William Osler Kids Flying High!!! Really High!!!
July 30, 2012 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday was a great day for west end nest site rounds and so I was off to visit with Hurricane, Chessie and the two fledglings at William Osler. I was joined by Bruce Massey for the afternoon and we decided to meet at the site. He beat me there and found the two young ones and an adult on the north side of the hospital not really doing much. When I pulled in, that’s when all the action started!! Chessie flew off and came into the nest ledge much to the chagrin of Ossie and Tobi. They wanted to know where she was going and what she had and screamed hoping they would get something out of it. Chessie had other things on her mind as her mate, Hurricane, flew in moments later with food for her. The two adults entered the nest tray with lots of chupping and bonding talk. Hurricane stayed with her in the tray for a few minutes and then left to the hydro tower for a nap. Chessie remained in the tray to eat her gift and do some housekeeping in the tray. The two juveniles were still on the north side; Tobi on the sign and Ossie on the northwest corner. Tobi took off of the sign and joined her sibling on the retaining wall but the pair didn’t stay long.
The first off was Ossie, soaring in lazy circles above the hospital. His circles began to get wider and higher as he explored the use of thermals. At one point I lost sight of him and asked Bruce if he still had him. Yup, up in the clouds. I asked where and Bruce told me he was in the big one. I looked and found a little, dark dot soaring in front of a huge fluffy cloud. Ossie was so high up, he was a DOT!!! He just kept going higher and higher until he disappeared BEHIND a low cloud. My first thought was, “Get down from there before you hurt yourself!!”. Bruce laughed at me and we then watched Tobi launch herself into the air. She did the same as her brother (she copies everything he does), starting out with low lazy circles and eventually soaring with him at a ridiculous elevation where all I could see was TWO DOTS. The two juvenile peregrine dots now soared over towards the Woodbine Racetrack and out of our sights.
What can I say. The kids at William Osler are doing very well. The flight display they put on today was incredible-stupendous-fantastic-amazing-are you kidding me!! They young ones here still have so much to learn from their parents about being a peregrine but they are definately learning very quickly!!