Winston Found and Looking For Help From a Friend
July 21, 2015 - Etobicoke - William Osler
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Late last week I stopped in at the William Osler nest site to see if I could locate Winston as he was the only juvenile I had yet to set eyes on. When I arrived, I had Chessie on the north side. She quickly took off and was flying circles around the east emergency area of the hospital. When she came around into full view, I could hear a juvenile screaming for Mommy but I couldn’t see it. The strange part about it was that I could hear the call echoing down low. I locked up the car and was about to follow the sound of the call when an ambulance attendant walked up to me and asked if I was the falcon lady. He said that one of the young ones was down on the ground by the emergency entrance behaving oddly. I looked over and saw little Winston on the ground and in the way of approaching ambulances. I ran. Fast.
When I got over to Winston and tried for a grab up he darted away and flew low up to a stump on the ground. I went and tried again. He evaded me a second time and flew up to a picnic table. He was more than capable of flying but was not getting any height and making no real distance flights. The third attempt was a success and having him in my hands I could see that he was a little on the thin side and needing some hydration. He had also worn down the center talon on each foot so that the tip was smooth and rounded like they had been rubbed down. Ok. You’ve been stuck somewhere and just got yourself out and home. I packed him up, thanked everyone for their help and took him up to the CPF Raptor Centre as it was too late in the day to take him anywhere else and I needed to assess him thoroughly. I contacted the appropriate folks and told them that I had Winston for a brief hold over to assess whether there was any problem that required further attention or if he was just out of juice.
Back at the Centre, I put Winston in one of our pens and could see that he was really out of jazz. Tired. Mild dehydration (skin turgor test). A little thin. He struggled to fly from the floor to a perch but not due to any injury. He had perfect symmetry, no drooping, a perfect keel and was bright, alert and responsive. So I rehydrated him, fed him and let him have a good nights sleep. By the next morning he was up on the highest perch and wanting to go home. I made arrangements with everyone to set up a release time as there was no injury to Winston, only a little out of gas, and he was clearly good to go. Bruce and I met up at William Osler. He set up in the east parking lot and I took little man to the roof. I called Bruce and gave him the 60 second warning; he was going out the door! One last check and a squirt of water and he was unceremoniously returned to the care of his family.
Back on the ground it wasn’t more than a few minutes when Bruce had a bird come off of the roof, circle and land on the eastern H sign. A little male juvenile sat on that sign and just howled for the parents attention! Both Chessie and Hurricane were sitting in the east tower roosting and not really responding to this tantrum of sorts. The juvenile didn’t stay long and took another flight around to the north side landing neatly on the nest ledge level where he found a pigeon. Bruce confirmed through scope view that this was in fact Winston and he was now gorging on the pigeon leftovers that he had found. After packing it all in, Winston took a break on the ledge and that was when Sven arrived; the first sibling to witness Winston’s return. He flew circles around the hospital watching this juvenile. It was like he recognized him but couldn’t place where he knew him from. Sven then flew over to the hydro tower to tell Mom and Dad what he had found. Benny and Peggy were now making their way home and Winston continued to vocalize to his family. Chessie, Hurricane, Peggy, Sven and Benny were now all in the hydro tower together and Winston could not wait a minute more. He took a brilliant flight over to the tower landing perfectly beside Sven who was playing it cool. We now had all 6 falcons in the tower together. The two boys were about 8 feet apart and Winston slowly over the next half hour inched closer and closer to Sven. When they were about a foot apart, Winston flipped his head in play at Sven and after about a minute of considering what to do about this, Sven returned the gesture and the boys beak tapped.
Well!!!! That was all it took! One little beak tap showing acceptance set off a rip roaring evening of play. The next two hours leading right up to dusk was full of play time with all four juveniles now performing aerial mock attacks with each other, roosting together and celebrating the return of Winston. Chessie and Hurricane brought in food for all four of the kids and as we were leaving with very little light left in the sky, they were all still playing wildly around the hospital. Winston was back with his family and filled to the brim with food. Bruce and I can’t say enough how happy we are that Winston was found and is home safe and sound.
