Sad News of One of Our Falcons

I am saddened to report that one of this year's Etobicoke Peregrine Falcon kids is no longer with us.

Bliss, who is daughter to Lucky and Darcy, and sister to Avro, Aries and Griffon (r.i.p.).

Here she is flying with Avro (blue tape) and Aries (yellow tape).

Bliss was doing great all this time. She was the only one of the kids who stayed high above the streets and never needed rescuing during fledge watch, and the weeks beyond. I only had views of Bliss in my binoculars high atop the buildings.

This past Saturday, late in the day I might add, a message was sent to the Canadian Peregrine Foundation's Facebook page. They told of a Falcon on the ground in the Distillery District, which is over on the east side of Toronto. They shared some disturbing photos showing a bad injury to the bird's face, a major fracture to it's beak. They sent the banding information which was Z 29. From that we knew it was Bliss.

A couple watchers dropped everything and immediately headed out to the area she was seen with the last light of Saturday evening. No sign of her. First light on Sunday the search continued. Again, no sign.

We learned late Sunday evening she was found along the railway tracks north of the reported sight by some workers. They called Toronto Animal Services who came and got her. They then took her to the Toronto Wildlife Centre.

Indeed Bliss' beak was badly fractured. It had been for a few days. I'm not sure if there were any other injuries but there may have been. Obviously Bliss collided with something like a car or structure to have her beak break. She was probably hunting. Perhaps very hungry and did a desperate dive at something. I choose not to use the word "careless" because she was only 4 months old.

We learned that her blood protein level was 0.2. I was told that this is the lowest ever recorded for any wild animal to have come into Toronto Wildlife. Bliss was starving. She was emaciated. Her body was feeding off itself to stay alive. Her organs were slowly shutting down. To sum it up, Bliss was suffering. She was euthanized, there was no other option. She is at peace now.

We, those who have watched over her and her siblings, are very sad about this. We know this happens a lot with the young Falcons. It happens a lot with all the animal species out there as the young go out on their own and try to survive. We know that aside from the actual fledge watch that there is nothing in our control with any of these birds. We can still love them in a unique way, being their silent baby sitters for many days during those first flights and even in the weeks after. We can be sad at the loss of one. We will always hold out hope for the others still out there.

Rest in peace Bliss. or as some say "Fly free". Your struggle is over.

The photos were taken by friends and fellow watchers Lucie and Roger, used with permission. I never took one of Bliss as anytime I saw her she was on the same perch atop the condo just east of the nest site.

Lucie and I worked shifts at the site during the watch. She saw a food transfer between Bliss and dad Lucky. You can see how much larger a female bird of prey can be compared to the male, even at this young age.

Baby Bliss. Awwwww!

There is some good news to come from this, Lucie positively ID'd Avro on site Sunday. We hope Aries is still out there too. But let's just keep this about Bliss.

Here's a couple other recent Peregrine blogs of mine if you missed them. One blog. Two blog.