Spectacular Day at William Osler Hospital Watch
June 14, 2011 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
After checking in at Etobicoke Sun Life, I made my way up to the site to settle in for the afternoon and arrived to find all three juveniles on the nest ledge and no parents in sight. It was a good half an hour before Hurricane, the resident male, arrived and landed on the hydro tower directly east of the nest ledge. There was a great deal of vocalizations from the young at his arrival but it wasn’t until 1:27pm that Hurricane made his way over to the east facing “H” sign to prep lunch. Hurricane then called for O’Connor, almost as if to ask permission to feed, and when he got no reply he stashed the food and went back to the hydro tower to wait. O’Connor, the resident female, arrived at 2:30pm and Hurricane quickly went to get the food and proceeded with his assigned duties. The three chicks cornered him between the pillar and the wall and refused to allow him to leave until they were full. He was chased by the young so relentlessly that he lost control of the feeding twice and had to regain the food from Wind, one of the young females, to continue on.
Back at the tower with feeding all done, the two adults enjoyed a quiet moment while keeping close watch. O’Connor flew over to the ledge and retrieved some food and Storm, the male chick, sat about 4 feet away screaming but dared not touch it or rush her for a feeding. Seconds later Hurricane landed further down the nest ledge and he was once again rushed by the chicks and mobbed until they were satisfied. It is clearly evident that the chicks don’t mess with Mom at all!!
By 5:00pm, the young had once again eaten ( stolen from Dad ) and O’Connor was perched on the east “H” relaxing. Bruce and I watched as she took off without a sound and made a focussed and determined power flight due east. It took us a moment to realize what she was after. A local Red tailed hawk was approximately a kilometre away and she went right for it. This huge female hawk had no idea what hit her. O’Connor was stooping her and attempting to grab the RTH by the back. Hurricane joined the effort and over the next 10 minutes, Bruce and I sat in awe watching the ejection of this bird from the territory. O’Connor, the resident female, would grab the hawk by the back in mid air which caused it to flip over and present its talons. O’Connor would then grab the bird by the talons and spiral down with it for a good 3 to 5 seconds, all the while biting at the bird. When the two released their grip on each other, Hurricane would clobber it with a full stoop attack. This series of grab, flip, lock, release and smack continued on for at least 5 kilometres until Bruce and I could no longer see them. O’Connor easily made half a dozen lock on grabs of the bird and spiralled down with it for several seconds each time. I must admit I have never seen an attack like this in all my years doing this!!!
I can’t say what happened to the female Red tailed hawk that our resident pair took on but I can tell you that 10 minutes after it all began, both adults were back on their hydro tower perch preening and roosting as if nothing had happened. I must say that O’Connor is one of the most brave, relentless, powerful and determined female peregrine falcons I have ever met. What a Mom!!
