U of Alberta - 2008 / Damon & Radisson

[Alison]

Bev, many, many, many thanks for all your great reports and updates, and for the pics showing where Cassie flew. I am so glad you are there for her. I haven't seen any falcons on the cam today.

I'm looking forward to seeing more pics, and hope Cassie will stay safe.

[bev.]

I ma going to post pictures later night ,honest.  I just want to post 2 pictures so you know  what I mean by the jut on the building.
the first pictures has circles where Cassie was this morning. she then walked flapped further to the left Ignore the falcon in the picture. that is where mom was yesterday
the second picture has the flights in arrows. the one arrow points up . that is her first flight and the second arrow points down where she flew down.  It was a bit further to the right.  I just wanted you to understand in reports what the jut of the building was.

I am off to the site again.  It looks like rain.

[carly]

Great recap Bev and I agree the parents are great!  Happy to hear that Cassie is learning her skills and sounds like she's progressing well.   Sounds like she is quite a determined girl 

I'm glad you're getting to meet people and make them aware.  That's how I got hooked, I had no clue what was going on 15 floors above me and once I found I just fell in love with them.   I still run up and down in the mornings to check on mom, dad and the juvies and people always stop and ask me what I"m looking for and when I tell them, they are instantly intriuged.

And how can anyone resist our beautiful birds 

[bev.]

Monday morning Aug 12

10:45- 11:25

-when I got there this morning I thought I saw 2 adults on the jut out part of the nest building . could not see Cassie(heart is pounding)
I quickly went and bought a week pass as parking is killing me ($20.00  a day.) A pass is 35.00 a week. HELLO

-came back and heard cacking .Well the adult on the right corner of the jut out was Cassie. Fooled me(she had her back to me, so grown up). there was one adult on the extreme left keeping her company. So I obviously missed her virgin flight from the roof ledge to the jut out roof.  Pictures will make sense.  She had to fly up so good girl
-Cassie start flapping and cat walking down to adult. she is cacking and stops mid way.
-adult flies off   and I did not bother to see where as my main focus is Cassie. (only one pair of eyes today)
-Casie continues to cat walk and flap to extreme left of roof of jut(heart is pounding)
-Adult flies back and goes below Cassie(giving her some heart to heart advice) and then flies behind heart building
- cassie catwalks and flaps back to the right end of roof(good girl)
she remains here

11:40
-adult flies to tower above nest box and chups the whole time and I thought maybe he was dropping prey there but i think now he dropped prey on roof under nest box where Cassie has been staying.. He then is out of site. Cassie is really fussing now. Cacking constantly.
- adult then comes to Cassie and then flies to antennae on Dads building

11:55
Cassie is still cacking
Adult flies onto middle part of roof of heart building and Cassie starts flapping and cacking. adult flies off and to the right and up the street and flies in a circular path.

- other adult is still on tower on dads building

( I  put away the camera at this point becasue I figure she is going to fly and I have to be ready.  the camera around the neck, would be a hindrance)

- Cassie has not stopped cacking

12:00
-Cassie is still cacking of and on

12:20
Cassie has been restless and then starts to flap and with no warning she is off flying and I am holding my breath.  She flew back to the ledge on the roof where she has been staying  and on the far right. she immediately anchors herself and then jumps won on the roof .  there must have been food there as she was quiet. 

so I saw her fly.  She need practice still but she made it twice.

What ever happens here, and I say this with the fondest thoughts, and tears in my eyes , this is one heck  of a couple. they have so much patience and they know exactly what they are doing.

I hope they are taking her where I want them to , but it is not in my hands.

I said I would prefer Wednesday but she would probably pick today and she did. Baby steps but important ones

Let us see now

She is 46 days old today and she can catwalk, fly up and land and fly down and land . they are teaching her the basics first.  she can rip apart prey like no mans business.

I decided to come home as they usually sleep in the afternoon.
I have so many people asking me what i am doing and I am winning over people one by one,they are so impressed. Even talked to a corporate man for the heart building and he was impressed.
I say make them aware and maybe we can save just a corner of our universe.

I am out for now and will post pictures I promise.  she is still where i can see her so we will see what tonight comes .  My heart is so soft and I am praying constantly for her

[sami]

You must be totally exhausted, Bev. I'm so glad you got to see Cassie fledge, after all the hours you've spent there watching.

[carly]

CASSIE HAD OFFICIALLY FLEDGED. i MISSED FIRST FLIGHT BUT I SURE SAW SECOND ONE  

Oh Bev, I"m so glad you got to see her fly - you deserve to enjoy that moment with all the devotion and care you have shown to her.  I'm a bit weepy myself just reading it...our girl is flying and safely too!  Maybe she'll eventually fly back to the nest box to show off her new skills once she gets the hang of it!

[bev.]

I just realized that I posted the beginning again. sorry .Must be tired or I have too much spare time. I cannot delete it

Part IV august 11

15:30
all has been quiet and  then dad flies in to nest box area and is up and to left of roof where Cassie is. F is still just below top where the jut is.
Cassie is quiet

16:30

Dad just went up to heart building and then takes off west and flies in circles and is gone

16:40
Mom just took off between nest building and heart building
Cassie is still quiet

17:30
Adult did fly by with food on extreme rt of roof where Cassie is and Cassie is up and flapping and cacking
-came by again and dropped food , Cassie flapping and cacking
Then that adult went to the just out  on nest building and the other adult came in calling and went up to the top of roof above nest box and other adult leaves
- Cassie is now eating on roof

17:45
- Cassie is on ledge on corner of building and and Adult is  on roof of building above nest box.

18:00
 Cassie is back down
Adult still there

18:05
Cassie on the ledge in middle of ledge an dcacking and flapping
-Adult is just ignoring her
-one adult is gliding above

18:35
Adult just called form the top of moms building
Cassie is cacking
adult remains on roof of nest box building
Adult form moms building flies onto heart building and then behind it, and Cassie is cacking an dflapping

18:35- 19:30
Cassie cats walks back and forth across the ledge of roof (does a good job) good wing flaps (my heart stops a few times)
- Cassie then jumps down onto roof
-Adult leis down from roof  of nest building  to right part of ledge. then it lies down on ledge and then hops onto roof(tucking Cassie in)
then adult flies to roof of new building and then behind

Peter and I go behind the heart building where there are other buildings of hospital etc. and we can see an adult. On further inspection we see that this is the area they go and can see
cassie and she can see them but we could not from the front.

So they have her covered.

Another day down

[bev.]

Part 111 august 11

13:17
all was quiet , no visual of adults and Casie is probably sleeping
- In comes Star ambulance and lands on hospital roof

13:24
A returned to roost on heart building( I think dad) , other A not in sight.
Cassie quiet

13:40
the other adult just flew onto moms building and is on top ledge
all accounted for

13:50
Mom left heart building(did not see leave)

14:00
A on moms building calling
no sign of other adult
no sound from Cassie
other adult continues to call

14:00- 14:10

2nd adult flies in to moms building and they bot soar above both buildings. (his and hers)
-one flies out east
-one flies to nest building (small cack form Cassie)
Adult flies into nest box and stays about a minute and then flies off onto heart building roof
-shortly after it flies to new apartment building but does not stay and then flies behind heart building(we find out why later)


14:37
Adult came in abut 10 minutes ago and is on front of jut that sticks out on nest building(pictures will show it)

[bev.]

Part 11 Sunday august 11

up to 11:20
-When we got there there was an adult on tower on moms building,but we could see no one else. Peter went up on roof of parkade and a whole new world opened up.  We could see the aerial view all around so we stayed there for the day.

-Peter spotted Cassie on far right corner of the roof ledge ,cacking away.
-then adult flew off tower
a bit later we looked around and Peter spotted the 2 adults on the ledges of an apartment building 2 blocks up the street.( we were not sure why)
- Cassie is fading in and sleeping ,I think. and adults are resting also

11:35
- A on upper balcony flew off and Cassie is cacking . A flew behind the building across from nest box(I am going to refer ot this building as the HEART Buiilding from now on)and then behind nest box building.

11:50-12:05
Cassie went down to roof, then up on ledge, then down to the roof , and then back on ledge

12:50
- Adult that was still on apartment building dove straight down (maybe to catch a prey)

12:58
Adult comes to Cassie from behind the heart building with prey and does a touch and leaves with prey,then comes back and leaves prey on ledge.
-Cassie is, of course, :)cacking the whole time. Cassie mantles the prey  for a few minutes and then dropped it on roof and jumped down to eat.

[dodobird]

Wow!! Thanks Bev - I would have cried, too. That is so exciting. We will miss watching her - but Go, Cassie, Go! Fly for all of us.

[bev.]

  [

CASSIE HAD OFFICIALLY FLEDGED. i MISSED FIRST FLIGHT BUT I SURE SAW SECOND ONE  

I am so excited but my heart w in my throat.  (I cried and I did not get a picture) I ma sorry but it was just me today and I took other pictures and then thought , she is going to fly avian and I cannot run with a big camera around my neck that is not mine and drop it.
I just put it down and she went.

Now you will have to wait until I finish yesterdays report  , then I will do this mornings, then clean house and then if time I will post pictures before I go back for 17:00.

[Loriann]

Carly, I was watching scenes of the explosion and fire on TV this afternoon. How far away from it are you? That could be really frightening for anyone close (and close could still be some distance away).

Fortunately for me I'm about 20 minutes away from that site - and that's 20 minutes by car so it's quite a ways away.  I did get woken up by the explosions but like alot of people I thought it was thunder and ligthtening.   We had just had an  day of violent storms so it never occured to me it would be anything else.  I really feel for the people in that area. 

On the plus side if there is one, there are no peregrines in that immediate area as it's all residential and low rise 

Glad to hear all is well with you Carly.. wasn't that something?  And the news reports here this morning don't  paint a very pretty picture do they? so many people are now homeless. 
I'm here in Mississauga, and if you were around in 1979 you will recall the Mississauga Train Derailment, and those explosions and fires yesterday took me right back to that horrible night.. My parents and my sister and I lived three minutes from the initial crash site and were evacuated first, and were the very last ones allowed back in..  Chunks of tanker from the train were raining down all around and we all suffered mild skin burns from the blast wave of heat that rolled across us after the first explosion, when we were standing in the driveway saying ' what the heck was that?' ( a plane crash, chemical plant, etc... )  Our house then was damaged, melted siding, broken windows, cracked foundations ( and the house i now live in is even closer.. and has a cracked foundation from that too)>  the fire yesterday and the explosions made me remember how very fortunate we were that night. ( nov 1979 )

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people who were left homeless, and with damaged properties.

OUr thoughts and prayers go out to the family and co-workers of DIstrict Fire chief Bob Leek who lost his life fighting this fire yesterday. May he rest in peace.

Many thanks to the FIre and emergency services of the Greater Toronto Area. 

As Carly stated. .  residential and commercial in that neighborhood... and no big birdies.

I know this is all slightly off topic.. sorry.  Just a little close to home, and scary as heck.. tankers of propane would have wiped out this entire neighborhood and then some.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_25645.aspx

[ballywing]

Thanks for trying Bev, don't worry 'bout us - you've got enough on your plate now - we know you'll give us the scoop when you can - hope all goes well today! 

[carly]

Oh Bev, I'm so sorry - that's happened to me in the past too  .  No worries about us, you go and check on our girl!  Give here a wave for us and have a good day!

[bev.]

I just wrote the whole last part of report and clicked on submit and server shut down.

Sorry , I cannot write it again until I am come back. I am so p-----off right now.

I am off to nest building. that took me a long time to type

See you later