21 May 2018, 7:50am:
Last Wednesday one of the Pitt peregrine chicks was bumped into the gully below the nest (see video here). His mother, Hope, has been feeding him down there.
I thought that the downstairs chick would eventually return to the nest but this morning the opposite happened. When the down-under chick got his breakfast the upstairs chick couldn’t stand missing out so he jumped into the gully to be fed.
Now they’re all off camera.
I doubt they’ll bother to come upstairs before they fly.
p.s. Dorothy, the previous female peregrine who lived at the Cathedral of Learning for 15 years, did not feed chicks in the gully. Apparently she wanted all of them together upstairs — and coincidentally on camera. Hope doesn’t play by Dorothy’s rules.
(video from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ. of Pittsburgh)
thanks for the update. It was great watching .
I am disappointed that we won’t get to see them leave the nest for good this year but glad they are all together again! Thank you Kate for updating, I would have been worried when I logged in and saw an empty nest.
Thanks for the update. I was concerned when I got online this morning and did not see the chick in the nest. At least they are together!
thanks for the update, when i didn’t see baby falcon, immediately went to your site. we appreciate you
Thank you! This is such a relief to know they are still safe.
Thank You Kate !
Is there an image of the gully? I can’t picture it.
Sally, this blog https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2015/06/10/below-the-nest/
has information on the dimensions of the gully.
thanks for the update, when i didn’t see baby falcon, immediately went to your site. we appreciate you
Can another camera be added for next season to show the gully area? I’ve been watching the peregrines at the PG&E building in San Francisco. Their nest box is on the same level as the building ledge, and the camera can be aimed in all directions. It was fun watching the young ones running all over the ledge. Is there a reason to have the nest box so far above the gully???
Janet, no, another camera cannot be added because the nestbox area is very cramped. In fact, the main camera where you watch the video is capable of aiming in all directions but there are no other directions to look! The camera cannot be zoomed out; it’s as far “out” as it goes. Keep in mind that the chicks have to leave the nest in order to fly. In a typical year, today is the day they would leave the nest – walking up to a the bulwark where we can see them from Schenley Plaza. They would be off camera today no matter what.
7:22 pm one baby back on cam!! Hopefully the other will follow!!
Patti, too quick for me. It’s empty now.
Always interesting with Hope!
I would think that when they first get their wings they would not go too far and may end up back in the box as a look out post. How big is the gully , can they exercise their wings?
Ev, there is plenty of space to move around in the gully and flap their wings.
Thank you to whoever was able to do that great pan around the bottom and sides of the top of the nest. Couldn’t see the girls as camera wasn’t able to show underneath the nest itself. However seeing the area down there eased my concerns a great deal. The girls were yelling, but probably way back in a corner directly under the nest itself. Just heard a parent there now too. All is well. They do have room, at the lower part directly in front of the nest, to work their wings.
I saw the pan of the area around, above and below the nest about an hour ago and would like to say thank you to the person who was responsible for doing that. I didn’t see either of the chicks but could hear at least one of them making noise the whole time. After seeing that I’m not sure how they could get back up in the nest without being up in front of it and jumping onto the green perch like Hope and Terzo do. I wish we could’ve seen them down there, but oh well you can’t have everything.
Kate do you know if they are maybe out on the ledges of the Cathedral by now or do you think they are still down underneath the nest where you couldn’t see? Also do you know if the camera makes a noise when it was panning around. I was really surprised to see it do that and so glad that I was watching at the time.
Saudade de minhas pequenas!!!