Happy news at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest. The first chick has hatched! Welcome to the world, “C1.”
This morning at 6:18 am Hope was restless and pulled one of the eggs away from the other three. In this photo you can see that the egg is cracked. The chick was about to hatch.
Soon Hope moved the egg back to the clutch …
… and at 6:42am she called to Terzo, “Come see what’s happening.”
Terzo arrived at 6:55am (top photo) to see the chick nestled in the half shell.
Hope left to have breakfast and Terzo settled on the chick and eggs to keep them warm.
By 7:27am Terzo showed the chick completely out of the shell. Notice the two halves of empty shell.
Welcome to the world, “C1”! We hope we’ll see more “C’s” hatching soon. (See this blog post about nestling names.)
UPDATE AT 4:00PM: I’m sorry that I’ve been out of cell range for the past 5 hours. At around 2:15pm the second egg hatched, Hope killed it and fed it to the first chick. I have never seen this behavior before and do not know enough yet to speculate on why this happened. I’ll publish more news when I have it.
(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ. of Pittsburgh)
THANK YOU KATE, this is such wonderful news. Welcome to the world C1. YOU WILL HAVE 2 GREAT PARENTS.
Thank you so much Kate. This nest deserves some good news and healthy babies. Welcome C1 to Pitt.
Will watch with great antisapation. Nothing is for certain in the falcoln world.
I’ll ask the obvious question that we may never know the answer to: is this one E2s?
It was a perfect way to begin the day watching this on the cam…
With this egg hatching before May 2nd any chance for another hatching?
This is wonderful news. Welcome to the world C1!
Since Terzo’s egg was laid on April 2nd, and today is the 29th is it safe to assume that this is one of E2’s eggs that hatched?
The best news of the day!!! CONGRATS!!!
I love that the male falcons welcome their (or in this case probably E2’s) newborns.
Yay! What wonderful news! Praying we’ll have some more hatches at Pitt. Fun that Hope calls for Terzo to come in and have a look. So cute!
I am so excited!! I have been patiently waiting. Congratulations
I wasn’t ready for this. Finals are not over yet. I’ll have to send another copy of my schedule to Hope and Terzo.
Is there a pip in another of the eggs in the first picture?
Very good news, now we wait and watch. Welcome C1! Congrats to Hope and Terzo, and thank you Kate for this happy update!
That is so exciting! I am so happy. Blessings of the Universe for these two. Hope was truly named appropriately.
Such wonderful news!! Thank you Kate! Congratulations to this precious couple & their first hatchling! Welcome C1 to the Burgh!!
Interesting to see Hope trying to break the egg open. At about 6:57 or so, the top half comes off and she pulls the chick out of the bottom half. Then Terzo comes in to incubate and pulls the broken eggshell underneath him. LOL
Kate, I am worried that Terzo has not brought some city chicken, ie fresh pigeon, to the nest for the eyas to eat? Shouldn’t they be feeding it right away???
Haha, Peter, I feel the same way – I was just about to sit down and prepare for my last final when I saw this post, and now I just want to watch the falcom cam all day 🙂
Somehow Dorothy got me emotionally hooked, I know this isn’t her and that E2 is gone but this IS my family. I was just wondering last night why we hadn’t checked on them more often..thank you Kate St. John…. I feel like a grandmother grateful for this present moment and nary a thought for the future. Congratulations Hope and Terzoy
Hope there is as much success for Hope and Terza as the Egales 2 nests in the area. Love watching all of the birds?
I think the intruder was back this morning. I didn’t get a picture. It was pretty close to Terzo, who looked upset. (pretty sure it was Terzo on the nest) it was checking out the empty shell.
After lunch already. Where is Terzo with some CHOW???
Just saw what looks like another egg getting ready to hatch. It was cracked and being moved around.
Kate, has the eyas had anything to eat? I saw Terzo visit at around 11:00 and 1:45 and he brought no food. Don’t know if he brought anything earlier.
Also, I saw a big crack on a second egg, and Hope was fussing with it. Maybe C2 will appear soon!
Hi, just saw the 2 baby hatch at 2:15 pm!
second baby? What’s happening right now with the new chick?
Oh my goodness, we have a second hatch but Hope seems to be treating it kind of rough. Is that normal?
Looks like another egg hatched at 14:17 but it kind of looked like Hope picked the chick up and moved it… Maybe there is something wrong with it? I’m looking at this on the snapshot camera so it’s hard to tell what’s going on.
Kate, looks like we have another hatch at the CL. Could you please explain why Hope was grabbing the baby out of the shell, at least that’s what it looked like to me. It seemed a little upsetting, but I don’t know if that is normal. Thanks Janet
What is going on… the second one hatched… and it looks like the parent (I think it’s Hope) is eating it.
2nd hatching at Pitt a few moments ago. Looks like she is EATING IT !!!!!
But now it seems Hope is eating the new baby! Maybe it was dead?
And now she is feeding baby no 1 with it!
And feeding it to her first. Because Terzo hasn’t brought any FOOD. At least that’s what it looks like. Don’t post if I’m mistaken, but if I’m not, then that is nature at its most intense. Holy moly.
It’s 2:28 4/29. Chick number 2 was just eaten and shared with C1. Is this normal behavior? I think I see a pip in third egg.
At around 2:00 I saw the female eating a small pink bird and feeding it to the first hatchling. I saw that another egg had hatched but didn’t see a second bird. Do birds eat their chicks?
What a choice for a mother to have to make! Probably happens all the time out on those bridges. And on newly acquired and disputed territory. WOW
My field biology class just watched a chick hatch and be eaten by the male (we think) and fed to the other chick. Kate, please explain. My students were enthralled, mortified and curious all at the same time! Does this have to do with the fact that 2 different males were involved in this clutch?
Dana, regarding the demise of Chick#2: Peregrines normally do not eat their own chicks. This is very very unusual.
Paternity issue caused this behavior? No. There is ample evidence that peregrines will adopt chicks that are not theirs. In this case the peregrine on camera was Hope, it was definitely her egg and she is the one who killed the chick and ate it.
There is no explanation.
Thank you Kate! I could not have created a more interesting lesson than what we watched unfold yesterday. I look forward to some lively discussion next week when I share it with my other classes.
Hi Kate,
Some of us who have been watching Eagle Cam were also watching the falcons and something strange happened. Another egg hatched, and Hope almost immediately killed the chick and fed it to the other.
Is this normal behavior for falcons? I’m assuming that she knew something was wrong with the chick and that it would not survive anyway.
If that is what happened, and for sure that is what looked like what happened, then that ought to cut down on the anthropomorphizing, no doubt!! Quite the reality check. Have to respect nature. Its not easy out in the wild.
Hopefully Terzo gets with the program before his genetic contribution becomes food.
Yep, only 2 eggs left.
She ate C2….
Kate second chick was eaten by Hope , cam 14:15, could you explain what happened
Thank you sheba50
Maybe Terzo is instinctually trying to insure that his egg, which will hatch last, has a better chance. Kind of like what happens with the lions in Africa when a new male takes over the pride. Not pretty, but not unprecedented.
Was just told on the Harmar eagle site that Hope sacrificed the second chick. Is this normal? Why would she do that? And is there a possibility this could happen to all the young?
What just happend with the second hatchling around 2:00 – 2:20? 🙁
Kate, it looks like Hope killed the second baby. Why would this happen?
Hays eagle chat full of Pitt peregrine drama. If the eagles made national news for bringing a cat to their nest, then we are going to make national news again tonite, for sure.
That behavior os awful. A father o
Mother killing her/his own baby to feed an old one!!!?Even animals are ceazy in nowdays
It’s an animal, stop anthropomorphizing.
I’m sure Kate is carefully looking through the video archives trying to figure out what happened. Someone said that they thought they saw the intruder again. I have a snapshot of a bird that came to the nest at 11:05. It seemed to be looking under Hope (I think it was Hope brooding) But she almost looked like she was pulling away from the bird, then it left after a minute or two. It seemed to have Terzo’s coloring, but it looked awfully big to me.
Mary Ann, I saw that too but I assumed it was Terzo but maybe not. It seemed to be an odd reaction from Hope.
I feel it’s important to remember that the Peregrines are NOT human beings. They are wild animals and human being’s ‘rules’ don’t apply.
What we are witnessing is the Cycle of Life. This is a young pair of Falcons, nesting together for the first time. They have kinks to work out and they did inherit eggs that they didn’t lay.
There have been reports of an intruder. The second chic may have been unhealthy; Nature is the ultimate of recyclers. Whatever is going on, it is ok. It is Life and we only stand to gain from being reminded of it.
Nature teaches us again and again that Life is hard and as such, precious. The Peregrines, for me, simply bring that point home.
It is ok. It is as it should be.
These were all Hopes eggs. 3 from E2 and 1 from Terzo. They did not inherit these eggs.?
Was so excited to see another egg beginning to hatch right before I went to a 2 p.m. meeting. Came back to find quite a drama had taken place. Let’s hope things go better for C3!
At 4:50pm one of The peregrine falcons came back with something small it almost looks like another egg she fed some to chick then she eat the rest. I saw her eating then I realized it was a chick but she ate everything out of the egg and the shell, confusing.
523pm food came in. I still have knowing who is who.
My students and I were thrilled to see the first baby. I also saw Hope eating the second baby and was wondering what was going on. Thank goodness i wasn’t projecting the video up on the screen when this happened, so my kids didn’t see it. I look forward to hearing what Kate has to say about this. Boy, these falcons are teaching us a lot this season!
Thanks for the info, Kate, as difficult as it is. I too was away for most of the day. I was happy to hear about C1 this morning, and then checked in when I got back home. I saw 2 eggs and C1. I figured something had to have happened.
I’m wondering if the these falcons are as parents. My initial feeling is that something was wrong with the chick–it was alive, but I don’t think she would sacrifice it so soon just because Terzo hadn’t brought food yet. I’m no expert, though. Maybe I’m wrong. It seems to me that Terzo, at least, doesn’t know what to do.
Kristin, you are right that Terzo is new to parenting and is slowly catching on. The April 29 hatch date indicates that Hope started incubating after Terzo arrived and before her 4th egg (some time between March 27 and 30) but Terzo did not help until April 3. During the interim, the eggs could have chilled while Hope was away. It might not be related in this case but … long interruptions in incubation can cause developmental problems in the eggs.
Thanks Kate. Terzo will get better with experience. It was Hope’s behavior I couldn’t understand — unless the baby was sick or deformed. At that point it becomes prey and a food source. It’s brutal, but that’s nature.
What is going on with this nest today. Pretty upsetting.
UPDATE AT 7:00PM: I’m sorry that I was out of cell range & driving for the past 8+ hours. At around 2:15pm the second egg hatched, Hope killed it and fed it to the first chick. I have never seen this behavior before and do not know enough yet to speculate on why this happened. I’ll publish more news when I have it.
Still eating the stones at 7:54 pm. Will this make them sick
They eat stones a lot. I think chickens will do that too. Helps digest food in the crop, I’ve heard. Is the first chick still OK?
Is there any chance she is distinguishing between the chicks from the first male peregrine and the one chick from the new peregrine? Killing the ones that aren’t from Terzo? This behavior wouldn’t be unheard of in nature in other animals.
Susan, regarding the death of Chick#2: Females don’t care who fathered their eggs. And there is ample evidence that peregrines will adopt chicks that are not their own. In this case the peregrine on camera was Hope, it was definitely her egg and she is the one who killed the chick and ate it.
I had noticed Terzo looking up a lot today and seeming distracted. I also heard falcon calling from beyond the cam, like a peregrine flying close by. Others have mentioned intruders. I wonder if Hope and Terzo, being a new pair in a prime peregrine breeding site, are being challenged?
I would think this could be rough year for the couple. Hope had spent a while bonding with E2 and had already laid 3 eggs, then suddenly E2 is gone and she’s alone for a a little while, then Terzo shows up and a week or 2 later they start incubating. I wouldn’t think that they would be as bonded as even E2 and Hope were. And it seems that with Terzo being only 3 years old, he may not have any experience in taking care of a nesting mate and chicks. I can imagine things might not go smoothly.
FYI – there is mention of an “intruder” around 11 am today. it was NOT an intruder. It was Terzo. I have screenshots as proof.
He stayed for a short time inspecting C1 before flying off.
The second chick looked awfully big for just hatching. Did you see how small the first chick was when it first hatched? Hmm.
So happy to hear about new chicky yeaaaaaa
There’s a videomark of C2 hatch at the WildEarth site for those with the stomach to watch it.
http://www.wildearth.tv/cam/cathedral-falcons
Is that a pip I see?
I understand this is nature but I don’t understand why Dorothy did not do this to Fuzzy last year since he had neurological problems.
She was such an awesome mother to him and seems like she was determined for him to survive. Unfortunately that was not to be but not for lack of her trying.
Karen, the two situations are not at all related. None of the players are the same: Dorothy, E2 and obviously handicapped chick versus Hope, Terzo and unknown condition of 2nd chick prior to death. We don’t know why either situation occurred.