After spending a week at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Pitt’s young peregrines returned to campus yesterday. I found three of them perched on Heinz Chapel steeple while their parents claimed the heights of the Cathedral of Learning.
It was a role reversal, but one I could understand. The “kids” have been on the wing for two weeks and they fly so well now that they can chase their parents everywhere. In fact, they do. Dorothy and E2 made it clear yesterday that for the moment they wanted to be left alone. To emphasize her point Dorothy was roosting.
I’m amazed at how quickly young peregrines learn. Only eleven days ago they were clambering on the 25th floor roof when Kim Thomas captured this photo of Green Boy with open wings and cocked tail. He was ready to glide from his little hill of roof tiles and seems to be telling himself, “One, two three, go!”
Now the Pitt youngsters are beyond this “toddler” stage and the Gulf Tower chicks are about to enter it. Soon the Gulf chicks will be practicing on a roof Downtown.
One… two… three… Go!
(photo by Kimberly Thomas)
I wish I had an office that looked out onto the roof of the 25th floor. It’d be great to get a peak at one of these guys from time to time. For now I’ll settle for the quick glimpse as I got waiting for lunch at the food trucks up the street from the Cathedral. I saw at least 4 of the peregrines flying around the Cathedral about 1:30, especially the north face. They chased each other and periodically quickly turned into a short dive before popping back up. Their flight skills have improved so much since I last saw them about a week ago. Only another 3-4 weeks and these guys will be on their way out of here.
I think that we should be even prouder of our peregrine parents here in Pittsburgh than we already are!! We could be in Buffalo!
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Her chicks have left the nest, but a peregrine falcon nesting on a Buffalo tower is proving to be an overprotective mother. Antoine Lanier said he saw the falcon recently chase a teenage boy across a street near the University of Buffalo’s South Campus, where a falcon nesting platform is perched on McKay Tower.
Minutes later, Lanier said the falcon swooped in and attacked his dog, leaving the pooch with bloodied paws and ears.
State wildlife biologist Connie Adams said the falcon chicks hatched on the UB tower have left the nest, but the mother remains defensive of her territory.
She said the falcon attacked a pair of bird watchers and a man working on the roof of a Buffalo hospital.
Adams said the mother falcon should become less aggressive in about two weeks.
Hi, Looking at this picture I have trouble figuring out what is below the falcon. It looks like some building that was destroyed with rubble lying about and the road far below. Could you help orient me? Thanks!
It’s confusing.
The picture is looking straight down on the peregrine from about 20-25 feet up.
The bird is on a flat roof that has pieces of roof tile (the cement things) lying around on it. They’ve been there so long that moss has grown in between them. The pale gray area is a metal section of the roof. The bird is only about 1-2 feet above the level of the roof on a pile of broken tiles.
Here’s a picture from last year with the same effect:
http://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2009/06/18/at-the-bath/
Silly boy! He is just exploring his world. All grown up and ready to go.
I can add some yellow lines to the metal strip on the left and maybe some downed poles and burned cars and we can have a poster from the new Attack of the Giant Falcons movie. ; )
I was actually thinking the very same thing as Steve-o. We would need to borrow a few little people from some child’s dollhouse to make it really effective!