!!! Little Lily-Gean will have to remain in rehab for 8 to 10 days to allow her to repair.
June 18, 2015 - Toronto - Don Mills and Eglinton - Amexon
Mark Nash Reports:
June 18th - 2015
Some updated news on little Lily-Gean and her situation. Some very good news indeed, there are no life threatening or long term injuries, but a fractured keel will need some time to repair before she can go back to her parents. If you have ever had a broken collar bone or fractured ribs, you can get an idea of the discomfort that this little bird is experiencing with sort of injury.
The best news, is that just like any fractured bone, it will easily repair itself in a eight to ten days and will not cause her any flight problems down the road after its healed! The juveniles repair and heal very quickly in comparison to us older folks!!! Lol 
A quickly look at her x-rays tells the “inside” story.
Well, it has been a challenge at the Don Mills nest site this season, especially with all of the nest building rooftop activity going on. Sadly, with the microwave dish work that has been ongoing on the roof of the nest building itself, this has caused a number of problems,, especially that of the increased daily (and nightly) nest building rooftop activity needed by the technicians that have been attending to the giant Microwave Dish’s.
Unfortunately, one of these nightly disturbances was likely responsible for Lily’s premature fledge, as it has had both resident adults airborne in the darkness flying overhead in an effort to defend and ward-off the perceived human rooftop threats above and behind the nest ledge. As such, this is likely the attributing factor that had Lily was scared off the nest ledge to take flight in the darkness and ended up getting injured as she made a hard grounding and contact on the concrete in the parking lot.
Thus the need for her rescue and retrieval. Sadly, little Lily was that last to hatch, being four to five days younger, and much smaller, (and much further behind her two other siblings by virtue of her younger age). We know only tooo well, that this simple fact alone puts her at a disadvantage of having to compete with her two much larger and far more experienced siblings, now fully flighted.
Given that the young peregrine fledglings only have 60 plus/minus days with their parents to learn all of the necessary life skills that they will need to survive on their own once they leave their parents care, a ten plus day absence away from the parents and siblings at this critical time of the her training and development will have her at a huge disadvantage as you know.
It is unfortunate that we can’t do the same type of rehab with Lily and her parents that we did several years ago out at the Etobicoke Bloor and Islington nest site that worked out so successful, as the Don Mills nest building rooftop also has a similar very tall retaining wall that surrounds the entire rooftop that would keep her contained and from flying anywhere until she is actually repaired and physically capable to do so,,, allowing both her parents (and her siblings) full access to her for food, care and parental support,, but the daily and nightly nest building rooftop access by the Microwave Dish technicians prevents this type of rehab to happen.
We will be monitoring her repair progress closely, and hope that she will be cleared to be released back to the parents care before her time runs out. Her two other siblings are far advanced in their flights and doing very well indeed.
Stay tuned……………..
