18 December 2007

This morning a group of us installed a new falconcam at the peregrine nest site at University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning.

The old camera and nest box were removed last summer during the Cathedral of Learning cleaning project.  The Game Commission replaced the nestbox in late August.  The new camera, courtesy of the National Aviary, was installed today.

Based on our past experience, Tony Bledsoe and I thought the peregrines would buzz the installers on the ledge, but the adult female (Dorothy) was busy eating a mourning dove on the 38th floor east ledge.  The adult male (Erie) only visited briefly.

I stayed indoors and ran the computer to control the viewfinder while Todd, Tom and Linda chose the camera location.  Then Dave drilled the holes, Todd held the camera and Tony waved the peregrine-keep-away tools, two long-poled dusters.  I captured some of the action with my cell phone.

And here’s the result.  Isn’t the new camera beautiful!  The nest box looks great too.

In the next few weeks the Aviary will be updating their website to pull live motion video directly from the camera.  They also plan to archive nesting season footage for scientific purposes.  Follow this links for the National Aviary’s peregrine website and webcams.

Many thanks go to many people for making the new nest and camera a reality:  Thanks to Beth Fife of the PA Game Commission, Phil Hieber and Dave Marti of Pitt Facilities Management, Dr. Tony Bledsoe of Pitt Biological Sciences, and Dr. Todd Katzner, Linda Weisenmiller and Tom Anderson of the National Aviary.

And thank you, Dorothy and Erie, for staying away so we could finish the job in peace.