffeted him down on the ground beside the fence that surrounds the north side of the nest building. Off I went in pursuit and he decided to go bushwhacking through the brush. Great. I dove into the brush after him and he turned to give me what for. Too bad little man, you’re coming with me. I gently grabbed him up while he not so gently grabbed me and we were off to the rescue carrier.
After a relax period in the “rescue room” at MEC 1, I took a look at him and he was quite furious with me. Lashing out with talons flying and biting at me wherever he could. Nice feisty little attitude. I contacted Mark Nash to try and set in motion the opportunity to band our young man before his return to the roof of the nest building to try again. Check back for Mark’s report on his potential banding and release!!
Of note, Rogue and Sante are going through some adult rebonding stuff already. Sante has now constructed a huge scrape in the nest box and Bruce caught them copulating on Friday. This is all a part of the bonding ritual between resident adults and for these two it is happening very early in the season. We usually see this behavior in the fall!! Nice to see the pair reconnecting while taking awesome care of their young son!
