This giant shark snout in the sky is a flock of thousands of common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) flying at dusk near Gretna, Scotland. As starlings gather to roost their tight flocks, called murmurations, wheel and turn in unison making beautiful patterns in the sky.
Under pressure from a predator, starlings intentionally fly closer together and shape-shift into giant blobs, making it impossible for the predator to lock on to a single bird as prey.
Starling murmuration at Eyemouth, UK
Can you see the peregrine at top right, above, and to the left below?
The only way for a peregrine to catch dinner is to break the blob. He rushes the flock, trying to separate a few starlings away from the group. The blob gets even tighter!
In just 17 days the winter solstice on 21 December will bring us the shortest day and longest night. Since peregrines cue on the amount of daylight to trigger their breeding season, they aren’t in the mood for courtship right now. But the Pitt peregrines stay at the Cathedral of Learning year round and occasionally visit the nest ledge anyway in the off season. Sometimes they call for their mate to join them in a bowing session.
In the snapshot above Ecco calls for Carla to join him last week. “Hey, Carla. Come here!” She didn’t show up then, but she stopped by on Sunday. However Ecco didn’t arrive. (Note: The sun’s low angle made white dirt-spots glow on the camera housing.)
This week the New York Times described A Feathered Murder Mystery at 10,000 Feet which I cannot resist retelling because peregrines are involved. My story will be in photos none of which are from the real episode. See actual photos and the full story at the link above.
In early 2023 scientists from the University of Amsterdam attached satellite trackers to eight black-bellied plovers that were wintering in the Netherlands (a.k.a. grey plovers, Pluvialis squatarola). The goal was to find out where they breed in the Arctic. Here’s what one looks like in spring.
In late May 2023 the birds were migrating northwest over Sweden at almost 10,000 feet when one of them abruptly changed direction 180 degrees, descended to near sea level and completely stopped moving. When a tracking device sends that kind of news, the bird is dead.
650 feet away from the abandoned tracker was a peregrine nest. (Chances are very good that the scientists did NOT visit during nesting season but the whitewash left on a cliff is a clear indication of who was there in late May.)
The plover died during peregrine breeding season when there were probably young peregrines in the nest so the father bird went hunting up where the food was flying.
It’s not a surprise that plovers fly so high — some species fly even higher on migration — but it is a surprise that peregrines hunt at 10,000 feet. The plover’s tracker provided the first documented evidence.
Just when we think we know everything about peregrines, they surprise us again.
p.s. Please keep in mind that none of these photos are from the actual event!
Ecco pauses on the green perch at the end of the day, 2 Sep 2024, 7:05pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera)
2 September 2024
Yesterday’s cooler weather was a welcome relief after the long heat wave. Carla and Ecco took advantage of the breeze to spend time in the sun at the Pitt peregrine nest.
Carla preened and the pair bowed to cement their bond as seen in this slideshow.
It’s been another hot week with muggy high temperatures and more to come. Birds are adapting by bathing, hanging out in the shade, and avoiding activity during the worst part of the day.
Some birds who live where it’s hot and dry have adapted their bodies to help them cool off. Read about their special air conditioner nasal passages in this 2017 article.
p.s. Yesterday morning when it was 84°F and felt like 86°, Ecco took a sun bath to heat his feathers and force out the parasites. Aaaaaaah. And then he adjourned to the shade to preen them away.
Ecco sunbathes in the heat, 28 Aug 2024, 11:07am (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Ecco and Carla bow at the nest, 1 Aug 2024, 6:23pm (photo from National Aviary snapshot cam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
2 August 2024
Yesterday it was at or near 90°F for most of the day. No peregrines were visible when I walked around the Cathedral of Learning at 11am but by 5:45pm the nestbox area had been in the shade for several hours and had cooled off enough to attract Ecco and Carla.
Peregrines are not courting at this time of year but when a pair stays on territory year round they develop and maintain their pair bond through bowing at the nest. Yesterday they bowed for eight minutes at 5:45pm, then joined each other for 16 minutes at 6:20pm.
The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) has been monitoring Virginia’s peregrine population every year since the late 1970s. Because they track individual adults, they know who breeds where and when they go missing. This year the news was disturbing. Peregrine adult turnover statewide more than doubled in one year to a new rate of 40%. Forty percent of the adults disappeared (died) and were replaced by a new bird.
The only good news is that the high rate is skewed by the incredibly high turnover of 63.2% on the Eastern Shore while the rest of the state was 12.5%. The bad news is that the Eastern Shore has the highest concentration of breeding peregrines in Virginia.
p.s. I have not heard of this peregrine declines occurring in Pennsylvania, which is mostly an inland state. Perhaps our turnover rate mirrors Virginia’s inland statistics.
In 2023, out of 35 breeding pairs in Virginia statewide, 26 were on the coastal plain.
Adult peregrine at Monaca-East Rochester Bridge, 8 July 2024 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
9 July 2024
July is usually a boring month for peregrines in Pittsburgh. It’s hot. Nest duties are over. The adults are molting. But this week there are two bits of news.
Monaca-East Rochester Bridge:
On Monday morning, 8 July, Jeff Cieslak checked for peregrines along the Ohio River and stopped by the Monaca-East Rochester Bridge. He usually looks on the Monaca (south) side but yesterday he checked East Rochester (north) as well. There he found two fledglings and one adult, pictured here.
Juvie peregrine flying in, shouting, at the Monaca-East Rochester Bridge, 8 July 2024 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)Juvie peregrine landing at the Monaca-East Rochester Bridge, 8 July 2024 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
The Monaca fledglings appear to be about 4-5 weeks younger than those at Pitt, putting their hatch date in late May and egg laying in mid-to-late April. Such a late nest makes me wonder if the first nest failed or if there was upheaval at this site with a change of partners that took until April to settle down. We’ll never know.
Cathedral of Learning: What was she looking at?
Carla on camera, 7 July 2024, 5:58pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
On Sunday 7 July Carla visited the nest from 5:08p to 7:36pm. In that 90 minute period she was very alert when jumped she up to the snapshot camera. I wonder what she was looking at.
"Yellow" juvie peregrine stops by for a visit, 2 July 2024
Can't read his bands but ...
... he conveniently displays his yellow-tape
5 July 2024
At the Cathedral of Learning the adult peregrines, Ecco and Carla, are staying close to home as they molt in the summer heat. Their two youngsters have been flying now for almost five weeks and are hunting on their own, widening their range until they disperse to peregrinate for two years.
Nowadays I rarely see the Pitt juvies so I was happy to discover that “Yellow” stopped by briefly on Tuesday 2 July as seen in the slideshow above. It’s been more than a month since our youngsters walked off camera. No one on the falconcam. So here’s a little video delight.
C&C Saladin recorded these youngsters at the Terminal Tower in Cleveland on 25 June. Almost a month younger than the Pitt juvies, these two had not fledged yet. C&C Saladin describe that they’re doing.
These two male juvenile peregrines, here at 36 days old, demonstrate their curiosity and their instinctive ability to track moving objects as they watch two barn swallows that were flying around and catching bugs near the nest ledge. They also demonstrate their distractibility, as each takes a moment to stretch. The slightly more developed (less downy) juvie stretches after the juvie on the left, also showing their imitative behavior.
