Sunday at Islington and Bloor.
June 22, 2015 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday I started off the morning at 5am streetside watching wee Mel as he sat on the retaining wall next to Baylie’s patio at Kingsway on the Park. Right at 5 both Lucky and O’Conner flew into position around the ledge and the three homebodies were on their feet singing a dawn chorus. This got Mel rather excited and he started to walk the wall looking for the perfect launch point. Baylie was out on her patio having a morning cuppa and watching Mel when suddenly he decided to walk right up to Baylie standing watch!! They were almost nose to nose checking each other out. Mel made his way over to the west edge of the wall and by this time I had Roger with me. Mel took flight and landed on the roof of The Longest Yard. He ran roof to roof all the way to Lothian and finally stopped to rest. We were watching him closely as it appeared as if he had a slight droop to his left wing. He stretched it, preened it and flew well and the droop was only slight and infrequent. Something to watch. He took another flight out to the west, circled the Islington intersection and then realizing he didn’t have the height he made a brilliant choice to flutter down to the mezzanine skylight. Bruce arrived and I handed over the watch to him so that I could move up to William Osler.
The morning quietened down with Mel finally moving out to the Bloor St side of the mezzanine wall. Bruce saw him flutter down towards the stairs and he raced over to see where he went. Up the stairs went Bruce and he came face to face with Mel. He wanted no part of Bruce and took a flight down Bloor heading for the Bell building. He almost made it except for the sparrow that intervened at the last minute turning him to land right back on Baylie’s patio wall. Lather, rinse, repeat. This time Mel jumped down on Baylie’s patio and used that to get to the mezzanine and walk to Aberfoyle. Sheesh. He took another flight over the tennis courts and was now on the Falcon condos low and east. Again a flight low where he almost bounced off the top of a truck and he was back to the mezzanine.
All the while that this was going on Ferris decided to fledge unseen. While Bruce was being vigilant with Mel I was trying my best to watch my 4 at Osler and his 3 on the ledge using the webcam. Our best estimate puts the fledge around 3pm-ish. Bruce had Trish with him helping him out and off he went to find Ferris. He located him on the mezzanine wall between the west and center towers. There Ferris stayed and Bruce remained with him and keeping the nest ledge in view as well. At around 8pm Bruce called me for some help as he had not been able to check on Mel for fear of losing sight of Ferris or the nest. The Osler kids had just been fed twice by the parents and they were down for an early night so I headed back to Islington and Bloor to look for Mel. I scoured the Aberfoyle side of the building but was unable to see Mel on any of the leading edges. He was most likely down for the night. I met up with Bruce and waited until dusk to call it for the night.
Ferris and Mel are both low but both safe for the night. Monday (today) will most definitely be and adventure and Bruce will be down at dawn to ensure all play safe.