If you’ve been watching this blog for a while, you know that one of Pittsburgh’s peregrine falcon “sons” has spent the past 11 months in rehab. Now, at last, Pittsburgh Pete has a permanent home. This is quite a victory for Pete, and for Judy Bailey who rescued him.
Pete (black/green 3/K) was born at the Gulf Tower in 2006 and nested successfully at the Burlington Lift Bridge in 2008 but he was seriously injured in a battle with a rival that June. Pete seemed to recover on his own but was found grounded and unable to fly in November 2008.
Since then Pete has been in the care of Judy Bailey, pictured with him here. Judy is an Animal Control Officer in Hamilton so she could nurse him back to health but is not licensed to keep him. When it was determined last May that Pete’s seizures prevented him from being released into the wild, Judy had to find him a permanent home. Otherwise he would die.
Over the summer Mountsberg Raptor Centre in Campbellville, Ontario offered to take Pete as an educational bird if he could sit quietly on the glove and tolerate people near him in an educational setting. Pete didn’t know these skills so Judy trained him. Thanks to her hard work and Pete’s ability to learn, he went to his permanent home at the Raptor Centre in late October. Mountsberg is excited to have him.
Hooray for Pete and a big thank you to Judy Bailey! She really is Pete’s guardian angel.
For more information on Pittsburgh Pete’s injury and recovery, see my blogs on August 5, 2008, December 4, 2008 and August 14, 2009.
(photo from Judy Bailey)
Hooray!
Yay Judy!!!! Yay Pete!!!! Our hearts are warmed.
This is wonderful news A great big Thank You to all that had a helping hand in this
wonderful Falcons recovery and new home
At last, good news!! After the news of one of the Pitt birds being found dead, this is joyous news that Pittsburgh Pete has recovered and has a new home. I love happy endings!
What wonderful news! Thank you so much Kate for keeping all Pete’s fans updated on his progess, thank you to Judy Bailey for caring for him and never giving up on him and thank you to the MRC for providing him with a home. I will definitely be going to visit him in his new home!
Thank you for sharing that wonderful news, Kate! I am sure he will enjoy his new home in the North!
Hi Kate
Just wanted to say thank you along with everyone else for helping Pete.
I had the great pleasure of photographing Pete this past Sunday. Ten people from a flickr group got together and went to Mountsberg for a photo shoot.
Pete is doing well and was quite social with us. Thank goodness for people like you!
Sharon White
Let me know the link(s) to Pete’s Flicker photos and I’ll post another update on him!
Thank you so much Judy for your hard work. As a Burlington Lift Bridge falconwatcher, my husband and I will be out to see Pete soon.
Judy, my husband Rick & myself enjoyed many many days watching Pete at the Burlington Lift Bridge. We were so heart broken when he was injured, but now that he has you taking care of him it’s wonderful!!! Thank you for your time & effort that you have given to our friend Pete. We hope he can teach many people all about his species of birds.
Update from Amy Fennell raptorcentre.ca, 9 January 2012: “Pittsburgh Pete recently passed away under medical care at the OVC. He had not had a seizure in almost a year, and we were very pleased with his progress. We are all very sad at his passing and I know how hard you worked with him. We’re still waiting for the final necropsy report, but visceral gout appears to be the cause.”