Falcon Rescue

I've been ridiculously busy. Early last week I swept through all of the nest boxes and had intended on doing a couple blogs about that. But then last Wednesday I happened to be right by the old Etobicoke General Hospital in Rexdale (now William Osler) and noticed one of the young Peregrine Falcons had fledged. So the next 3 mornings I spent some time watching that Falcon family, helping my friends at The Canadian Peregrine Foundation, to monitor the young.

This Monday I had a milestone moment with the Toronto Wildlife Centre that I will share another time.

Then from Tuesday onward, it's been helping with the fledge watch near us at what we all call ESL since the site is formerly known as the Etobicoke Sunlife Centre. Approximately 4 hours each morning so far. Tuesday and Wednesday there was a lot of screaming, jumping and wing flapping from the kids but nothing else. Then on Thursday the first one fledged at 8 am. Less than 30 minutes we had a second fledge. I had a busy stressful but also fun time watching these birds. Of course it was pouring rain for much of the time I was there.

One of the young birds who ended up being quite low to the ground and near where I parked my car. His name is Griffon.

I saw something incredible happen with Griffon. His first flight was decent but not as good as the first to go who is named Aries. Griffon had some struggles, played a bit of "Peregrine Ping Pong" off 3 of the buildings. He was exhausting himself, losing altitude and suddenly out came both of his parents, Lucky and Darcy. The adult birds were screaming and flying under Griffon, giving him a boost it would seem, and probably some guidance too as to where to go next. In 7 years of watching the Falcons, I had never seen something like this. I heard about it. This is probably one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life.

The watch got really crazy later that afternoon and it rained a lot more throughout. I got soaked during my time. The afternoon watchers got saturated.

I was updated on the status of the birds before I left work last night. I knew exactly where one was and decided to pass by on my way home, this being a couple hours after the watchers closed for the evening. The bird was still in the same low spot, getting rained on and just sitting there, dealing with it, preening throughout. Glad he stayed put. I knew I would see him in the morning.

I went home, and was in bed shortly after midnight.

Five hours later, I am out of bed. I slept horribly as my mind kept with these young Falcons. I knew they would need my help today.

I arrive on site about 5:45 am. I could see the last young Falcon still on the nest ledge. A large female, her name is Bliss. The females always go later than the males. I don't see or hear anyone else. I start a walk around the block of the towers as one was left behind the buildings on someone's balcony railing. No birds for quite a while.

I took notice to a new set of stairs that led to an upper concourse where they've put in a garden. This area wraps around the most western office tower. As I make my way around to the southern side, I spot one of the young Falcons sitting on the steps. He was halfway down the stairs from me. I thought about rushing down and just grabbing him but then feared he would dart down the stairs and out to the sidewalk, perhaps even the street. It's early but there's still traffic. I rethink things and back step to where I initially got to this area, get down to street level, walk around the building and to these steps. I figure if he tries to get away from me, at least he's going up the stairs and not out to the street. What I found funny was a woman sitting right in front of him, only separated by mere feet and a glass barrier. She was too into her phone business and enjoying her cigarette to notice this adorable young Peregrine Falcon behind her. Even as I walked up past her, she never looked. Even as I did a quick grab of the bird with a large light blue towel in my hands, the woman never flinched one bit. Even as I now walked past her with this Falcon wrapped in a towel in my hands, still nothing. Sad how shut out people are to what is going on around them.

Anyway, this bird I caught is the same one I saw late last night. His name is Avro. He's okay, just got into a silly spot and that glass barrier confused him. He was pretty pissed at me, which is always a good thing.

I tell ya, it was a loooooooong walk back to the Mazda with him. Then to get out my car keys, to open the door, and then more fun as I knew it would be better to contain him in the carrier inside the car and not on the sidewalk. He fought me every step of the way. But now he's safe and will be released later this evening.

I looooooooooooooove young Peregrine Falcons. Adorable or what, eh?

That is my first real rescue out of all the years of watching the Falcons. So much better than doing recoveries.

The morning got even more interesting with a 2nd rescue but that will be saved for another blog. Work becons very soon. It's going to be a very long day but overall a very good day.

Wish Avro all the best with new start tomorrow high above the city streets.

It's probably going to be a crazy watch weekend at this site. Anyone got nothing to do, come on down. Usually a watcher or two along Eagle Road, south of Bloor, just a couple streets east of Islington. I might be there at some point as well.

Mis-adventurous Tale from a Volunteer Driver

How's it going? Welcome back to my animal blog only this time it's not one of my typical blogs as you might figure by the title. A while ago I did a similar blog about the interactions I've had with people while volunteering; this one, not so comical.

I had an opportunity to help out my friends at the Toronto Wildlife Centre yesterday. It's always a fun time to release migratory songbirds, any releases are better than bringing in sick or injured animals.

As per norm in the spring when many of these birds are heading north of Toronto, we drive them, you guessed it, north. Not too far in most cases mind you, and to a great and large conservation area with a variety of habitats to suit just about all these birds' needs until they figure out where they are going to go. The destination is the Kortright Centre in Vaughan.

I know my way around Kortright because of helping the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, this is where their educational birds have been staying for many years. Kortright has a main entrance and you drive the road in a ways. I'm not a fan of releasing the birds any where along this stretch since it is the main road in and parking along here can annoy other drivers. The Earth Rangers facility is along this road, more traffic and a rather large building. If you go through the main gates, maybe having to pay an entrance fee (or not) depending on who the attendant is, you end up in the parking area and can go no further. The visitor centre is here as well as some other structures. Yes, there's still acres of green space from Pine Valley Road to the main parking area, actual time out of vehicle can be seconds to a few minutes... so maybe it's just me being really fussy and preferring a quieter release spot just how I like things whenever I'm out in nature, taking roads less traveled.

I know a service entrance into the area. A small dirt road that takes you into the back portion. It's gated after dark but usually during the day it is open. Just in from the main road here, there's a couple walking trails. It's normally void of people and I might have seen one passing vehicle in the last 6 visits here. If I am releasing any birds here, I am in and out in about 10 minutes. If I am going to the CPF facility, I am not parking on this road. Man am I ever detailed here!

Okay, so let's get on with this. I park the car about 40 ft down the road from this gate. I have it well off to the side so if by chance another vehicle passes, it can do so with ease. I get out of the car, throw my hoodie on since I know it's going to get rather buggy where I take the birds (Mosquito City). I get my camera and am about to open the back of the car when I see a much older man than I walking up the road. He's not saying or doing anything out of the ordinary but my "spider sense" is tingling. I decide to hold off on opening up the hatch and exposing the bags of birds.

As he nears me he starts to scold me in broken English. "You cannot park here. You did not pay to enter the park. I am calling the police. You will go to jail." I know trying to explain anything to him is going to get me no where but I try anyway. I tell him that I have permission to be here, that I'm only going to be about 15 minutes. Before I could say anything else like the fact that he certainly did not pay an entrance fee to enter the park, he's cutting me off and like a broken record, he's repeating those lines to me. He never stops, just keeps walking, still yammering. He really pressed the fact that he was calling the cops and I will be going to jail.

I stay by the car. I'm not going to be confrontational although I really wanted to tell him to go fuck himself.

He gets to the gate and tries to close it on me. He's pulling the gate and about 3/4's of the way over, it gets stuck in the gravel. He's trying harder to close it but he couldn't move it any further. I'm just like "are you fucking kidding me" in my head. I'm not concerned by this because even if he did lock the gate on me, I just follow the service road down and it takes me through the park and out the main way. I'm also not concerned if suddenly the police show up and question me. I was not doing anything wrong. I've found with past encounters with police while doing something wildlife related, no matter with what organization or on my own, they've been very good. Peregrine Falcon fledge watches have the most examples but that's for another time.

So this guy realizes the gate won't move any more. Now he grabs the chain and tries to drag it from the post to the gate, to see if he can lock it. I'm still in awe at his actions. It won't reach. He yells to me now since we are so far apart, "the police are coming to get you, you are going to jail!" I just say "Okay, thank you, have a nice a day!" Then he disappears around the corner, walking up the main road.

I shake my head, take my time getting myself and the birds together. Still no sign of him. I walk down the path about 50 ft and start the releases. I see him return. He's by my car. I stop and watch. I don't know if he can see me or not. He then proceeds to hock up a loogie, clearing his sinuses and throat, and then spits the mess on my front windshield. MOTHER FUCKER! I've still got a couple birds to let out so I just freak out in my head, my blood is boiling but I stay on task. The guy walks away, heading back to the main road and I am assuming he went home as I never saw him again, not even after I left.

Unbelievable!

The releases went great. I was happy to see these birds go free. I am sure the birds were happier than I could ever be, to be back in their wild world again.

This could have played out so much better if the guy wasn't such an asshole. He might have even been able to join me and witness these birds return home. Oh well, his loss.

With bird releases, I never know how it will play out. Some birds fly off quick. Some birds disappear, especially at this time of year with the leaves pretty much grown in. Some surprise me and spend a few moments rather close, taking in their surroundings. This Magnolia Warbler was one of them. I could not have asked for a better finale.

It's never about getting photos. I usually do have my camera with me and I let the birds decide how this goes. I won't chase them as I know they've been through enough and even those initial freeing moments are stressful too, like "where am I now?"

Despite this ending moment, I still grumbled throughout the rest of the day about that man. I told a few friends about the incident. The reactions were all the same, some with an expletive or two, but all shocked at the behaviour of him.

I've pretty much let it go. It definitely was a blog worthy moment, not that guy deserves anything, but it's head shaking awareness that not everyone you come across is nice.

This came up in my Facebook memories today. Rather suiting.