Peregrine Fledge Watch was exciting this morning in Downtown Pittsburgh. This bird was rescued after walking down Wood Street and turning the corner to 4th Avenue.
Right now he’s in custody at Animal Control. PGC’s Officer Bergman is on his way. If this peregrine is in good condition he’ll be up on the rescue porch soon.
Reminder: Schenley Plaza Fledge Watch is cancelled today. I will be Downtown noon to 1:00pm
(photo by Amanda McGuire)
p.s. At first I misheard Officer Bergman’s name & thought it was “Byrd.” Oops! Typo corrected.
Officer Byrd…couldn’t make this up!
Hi Kate! C1 seems so aggressive towards Hope, especially at meal time. I was wondering if this is normal behavior for a juvenile. Thanks Janet
Janet, C1 is behaving normally for her age.
Oh my goodness. Thanks to the rescuer!
Officer Byrd…
🙂 🙂 🙂
Oops! It’s PGC Officer Bergman, not Byrd
Fledgling was placed on rescue perch and was vocalizing. Adult bird located fledgling with several flybys.
I will really miss C1 once he fledges , thanks to Kate St. John for all the updates on this side
I enjoyed watching this from Canada
I hate to change the subject, and this is probably not the site to do so but- –
My question is why is one of the Hays eaglets so subsivient to the other as far as food is concerned?
Can it be assumed because of the difference in size that smaller subsirvient one is female and the dominant one is male?
Karen, the difference in size is opposite to what it is in humans. Male eagles are *smaller* than females. If the smaller one let’s the bigger one eat first then he’s figured out a handy way of avoiding a fight.
Thanks Kate,
You have really enlightened me. I equate eagles at the top of the chain. I made the assumption that like Lions the male would be the largest. I will observe the nest totally different now. I had been thinking until today ” poor little dear, she gets nothing.” Maybe I am now observing a true gentleman.
Karen, this size difference is true of most (maybe all) birds of prey. Females are larger than males among red-tails, peregrines etc. The males have a healthy respect for their ladies since the ladies are more powerful.
Where’s the other one that fledged? Also, have the 2 remaining ones fledged, yet? Will they be safe on rescue porch or will they need to be rescued again when they fly from the rescue porch?
Robin, As of 2:00pm on 6/7/2016: 3 have fledged, 1 is still in the nest. We like to keep track of the birds after they fly but in fact that’s impossible. Our real goal with Fledge Watch is to make sure that a bird that lands on the ground gets placed up high within sight of the nest so the parents know where it is and can take care of it (i.e. bring food). That’s what happened today for the rescued bird. He/she is 19 stories up across the street from the nest and his parents are nearby. (The nest is only 12 stories high.)
“Will they need to be rescued again?”: No one knows which birds will make mistakes, nor when, nor why. Maybe one will need a second rescue, but probably not. We assist them if we find them on the ground.
p.s. These birds are not banded so we never know exactly which one is being rescued.
Kate,
Why do they not band the birds when rescued?
gjlfdl, They do not band them for a whole lot of reasons. Here are just two of the many reasons: (1) The local PGC officers do not have the Federal Bird Banding and Marking Permit that allows them to band peregrine falcons. Since peregrines are endangered in PA there may be an additional permit requirement from PA. I know there are very few people in PA who have these permits. (2) Even if the person doing the rescue had a banding permit, he doesn’t have the appropriate bands with which to do it. There are two bands per bird, the bands are different sizes for male & female and they have to be kept in sequence and recorded carefully.
How was the grounded fledgling spotted? Was it observed leaving the nest, or did an observant human pedestrian recognize the magnificent bird pedestrian as a fledgling in need of rescue?
Amy, the fledgling was spotted walking down the sidewalk so someone herded him to the location in the photo. He was trying to cross the street! A week ago I passed out flyers explaining what to do in case of a grounded peregrine fledgling and Amanda McGuire, who lives in Lawrence Hall (rescue porch), sent them within nearby Point Park University. Some observers recognized the bird and called the rescue number.