15 January 2023

Pitt peregrines Morela and Ecco stay at the Cathedral of Learning year round but have not been active at their nest in this month’s gloomy weather. Next month real courtship will begin and so will the National Aviary’s Live Falconcam. It’s hard to believe the first egg of the year is only two months away.

To get in the mood for the 2023 nesting season here’s a slideshow of last year’s successful nest, a recap of highlights, and the Top 4 videos from the National Aviary falconcams.

Pitt Peregrine Highlights, 2022

• The year began quietly with a bit of snow.
• Ecco and Morela courted in February and March. Morela laid 5 eggs:
  • First egg: 3/18/2022, 08:31am
  • Second egg: 3/20/2022, 20:09 = 2.5 days later
  • Third egg: 3/23/2022, 04:40 = 2.4 days later … began incubation
  • Fourth egg: 3/26/2022, 06:32 = 3.1 days later
  • Fifth egg: 3/30/2022, 19:08 = 4.5 days later
• Hatch Day: 3 of the 5 eggs hatched on 26 April. The 4th hatched on 3 May. The 5th never hatched.
• The fourth chick hatched late and was weak from the start. It died on 7 May, four days after hatching.
• The remaining chicks grew up into fully feathered juveniles through the end of May.
• The chicks were banded on 26 May by Patti Barber of the PA Game Commission. This was the first time Morela and Ecco ever witnessed a banding. Morela was fierce (at top)!
• When the chicks began ledge walking Yellow Girl fell in the gully. Red Boy came down to visit her. She jumped back up a couple of days later.
• We had fun at Fledge Watch in early June.
• Red Boy was found dead at the Allegheny County Airport on 28 June just 23 days after he fledged.
• Both female chicks were loud! Yellow Girl demanded a handout and Silver Girl screeched all day on 6 July. Eventually they left home for good.
• Ecco and Morela molt in July and August.
• And they remain at Pitt year-round.

26 April 2022: Pitt Peregrine Chicks on Hatch Day, 4pm Feeding

28 May 2022: Ooops off the nest! One of the chicks falls in the gully.

31 May 2022: Back in the nest! Yellow Girl returns from the gully.

6 July 2022: Screeching all day … in July! Silver Girl demands a handout.

(slideshow photos by The National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh, Mike Drazdzinski at Univ of Pittsburgh, John English, Jeff Cieslak)

10 January 2023

Yesterday morning with help from Pitt Facilities Manager Dante Bongiorni, Gary Tuscan of the National Aviary and I conducted annual maintenance at the Pitt peregrine nestbox and falconcams.

As we came up the elevator we had no idea that Ecco was preening at the nest with a bit of fluff on his head. He must have alerted Morela because she was already watching us through the window when we arrived indoors. I should have taken her picture but was too preoccupied with the task ahead:

I was surprised when Morela strafed the nest rail and kakked when we reached the nest. This is new behavior for January, the non-breeding season, but it may be that our presence in the room near the nestbox was unusual since that room has not been used for a long time. Morela must have been remembering Banding Day last May.

I cleaned the cameras and Gary measured the back wall (slideshow above). The wall has a hole so Gary must return to fix it. I’ll have to come back, too, because the camera is still rather dirty. Before and After shown below.

When we come back Morela will get another chance to feel triumphant that we left because she chased us off. 😉

(photos from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

20 December 2022

Yesterday, despite the cold, Morela and Ecco each visited the Pitt peregrine nest at the Cathedral of Learning. Morela spent two hours preening on the green perch, then Ecco stopped by for half an hour. Their activities were captured as snapshots which I’ve turned into a video.

Peregrine falcons are well adapted to deal with cold weather. As they preen you occasionally see thick down underneath their outer feathers. Birds wear down coats. 😉

(snapshots from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh; music from YouTube: The Closing of Summer by Asher Fulero)

13 December 2022

On Sunday at lunchtime I was reading at the kitchen table when my attention was suddenly drawn to an explosion of feathers outside my window. I had missed the hit (alas!!) but I saw a peregrine flapping away with its prize, heading toward the Cathedral of Learning. Even if I’d had a camera I would have missed the shot. It happened that fast!

The feathers drifted slowly to the ground. Pigeon feathers.

Someone had pigeon for lunch.

(photos by Chad+Chris Saladin)

p.s. As partial compensation I saw a merlin at Schenley Park’s golf course at 2:42pm in a setting like this.

1 December 2022

Seven years ago this week Dorothy, the peregrine matriarch at the Cathedral of Learning, permanently disappeared and was replaced by “Hope” a bird that had formerly nested at the Tarentum Bridge. (Click here to read about the changeover.)

Dorothy was the bird that got me hooked on peregrines. By December 2015 I had watched her for 14 years and was not surprised she disappeared because she was elderly and in ill health. It was hard to watch Dorothy’s decline. She had been so vibrant in her prime.

Much has changed in seven years. Dorothy’s successor was a grave disappointment but Hope’s successor, Morela, is as queenly as Dorothy herself. We are lucky to have her.

Today in a trip down memory lane here’s a video tribute to Dorothy.

The key to Dorothy’s long life may have that E2 was such a good mate.

p.s. Hope turned out to be Hopeless but that’s a story for another day.

(photo at top by Pat Szczepanski in 2012)

22 November 2022

November is a quiet time for Pittsburgh area peregrines. Most of them stay on territory all winter but expand their range because food is less abundant at this time of year. Some peregrines make brief trips away from home but roost on their “cliff” when they come back.

Above, at the Westinghouse Bridge last Saturday Dana Nesiti found the male of the local peregrine pair preening in the sun. Below, Jeff Cieslak took a zoomed-in photo of the Cathedral of Learning from about a mile away. Both peregrines were perched on the 38th floor ledge on the Heinz Chapel side. This is a reliable place to find them in November but you’ll need binoculars!

The snapshot camera sees Morela and Ecco at the nest via motion detection. In November they visit infrequently and don’t stay very long. This slideshow shows their visits in the past 10 days.

December will see the low point of local peregrine winter activity. In January the begin to think about spring. Watch for them here on the snapshot camera.

(photos by Dana Nesiti, Jeff Cieslak and the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Definition: “cliff” = in the urban setting their home cliff is a bridge or building.