Traci Darin sent me this snapshot from the Gulf Tower webcam yesterday — all five nestlings in one shot.
The young peregrines at the Gulf Tower in Pittsburgh are at the ledge-walking stage and are hamming it up on camera. Where one goes the others follow, if only to look in wonder.
Sometimes they walk or jump off camera. Where do they go?
If they disappear at the lower edge of the photo, they’re in the gully below the nest. Here, two of them are on the ramp that goes there.
When they disappear to the right they’re on the windowsill. If they go to the left they’re on top of the pillar (like their mother in this photo) or exercising their wings at the launch point.
In about ten days they’ll be gone from the nest. For now, you can see them here.
I’m sure their parents won’t have Empty Nest Syndrome, but we will.
(photo from the Gulf Tower webcam, captured by Traci Darin)
sort of falcon related: A space probe named Hayabusa is going to land back on Earth today after visiting an asteroid and picking up a sample. The related part is that Hayabusa is the Japanese name for the Peregrine Falcon.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/12/hayabusa-just-hours-from-home/
Such a GREAT picture! It gave *me* a Sunday morning giggle.
I did get to see some of the wing exercising today… from the 7th floor of the greyhound bus station parking garage. not the greatest place because you can only see 1/2 of the gulf tower… if the birds stray out of the corner for fledging, then you’re out of luck… BUT on the other hand… it’s close and you don’t have to strain your next as much! 😉
They are beautiful. I will miss them terribly when they begin to fly away. Soon, I will be going through Falcon withdrawal. Can’t wait until next year.
1:30 PM, Dori was enticing her chicks to come get food. She was sitting on the pillar at the front left with a scrap of food while 2 chicks begged from the nest and a 3rd begged from the perch on top of the nest (the other 2 were out of site somewhere). She seemed to be saying “if you want some then you’re going to have to come and get it”. Finally, after a few minutes 1 of the 2 in the nestbox jumped up to the pillar followed by the 1 on top of the nestbox making a short hop flight over to the pillar to get the food.