June 08, 2014 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 8th - 2014I visited Hearn today from 10:30 - 11:15 am. Neither bird visible in the area until after 11 when I noticed one perched on a pipe at the side of the building - not sure if it was the male or female. The only other thing of note was a pile of what I assumed were pigeon feathers on the ledge where I had observed the pair on Friday.
Lots of activity at the nearby Raven nest though - looks like the young are beginning to fledge.
-Kris Ito
Posted on June 8, 2014 12:42 pm
June 05, 2014 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
CPF Postmaster Reports:
June 5th - 2014
Yesterday (June 5, 12:30 pm), I was able to observe the pair from Unwin Ave. on a possible nest site to the right of the stack. At first I could only see one bird (maybe the male?) and he seemed to be working on something - at least he seemed to be spending a lot of time with his head down. Then the second bird (who seemed a bit larger so I’m guessing female) appeared from deeper in the structure and walked past the first bird to the ledge. They remained together for several minutes before the male flew away to perch on a pipe on the side of the building (I’ve seen one perched in this same spot several times this spring). I stayed for a total of 20 minutes and neither had moved by the time I had to leave.
Here are a few photos to give you an idea what was going on - sorry for the poor quality!
-Kris Ito
Posted on June 5, 2014 12:34 pm
June 01, 2014 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
Bruce Massey Reports:
I came down to Hearn Generating Station today and met up with Harry at the site to check in on the resident adults and their progress towards nesting. When I arrived there was nobody visible. I walked to the east and checked the back side of the stack and again saw nothing. I moved back out front to the south side of the building and within 20 minutes both birds arrived from the south. Peter and Angela landed on the small opening to the west of the old nest area and both disappeared into the grid work. Angela appeared and flew up to the vent on the south side where she roosted and Peter finally emerged and had a great soar above the structure. His flights eventually took him off to the north and out of view.
Based on these observations both Harry and I agree that they are not incubating nor brooding any young. They seem to be interested in the south side ledges once again leading us to the conclusion that the first nest has failed and that a reclutch may follow.
We will keep you updated as we learn more.
Posted on June 1, 2014 10:44 am
May 06, 2014 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
Harry Crawford Reports:
Today, I made my first trip down to the Hearn for this year.
Arriving at 9:15am, I spotted what I think was Angela - she appeared
to be nesting. If so, the location is different than last year’s.
She was on the top level - dead centre, of the same area as last
year’s third attempt. This is the segment just west of the old area
to the left of the stack. I was only around for 15 minutes and she
didn’t move during that time.
A Canada goose flew in low and Peter suddenly appeared. He flew
around a few times but disappeared to the roof area just east of the
stack out of view.
Posted on May 6, 2014 2:50 pm
April 12, 2014 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
CPF Volunteer Reports:
April 12th - 2014
A quick visit to check in on the Hearn peregrines this afternoon resulted in some good observations. Both adults were quite visible and very active for the several hours that we were down at Hearn this afternoon.
Peter, the resident adult male, was still very busy courting his gal and on two occasions he brought her small food packages, followed by several rounds of copulation and mating.
During the several hours of observations, the un-banded resident adult female spent most of her time roosting on various levels of the superstructure and at no time did she give up any of her choice of potential nesting spots. Peter spent most of his free time chasing the local avian inhabitants out of the territory and tending to his courtship activities.
More time in will be the only way that we are going to find out where she has decided to lay her eggs.
Stay tuned ………………
Posted on April 14, 2014 11:14 am
April 01, 2014 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
CPF Postmaster Reports:
March 31st - 2014
I was able to spend several hours down at the Hearn plant on Unwin Ave this evening and spotted both the resident adults on site moments after my arrival. For the next several hours, (until 8pm and my light faded), both birds were in full view for the most parts in their usual roosting spots with multiple computations observed.
While I was unable to identify leg band numbers or colours due to the distances involved, I was able to confirm that the resident adult female is NOT banded. Sadly, the resident adult male never came lower than the mid elevation of the superstructure, and due to the poor lighting conditions, there was no way of getting close enough to him even with a 75 power spotting scope eyepiece to see if he was banded, let alone actually identifying any leg band digits.
As you can see by the attached photos of the resident adult female, both of her legs are void of any leg bands. The resident adult male of the last few years at Hearn was a Black Banded male named Peter that was produced in Hamilton Ontario, at the Hamilton Sheraton Hotel nest site. We are looking to confirm his leg band number to see if it is still Peter. He dawns a solid Black recovery band on one leg and the usual Silver USFW band on the other leg.
Throughout my observations, the resident adult male went on several hunts, and was successful on two occasions in his efforts in capturing and killing food. He brought food into the female and dined on the second kill himself.
Even after a big meal and several copulations, the female did not give up the location where she intends to lay her eggs as she was visible throughout my entire observation period.
Its going to take a few more visits and some very close observations to find out where she has decided to lay her eggs!
Egg production is close, as they are busy copulating and egg fertilization and egg laying is very close!
Looking for any and all assistance if you are down at the Hearn location to do some observations and let us know what you are seeing…..
Stay tuned, more to come………..
Posted on April 1, 2014 12:22 pm
March 31, 2014 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
CPF Postmaster Reports:
March 27th - 2014
Hello Guys
I witnessed this at the Hearn Generating Station on Unwin Avenue just after 1:00pm March 27th. It is a terrible photo because they were just too far away but if you can use it please feel free to.
Cheers.
Paul Reeves
Posted on March 31, 2014 3:35 pm
March 27, 2014 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
CPF Postmaster Reports:
March 27th - 2014
Hey Guys,
I just wanted to give you an update on the observations they we gathered at the old Hearn power plant. For the past week, there has been two peregrines back hanging around the plant - (most likely Angela and Peter). They were observed copulating yesterday and again today. Lets hope that they pick a good nest site this year. Talk to you soon.
Desmond
Posted on March 30, 2014 2:12 pm
July 25, 2013 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
Bruce Massey Reports:
On Sunday I was down to visit the Hearn Generating Station in an effort to re-sight Peter and Angela in the territory. When I arrived, I scanned all of the usual ledges that they roost on and found Peter on the stack. He made several forays from this location and each time returned to the territory. I carefully checked the ledge that they were last seen incubating on and there was no sign of Angela or any young. I made my way back around to an area that affords me a view of the north side of the plant but was unable to locate Angela or any other peregrine in that view. I can say for certain though that Peter was the male on site today holding the territory as evidenced by a scope view of his band. Later this week, one of our watchers in the area reported that both Peter and Angela are visible again on the south side of the main building but that they believe the pair has again failed in their efforts to produce young this year. It was good to hear that the pair is still on territory and maintaining the site and we look forward to them finding the perfect ledge next year for successfully hatching offspring. We will continue to check in on them throughout the year so watch for updates to come.
Posted on July 25, 2013 8:53 am
July 05, 2013 - Toronto - Hearn Power Station
Mark Nash Reports:
June 29th and July 5th -2013
Sorry for the lack of updates and postings as we have still been in the field on the watch at several other nest sites and had to mobilize our available manpower and resources to other areas of most need.
As you know, there is only so many of us that are actually mobile with vehicles and the ability to get around to the many nest sites to do a physical check,, and given that we are still very back-logged with observation reports that we have yet to get posted, (most of them being delivered to us by phone call-ins) as opposed to these folks doing their own web site postings), it has as you might imagine, been a monumental task to get everything logged, written down, and eventually posted after being in the streets ourselves 16 plus hours a day. By the time many of us get home in the evenings after a 14 to 16 hour stint in the streets on the watch, finally getting home most often only arriving after 11pm, its all that most of us can do just to get something to eat and crawl into bed, knowing that 5am comes early again and we’re back out into the streets on the fledge watch for another 15 plus hours the nest day!
That being said, we are still very active doing spot checks in between the still ongoing fledge watches and the Hearn nest site has not gone unchecked.
While this is an older update (from Saturday June 1st) I combination with the most recent update from yesterday - (June 5th), both observation reports are consistent, in that it would appear that Peter and his mate have finally given up on their nesting activities, AND appear to have abandoned the site altogether.
I was personally down to Hearn on Saturday June 29th after coming from the Yellow Pages fledge watch, and spent several hours until darkness and never observed any peregrine activity at all. While not unusual for the most parts given the incredible expanse of the Hearn plant , you can usually see activity in the later evening hours just before dark during their prime hunting times, (this especially given that their is a territorial nesting pair on site). Sadly, the most recent observation report that was just received yesterday - (Friday July 5th) by one of our local watchers, confirms that there has been no activity at the nest site itself and also concludes that the pair have abandoned the site.
It is most confusing that the pair might have actually abandoned the territory altogether?? Only time will tell and we will be soon be able to ramp up our monitoring in a few days after the last of the intense fledge watches are completed. We have had to re-start a fledge watch at the Etobicoke Bloor & Islington nest site due to the re-release of little “Lizzy” that has spent the last 9 days under intensive care after colliding with a window and suffered partial paralyzes as a result of the spinal swelling.
the good news for her, is that she has been released back to her parent care in record time, and is now starting to fly again. The best news, is that both of her parents are attending and both she and one of her younger siblings have teamed up and seem inseparable together.
Obviously, any and all observations of the Hearn site is most welcomed, as we are understandably both a little confused at the recent happenings. While we often see failed nest attempts, total abandonment of the territory by a pair that have already have a real affinity to the territory is very unusual indeed.
Your assiastance is most needed to help us do some observations at this site.
Stay tuned………………….
Posted on July 6, 2013 1:45 pm
