20 March 2024

Back in early February, Malcolm Kurtz stopped by East Liberty Presbyterian Church to photograph the resident peregrines. He found them carrying prey, perching on the steeple and hanging out together.

Malcolm first noticed the birds in December when “[he] saw an adult perched on the steeple from an overlook on Chatham’s main campus.” Good thing he followed up on it. The red aircraft hazard lights, which don’t look red from a distance, had fooled me so often that I stopped looking for raptors on the steeple. Malcolm’s photos show that a perched peregrine is about the same size as the lights but the bird is hard to see. If you’re near the steeple look carefully. How do peregrines manage to match every building they perch on?

While on site on 8 February Malcolm saw the female (at right) bring prey back to the church and eat it while the male looked on (at left). Notice that she is peachy compared to him.

Meanwhile Adam Knoerzer checks on the peregrines every day and has noticed they’ve changed their area of focus. On 14 March he recorded the male flying in with prey and, later, the pair flying together.

The peregrines have been spending a lot more time on the east face of the steeple.

This is the side of the steeple facing Highland Avenue. Around a month ago, I primarily spotted them on the opposite side of the steeple and south face, but they have tended to perch over on this face in the past week or two.

— email from Adam Knoerzer, 14 March 2024

• Green = floodlight where female likes to perch.
• Red = plucking perch where male prepares food for female.
• Blue = possible peregrine nest zone. Shows sticks leftover from old red-tailed hawk nest. Female often perches here at sundown. In first video below, male drops off food at this location.

Their change of venue probably reflects the lack of substrate anywhere else on the structure. This location is probably the only place that has an obstruction to prevent their eggs from rolling off the building.

If you want to see the East Liberty Presbyterian peregrines look from the Highland Avenue side first.

(credits are in the captions)

19 March 2024

This morning Carla laid her third egg of the 2024 season at 2:01am. Because her nest is visible on a timestamped camera, I can tell you she laid the 3rd egg 52.87 hours after Egg#2. (Egg#2 was 53.14 hours after Egg#1.)

Here’s a video of the egg-laying moment, sped up to double-time, which happens to make it obvious.

By 6:29am Carla had been off the eggs for 90 minutes (standing up). That’s a very long time to be off the eggs if she had already started incubation because they would cool dangerously in this morning’s freezing weather.

Peregrine incubation begins when the female has laid her next-to-last egg but it is always hard to tell when it truly starts if the weather is cold because the adults cover the eggs to keep them from freezing. When incubation truly begins, the parent exposes the brood patch and lays its bare skin against the eggs. Peregrines can vary how much skin is exposed thus delaying the actual start of incubation until the clutch is nearly complete.

Learn more about the parents’ roles in incubation here. By the way, the bird covering the eggs on recent mornings has been Ecco.

Watch the Pitt peregrines on the National Aviary Falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh.

p.s. Happy Spring Equinox tonight: 19 March 2024 at 11:06pm.

(photos and video from the National Aviary Falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

17 March 2024

Carla laid her second egg last night at the Pitt peregrine nest, 16 March 2024 at 9:08pm.

In this video clip from the National Aviary falconcam we see the actual laying occurred quietly at timestamp 21:08:38. (This is 53.14 hours after her previous egg.)

Carla then raised her tail and remained in a standing position as she waited for the new egg to dry. Though the eggs are actually reddish in daylight, they look white under infrared night light.

After the egg dried Carla roosted on the green perch in front of the nest.

Mother peregrines are the ones who stay at the nest overnight with eggs and chicks while their mates roost nearby. Ecco was apparently roosting within earshot but not very close. I believe he knew she had laid a second egg; he probably watched (off camera) when she laid it.

Carla was still asleep on the perch when it rained at 4:00am. When Ecco woke up at 4:30am he started to wail. Wailing means “I want something to change.” Perhaps Ecco wanted Carla to cover the eggs or maybe he meant, “I want to change places with you.”

Carla woke up and responded with unusual squeaky chirps. She jumped to the nestbox roof and Ecco arrived to cover the eggs. Listen for his voice and the sound of robins singing in the dark at the beginning of this video.

An overnight nest exchange is very unusual but I’ve seen it once before. When Dori was a new mother at the Gulf Tower in 2010, Louie took over incubation in the middle of the night a couple of times (*). Louie had experience raising a family and Dori did not. Perhaps he was getting the eggs through a critical period, waiting until he felt confident that Dori had caught on.

Peregrines are quick studies at being parents but it’s always nice when one of them already knows what’s going on, as Ecco does.

Watch Carla and Ecco as their family grows at the National Aviary Falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh.

(*)The nighttime nest exchanges at Gulf Tower in 2010 are described in these vintage blogs.

What were they doing last night?

Another strange night at Gulf Tower

(credits are in the captions)

14 March 2024, 4:15pm

Happy Egg Day at the Cathedral of Learning! Carla laid her first egg this afternoon, 14 March 2024 at 4:00pm.

This 2-minute video shows the moment she laid the egg.

Have a question about the egg or Carla and Ecco’s behavior? Check out the Peregrine FAQs.

Meanwhile, watch Carla, Ecco and their growing family on the National Aviary Falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh.

UPDATE: New video added on Friday morning.

Egg Day’s Day-in-a-Minute: 14 March 2024 from 7am to 7pm, compressed into 60 seconds.

• Carla lays the egg at 4pm (16:00).
• Her mate Ecco visits the egg for 3 minutes at 5pm (17:00) then Carla returns to guard it.
• Ecco swaps with Carla and takes care of the egg at 6pm (18:00). He probably brought her food which she’s eating off camera.

Note: Near the end of the video you will see white lines (not cracks) on the egg. DO NOT WORRY. THE EGG IS FINE.

Carla is a first-time mom so she moved the egg around a lot before it was dry. The reddish color is the last thing applied to the white eggshell before it is laid. While the egg is still wet the color can be smudged by the bird’s feathers or scratched by being moved on the gravel.

11 March 2024

Two weeks ago I issued the Southwestern PA Peregrine Challenge — Look for Peregrines in the Next 6 Weeks. The challenge won’t end in early/mid April but it will be a lot harder to find peregrines when they become secretive at their nests. We have 4 weeks before that happens. Meanwhile we have preliminary results. (See news after the map.)

The map below shows peregrine site observations in the past two weeks. The map has a …

• Yellow checkmark = a pair was seen,
• Yellow line = solo bird (We need to check again)
• Yellow circle = NO ONE LOOKED HERE.

Notice the yellow circles. Ohio Valley birders, the challenge is on!

Don’t stop looking where you see a checkmark. There’s a spreadsheet at the end with site names and details.

Meanwhile, GOOD JOB!

Downtown Pittsburgh: (photo at top) Yesterday, 10 March 2024, I stopped by the Third Avenue nest site in Downtown Pittsburgh and found a peregrine at home.

Cathedral of Learning, Univ of Pittsburgh: Carla’s new behavior is a good sign. Last weekend she initiated courtship at the nest and Ecco brought her breakfast on camera. Watch the Pitt peregrines online at the National Aviary Falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh.

East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh: Many birders have confirmed the peregrine pair in East Liberty including videos from Adam Knoerzer at Pittsburgh Falconuts Facebook group and this ebird photo by Malcolm Kurtz. I visited on 4 March and found both birds on the steeple. Where and when will they nest?

62nd Street / Highland Park / Aspinwall Bridges (Allegheny County): No photos but on 8 March Justin Kolakowski reported at Six Mile Island, “Watched as a male and female pair chased off a Bald Eagle that was flying upriver, and then perched on the water tower.” (Six Mile Island is between the 62nd and Highland Park Bridges.)

Tarentum Bridge (Allegheny-Westmoreland County line): Dave Brooke, Meredith Cellitti, Dick Nugent and I have all visited the site in the past two weeks. On 7 March I confirmed incubation with the photo below. Hatch is expected in mid-April.

Rt 422 Graff Bridge over the Allegheny River, Kittanning: Hooray for Dave Brooke! He found a peregrine here on 25 February.

Westinghouse Bridge: Hooray for Dana Nesiti who found both peregrines at home on 3 March.

Speers/Belle Vernon Bridge: Kudos again to Dana Nesiti for finding a peregrine at the Speers/Belle Vernon bridge on 25 February. This site had not been viewed since May 2023.

4 Weeks To Go!

There’s still time to look for peregrines before they get sneaky in early/mid April. Visit one or more of these sites and let me know what you see. Leave a comment with sightings or questions.

(photo credits are in the captions)

4 March 2024

Egg laying season is coming up soon at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest where Ecco and Carla are courting frequently.

Yesterday they held three long courting sessions that included bowing, ee-chupping, and nest preparation. The ee-chup call sounds different for male and female peregrines. Ecco’s voice is squeaky while Carla’s voice is rough and slightly lower in pitch. She’s the one that makes the “huh” sound. You can hear the difference in this 6-minute video. More information on what they are up to is described below.

After bowing, Ecco left the nest so Carla could make preparations on her own. To limber up she stretched her right wing and leg.

To “build” the nest, Carla put her chest against one edge of it and kicked the gravel out with her feet. The nest itself is a bowl in the gravel, called a scrape, for holding eggs so they don’t roll off the cliff. Peregrines don’t use sticks to build their nests.

After digging Carla puttered around on the gravel surface, swallowing small pieces of gravel to aid digestion. Birds add gravel to their gizzards to grind the food. Learn more about How Birds Chew at the link.

And when she was done Carla flew away.

A few weeks from now, after Carla lays her next-to-last egg, she’ll stay at the nest to incubate.

In the meantime stay tuned for eggs coming in March or early April at the National Aviary Falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh.

25 February 2024

From now until the middle of April peregrine falcons in southwestern Pennsylvania are courting and claiming territory, perching prominently, and performing conspicuous aerial displays. As soon as they start incubating eggs they’ll become very secretive so if you want to see a peregrine or record breeding activity for the new Breeding Bird Atlas 2024-2029, this is a great time to do it.

Look for peregrines in the next 6 weeks.

The red and blue pin drops, 1 Dec 2023 — 24 Feb 2024, on the eBird map below confirm that the best places to look are near tall buildings or bridges. There are also a few surprising locations such as Mammoth Lake Park in Westmoreland County.

11 peregrine territories have pairs present since January. Here’s the simpler map.

Of those 11 sites, five raised young last year and two more have a long history of nesting (7 boldface names below). The new and promising sites are boldface in the Notes column.

Peregrine Sites to Watch!

Looking for some excitement? Want to add Peregrine Falcon to the PA Breeding Bird Atlas? Check out these “hopefuls” for 2024.

Rt. 40 Bridge in West Brownsville, PA (Washington County). New nest (to us) last year, will they use it this year? Click here to read about this nest.

East Liberty Presbyterian Church in the City of Pittsburgh. Very hopeful signs at this site! Click here to read all about it.

West End Bridge over the Ohio River, Pittsburgh. This site often has pairs but no indication of nesting … yet. Click here to read all about it.

Sewickley Bridge over the Ohio River. This site also has pairs but no confirmation of nesting yet.

Monaca bridges over the Ohio River: RR Bridge or Rt51 Bridge. We know there are peregrines here but it’s hard to confirm breeding. Let this be a challenge to you!

Rt 422 Graff Bridge over the Allegheny River, Kittanning. We know there are peregrines here too, but with few observers we often don’t confirm breeding. Allegheny Valley People, let this be a challenge to you!

And … if you miss finding a peregrine in person you can usually count on a peregrine on camera at the Cathedral of Learning. Today they courted at dawn.

Keep your eyes peeled. Yes, there are peregrines out there!

Please leave a comment if you’ve seen anything. I always want to know!

(photo credits are in the captions)

19 February 2024

When last I wrote about the Pitt peregrines the resident female, Carla, was distracted –> While Ecco courts, Carla checks the sky. I was beginning to worry because she was absent from the nest six out of nine days. Fortunately she came back on the 16th and has been present every day.

Since then Ecco has stepped up his courtship moves. He likes to touch beaks and Carla obliges.

Fingers crossed that everything has settled down.

Find out what happens next on the National Aviary Falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh.