Hide and seek
June 18, 2015 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Lisa Reh Reports:
David was on the watch at 10:15. Mystery and the four juveniles were on the tower. One was eating and Mystery was vocalizing. Caster was on top of the antenna on King’s Towers. At 11:10, two juveniles took flight, landed briefly and took flight again. Both returned to the platform where the nest box is.
Kim and I visited the site at 12:30 today. Two or three juveniles were lounging on the northwest corner of the top platform. Caster was on the concave microwave dish on the King Street corner. We did a walk around to see if we could see them all at once, but could only see two at a time. As usual, we were about to leave when all the action started. Mystery flew in with a food drop to the top platform and the kids started vocalizing like crazy. Mystery then flew out with the food as one of the kids followed her. She dropped it in the air for the youngster while as Caster flew with them. Two of them remained on the platform, while another joined Mystery. The other juvenile swooped around the hospital, landed unsteadily on the antenna, then dove off and flew again, landing on the hospital roof and back onto the antenna. Caster soared up really high and kept an eye on things and then flew back to the east corner of the tower to keep an eye on the others. We left around 1:30 with two still hanging out around the hospital.
Dale was on the watch between 4:30 and 5:30. Only two were sighted on the tower on the upper platform. Mystery came by trying to entice them for a flight. One flew towards the hospital and returned with a morsel to share with a sibling. Just before 6:00, I was heading home and stopped in. I spotted two kids on the ledge of the hospital roof above the H, on the Mount Hope Street side. Chroma was on the very top of the tower railing on the east side preening. One adult was on the hospital antenna watching over them. Karen was back on the watch at 6:30 and confirmed that three of the kids were on the hospital roof.
Karen, Martha and I were watching from 7:00-9:15. When I got there, Chroma was still on the top of the platform. Caster flew around while Redbud & Reggie came from the hospital and flew around the tower. Ginnie remained on the hospital ledge above the H. They flew around a bit and then Reggie and Redbud joined Chroma on the top of the platform, tucked in behind the drum. Mystery was on top of the antenna watching over Ginnie. It started to rain lightly for a little while. As it stopped and the sun peered out a bit, the falcons held out their wings to dry. At 8:15 Caster flew in with a food drop. He flew into the tower platform first and landed on the railing in front of the drum as the kids screamed behind it. He then took the food to Ginnie on the hospital roof. After tucking into her meal and having another rest, Ginnie decided to try and head back to the tower. She headed straight across and was trying to swoop up in the “j” formation that the adults so eloquently do, but she misjudged and lightly “bumped” into the top platform head first. She dropped down a little bit but didn’t really falter much and flew back towards the hospital and out of sight. Martha and I went down to Mount Hope Street to see if we could find her but we had no sight of her. Mystery was still on her perch. From the parking garage, Karen saw Ginnie fly back to the tower and when she tried to land, she accidentally knocked one of her siblings off their perch. They both fell down but landed on the platform. Ginnie did another flight and landed on the top of the drum. We left the watch at 9:15.