The weather finally cleared and at 5:30pm these hungry baby birds were fed at the Cathedral of Learning. Dorothy started with one prey item; E2 arrived with a second halfway through the feeding.
So now there are four very full and sleepy baby peregrines.
p.s. You can see that Dorothy’s housekeeping has gone downhill. Quite a mess! 😉
(photo from the National Aviary webcam at the University of Pittsburgh)
This is so sweet; I saw this same scene many times today at alot of other sites also. Nice to see see all these babies. I saw this nest earlier also & Dorothy ws making those feathers fly and she was real up close to them so they were getting fluff & feathers all over them & her and the nest. Reassuring actually that she is still so messy. Taking care of the “kids” is more important anyway.
Looks like they’ve had downy woodpecker or northern flicker. That striped feather in the lower right looks like a downy wing or flicker tail to me. mmmmm!
Glad to see that the little one is getting its share 🙂
Fun watching this brood — barbara
Wow that’s quite a mess indeed! Kate, do falcons typically ‘clean’ their nests? And if so is it just by removing each individual feather one by one (seems time consuming)?
Dorothy’s nest is messy because she plucks the prey items right at the nest and often leaves many scraps. Most nests are not as messy as hers.
Maybe Dorothy needs a visit from Martha Stewart??
I’m glad Dorothy plucks the prey in the nest… I would never get to see this part of the meal preparation otherwise! And I can relate to a messy “nest”! 🙂
Kate – I have a question regarding the Harrisburg falcons. Mom doesn’t seem to be brooding the ‘only child”. Is it that he/she doesn’t need this? Looks like she is still incubating the remain egg(s). She is a different type of mom from our Pittsburgh girls. Any explanation?
The nestling in Harrisburg is old enough now that he/she doesn’t need to be brooded. The nestlings at Pitt have just reached that stage in the last couple of days. Gulf won’t be far behind.
If the female at Harrisburg is trying to incubate the unhatched eggs… well… she’s confused. She’s a new mom and still figuring things out.
It always amazes me how fast their little internal temperatures are able to function on their own.
Speaking of more cute falcon pictures:
I started watching the Harrisburg falcon cam after I saw the adorable baby peregrine picture you posted in April (http://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2011/04/21/harrisburgs-first-hatchling/). I recently caught a very cute screenshot of the (much bigger!) young peregrine that I just had to share. It seems that this young peregrine just loves to yell! Feel free to share this on the blog or wherever you want.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y19/kem78/harrisburg_falcon-1.png
Louie was plucking at the nest Friday morning, so the Gulf Tower nest may start looking as messy as the Cathedral. 😉
MsKem … wasn’t sure what to expect but maybe you should warn people to make sure to swallow their coffee before they click on the picture … I got a laugh and now I have to wipe off my screen 😉