!!! Etobicoke Bloor & Islington nest - Bip (White Tape) Released May 11th/2022
June 11, 2022 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
Etobicoke Bloor & Islington nest:
June 11th - 2022
Arrived at Bloor & Islington nest site by 8:30 PM after a crazy day picking up rescued chicks from other sites and doing two other releases, it was Bip’s turn (White Tape) to go back to the roof and to mom and dad’s care. We met the fledge watch team in the streets on Eagle road, (Bruce, Lucie, and Erica who were on-site at this time) and went over the release plan.
Mark guided Lucie up to the rooftop to release Bip just as darkness was closing in. This was the third time Lucie had a chance to experience the release routine at Bloor and Islington and she was eager to go through the process again. The resident adult female was sitting up on the upper rooftop retaining wall of the nest building but because she was so quiet and everything went so well during the last release at this site, Mark felt all would be fine to proceed again with this fledgling’s release.
The release of Bullet (Red tape) the evening before went quite well despite the fact that the resident adult female was roosting quietly on in the same spot on the upper roof retaining wall. She watched Mark come up through the roof access hatch, walk across the roof, and release Bullet in the old overturned swing stage motor housing cage that we have used for several years with great success. This open-ended cage allows us to release the fledgling in a very controlled procedure that contains the fledgling long enough and prevents it from bolting out and off the roof while allowing us the time to exit the rooftop. We couldn’t have designed a better device for a release!
(It’s like utilizing our typical rescue carriers (with the door removed once we get to the roof) and simply leaving the carrier on the roof with the bird inside. This method allows us to safely depart the roof area without scaring the fledgling into a panic flight. This is a time-tested method that we have used by the CPF for many years to safely releasing a fledgling back to a roof, one that contains the bird in the carrier long enough for us to exit the rooftop and allows the bird to exit the carrier on their own time. We later go back to the rooftop when it’s safe to retrieve the carrier, sometimes days later). Yet another reason why we have several rescue carriers at each nest site, and why everyone that is mobile has their own rescue carrier in the car.
Well, I guess one person on the roof didn’t upset the adult female last evening but it was quite evident that two people on the roof were more than she was willing to tolerate. Despite the darkness, mom took flight and dove and stooped on them and screamed at them until they exited the roof through the roof hatch. From the street, we could see that Bip immediately had jumped up onto the rooftop retaining wall ledge beside mom and began to beg for food. A successful release without incident!
We stayed in the street and watched until 10:00 PM just to make sure that Bip didn’t attempt to make another flight and all was quiet, chicks in bed for the night and Bip was still in the same spot atop of the retaining wall just above the Flipp sigh.
