Yesterday at sunset there were two chicks and one egg at the Cathedral of Learning nest. This morning there are three chicks.
Last night Deane posted a comment, “I missed the action prior, but Hope is eating the final eggshell. 21:10.”
The motion detection snapshots show Hope manipulating and eating an eggshell at 9:04pm but the photos are too dark to see if she ate the chick as well. We had to wait for daylight to find out.
This morning at 8am Terzo delivered a woodpecker for breakfast. As Hope prepared to feed the chicks, we could see three tiny heads.
Last year Hope’s infanticide activity was confined to the hatching process. Perhaps we can watch the Cathedral of Learning falconcam now without dread.
(photos from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Maybe I’m crazy, but I Just watched a feeding at 8:12, and I only see two chicks. Hope was feeding two mouths equally from what I could see. Huh……
JenK, I just updated this blog article with a really good photo of the 3 of them. Refresh the page & you’ll see.
Didn’t Hope appear to starve C2 last year after he successfully hatched? I think it is still too early to comfortably begin watching the activity at this scrape.
Perhaps the trick is they need to hatch at night so she can’t see them…Terzo being around also seems to help.
4/27 at 6:25 am PST Terzo delivered prey and definitely three chicks are resdy to feed. Great news.
Just watched a feeding of the babies and all seemed to be fed nicely. I hope this is a good sign.
This feeding was at about 09:35.
Will Terzo brood the Eyases too?
Margot, yes Terzo broods the chicks, too, just as he helped incubate.
May be too early yet to breath a sigh of relief but signs looks encouraging so far. So excited to have two nests with three babies to watch. Heres to healthy growing chicks and successful fledging later this season.
The fact that Hope only killed the first chick this year leaves me holding out hope that maybe it really was a case of over-aggressively trying to “help” with the hatching, and perhaps even learning/adjusting her actions for the remaining three … guess we won’t be able to gauge that until we see what happens with next year’s nest, assuming she keeps the Cathedral. Here’s hoping that C6-8 thrive (though now I’m wondering about the average mortality rate for peregrine chicks prior to fledgling – I know I’ve read that something like 60% don’t survive their first year).
(on a side note, Terzo and Hope were both in the nest just now and Terzo looked so quizzical examining the chicks … “Heyyyy … didn’t we have FOUR eggs?”)
I don’t think I can rest easy for some time. Just because the little ones survived the hatching process doesn’t mean Hope will divide food evenly and there will be problems to survive without it, especially for the smallest one.
Such good news!! Hopefully Hope will be a better mama this year and we will see 3 healthy babies grow and fledge. A cautious yay for now.
When I checked in on Hope this morning and didn’t see the fourth egg my heart sank. Within a few minutes she came in to feed the chicks and when I saw there were three I was so happy and relieved. I am starting to wonder if it is her eagerness to help the chicks hatch out of the egg that is causing this to happen. I reread one of the comments from the other day where someone said something similar to this happened at a Dutch nest where a chick was almost out and the mother started pecking at the egg and the chick died. I’m starting to wonder if when she’s picking the eggs up and carrying them around she is causing unintentional harm to the chick inside and when it’s finally hatched it is too injured and that’s why she is doing what she’s doing.
I remember last Friday, Dori was picking at the shell of the fourth egg presumably to help it along. I went into the archives just now to watch it more closely and it does look to me like you can see something moving inside the egg while she is pecking at it. I am in no way saying that Dori’s actions led to the death of the chick inside, but it’s something to think about. I’ve read a few mean comments about Hope on other sites and I just don’t believe that she is a homicidal maniac that just kills and eats her chicks for no reason. I’ve been watching her all day and she has been feeding them and taking great care of them, in other words be a good peregrine mother. Why would she even bother doing that if there is something wrong with her?
I’m really looking forward to watching all 6 falcon babies grow and fledge this year!
I watched Hope and Terzo’s escapades daily last year in the weeks leading up to my move to Pittsburgh. A trip to Schenley to gawk at the top of the Cathedral was one of my first outings in the new city, and I’ve been rooting for the gal in spite of her “peculiarities” ever since. Who knows the type of experience she had back at the bridge or what’s going on in that little noggin, but perhaps a successful nesting season this year will finally help cement her to the Cathedral.
Just watched lunch time at the Gulf Tower; it’s amazing how much bigger Dori’s chicks are already! It made me wonder, though: do chicks eat pebbles and gravel like their parents do – are their gizzards already functioning like in a full-grown adult? I’ve never seen them swallowing pebbles, but on the other hand the bites they’re receiving seem kind of big at times …
Stacyj, the chicks consume bones inside the morsels they’re fed. The bones help their digestion.
(… aaaand now lunch time is over and all three chicks just fell into a sleepy little heap – so cute!!!)
Oh wow – thanks, Kate, would never have guessed that they were eating bones as well. Raptor chicks are pretty hardcore! 🙂
3:20 pm another good feeding of all three puffballs!!
I’m starting to feel cautiously optimistic, although I still can’t bring myself to watch yet.
I wonder if Hope’s infanticide and cannibalism were just a very macabre form of brood reduction. From a biological standpoint, rearing young is energy intensive. It takes a lot of energy to lay, incubate and hatch eggs and rear them to ensure their survival until they fledge. Looking back, C2 was clearly malformed and unhealthy. Hope may have known it would not survive, and couldn’t pass up an available food source. Poor C3 just never got enough to eat, which is common enough in the wild. C4 is a mystery as is C5.
Evolution and nature are brutal, but they’re never senseless. There is a reason besides eccentricity for why Hope does these things. It may be that it does happen in the wild and we just don’t see it. Wildlife cams haven’t been around all that long, and their range is limited. She did great with C1 and it seems she’s doing fine with 6,7 and 8. Even in modern times, some cultures still leave their weak and sick infants to the elements, so we shouldn’t anthropomorphize or judge Hope for being a “bad”mother. She’s not. She’s a falcon and will do what is necessary to ensure that the strongest of her clutch survives. It’s survival of the species, remember, not survival of the individual.
At about 3:40 I looked at the Pitt cam and saw that the adults were away, and that one of the chicks had wandered away from the other two. One of the adults (I can’t tell which is which) came and seemed very confused. S/he went from the one to the two and finally decided to cover the two chicks. S/he called and the other adult came. After a few moments of hesitation the second adult went over to the isolated chick and covered it, then made some attempts to get it to move over to the others. When it got pretty close to the others, the first adult left and the second settled down on all three.
Judith, I missed the exact moment when Hope left the nest but her rapid departure at 3:46pm probably knocked the chick out of the scrape. Within a minute Terzo arrived to cover the chicks (he is always close by). Then Hope came back and they conferred. All the chicks are back in place.
So glad that the 3rd chicken is here. Still having a hard time watching Pitt, my heart is always in my throat. I think I’ll stick to DORI and Louie for awhile.
Judith, what happened was Hope was on the eyases and left in a big rush, pulling one eyas from the scrape with her foot. Terzo came in to brood and couldn’t decide what to do, going back & forth between the 2 groups. He decided to brood the 2 in the scrape. Hope returned and she & Terzo looked back & forth, Terzo left, and Hope sat on the 2 in the scrape. Neither helped the isolated one, but it eventually crawled back into the scrape, where Hope was already on the others.
That poor little one is a fighter already. Was quite a struggle for it to crawl back to scrap after being pulled out so violently. Sure has a determination to live but it must be exhausted. Hope they all get fed a good dinner tonight so they can continue to grow and survive. Maybe we can all relax when they are a couple of weeks older.
Sue ramsey, yes we’ll be able to relax when they’re older.
STUPID ME!! I’m sorry meant chick.
LOL. I understood what you meant. 3rd chicken is pretty good, though.
I think that both Hope and Terzo tried to help the stranded chick, but weren’t sure how to do it. They both acted like they were going to pick up the chick in their beak, but both thought better of it, which I think was probably the smart move. I thought Hope did a good job of coaxing the chick back towards the others and she seemed to be talking to the chick in the process. I do wonder what made Terzo leave in such a hurry. It was quite the commotion and he was extremely vocal. Could an intruder have been nearby?
Thanks to Kate and all for all the clarifications and observations. Now I need to report a minor error in my message. I wrote that my observation began at about 3:40; that was a typo. It was more like 3:50. 😉
Wow, I missed all that action but it’s rather endearing to read about Hope and Terzo working out how best to get their chicks all back together 🙂 Though when I first read those comments about the chick getting knocked out of the scrape, I misinterpreted that to mean that the chick fell out of the box entirely! Glad that I was mistaken on that front.
We so love these beautiful birds and want this nest to be a success so badly. I find myself checking them more often then I should. I got hooked watching Dorothy and the wonderful way she took care of her chicks. This nesting spot is just perfect for peregrine falcons. Fingers still crossed but a little more optimistic. The great spirit bluff nest is another interesting peregrine falcon nest to watch. Hatching should be soon.
I am a little concerned right now. She has her back to us and seems to be doing something. 5:56pm
Shelby, she was feeding them.
Looked in on the Gulf chicks – I think around 6 and again now (10:45 PM). No adults in sight. Is this normal? are the parents nearby but off camera? So far every time I have looked in on them this year one of the parents has been on the nest. Are they big enough yet to leave alone?
EARNHARDT3FAN, at both nest sites the cameras are focused so closely on the scrapes that you can’t see the adults when they are guarding nearby. At Gulf the chicks are old enough that they can regulate their own body temperature; they don’t have to be brooded continuously. In addition, Thursday was an exceptionally hot day. At Pitt you saw Hope panting as she stood over her chicks and sheltered them from the sun. The Gulf nest is not in full sun so Dori does not need to shade the chicks.
Just checked back after I hit “click” and wolah there is a parent.
Just watched another feeding time at the CoL, and my apologies if this is a gross question, but what happens to those carcasses after the parents have finished feeding their young? They usually look like scraps of skin and bones by that point, and (possibly?) not even worth eating for the adults. I know the parents keep a cache of birds to feed their young – do they also maintain some sort of, um, trash heap? Do they just chuck the leftovers over the side of the building?
It’s finals week at Pitt, and suddenly I’m equal parts amused and horrified at the thought of some hapless student rushing off to exams and having a bird carcass come splatting down upon them …
Stacyj, the peregrines have cache areas high on the building. They tend to drop the “garbage” from the air. Sometimes you’ll see a detached pigeon wing on the ground. 😉
I was just checking on the nest and saw Hope eating and didn’t give any to the chicks, who were vocalizing like they were hungry. They stayed huddled together & didn’t attempt to get any from her. Is she feeding them?
Bethany, continue to watch throughout the day and you will see the answer to your question.
I am happy to see normal peregrine parenting and feeding behaviors at the Pitt nest. Do you think they sense if something is wrong with a hatching chick (smell) and that’s why she does what she does? I guess they’ll never tell us why they do what they do. Thanks again for all your insights. I enjoy reading your blog and watching the birds.
Just checked Pitt nest. Hope feeding herself but not chicks. I only saw 2 chicks. Did something happen to the third chick???
Patti, they are fine so far. Check the other comments.
Approx 11:30AM was a very good feeding. All three chicks received good
portions and now are taking a nap.
Bethany, there were at least 3 feedings this morning. At 6:45AM, Hope had just finished a 20-minute feeding & the eyases were finished, so she was eating herself, then removed the leftovers. There was also a feeding at 8:15AM & 11:25AM. Hope is definitely feeding them, and for 2 of those feedings, Terzo delivered the meal directly to Hope in the nestbox.
Thank you so much for the info. I feel better.
So comforting to see hope nurturing her babies. Do you think they are safe from being eaten at his point?? My gut says they will be ok. Kate your feelings??
Patti, I think they are safe from being eaten now.
Looked at gulf tower last night around 11pm chicks alone. Still alone now at 10am. All ok??
Patti, the Gulf chicks are old enough that they don’t need to be brooded. The camera view is too zoomed in for you to see that Dori is very close by.
This morning both Dori and Louie were perched on the GT above the nest site overlooking that side of the building. (One was on the very top of the GT.) They are very close and would be ready to take action if necessary.
Oh good. Was getting worried. Thanks Kate.