At 29 days old, the peregrine falcon chicks at the Cathedral of Learning look different than they did a week ago on Banding Day. Their juvenile feathers now give them a speckled brown-and-white appearance.
For comparison, here’s what they looked like on May 16.
Even though they’re older they still act like baby birds. They sleep on their bellies and whine at their parents. In the photo at top, two chicks shout at one of their parents while a third sleeps on her belly. When they shout like this, one of the parents is perched above them out of reach. 😉
Meanwhile at the Gulf Tower …
… the peregrine chicks are a week older (35 days old) and already look quite brown. When they’re not sleeping or eating they spend time pulling white down from their bodies.
The transformation is amazing. Here’s what they looked like a week ago.
The Gulf Tower youngsters will fly by the end of the month so come on down to Fledge Watch at midday, May 26-30, to see them getting ready to go. Click here for date, time and location.
Keep an eye on the sky and check the Events page before you come Downtown! Fledge Watch is a fair weather event so I will cancel if it’s raining. (Ugh! Rain is predicted all weekend.)
p.s. Yes, there will be a Fledge Watch for the Cathedral of Learning peregrines — probably June 2-6 — but I haven’t scheduled it yet.
(photos from the National Aviary falconcams at University of Pittsburgh and Gulf Tower)
Can you tell by looking at the chicks when they will be ready to fly? I’ve been watching and they still seem kind of fluffy.
No, Margaret, I can’t tell by looking them. I use historical fledge dates for the Pittsburgh nests to make my best guess. I’m often wrong.
One of the Gulf Tower chicks has already been up on the post at the forward left corner of the screen, stretching and preening. She could well be the first one to “go for it.”
Sounds like fledge watchers will be busy this year. Exciting time for the young falcons. A special thanks to all who help make this ocassion a safe time for the newly flying chicks. Nice to have people who can assist or notify someone if a fledge gets in trouble. Watching newly hatched falcons at lansing michigan power plant. A couple of days old. late start due to nest drama.
It’s hard to believe the Pitt Peregrin young are already 29 days old. What happened to the time? And what little screamers they are, Mom and Dad look flustered at times, when they bring food and get mobbed by all three. A pleasure to watch them.
It’s hard to imagine how much the chicks change from one week to another, so it is really great to see these photos. Also great to see the photos of the two batches of siblings during the same time periods. Now I can see what the Pitt chicks will look like next week! I guess the Gulf Tower view will be silent and still, with those chicks graduating and going off to Sky University.
Did Terzo (I’m guessing based on the face markings) just bring TWO birds for the feeding? There appear to be two. Wow. 10:38 pacific time. Did anyone else see that??
Terzo brought in a small brown bird, maybe a thrush, which one of the chicks quickly grabbed from him and ran to a corner. One of the other chicks pecked at Terzo’s foot, and he jumped backwards so quickly, it was hilarious. Then Hope came in with a much bigger prey, maybe a pigeon, and proceeded to feed the other 2. The thrush was not plucked, and the first chick didn’t quite know what to do, and finally gave up.
Thanks Donna, I must have missed Hope coming in with the second bird. I watch at work and I often get distracted at the wrong times! I did see the small brown bird and the larger grey one. It was pretty funny watching the chick figure out what to do with the one bird over in the corner.
Kate, I was just wondering, when C1 left the area, and these chick’s leave will we ever know where they end up? Thanks
Janet, the only way we find out where they go is if someone reads their bands and reports the bands to USGS or the PA Game Commission. It doesn’t happen often.