1 May 2023
Alas!
As much as Morela stands at the scrape overnight at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest and as much as she crouches to lay an egg, nothing happens. This has been the case for more than for two weeks now. Every night is like this one on 27-28 April.
Ecco is solicitous. He bows with Morela several times a day, brings her food and probably mates with her though we don’t see it on camera. Ecco can tell that she’s egg-y but …
Morela’s problem is obviously physical. She may be egg bound but there’s no way to know. Whatever it is, it does not look life threatening at this moment(*).
So there are no eggs this year at the Pitt peregrine nest. I would love for Morela to prove me wrong but … Alas.
Meanwhile, if you’re starved for the sight of peregrine chicks on camera, check out these streaming cameras:
- rfalconcam, Rochester New York: Incubation began around 1 April so hatching will be next week.
- Chesapeake Conservancy Peregrine Falcon Cam, Baltimore, MD: Fluffy white chicks.
- Wakefield Peregrines, UK: Chicks in the nest. This site is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time (Pittsburgh).
(*) HISTORY AT THIS NEST SITE: In 2014 Dorothy was egg bound, looked very sick (photo at the link) and then passed the egg and was well enough to lay eggs the next year. As of this writing on 1 May, Morela does not look sick like Dorothy did.
(photo and video from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Being egg bound can be EXTREMELY life threatening, and often times will end in death the longer the animal is unable to lay.
If she is unable to pass the egg, or it breaks inside of her, this leads to infection, and sepsis if left untreated by a vet. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to get that care. I have watched her behavior, thinking she will lay-the ways she bears down over the scrape sometimes-and have recently worried that she is bound.
My reason for writing is because you shouldn’t misinform people by saying things like “it isn’t life threatening”, lest they end up seeing her dead on cam sometime soon.
Thank you for the updates—our son asks us every day to check if you’ve shared any news on Morela. If she is egg bound, can she recover or is it always fatal?
Being egg bound is not always fatal. In 2014 Dorothy was egg bound and expelled the egg. https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2014/03/31/she-was-egg-bound/ In 2015 she laid 4 eggs so it did not affect her ability to lay.
Downtown Seattle nest has 3 eggs
https://1201third.info/main.cfm?sid=oservices&pid=falcons
You may be interested to know that there is a young peregrine in the Pleasant Hills, Pa 15236 area. Several other raptors have been observed periodically, including eagles. (My social media accounts have arctic fox photo.)