!!! Merry and Pippin ready to take flight!
June 15, 2014 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
On June 15, Tony and Lisa were on the watch in the morning. At 7:45 a.m., a big breakfast was brought to the tower by both adults. It was so large, the adult carrying the package looked and sounded like a duck, not a falcon. A whole lot of squawking was going on the roof. There was a lot of flapping of wings and at 8:10, Merry flew off the nest box to the roof! We suspect that breakfast was delivered on the rooftop but didn’t see the landing. As soon as Merry flew, the remaining 3 all came to the balcony to check out where Merry went. At 8:20 a turkey vulture flew by with no challenges from the parents. At around 8:50 it looked like Pippin also flew onto the roof but couldn’t be confirmed. One of the adults flew to one of the babies on the next box and veered sharply away at the last minute trying to coax the young one out of the nest.
At 5:30 p.m., Sandy was on the watch and all were accounted for. 3 were in the nest box and one was on the ledge strutting and bobbing and travelling back and forth, probably Merry. At 8:00 p.m., Lisa and Rudy were on the watch, and Merry was still walking back and forth across the ledge and testing his wings. At 8:15, he flew up and landed on the parapet to the left of the nest box. After walking back and forth along the top of the parapet, he then flew back to the top of the nest box and was joined by one of his siblings on top of the nest box, while a 3rd one was on the nest box balcony busy flapping her wings. The 2 on the nest box roof, jumped back into the nest box and were safe and sound for the night at 9:00.
Stay tuned! Photos to come shortly.