Yesterday afternoon, around 4pm, I saw Diana on the south face of the Coats Building. She was pretty fluffed up but was looking around, not for hunting. I have no idea where Connor was, as I then passed around the Crowne but he wasn’t there.
Eve Ticknor
8:30 am.
I think it is tailor heading for the antenna on the Bradson building, there is an adult there. Once he arrives, the adult takes off,,,tailor follows, with lots of calling. He then starts chasing pigeons, and at one point comes within about 10 meters of the ground of the parking lot across from the Crowne! {he is looking down at me at one point} With no success he ends up on the veterans building and tries again..the pigeons just scatter. He flies over to the top of the Crowne and continues to vocalize. no one else in sight at this time.
Phil
On Sunday morning both of our juneniles were flying together in front of the
Hello all, I know some have been worried about the lack of Nihei sightings but this morning at 11:15 I spotted two young falcons playing about the south west corner of Place de Ville “C”.
Chris Traynor
Eve Ticknor
Connor, Nihei and Tailer photos taken by Chris Traynor.
Eve Ticknor
This is our last day, and it has been a strange one. Other than seeing the adults sitting here and there, I had little sightings of any falcons. I’d see one on the west side of the Crowne and 1 on the Carlisle antenna. Tailer was seen once in a long while, but didn’t do any of his usual flying overhead as he did yesterday. Once Diana took him over the river for lessons, perhaps in hunting. As for Nihei, she has been out of sight all day.
Our next to last day! We had no one on 6 - 9 so this report starts at 9am. I found Nihei still on the southwest corner of Tower B while Tailer was on the southwest corner of the roof of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Both our adults were on the Carlisle antenna.
Just after 10am, Diana brought food to Tower B where her daughter was sitting, but Tailer, who followed her there, grabbed it first and all Nihei could do was watch and wait until he had finished. Diana flew off and Connor sat on the antenna of Tower C. After eating, he flew to Tower A and his sister immediately jumped on the rest of the food for herself.
At 11:30 Nihei left Tower B. She headed towards the gap between Towers 2 and 3, changed her direction and went between Towers 1 and 2. Her flight was a good, steady one, maintaining her height and speed. She disappeared! We started our search, while Nancy put out the news. Our eyes searched every building top edge, every balcony and ledge, and in between without seeing her. Eventually I had the feeling she was somewhere on the top of the Minto Suites. That is a logical place to go when first flying in that gap. Diana then flew close to the top row of windows at the northwest part. Tailer went flying and showing off all his tricks and lessons, and most of that took place right above the Suites. We settled down to watch the roof from different places. We saw Tailer and the adults at various times flying around here and there, but mostly where they could see the Suites. We watched the new OC Transpo Double Decker bus pass by. We had many people pass by to see if Nihei had flown, and a few disappointed that they could not see any falcons.
Around 4, Tailer came speeding by to the antenna on Tower C, tickled the top of an upright post, and sped away again, as if practicing his stoop horizontally. He came back and landed on a red “hub” on that antenna. How comfortable he is with his flying!
And then the rain came. We still hadn’t seen Nihei, so I went up to the penthouse of the Crowne to have a look at the roofs around. I checked all the ledges, etc but still no chicklet.
Just before 7:30 there was another food drop to Tailer at the northwest corner of Tower 1, so up I went again with Nancy, for another check, still without our baby. Tailer was really working over what looked like the body of a pigeon minus the head and wings.
After 8, Chris came over and decided to go up on the roof of Tower 2 for a look. Sure enough, he found her, as he has in the past! She was on that roof, sitting on a satellite dish! We had thought she had moved from the Suites to Constitution Square, but thought Tower 1, not 2. So much for our thoughts.
Tomorrow should bring a day of eyes upwards, hoping to see Nihei flying, as well as enjoying Tailer and his parents. How lucky we are to have this family in Ottawa.
Eve Ticknor
None of us thought we would be still doing this 22 days after we started, but here we are. Our morning was very quiet. Breakfast was served early and as far as I know there were no more food drops to either chicklet. Nihei had to have her nap, of course.
Tailer has now mastered soaring, and has been seen going very high in the sky. He looks wonderful! He still likes to tuck himself in the box on the Crowne.
Nihei, on the other hand, seems to like the northeastern corner of Tower 1. Her brother flies over from time to time to sit with her. This time, when he flew over, both were at the corner, flapping vigorously. We expected her to bop him off the ledge, but that didn’t happen.
Then late this afternoon, the adults issued warnings and both flew over Tower 2. It turned out to be men working on the Minto, putting up the flag for Canada Day. Eventually the adults gave up. Tailer showed up on Tower A begging for food. Nihei was out of our sight.
We were sitting under the trees across the road when Nihei was in the air! She flew across to the hotel and tried to land in the box that her brother liked, but she couldn’t, so she turned back and landed on another part of the same roof she started out from. Then it poured. We ran into the bus shelted and continued to watch. Tailer was still on Tower A behind us. We could see him in the reflection of Tower 2. She then flew across to a good landing on Tower A and walked over to join Tailer. Diana and Connor showed up on the same tower. Apparently Diana had a small piece of meat. Connor jumped in and grabbed it! He flew out overhead and dropped it and Tailer flew out and caught it! Needless to say, Nihei complained loudly. We all felt she should have been rewarded for flying with dinner, but when we eventually left, she still had not eaten.
Soon Tailer was up on Tower B. Nihei wanted to join him and slowly flapped and walked down to the closest corner and flew, or hopped over to his side. They both made it to the southwest corner.
Then we saw a strange thing. Tailer flew very fast westwards. He muffed 4 landings, made it to Tower 1, left and went around the Crowne, back, missed another landing, flew around and landed on the corner of the nest ledge, flew out again and landed in the box where he likes to sleep. That is where we left them, in the rain.
We will continue tomorrow and possibly Tuesday, but I doubt our chicklets will need us further. Let’s hope we can sit and watch as they fly and play together in the sky!
Eve Ticknor
I am beginning to think our Nihei is going for a record, the most number of days without flying! Have any of you experienced this? Let me know, please!
Well, same old, same old. Our day started out the same as the day before, with Nihei still on Tower 1. She is now 49 days old, and Tailer is 50 today. Maybe she is waiting to turn 50 before she goes. She had better do it right!
Breakfast was served just before 7am. Tailer had his on the top of the Bay St Apartments, a Mourning dove which he plucked. Obviously his lessons are going well. He flies freely between all the buildings in the area, as well as on the antennas on high buildings, and never forgetting to spend time with his sister on Tower 1. I am sure he is hoping she will join him soon so they can play talon tag and do barrel rolls, and other things young falcons can share ( except food).
Diana and Connor move around between the antenna on the Carlisle, the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and the sensors on Tower C, as well as Towers 1 and 2 of Constitution Square. They bring food once in a while. I miss Horizon who was an excellent, but no nonsense mother. She would not bring food at this time, but would fly by her chicklet, holding food in her talon and making sure her baby saw it, then flying away with it. Surely Nihei would have been flying by now…… A thought!
Nihei spends her day alternating between sleeping, begging, eating, being out of sight, beetling, and again. Do we have a drama queen here? She can beg quietly, then turn up the volume, sound unhappy, then turn on the sob story, and can make herself sound absolutely miserable if she isn’t fed! Fortunately that doesn’t work as fast as she hopes for.
Tailer has adopted a habit his father, Connor used to have, sleeping in the “box” on the side of the hotel ( used to be an access door for the neon sign that used to be there).
This afternoon I had the opportunity to go up to the 21st floor to check on our Nihei. She was sleeping on her tummy, out of sight of the watchers below. That visit was to confirm that it was Tailer who flew from Tower 1, not her. We have had several moments of a false alarm now. One time this evening, Tailer had dinner on Tower 2. Just as he was cleaning up, a biplane flew overhead and he nearly jumped to Tower 1. As a chicklet suddenly flew from there to the box on the side of the hotel, everyone thought she had finally gone. Once again, I went up to the 21st floor to check it out. She was still where she had been, picking at something on the ledge, while Tailer had flown and was on the tiny ledge above the box! Diana passed by with food and he dove on her, following her to the west side. Another time had volunteers running around looking for her and finally spotting a chicklet on the side of Tower 2. When Diana came with food, it was Tailer, once again getting fed. Nihei was still on Tower 1, watching! Diana actually fed him beak to beak as if he were still a little baby……. Watching from the Delta is proving a good spot now.
When we left tonight, she was still on Tower 1, east corner, and Tailer was snoozing in the box, just below her.
Tomorrow???????
Eve Ticknor
Arriving at 6am, Both chicklets were on Tower 1, hoping for breakfast. Tailer spotted Connor and followed him around Tower 1 and heading south. Nihei started to beetle westward along the north side, and disappeared inside. A few minutes later, Diana delivered breakfast to Tailer on Tower 2. She then went to the antenna on the Carlisle. Soon, Tailer flew to join Diana, but she left as soon as he arrived. For a while Connor was on the southwest corner of the Crowne. There may have been a food drop to Nihei near the northwest corner of Tower 1.
Eve Ticknor