Peter and His Lady in the Old Nest Working Things Out
April 16, 2013 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
Bruce Massey Reports:
Recently I reported that the nesting pair at the Hearn Generating Station were incubating at least one egg on the rooftop of the structure. This report was supported by the photographs taken by Tracy Simpson and the observations of the female’s behaviour on the roof. After the cold, slushy and wet weather moved through a week ago, the female has since abandoned her egg on the roof and Peter, the resident male, was able to convince her that the old nest ledge offered more cover and protection from the elements.
This past weekend, Tracy and I were back down to Hearn again to check up on their progress. When we arrived, the female was in the old nest ledge and clearly incubating. From both the scope view and photographs, we could see that there was one egg lying outside of her wing unprotected and at least one egg if not two underneath her. She remained incubating for the first few hours of our observation period and made only a few feeble attempts to get the visible egg in underneath her. She is very, very nervous about something in behind her and it is most likely a piece of metal or other object that is moving in the winds. The entire time she was incubating, she was looking back into the ledge 75% of the time. Peter… …well he did what he does best, chased stuff!
Peter has matured into an incredible male and is so much like his father, Surge!! He is a fearless defender of his realm and is doing an excellent job! On Saturday, his “hit” list included two Red Tailed hawks and a Canada goose that tried to take him on! All three birds escaped unscathed but not without learning a valuable lesson in territory. Late in the afternoon, Peter arrived with much vocalization to the west of the nest ledge indicating that he brought lunch. The female emerged from the nest ledge and Peter took over right away and pulled out all the stops to try and get the “front” egg closest to the edge underneath him. It took him several tries but he was finally able to make the arrangement work and he finally had at least two eggs safely tucked away. He lay there incubating and watching all the stuff he felt he should be chasing. He would alarm call and chup for her to come back so that he could do just that but she wasn’t coming back until she was full, fluffed and folded! She preened away on the top of the building for a good 30 minutes and then was off on a hunt to the north. Just as we were about to leave, Peter couldn’t take it anymore and he was out and on the attack. A Red Tailed hawk landed on a pole to the east of the nest and Peter didn’t dive at him… …oh no… …he went straight at him! This not only shocked us but the hawk as well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one jump so high so fast!! The female watched from her perch on the roof and Peter, once done, returned to the eggs as it was still his turn.
Tracy went down on Tuesday for a follow up visit and found no one in the ledge at all. At first this was a little disquieting as she expected someone to at least be visible somewhere. After 10 minutes, both Peter and the female returned to the nest site; Peter swooping up to the ledge and the female landing on the buildings to the west. Peter sat above the eggs on the beam and called to her to take charge of their care. She was reluctant to move and was quite happy to sit up top and roost. Peter then entered the nest ledge and took over incubation for a brief period and then he was out and off… …chasing stuff. This time he was well up into some higher altitudes and was addressing another falcon! Photographs taken reveal that this appeared to be a juvenile female ( now a subadult ) that was coming way too close for Peter’s comfort. While he didn’t make an attempt to full on attack the female, he did escort her out of the airspace. The female followed Peter and then flew out of view to the south before returning just a moment later to the nest ledge. She entered and settled down on top of the scrape and once again, the “front” egg was outside of her wing. Watching her turning in the scrape you could clearly see that there was some difficulty for her in moving around as there was a few things that were restricting her movement. This may be why the ”front” egg is so hard for her to attend to. By the time Tracy left, the female had managed to wiggle herself forward enough to cover all of her eggs and was settled in for the night. A local watcher who has been very regular at the site stopped by and suggested that we give this unbanded female an official name. With thanks to our supporters for the suggestion, the Hearn female’s new official name is Angela!
We will continue to update you on the progress of Peter and Angela as incubation continues. All photos by Tracy Simpson.
