!!! Little Wellington comes down - some details!
June 10, 2015 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 10th - 2015
Hi all
This is a late report for what happened at the Burlington lift bridge peregrine watch yesterday, as it was a long day, 9:45 to 6:00 p.m.
As I arrived at 9:45am, I first noticed that the nest box was empty, OH CRAP. The day before there was still two in there when Linda and I left at 6:00 p.m.
I started an immediate search, then a passer by came up to me and asked what this bird on the path was ? and why didn’t it fly when he walked right past it ?
I looked behind me and thought, HOLLY CRAP! I now had to walk past Wellington to get back to my vehicle to get the box and a towel, to try to capture him. I did and returned to him and to my surprise he cooperated without a fuss as I put the towel around him and picked him up and into the box. I was glad because I was a crew of one at this point. I delivered the box with Wellington inside, to John, the lift bridge worker, as he has the carrying cage in his building.
Later that night Wellington would be released back up on the Burlington tower roof by a C. P. F. member after it is examined for injuries and trauma that can often manifest after a hard grounding. This protocol of a short hold-over is a mandatory policy to ensure that a downed fledgling is examined before it is released back to its parents. At this particular site, a night (under the cover of darkness release is also much safer for all given the situation and conditions as the only release option is the flat top roof of the towers).
This was like deja vu all over again, we did this same manoeuvre with Lucifer the previous day.
It took till 3:00 to notice Stella on a horizontal beam halfway up on the Burlington tower. She had been hiding from us for most of the day until then.
As we left at 6:00 p.m. all three juveniles were accounted for.
Barry
