Official Falconwatch Report for Thursday, July 25, 2013 - Falconwatch Coordinator Cheryl Dobell reports: When I arrived at 14:00 there were no birds in sight and I thought it might be a quiet day, but only half an hour later the youngsters proved me wrong! Laura came into view south of Stelco and was shortly joined by Brock. They demonstrated beautiful technique as they flew close together, riding thermals and touching talons. Although there were a handful of very short breaks on top of Stelco this flying session lasted approximately 12 minutes. To date this is by far the longest flight I have seen Brock take! (The photo shows Brock almost fully recovered from her window collision on Tuesday. Obviously there were no after effects!) The pair finally landed, first Brock on Standard Life, then a few minutes later Laura on the north BDC logo. Brock then did a couple of victory laps around Sheraton and settled on the lower roof. At 15:35 the siblings went for a shorter tandem flight; eventually they perched together on the Sheraton. Laura took to the air again at 16:00, first hovering above Brock before soaring high on thermals to the west of downtown and eventually out of sight. She joined Brock atop Sheraton 50 minutes later. Was she off hunting that entire time, or was she hiding somewhere out of sight?
Throughout the early evening Laura and Brock took more short flights, some together, some apart. Around 19:00 there was a food transfer between Laura and an adult on the CIBC logo. Brock was a little bit slow figuring out what had happened, but promptly started circling above her sister screaming out her hunger too! Laura took the meal back to Sheraton where she started to dig in. After a little bit of squabbling, Brock also got a share. Then, only five minutes after Brock finished eating the first meal, Surge came in to Thomson with a second! Laura, who was already in the air, did a fancy back-flip-like manoeuvre to get to the food quickly and finished the whole meal in 20 minutes. The pair then joined up on the Sheraton. They did a lot of beak touching but also appeared to be jostling each other like siblings do. Around 20:40 Surge delivered yet another meal, this time to Brock. She started eating, but it wasn’t long before Laura dropped in, grabbed the food and took it to Standard Life for herself. We left them at 21:00 with Laura still eating on Standard Life and Brock on Sheraton. Even with the sun already set, I’m sure their evening activities were not over yet!