28 June 2024

If you watch peregrines you know how improbable it is that you will ever see one make its first flight. In 23 years of watching peregrines I’ve seen it once, maybe twice. I have no photographic evidence but I know of two Pittsburgh examples.

In June 2022 Dana Nesiti captured the moment of first flight at Westinghouse Bridge, above. This year on 2 June, Jenna Burdette happened to be taking a cellphone video of the second chick flapping at the Cathedral of Learning when it fledged at 6:58pm.

So what does it look like when a peregrine chick makes its first flight? Wakefield Cathedral, UK (@WfldPeregrines) has so many cameras on their peregrines that the moment was captured on 17 June.

First flight at 5:34. pic.twitter.com/NcwLsvsEOR

— Wakefield Peregrines (@WfldPeregrines) June 17, 2024

First flight is so unremarkable that you might not realize what you’re looking at.

However, it is remarkable to see juvies chasing and playing in the sky just a few days after their first flight. Watch them fly in this video from Charing Cross Hospital in London (Fulham and Barnes Peregrines).

PFV and ZAS playing early this morning (around 5:40am). pic.twitter.com/7SbJBLl3Us

— FaB Peregrines (@FaBPeregrines) May 29, 2024