Toronto - Don Mills

DON MILLS FLEDGE WATCH DAY 10:

I arrived early and found Roshan in almost the same place. She had moved slightly, a good sign. I was settling in when the boys were in the air, lots of playing, screaming, chasing Mom. Lovely.

I was joined by Mike and he saw the tail end of it and actually saw the boys over on the roof of the Thales building! Another milestone! Excellent.

We waited. We checked her progress every hour ( we didn’t want to disturb her). Finally we could see her wings flapping from across the street. Mike set up a ways down to watch the other side as it looked like she was going out westward. And she did! Flew out, over the low roof and then east, over the trees, the road, tried for the garage, touched off that, turned, gained height going for the roof of the building (across from the nest building but at the back), missed, hitting the glass lightly (she pulled up.. Excellent). She dropped, brushed the concrete, recovered low and flew to the pine trees, landing low, right at the branch by the stop sign! Wow. But was she really low. And the Robin’s were dive bombing her.  But she climbed up over the next few hours. Actual climbing at times, then hopping from branch to branch, then little flights from branch to branch. I said girl, you are so ready to fly! Rob had joined us by then so got to see this. And did I mention that it had started to rain? And Thunder? She was still while it rained and then moved when it stopped. She finally made her way to the top, eyed the nest building and away she flew! Up, up up, and around out of sight. We ran and found her next door, north end, on the ROOF!! Way to go Roshan!!  And then it poured. But she was home! And high.  So we decided to get out of the rain ourselves and we went home for some lunch to return after the rain stopped.

It rained most of the afternoon and into the early evening. Roshan was on the nest building when I returned. The boys across the street. It started to pour just as Dad brought in food. Three fledglings were on him and the food. Roshan won but just started to eat when Simba snuck over and stole it! Brat! He took it  down on the roof and ate while the other 2 watched.

Once the rain had stopped, and lots of preening done, the boys decided that it was time to play! Ted joined me and we watched the show. Boy it is fun… Ted saw them over at the Thales building again!  Then one of them came back and tried to get Roshan to play. Fly bys, swooping. She said no!  Thankfully the other brother came back and more play ensued. Finally, they settled down with one brother beside Roshan, and so much beaking! So cute.

And there I left them, called it an early evening as I was up a little early today.

Looking forward to seeing Roshan fly tomorrow!

Cathy

Thanks to Rob for his as always great pictures (a few of my not as good pics as well lol)

DON MILLS FLEDGE WATCH DAY 5:

Oh where to start… Tough day but all ok in the end…

Both boys were on the roof of the nest building when I arrived. So great to see. It started raining.. And Tava flew off.. Mom said nope! Back you go! His landings are really not good at all.  Roshan is finally sitting on the ledge! And so much fluff is gone, huge difference from yesterday. Since it was raining, I went and got myself breakfast!

The rain finally stopped, I was joined by Mike, then Bob and then finally, Rob and Ivy…. and the boys revved up.

I’m sorry but so many flights I don’t remember them all but here are the ones I remember most .

Simba is amazing. Great flights, decent landings. You can almost see him calculating what he’s going to do. So one flight, he went across the street, landed then off again and as he was trying to get home, in came Tava(brat!)! He was after Simba , over him and caused Simba to land on the top of the window, 2 levels down from the nest ledge. Tava continues on across the street and Mom has joined… She went to him, talons out, scolding him! She did not touch him, just read him the riot act…. And then came back and did it again! Boy, was she pissed lol.

Unfortunately, things went down hill from there for Tava. He flew off, attempting to land on the nest building roof, missed, recovered, headed out over the hill, turned and tried again. Missed again, recovered, headed out again over the hill, turned but then decided to try to land on the building across from the nest building, which he has landed on 4 times before, but still hit it, fairly hard, and came down at Bob’s feet. I scooped him up and into a carrier for a time out. A long time out to make sure he was ok.  Bob and I were very upset. We do not like to see a flighted bird come down. So he spent a few hours there.

Roshan got fed and hung out on the ledge. Simba did some great flights.

Then it was time to check Tava out. We had him throughly checked over and whew, he was given the green light to be released!

Simba was now on the roof so… Uh oh. But Bob had a talk with him lol and he obliged and flew across the street, landing 3 floors down on that narrow ledge.

We took that as a sign and hurried Tava to the roof and his release. He looked back at us peeking at him(Rob said he was thanking us but I don’t think that was what he was thinking lol) and he was off. By the time we got down to the street , he was up, then he flew next door, top level! Best landing he’d done yet. Then when dad landed around the corner, he flew over to him, same level! Pretty darn good. And there he was at dark.

Roshan was on the nest ledge still and Simba decided that the tiny ledge was a good place to spend the night! We’ve seen fledglings do it before, so I know he’s going to be just fine.

So, Roshan,  you are up! Come on girl.. Tomorrow is good weather (Tuesday and Wednesday are calling for thunderstorms so… ) let’s get going! I have to get back to work lol.

Looking forward to a less stressful day..

Cathy

Pics from Rob and Mike (thank you, thank you). I am too tired to look at my pics from the morning but I will share my cell phone pics of Tava.