Flight training begins!
June 17, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
All four juveniles were back on King’s Towers as Tony and Rudy started the watch this morning. There were a number of flight and at one point all 4 were in the air. At one point, they could only see 2 ‘grines’ from the City of Kitchener parking lot. Tony went over to Central Fresh Market and could see the other 2 along the edge facing the store. When Rudy left, all of the kids were over on King’s Towers. I dropped by at 8:5 and saw many good flights and landings! Too many to count! They would go out together and separately, would circle and catch the winds. They practiced taking flights back and forth from the nest site and back again. Chroma’s flights are a little unsteady compared to Reggie but given her falls to the ground (and her size), she is doing terrific! At 8:30, the construction workers started walking around the top of the roof which created quite the commotion among the kids. They got on their scaffolding and the teenagers quieted down.
Kim and I checked out the kids at 12:30. Three lazy teenagers were lying around on the northwest corner of the top platform. Two of them had their wings up in the air and looked like they were in a deep sleep even though the noise of the construction zone and the lunch-time traffic was quite loud. The fourth juvenile was a King Towers and was getting some extra pointers from Mystery and Caster as the three swooped and soared around the apartment building. At 1:15, David came on the watch and was there for a few hours. It was a quiet afternoon, with a few flights back and forth from the antenna. Caster was up on the top of the antenna. One of the adults flew in and circled a few times.
At 3:00 p.m., Kim was back watching from the King Street side of the site. Two or three were on the top platform on the northwest side. An adult was perched on the top rail. At 4:00 one of the adults came back and made a food drop to the top platform. A few minutes later, two falcons could be seen at King’s Towers. At about 4:30, one flew off and only one was visible on the platform.
At 5:00, Dale and Karen were on the watch and all 4 juveniles could be accounted for. At 7:00,Caster perched on the King’s Towers antenna and Mystery left. Reggie flew to the smaller CTV tower. Ginnie, was on the top rail facing Pine Street. Reggie remained on the smaller tower. At 8:05, one of the juveniles takes off for a flight towards the hospital antenna. They turn back and they have a close fly-by with another juvenile on their way to the hospital antenna. The second juvenile turns back and tries to land on the dish on the tower but slides off and flies back right over Dale and Karen on the hospital parking garage roof! A few minutes later, Mystery and Caster take off to do some hunting. At 8:10, Caster returns with a food package. The package is left on the railing and the ‘grines’ vocalize loudly. One juvenile jumps up on the railing and has dinner. The remaining three juveniles just hang out. They don’t seem to be too interested in the food
At 8:15, the juvenile drops the food onto the platform and gets into a bit of a fight with another over the meal. I joined the watch at 8:30, one adult could be seen on the antenna and flew off a few minutes late. At 8:30, all four juveniles were on the top platform just chilling. There was one short flight and a little bit of wing flapping. A pretty quiet ending to a busy day!