Spot Check of Canada Square Yesterday
July 07, 2015 - Toronto - Canada Square Building - Yonge and Eglinton
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Yesterday I stopped in at Canada Square in the evening to check in on Omega and Typhoon’s progress in their flight school training. I found Omega on the top of Rio Can on the points that she loves so much and Typhoon was nowhere in sight. After about 15 minutes he came off of the TVO roof where he must have been back out of view and headed straight for Rio Can and his sister. All through his flight he had good flaps and nice wing extension so it looked really good. Landing? Not so much. He flew straight for the roof and came up a little short. He flumped into the window just below the roof line (not hard at all and bumpers up) and recovered very quickly. He flew back over to TVO and landed on the antenna where he sat looking a little dejected. Omega left Rio Can and flew over to her brother landing right beside him on the antenna. Sister Omega was giving him a pep talk on landings for about 15 minutes before she took off again and headed back to her spot on Rio Can. The two fledglings sat in their respective places for about 20 minutes and then Typhoon was off again. He flew out over top of the nest building, excellent height, and swung around towards the Minto towers. He went past the south tower out of my view but he was at roof height so I wasn’t worried. A few minutes later and here he comes again. Heading towards Rio Can, his ultimate goal, and all I can hear in my head is the theme song for Raiders of the Lost Ark. He powered up and headed for Omega and her perch and once again came up short. He touched off the sidewall of the point and headed back to TVO again. Ugh! He was frustrated!! A few minutes later… …duh da duh DA!! Duh da DA!! He’s off! Back to Rio Can but this time with a new strategy. As soon as he got within feet of the roofline, he flung himself onto the roof and “tumbleweeded” with a sense of satisfaction that while not a pretty landing, he made it. He now abandoned all finesse attempts and gently flung himself onto every rooftop he could reach! He’s learning!!!
Omega went for several great flights throughout the evening and her landings are much more graceful than her brothers. During one flight, she had to abort several landings as she was either too low or going too fast and this flight in particular had her in the air for several minutes. Near the end of this flight she started wailing as she clearly wanted down but couldn’t seem to make down work for her. She finally landed back on Rio Can and stayed there for a while to catch her breath.
Haven and Malik were both perched on the concrete juts on the south side of Rio Can watching the shenanigans of their two fledglings. If they could have covered their eyes with their talons and shook their heads I think they might have! At this point the parents are letting the kids make their flights, and their mistakes, with little to no intervention and food didn’t arrive until the day was almost done.
It was a great evening of flights for these two and they are working out the details of being the fastest bird on earth in spectacular dives and aerial finesse. Not there yet but looking like they are both well on their way.