!!! Ginnie fledges & Chroma is back in the air !!!
June 16, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
Another early start to the fledge watch or did it ever end? Ginnie and Reggie were in the nest box overnight with Redbud perched on a lower level of the tower. At 1:30 a.m. it started raining and poor Redbud had no cover. At 6:00 a.m. Rudy and Tony were on the watch and Redbud at some point, successfully made it back up the tower. Redbud and Reggie were taking small flights to around the platform. At 7:00 a.m. Karen joined the watch and Ginnie, the homebody, took her first flight observed by the team!! She tried to fly back onto the tower, but she had some difficulty, so she flew down and around the north side of the tower and landed on a HVAC unit. A few minutes later, she flew from the HVAC unit and successfully landed onto the hospital, just south of the antenna where Caster and Mystery like to perch. She stayed there for a while, hopping and taking a small flight, up onto the ladder, then next to the roof below. Caster made a food drop at 7:10. At 7:15, Ginnie flew back home to the tower and landed on the very top of the microwave drum. Good job Ginnie!! She sat there for quite some time and then dropped to the platform below. At the same time, Redbud and Reggie were flying around getting more confident with their flights. At 8:15, Mystery was perched on the hospital antenna and Reggie tried to join her there. Mystery flew off and Reggie took her spot. Karen left the watch at around 8:30 with one ‘grine’ in the nest box, one at the back of the platform and confident little Reggie on the hospital antenna.
David was on the watch at 9:10 and could see two of the kids in the nest box and Mystery and Caster on the top deck. A couple of great blue herons flew over top at 9:25. At 9:45, Reggie flew confidently to the antenna tower with the drum and perched and preened there. Just before 10:00, Mystery flew off as Marg and Martha joined the watch. One juvenile was napping on the front of the nest box and another tail was sticking out the edge of the nest box. After a few minutes, the ‘grine’ on the front hopped off the ledge of the nest box onto the tower platform. At 10:05, the third juvenile flew into sight to the top of the platform. There was a lot of loud vocalizations. At 10:15 a turkey vulture soared over the tower, probably attracted to the carnage in the box, and both parents appeared out of out of nowhere as the kids screamed. After the turkey vulture left, one parent stayed on the railing close to the nest box and the other flew off. All of the commotion finally woke the napping falcon on the nest box. For the next 15 minutes, there was a bit more moving around, flapping of wings and jumping while the adult supervised. At 10:35, one juvenile, jumped off the porch of the nest box, hopped over to the parent and vocalized and the parent flew off. Two of the kids were on the platform, flapping, hopping and holding their wings out in the wind close to the edge. At 10:40, Redbud took a long and confident flight with an attempt at a little burst of speed. At 10:45, the third kid resting in the nest box finally came out and a whole lotta flapping was going on! Redbud joined Ginnie and Reggie and all siblings were relaxed and preening.
Meanwhile, Chroma was examined and was fit for release after another night of rest. At 3:30, with members of the fledge watch team stationed around the nest box site, Rudy released Chroma from on top of the CTV building. Kelly reported that she was still favouring her left leg, but it was much better after being grounded for another day. Shortly after Rudy took her out of the towel, she took flight. She first headed towards the tower and then flew in the direction of the hospital parking garage and then turned towards Kings Towers apartment building where she made a successful landing on the rooftop to the applause and cheers of people watching! A much higher point than the nest box this was quite accomplishment for the largest of the young falcons! It was not long after that Reggie flew over and joined Chroma on top of the apartment building and they had much to say to each other! Reggie took another flight around the building encouraging Chroma to fly and he landed a second time. Shortly after, Reggie and Chroma took flight together around the apartment building and landed on top of the building! How touching to see such support from her little brother! Kelly continued the watch until 5:00 and saw observed Chroma making several attempts to get back to the nest site but seems to be still lacking the confidence in her flights.
At 6:30, Karen and Dale were still observing Chroma on the Kings Tower apartment building. Reggie was there for quite some time and went back and forth from the nest site to the apartment building. The police checked in with Karen to see that she was indeed taking pictures of falcons, not of residents in the apartment building. Janice joined the watch and reported that at 6:45, Chroma was doing a lot of flapping. At 7:10, Mystery drops off a food package to the nest box and at 7:15 she is on the antenna of the apartment building supervising the kids. A few minutes later, Redbud flies over to visit with Chroma and Mystery flew off shortly thereafter. Reggie and Ginnie then join the party on the roof of the apartment building.
At 8:30 p.m. Karen, Janice, Sandy, Kelly and I were a little bleary eyed but were still waiting for the kids to go to bed. All four were on top of the roof of Kings Towers. It is so good to see all of the siblings reunited again! Reggie flew onto the antenna on the media tower on top of Kings Towers. He took another flight and lands higher on the tower. He then took another long flight back towards CTV and back to his sisters. At 8:30, Redbud goes out for a flight over King Street and lands back on the antenna. Mystery flew in with a small food drop. Caster then flew in to Kings Towers with a very large bird, probably a gull. At 8:40, Chroma takes flight and loops around the building and lands on the top microwave drum. Chroma takes flight with her dad and lands where Caster has brought in the gull and has her first real meal since she came to the ground. There is lots of flying by both kids and parents, too many for the tired crew to figure out who is who. The youngsters flights are getting stronger and they are all getting a good handle on their landings too! Ginnie landed on one of the guy-wires at the base of the media tower on the apartment building and started walking up it and then took another flight and landed back on the tower. She then went for a flight back towards the nest box but instead flew all the way to the hospital antenna where she landed a bit awkwardly but managed to steady herself. At 9:00, Reggie and Redbud went back to home base on top of the tower. Finally, the kids are going to bed! But no, they’re not as Ginnie takes another flight back to Kings Towers. At 9:30, Chroma and Mystery were still on the tower on top of the apartment building close to the top microwave drum. A few minutes later, Mystery flew off leaving Chroma full and resting on top of King’s Towers for the night. A happy ending to this very long day to see a reunited family of falcons!!
