Pre Fledge Watch Check In at William Osler
July 12, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
When I arrived last night, the first thing I saw as I pulled in was two gigantic, white, pompom-like things sticking out on the southeast corner of the hospital. I had no idea what I was looking at until I pulled out the binoculars and saw that they belonged to the juvenile female!! Her leg feathers have yet to come in and with the heat we are experiencing, she had her legs puffed out and looked absolutely ridiculous. Very un-sleek-peregrine-like. The juvenile male was lying down on the ledge just behind her and I had no adults in view. I watched the two juveniles as they wandered the ledge and the male is almost near lift off with only a few puffs on his head and two big ones on his back just above his tail.
Everywhere the juvenile male would go, sis would follow. He is quite active and run-flapping the ledge getting lots of exercise. The juvenile female is also getting her exercise by chasing him up and down the ledge in an attempt to free him of his downy behind. I watched as she made multiple attempts to catch up to the down bouncing on his backside and deliberately pull it out. The good thing for the young male is that while he can run-flap the ledge, his sibling is still at waddling stage and can’t really catch up until he stops!
At 7:45pm, both adults made an appearance and both had food. It was a family picnic on the eastern ledge before the two young ones trundled off to bed. I will be back down on Friday evening for another prelim watch session and the full dawn to dusk watch starts on Saturday.
I have posted a few pictures, some blurry, of the juvenile female as the pompom puff legs I just had to share!
