Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch got off to a great start yesterday.
The previous evening one of the four young peregrines walked off the nest and stayed away all night so I expected we’d see at least one juvenile on the nestrail — and we did.
A good crowd of watchers stopped by including: Paige and her family, Sebastian and his mom, Donna, Anne-Marie, John, Peter and his parents, Herman (all the way from Atlanta) with his nephew, Monika, Mary, Tony Bledsoe and Chuck and Joan Tague. Chuck took this picture of Herman, me, Anne-Marie and Donna while we weren’t watching.
The heat kept everyone lazy, including the peregrines. The adults, Dorothy and E2, watched their young and patrolled the skies near the Cathedral of Learning. Overhead we saw turkey vultures, a red-tailed hawk and a broad-winged hawk (nice!). All of them rose high on thermals to get out of the peregrine danger zone.
Despite the heat the young peregrines were active. A few of us had bookmarked the webcam on our cellphones so we watched on our phones when we saw nothing from the ground. The webcam revealed how the youngsters were climbing to the railing. Here’s one on his way up. All three are panting. Yow, it was hot!
Around noon one of the four jumped up to the nestrail and ran back and forth, flapping. Good wing exercise, but hot work! After a couple of runs he rested at the far corner of the nestrail, pictured here by Donna Memon. His wings and mouth are open because he’s hot!
By 1:15pm most of us were ready to find a cool perch of our own so we adjourned.
The weather will be hot again today (930!) and a thunderstorm is possible. I’ll be at the tent from 1:00-2:00pm and 5:30pm-7:00pm — but not if it’s storming.
Check here for the complete Fledge Watch schedule and location.
Come on down!
(photo of the watchers by Chuck Tague, photos of the peregrines from afar by Donna Memon, webcam photos from the National Aviary’s snapshot camera at the Cathedral of Learning.)
Looks like I just missed the ledge walked yesterday. I’ll try to stop by again today after work (if it’s not raining) and hopefully my timing will be right.
Was great to meet Kate, watchers and peregrines in “person” 🙂
Too hot for me to return today, so looking forward to Thursday.
It was wonderful to meet so many watchers! Hoping for cooler flying weather on Friday 🙂
So far the Friday forecast is 81 degrees, partly cloudy with a 10% chance of precipitation! And you know how accurate the weather people always are! Hoping for a good day too… looking forward to see everyone again and meeting new folks too!
Love the photo and description of events! Ken and I look forward to Friday.
please keep photo’s coming to us in the U K we so want to see the fledglings and are very interested …
It was great to meet you, Kate, and also the rest of the group Monday. So glad we were there to see the first adventurer out on the rail! Back in Indiana and at my desk now, “listening” to the webcam since everyone is out of camera range. Happy watching to you all!
Just wanted to say thanks for the chance to meet some fellow peregrine watchers and we enjoyed seeing the parents fly around the area as well as some ledge appearances by the young. Fledging should be in full swing by now. Will keep watching on the cam from Hotlanta !!