Released Bird Profile

UPDATE: UPDATE: RETURNED TO THE AEP BUILDING - JUNE 2, 2017 After a few days rest at our facility, we gave the youngster ZAZU a few flights on the creance line and he flew well, so plans were made to return him to the top of the AEP building in downtown Fort Wayne the next day. On June 2nd, we arrived at the security desk to await the arrival of Michael Kirkhoff, Facility Support Specialist with Indiana Michigan Power. He would be leading us up to the top of the building. While waiting, we spoke with the security guard who actually called animal care and control. He stated that a call center employee found the youngster sitting down in the plaza area on the north side of the building. He said it was lethargic and no one actually saw what had happened. We can only suspect that it ran into some kind of difficulty when it fledged. By this time Michael arrived and we loaded into the elevator for our ride to the top. It was decided that Pam would be the one to release the bird so she was fitted with a hard hat, complete with a face shield, to protect her from the parents that are known to “dive bomb” anyone that comes close to their young. After carefully opening the door, we were in fact greeted by the parents and siblings. When they realized we had their missing baby, shrieks of joy from the parents could be heard across the roof top! Pam placed the baby on the ground and it soon hopped right on over to Mom and flew up to the ledge close by her. We had a short stay to observe the interaction. We aren’t certain but we feel pretty sure that Zazu was probably the last chick hatched as his flight skills are not as good as his siblings, which were observed flying with the greatest of ease around the rooftop. On June 3rd, we found that Zazu had moved back in front of the live cam so we are sure that Mom and Dad are doing whatever is necessary to get him “up to speed”.