25 May 2021
If you’ve been putting off a trip to Tarentum to see the peregrines don’t wait any longer. This is the week to watch!
Thanks to Dave Brooke’s photos earlier this month we learned the chicks were 18-20 days old on 9 May so they must have hatched 19-21 April and are due to fledge around 29 May. The best time to watch peregrines is before the young fly. That’s this week through Memorial Day.
The Tarentum chicks were active outside the nest last weekend, walking on the pier and testing their wings. They begged loudly when their parents arrived, a sound that’s hard to miss from the Tarentum boat ramp.
Dave Brooke stopped by on Sunday 23 May and saw the youngsters preening. Click here for his video of the three chicks.
Later that day Lynn Mamros was on hand for a feeding. The chicks loafed on the pier, at top, then rushed their mother to get a share of dinner, a bird with long legs. (Peregrines eat birds.)
Visit the Tarentum boat launch or the sidewalk on 1st Avenue to watch the youngsters before they fly. Click here for a map.
p.s. Lynn Mamros reminded me that the Tarentum Bridge will close for construction on 9 June. This closure will not affect the young peregrines. They will have left the pier long ago and will not be dependent on it by then.
(photos by Dave Brooke and Lynn Mamros)
Looks like the COL chicks had a flicker for breakfast this morning. Lots of yellow feathers.
“p.s. Lynn Mamros reminded me that the Tarentum Bridge will close for construction on 9 June. This closure will not affect the young peregrines. They will be long gone by then.”
Long gone? Well, yes and no. They will be flying by then, but they will still be around and even back and forth to the pier from time to time. they will still need parental feeding and they won’t leave the area until they graduate from “flight school” in about 2 months.
Are the Cathedral of Learning falcons getting banded?
No peregrine banding at Pitt. The details are in my blog post last week: https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2021/05/19/no-peregrine-banding-at-pitt-this-year/