Bruce the Peregrine-Day 2

Hello,

Bruce the Peregrine Falcon continues to do well. He is still on the buildings of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee headquarters. Security Officer Carl has been a valuable and enthusiastic asset in keeping track of Bruce and yesterday morning (7/6), Carl met me at the Visitor's Entrance of BCBST. He informed me that he had already been on the roof of Building #3 and had seen Bruce. We went to the top of #3 and Carl slowly opened the door that opened to the roof. He said that Bruce was sitting on the edge of the building when he last checked, but the Peregrine wasn't there. We slowly began to walk around and with the radio receiver, I was able to locate Bruce's signal emanating from the top of a stairwell tower. Carl spotted him first and the bird was on the edge of the roof looking towards downtown. I had brought a freshly thawed Cortunix Quail with me in case I had an opportunity to give it to Bruce. Below and to the right of Bruce's perch was a ledge and I attempted to slide the quail into a viewable position. I had a little too much force in my shove and the quail took flight (via gravity) to the ground below the building. Luckily, no one was in the trajectory of the bird. Carl took me down to retrieve the quail and upon return to the roof, Bruce had moved! Fortunately, he had only moved away from the ledge. I lobbed the quail to the roof's center and I hope that Bruce ate it.

In the afternoon, I returned and was met by Cindy Oliver of BCBST and we went back to the roof of Building #3. When we opened the door from the stairwell to the roof, Bruce had been just around the corner, apparently enjoying some shade. He took off from his perch, flew in a small circle and headed towards another building in the complex. He was heading towards a window near the top of the building and I was certain he was going to impact it. However, he entered a shallow dive, picked up some extra speed and converted this into a sharp pullout landing on the ledge of the building. He looked good on this flight and landing and his flight skills are getting better. I am going to meet Carl this morning to see if we can find Bruce. If he continues to hang out at BCBST, perhaps they can offer him some gainful employment, maybe in external building maintenance where he can rid the area of unwanted flying rats (pigeons). Stayed tuned for a report....

John

http://www.soarsouth.org/