Peter and His Girl on Egg(s) at Hearn
April 07, 2013 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
Bruce Massey Reports:
Yesterday I stopped down at the Hearn Generating Station to check in on the progress Peter is making with his new unbanded bride. When I arrived, Peter was on one of the rooftop pipes preening while the female was nowhere to be seen. I watched as Peter glanced down at the roof and discovered that in fact his female was lying down just to the right of his perch. The pair remained in their positions for the next 30 minutes and then Peter was off like a shot to the east. A Red Tailed hawk who had been roosting in a tree made a move to the air and Peter was on it in seconds. He put the hawk down on the ground before returning for some recon circling of the stack. After a half a dozen revolutions, Peter went into a power dive and swooped above the rooftop of the plant. This brought his female to her feet and he flew in for mating. The female remained on the roof top while Peter returned to the same elevation about 20 feet west of her. After 10 minutes he was again off like a shot, this time to the south. We tracked him until he was just over the marina and found him dive bombing a juvenile Harrier who was looking to get out of Dodge!! The Harrier inverted several times to meet Peter talon to talon and took the Red Tailed’s advice and grounded himself. Peter quickly returned to his lady and was back on the rooftop once more. What has us believing that she has at least one or two eggs on the roof is that she waddled back over to her initial position and then made the tail dipping motion indicative of an adult with eggs. She was about to lay down when… …you guessed it… …Peter was off like a shot again. This time we were unsure as to what had caught his eye but he was circling the stack for over 5 minutes before landing on one of the upper strobe lights.
Peter is absolutely on high red alert right now and doing an awesome job of it. To his credit he has recently downed two RT hawks and a Harrier. No fear here and on a mission!! The female’s choice of nest site is really poor. She is fully exposed to the elements and all aerial predators not to mention all the climbers around the plant such as raccoons and rats. Unfortunately the plant is not in any certified safe condition to allow access for installation of a box or any other nest substrate for her to use. We will continue to monitor the progress of this pair and talons crossed they will succeed in producing young this year.
All photos by Tracy Simpson
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