In addition to peregrine excitement at the University of Pittsburgh, the season is heating up Downtown as well. The resident female, Dori, has a new mate since her previous mate, Louie, died last summer at the ripe old age of 17.
Yesterday (5 March 2020) Lori Maggio saw lots of peregrine interaction at the USX Tower(*) at 11:45am. She wrote:
Dori flew up Grant toward USX, circled around it and landed about 50 floors up on the corner that overlooks Grant. Meanwhile, the Mister was also flying up Grant but landed on the Union Trust building calling to Dori. She was still circling USX so he quickly flew off toward her, circled several times until he reached her level, and they mated!
“This is the second time I’ve seen him/them land on the Union Trust building on the Grant Street side. He brought her prey there the last time.”
— observations from Lori Maggio, 5 March 2020
The peregrines are also active at their Third Avenue nest site. Lori photographed one of them on the nest ledge at 8am.
Last week Lori confirmed that the female is still Dori with this photograph of her bands. Though unreadable they’re a unique color combination: Black/green on left and Pinkish-purple on right. This bird uses Dori’s favorite perches, another sign that it’s Dori.
Thanks to Lori Maggio for following Downtown Pittsburgh’s peregrines. We always need more observers. You can help by checking the Third Avenue area.
Keep looking up. There’s peregrine excitement in the air!
(photos by Lori Maggio)
(*) USX Tower is the city’s tallest building. It has a “UPMC” sign at the top.
This is wonderful news, Kate, thanks for sharing! And thanks to Lori for the photos! Dori has been such a great mother. It’s no wonder that she has attracted a mate, she’s a beauty.
How much I am enjoying the antics of OUR falcons. Thank you so much for keeping me in the loop.
Related-sorta: I miss my Harmar eagles. They used to be down the road and available. The “Harmar Club” disappeared. I miss their chat about other eagles and I followed the sun as Florida became Georgia etc. I don’t do Facebook.
Thank you so much for keeping us informed about both pairs of Peregrin’s again this year. A new mate for each pair and I hope that our new Merola chooses Terzo. I love them all, put for some reason he get to my heart the most. It’s wonderful how many of them are now in our area. I’m not far from the Westinghouse bridge and keep looking to see them over this way. So grateful we still have the camera at Pitt, but do miss seeing Dori at the old site. Maybe next year. Thanks too for all the other information you share of this site. You are truly our eyes to the wonders of nature.