26 March 2025

When peregrines are incubating eggs there is rarely any action on the falconcam and it’s always brief, so chances are most of us weren’t watching when Carla and Ecco did this nest exchange yesterday morning. I missed it too, so here it is.

I’ve chosen to highlight this video, not because anything is unusual, but because it’s so nice to watch something other than a sleeping bird.

In fact the segment starts with Ecco sleeping, but he hears something I can’t hear (probably Carla) and raises his head to look around. We know she’s nearby when she wails.

What does she mean? From the Peregrine FAQs: Wailing means “I want something to change.”  The wail sounds awful but does not necessarily mean bad things are happening.  It really means “Things are not changing fast enough for my liking.” Read more about this call and others at Peregrine Vocalizations and What They Mean.

We can guess what Carla means in this context by watching Ecco. He knows she wants to trade places with him but won’t get up until she’s close by and ready to cover the eggs.

Carla comes closer and makes soft noises. Ecco leaves; Carla settles down to incubate.

Watch the Pitt peregrines on the National Aviary falconcam at the Cathedral of Learning. You might get lucky and see something interesting.

25 March 2025

Just when we’d thought Carla was done with egg laying Sara Showers saw 4 eggs at the nest this morning before dawn. We were surprised because peregrines usually lay an egg every other day. This one took twice as long and is 4 days after the prior egg.

It took a bit of searching the archives to find when it happened. Here is the moment at 4:34am.

Video of the few minutes before and after the egg appeared.

So my question about incubation is answered. It began, as it should, after the next-to-last egg.

25 March 2025

After Carla laid her last egg in the wee hours of 21 March at 2:07am and I saw her prepare to incubate the next morning at 5:40am, I declared on 22 March that incubation had begun. Was I right? I’m not so sure anymore.

I checked the falconcam timelapse videos and found that during the day of the 22nd Carla and Ecco both seemed to be incubating, but that night Carla spent an hour and a half off the eggs from 2:30am to 4:00am. You can see the gap in this timelapse video.

She also stood up for half an hour at 5:00am. What was she looking at?

On the 23rd incubation was more consistent. Carla and Ecco took almost no time off during nest exchanges and Carla slept on the scrape.

That night, 23-24 March, she stayed tight on the eggs especially while it rained. The raindrops look like snow in the infrared light.

So now I think incubation began on 23 March 2025.

Only the peregrines know for sure.

21 March 2025

UPDATE: I WAS WRONG! Carla laid her 3rd egg much earlier than I originally thought. It was before 2:07am on 21 March 2025.

I had expected Carla to lay her third egg last evening but it took a longer than expected. As early as 8pm she looked like she was ready to lay it (below), but it did not happen until this morning at 2:07 am (above).

At 5:40am I saw Carla corral the clutch, bob her body to expose her brood patch, and lay down with her back feathers standing up a bit, as shown in the video below. It looks to me like she’s begun incubation. (You can hear Ecco whining in the background.)

Hatch Day should be 33-35 days from now –> 23 to 25 April. In the meantime we’ll be watching The Big Sit on the falconcam for more than a month.

As I said earlier, there’s always a possibility that I’ve missed something and miscalculated the dates … and sure enough I’ve already had to make a correction.

p.s. Here’s a better look at the 3 eggs with Ecco standing next to them.

18 March 2025

This afternoon Carla got into position at the Cathedral of Learning to lay her second egg of the 2025 season. In the slideshow you see her standing upright with her tail down. After the egg is laid she tips up so her tail feathers don’t drag on the wet egg.

(photos from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Ten minutes later the egg had dried and she was ready arrange them underneath her and go to sleep. This gave us a chance to see both eggs at once.

I expect her to lay four eggs as she did last year. The time between these first two eggs is a little shorter than the same eggs last year. I wonder if this quicker trend will continue.

Watch the Pitt peregrines on the National Aviary falconcam at the Cathedral of Learning.

18 March 2025

The peregrines at East Liberty Presbyterian Church steeple are very active as they prepare to nest.

A week ago on 11 March Jeff Cieslak stopped by and found both birds at home.

He caught one in the act of landing on its favorite floodlight.

And Jeff saw them doing a lot of flying. Adam Knoerzer found out why.

The pair was vigilant on 11 March because a third peregrine showed up and took an interest in their territory. Adam captured a video of the encounter as the pair flew around chirping and drove the intruder toward Morningside/Stanton Heights and the Allegheny River. Turn up the volume to heard their territorial sound. The chirp sounds “happy” but it is not!

Yesterday, 18 March, Adam saw the male flying a lot and both of them perched in their favorite spots.

The female wanted to mate again.

After they mated, the male stopped by the nest.

Don’t let the sticks fool you. Peregrines don’t use sticks but the ledge is sloped and this old red-tailed hawk nest prevents the eggs from rolling off the building. Last year they fledged one youngster from this nest.

Stop by East Liberty to check out the action. With all this mating, eggs are surely on the way

p.s. Brief Update from Downtown Pittsburgh, Third Avenue

On 11 March I viewed Downtown’s Third Avenue nest using my scope from Mt Washington and saw one peregrine dig the scrape and wait on the ledge.

16 March 2025

Today at 1:17pm Carla laid her first egg of the year at Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest. The Pittsburgh area and large swaths of western PA and neighboring states were under a Tornado Watch at the time.

The first heavy downpour and lightning had passed when Carla arrived at the nest at 12:30pm but it was still raining and the wind was gusting to 48 mph. She took one last look at 12:53pm before hunkering down at the scrape.

At 1:22pm she revealed the egg.

Carla will lay her next egg in about two days so watch for it on the National Aviary falconcam at the Cathedral of Learning.

Here is the video clip of Carla laying her first egg of 2025. You can hear wind on the microphone and a distant rally in the park across the street.

10 March 2025

Did you know that peregrines touch beaks during courtship?

As egg laying time approaches, Pitt peregrines Ecco and Carla have been courting four and five times a day and engaging in long bowing sessions. Yesterday’s courtship included several touching moments beak-to-beak (shown below without distracting audio).

After Ecco left, Carla stayed at the nest for more than an hour stretching, snoozing, sunning, puttering , and preening. This is a good sign that she’s getting into breeding condition.

Carla putters at the nest, 9 March 2025
(snapshots from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ. of Pittsburgh)

We will know egg laying will happen soon when Carla spends the night at the nest.

Watch her at the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning.