4 June 2011

Some time yesterday afternoon the second peregrine chick at the Cathedral of Learning flew for the first time but she didn’t land high on the home “cliff.”

When I got to Fledge Watch after work I counted only three peregrine chicks and two adults.  I wasn’t worried about the fourth but I had no idea where she was.  Many minutes later I noticed an unusual lump on the globe at Carnegie Library & Museum.

The fourth chick!  We joked that she wanted to check out a book.

None of the Watchers had seen her fly but we were treated to quite a show when her father tried to convince her to come home.

Around 7:00pm E2 came back from Schenley Park with prey in his talons.  He made a big show of flying past her at eye level, showing her the food.  Then he landed near the top of Heinz Chapel steeple and made a big show of plucking it.  When he finished he flew past her again and again, showing the prey but refusing to land.  “Here’s your dinner,” he said, “but you can’t eat here.  Follow me home.”

She made begging calls but didn’t fly so E2 circled above Schenley Plaza, still showing the prey.

That’s when we got a treat.  Dorothy flew off the Cathedral of Learning, circled with E2, then flipped over and did a prey exchange.  Woo hoo!  Applause from the Watchers!

Dorothy delivered the meal to the two unfledged chicks on the nestrail, but watching them eat her dinner was too much for Globe Girl.  She flew off the museum, made a big circle over us… and she landed near the globe again.   Oh well.

After 8:00pm my husband and I walked through Schenley Plaza and saw that Globe Girl had made it home… sort of.  I found her by looking for the shouting robins.  Globe Girl was perched on the roof of Stephen Foster Memorial Theater, surrounded by angry robins.  Safe but embarrassed!

By now I’ll bet she’s perched somewhere else.  I hope it’s not another novel location.

(photo by Mary DeVaughn)