Fledge Watch Begins in Earnest At Etobicoke Sun Life
June 13, 2014 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
During the past week Kathy has been keeping an eye on the kids at Etobicoke Sun Life as they approach fledge age. So far the greatest amount of activity has been from Pierre and Sunni, the two oldest chicks of the four. Kathy, Bruce and Jim all report that Sunni has been flapping up a storm on the ledge and is now looking quite coordinated. Pierre is not far behind her as he was just as active this past week flapping his wings, exercising and getting ready for his first flight. Tonight I was able to get a good look at the Islington and Bloor kids and see just how ready these young ones are to take to the air.
When I arrived to relieve Jim all seemed relatively quiet at that time but it didn’t stay that way for long. Both Sunni and Pierre were running and flapping the length of the ledge and were kicking up quite a fuss. I could actually hear them vocalizing over the rush hour traffic on Bloor Street. This got Skyla very excited and she wanted to join in the game. Skyla was in the middle of the ledge with Pierre on one end and Sunni on the other. All of a sudden Sunni started to run and flap towards the other end of the ledge and Pierre did the same. As they were both approaching the center of the ledge Skyla stepped forward and open her wings forcing both Sunni and Pierre to go around her. This ended with both chicks bonking into each other chest first and knocking each other backwards. This Three Stooges routine went on for a good 45 minutes with little Heaton sitting in the nest tray watching it all and managing to stay out of the way. In the meantime O’Connor was busy clearing the air space and making sure that the chicks had safe places to land should one decide to fly. She came in from the south and flew up over the Kingsway Tower in pursuit of a flock of nine geese that she felt needed to be escorted out of the area and away from potential landing places. She then took up her position on top of the Kingsway Tower watching the chicks from above. This had the chicks extremely excited as they could see her from the ledge and had yet to be fed. O’Connor flew in to the nest ledge at about 745 with a small piece of food for the four chicks and they all swarmed her down at the base of the camera. She left the ledge and returned back up to her perch on the Kingsway Tower and it wasn’t until 815 that she finally returned to the ledge and landed on top of the web camera housing. All four of the chicks came bouncing down to the base of the camera and they all decided to settle in for the night laying down in the back of the ledge. For a moment I actually thought that everybody was in bed but it wasn’t meant to be. Out of nowhere Jack decided to come in and land on the ledge amongst all four chicks and this upset O’Connor greatly. O’Connor screamed at Jack to get off the ledge and leave the chicks alone as she had just gotten them all settled down into bed and he obeyed her immediately taking off and disappearing for the rest of the evening. I closed the watch for the evening with all four chicks tucked in under the web camera and O’Connor asleep on top of the camera for the night. Tomorrow will be a very interesting day as I think we will have at least two that may take their first flights and Skyla the third is not far behind.