affordwatches

!!! What a day! Casper fledges & is rescued !!!

June 16, 2016 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower

Lisa Reh Reports:

Tony was the sole fledgewatcher at the start of the watch at 6:15. To the relief of the fledgewatch team this morning, all four juveniles were accounted for. At one point three out of four juveniles were in flight. It’s next to impossible for one volunteer to keep track of these teenagers!! The fourth was found on a hydro pole on King Street just north of the CTV tower. Tony went back to his car to grab a towel just in case he needed to rescue a grounded bird. By the time he got back the fourth had left the hydro pole. By 6:35, all were accounted for. Two on the tower on the East side and to on Kings Towers. At 7:10, they were all in about the same positions. Zielger (red tape), was positively identified on top of the microwave dish. She’s the only one with coloured tape on her silver band, which makes it much harder for the team to id these birds.

Shortly after 9:00, Karen, Michael, Martha and David had arrived as it was going to be a busy fledgewatch! The conditions were challenging being both windy and warm today. The team scoured the area and all four fledglings were found and there were many flights! Even with all the volunteers on the ground, it became a blur of birds all whizzing around. Tenor took a nice flight at 10 a.m. from the CTV tower towards the hospital and back to CTV (Photo 1). Ziegler had a bit of trouble with a Kings Tower landing and flew back to successfully land on top of the microwave dish at CTV. One of the adults came in for a food drop for the two youngsters on top of Kings Towers. Tenor and Ziegler (Photo 2) spent a lot of time on Kings Towers keeping Hope company.

Mom and Dad did a few fly bys and circles supervising the youngsters. At one point, Mystery took off to the Sun Life tower to hassle a maintenance worker on the top of the building and swooped in fairly close at times. Mystery came in and landed at the opposite end of Kings Towers on the King Street side and jumped down on the roof and picked up some food remnants and then flew off and tried to entice the kids to follow her (Photo 3). She dropped the meal and it fluttered to the ground.

Casper, who finally fledged from the nest box, was on the 2nd level from the ground of the Bell Media tower and stayed put there all morning (Photo 4). Around 11:30 she started moving around the platform she was on and made way as if to take off but decided against. At 12:45 Casper launched herself off of the platform and up King Street. She tried to land on a lamp post but failed and circled back towards CTV but she was flying low and out of sight! Kim and Karen were pretty certain she ended up on the ground and quickly grabbed their rescue gear and headed over to search for her. They searched Pine Street, up and down the streets and parking lots but couldn’t find her anywhere. They decided to go back and search the CTV parking lot.

Karen heard a flutter and went behind CTV and Casper appeared like a ghost about 40 feet in front of her in the middle of the parking lot! She flew a few times low to the ground behind the CTV building and was even dive bombed by a crow twice!! Kim and Karen tried to get her to move towards the fence, Kim went and grabbed the carrier and came back from the other direction while Karen proceeded to move slowly closer while waving the towel close to the ground. The crow came in for dive bomb over Casper which made her freeze. Karen was now only 10 feet from her! Casper let her approach and Karen successfully toweled her as Kim came in with the carrier and into the carrier she went!!! She was taken into CTV for some quiet time and hydration. Rudy was consulted and arrangements were made with CTV to release her from the top of Kings Towers at around 3:00 pm. The wind was so strong on the rooftop the team decided it was in Casper’s best interest to wait until tomorrow morning for her release which is planned for 9:30 a.m. 

Hope is flying well since yesterday’s release. at 2:10 p.m. she came in for a landing at the top of the CTV tower (Photo 5) and Mystery flew by at 3:10 p.m. (Photo 6). Glenn and Barb arrived to take over the the afternoon shift. At 4:55, two of the kids were on the top of the CTV tower, one was on the nest box. Shortly after one and then the other flew down from the top into the nestbox. At 5:05, Mystery brought in dinner and circled the nest box, two times teasing the kids and on the second pass dropped dinner into the nest box. Tenor had to wait while Hope and Ziegler greedily tucked into supper but finally grabbed a morsel from his sisters. Mystery flew south into the gusty winds and could be seen far off towards mid-town and circled back overtop of Mount Hope Cemetery. At 5:20, one of the adults was back on the hospital tower. At 5:30, Mystery chased a small raptor out over the CTV tower and landed on top and perched on the upper rail until 5:45 when she flew off back towards Sun Life. The three juveniles remained in the nest box. A little after 6:00 Mystery flew to the hospital antenna from the south, perched for a bit and then heading back out over Mount Hope Cemetery. At last report at 6:30, the kids hadn’t attempted any more flights and were all on the tower.

Whew, what a day! And what a great team!! Thanks to all involved for rescuing Casper on her first big day of flying!!

Photos courtesy of Karen von Knobloch


Tenor Ziegler Mystery Casper Hope Mystery