affordwatches

!!! All Three Rogers Centre Fledglings were successfully released back to their parents!

June 20, 2015 - Toronto - Rogers Centre

Mark Nash Reports:

June 18th - 2015

All Three Rogers Centre Fledglings were successfully released back to their parents today with both resident adult parents in attendance!

With the added bonus,, we were also able re-confirmed that the forth fledgling is still very much alive, on site, quite visible and doing very well indeed!! It looks like another female by it size after looking at the photos, and is the only one of the four that has not come down that needed to be rescued. As such, the forth juvenile is NOT banded like it other three siblings.

So, their particulars are: 3 females and 1 male
1st- Female - 865 grams, banded K over 40, named “Striker” with Red Marker Tape
2nd- Female - 855 grams, banded K over 41, named “Chopper” with Yellow Marker Tape
3rd- Male - 682 grams, banded X over 02, named “Pop-fly” with Blue Marker Tape
*4th - Female - *Unbanded

The triple release went very well indeed despite my anxiety of having to put three fledglings back on the same roof and not causing them to panic-fly and bolt off a ledge or upper roof elevation by my presence, before I could get off of the roof area and out of their sight.

With Linda Woods in position on the ground with a radio and binoculars in hand, Lee, (one of the Rogers centre engineering staff) we made our way to one of the upper roof elevations on the south end of the Rogers centre where we found an ideal release spot, one that was protected with a 8 plus feet tall retaining walls on both sides and away from the tracks that allow the Rogers centre roof to open.

With the Blue Jays and Mets game only moments away from starting, (and while the Rogers dome/roof still closed), the large rescue carrier that containing the three fledglings in was put in position, the door was removed and finally the towel removed, I was able to escape their view to the man door where Lee was waiting and get out of their sight before any of the fledglings left the carrier!

A huge thank you to the Rogers centre staff for all of their assistance with both the rescues and releases, and for their consideration of keeping the Rogers centre roof closed for this go-round of these releases. It is nice to see that Rogers has consideration for Canada’s species at risk with both the birds and the public’s safety and health in consideration.

A big thank also you to Linda Woods for coming down and spending so much time on the Rogers centre nest, as this location is a very challenging location to deal with,, , with no affordable parking, a very congested part of the city and no local support to count on!

The Blue Jays and Mets game of course went on as scheduled, with a packed stadium of baseball fans completely unaware of all of the outside rooftop activity going on with their resident peregrines and their four babies! :-)

Before I could get back to the ground and hook up with Linda, the little male “Pop-Fly” with the Blue tape, was already air borne and chasing his parents around for food!!! We watched Pop-Fly and his unbanded sister squabble on the Rogers centre roof for the food that their dad brought in, (hastily taken by the resident adult female) that was initially delivered to Pop-Fly.

We watched allot of flights and interaction with the two fledglings and the resident adult parents, and it was quite obvious that both resident adults were a little overwhelmed with the return of three of their offspring all at once. We did not although see either of the two banded fledglings leave the release site, and of darkness, they had not become visible to our view.

We departed at dusk.