Falcon father released back into the wild

Falcon family coping with father's injury From CTV Kitchener's Maleeha Sheikh: The father of the falcon chicks above our studio was found injured on a lawn.

Lucifer is flying once again in the skies above Waterloo Region.

The peregrine falcon was found last June with a broken wing.

The injury meant Lucifer was unable to return to his nest in CTV’s communications tower, leaving the care of his four fledglings to their mother.

Surgery was done on Lucifer’s wing and he’s spent the last several months recovering at the Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge.

Caregivers were especially concerned about Lucifer's ability to conduct sharp turns and other precision movements after his bones healed.

They removed the pins and external fixator in mid-August and the falcon was given a few weeks of rest before they started flight retraining.

Earlier this week they decided Lucifer was ready to leave their care.

Chantal Theijn, one of his caregivers at the refuge, was there was there when they let Lucifer out of his cage.

“Initially he flew very low across the cemetery, not getting any height,” she said. “I was worried that he was having trouble. Then he landed not very far from me and when I started to approach him, he flew straight up like only a peregrine falcon can and flew away from me as fast as he could. Getting height was not a problem.”

They hope Lucifer will be able to reunite with his falcon family.