29 August 2021
Something big and green is growing in the Pitt peregrines’ nestbox. What is it?
It first appeared as a small green smudge in late July. You can barely see it in this photo of Morela.
By 2 August the smudge matched the green perch. Ecco ignored it.
By 27 August it was hard to ignore. Ecco gave it more space.
The leaves remind me of black locust but trees usually don’t have a growth spurt in late summer. Weeds do.
It’s probably a weed. Can you identify it?
Meanwhile, don’t worry that the weed will be a lasting problem. We plan to remove it during annual nestbox maintenance this winter. Even if we didn’t it won’t interrupt nesting. Young peregrines are fine with weeds as shown in this 5 June 2010 snapshot from the Gulf Tower.
Click here and scroll to the bottom for an up-to-date look at the Pitt snapshot camera. What do you think it is? Is it wild senna?
(photos from the National Aviary falconcams at Univ of Pittsburgh in 2021 and Gulf Tower in 2010)
Can’t imagine how it got there, but it looks like a crepe myrtle. I have offshoots from my tree throughout my yard and they look like what’s growing in the nest. What a hoot!