Large earthquakes are unusual in Australia so it was surprising when a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck near Mansfield, Victoria at 9:15am on Wednesday 22 Sept 2021(*). It rattled Melbourne 65 miles away.
When the earthquake began the male peregrine was on the nest incubating four eggs. At first he crouched low but as it continued he jumped up, looked around, and flew away with a wail. Watch him return to the nest in less than two minutes.
Incubation was successful and the chicks hatched on 30 September (watch video here). The “kids” have been growing rapidly ever since, thanks to many feedings. Here’s a recent feeding, Thursday morning 7 Oct 2021 at 7:15am(*).
When you do, keep in mind the large time zone difference between Melbourne and Pittsburgh. The feeding shown above occurred in Pittsburgh at 4:15pm on Wednesday.
(*) indicates date & time is local to Melbourne, Australia.
Peregrine flying upside down, Stammy at Youngstown, Ohio in 2011 or earlier (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
29 Sep 2021
There aren’t many birds on Earth that can fly upside down or backwards.
Peregrine falcons, like fighter jets, are powerful precision fliers that can fly upside down if they want to. Though we usually miss seeing it, Chad+Chis Saladin have photographed several episodes.
Above, more than a decade ago a peregrine nicknamed Stammy nested in Youngstown, Ohio after hatching at the Cathedral of Learning in 2003. When he was a youngster I saw his father Erie do a back flip and fly upside down in front of his “kids” on the nest rail. In the photo above, Stammy shows what he learned from his dad.
Below, you might be fooled that this peregrine is flying normally because of the position of its wings and head. Wrong! It’s upside down. Notice that its dark back is facing the ground while its white-and-gray underside is facing up. The bird twisted its head almost 180 degrees to focus on prey while it dives. Perhaps this optical illusion is why we don’t realize peregrines are flying upside down right in front of us.
An optical illusion: this peregrine is flying upside down (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin, 2017)
Peregrines can flap while they’re upside down, then turn sideways to right themselves.
Flying upside down (photos by Chad+Chris Saladin)
Turning right side up (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
Hummingbirds break all the rules. They’re the only birds that can fly both upside down and backwards. Here are two videos from southern California that show hummingbirds in …
Our hummingbirds have left for the winter but there are still plenty of them in the southern tier. Watch hummingbird feeders from southern California to Florida to see them fly upside down and backwards.
Morela and Ecco, 23 Sept 2021 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
23 September 2021
Though courtship season is four months away and egg laying won’t begin until March, Morela and Ecco have been cementing their pair bond by bowing at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest nearly every day. Sometimes one remains at the nest to preen.
On Wednesday 22 September it was warm and windy as a line of storms approached from the west. When Ecco and Morela bowed at 11am, Morela became distracted. “What’s that?”
“What’s that?” says Morela on 22 Sep 2021 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Ecco stayed behind to catch some sun on his back.
Ecco opens his wings in the hot sun, 22 Sep 2021 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Late in the afternoon the rain began in Oakland in small shower-like drops. Morela opened her wings to bathe.
Morela begins to bathe in the rain, 22 Sep 2021 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Watch the pair’s activities in this 2-minute video: Bowing and bathing at the Pitt peregrine nest.
Peregrine approaches, dangling a menacing foot, 2021 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
19 September 2021
The rooftop deck of my building overlooks the largest chimney swift roost in the Pittsburgh area, the Cathedral Mansions chimney, so I wasn’t surprised when Sarah Koenig of Audubon Society of Western PA emailed to arrange a location for a live online Chimney Swift Watch.
(Roosting chimney is on the left, below, with a sun pillar coming up on its right during today’s sunrise.)
Sun pillar next to tall chimney (swift roost) at Cathedral Mansions, 19 Sept 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Unfortunately the situation at this chimney looked boring for a live event. Since Hurricane Ida I haven’t seen many swifts but I decided to make sure. On Thursday evening, 16 September, I went to the roof at sunset to count the swifts.
Chimney swifts near a peregrine nest site in Ohio, 2021 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
By 7:40pm about 100 swifts were circling the chimney and one had just dropped in. Suddenly I was distracted by a large bug that banged right into me. I brushed it away and I looked at the chimney again and there were no swifts at all! I’d been distracted for mere seconds and I know it takes many minutes for the flock to drop in. Where did they go? As I waited and watched, the swift inside the chimney came out and flew away, too. Huh?
I tried again last night, Saturday 18 September. This time I looked for all species. I saw 400+ crows heading for Oakland after sunset and a peregrine perched on the Cathedral of Learning.
As the sky darkened I focused exclusively on the chimney. Again, 100+ swifts circled the chimney and I waited to count them when they dropped in. It was 7:40pm.
Cathedral Mansions chimney with swifts circling, September 2020 (photo by Michelle Kienholz)
And then they were gone.
But this time I knew why (*or maybe not; see note below). As I watched a peregrine approached the chimney from the darkened eastern sky. He could see the flock silhouetted against the sky but the swifts couldn’t see him until he flew through the flock and scattered them like bowling pins.
Peregrine approaches a flock, 2017 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
For the peregrine it was a game of skittles. For the swifts it was life or death. Peregrines can grab swifts in the air. Maybe he did.
Peregrine with chimney swift prey at St. Ignatius, 2020 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
This swift game of skittles is new behavior for the Pitt peregrines but it may be that Ecco is trying out new things during his first autumn at Pitt.
I hope he gets over these sunset games. I’d like to see a lot more swifts at the chimney.
(*) Maybe the swifts had better reason not to use the chimney. In the story above, I mentioned that swifts had been scarce since Hurricane Ida and that in mid-September individual swifts would go in the chimney and then come out, refusing to roost there. The chimney is part of the boiler system that heats the building and is used in cold weather (see hot exhaust rising in January below). It was unusually cold for 3 days after Hurricane Ida — as low as 49 degrees — and I seem to remember chimney exhaust on the third day. That would have killed any swifts roosting in it. Might have been an ugly scene for swifts showing up days later. Uh oh!
Cathedral Mansions chimney in use, January 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
The Pitt peregrine falcons, Morela and Ecco, are staying close to home and watching fall migration as it passes through Pittsburgh. Every day they visit the nest, bow to strengthen their pair bond, and preen on camera. On 10 September they met twice at the nest, shown below.
A few days ago I wrote about birds that twist their necks. Watch Morela preen the spot between her shoulder blades. I can touch that spot with my fingertips but it’s a stretch!
As fall migration continues, raptors swell the southbound stream. At the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch (closest to Pittsburgh), broad-winged hawks peak in September, sharp-shinned hawks in October, red-tails in late October, and golden eagles in November. Peregrines are rarely seen, averaging just 34 individuals per season. Their numbers peak in the first week of October.
Peregrines are rare at the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch because they are not numerous to begin with and the watch is far from their typical migration routes. However, many peregrines are never counted on migration because they don’t migrate at all. It depends on where they breed.
Arctic peregrines are truly migratory. Their food sources — nesting shorebirds, seabirds, and songbirds — leave the arctic from July through September so the peregrines must leave, too. A decade ago The Southern Cross Peregrine Project (SCPP) satellite tracked a dozen arctic peregrines wintering in Chile and found that those that breed in northeastern Canada always leave around the September equinox.
From there, unless major weather diverts them, northeastern arctic peregrines typically fly due south to join the Atlantic Flyway. In the spring they track west and follow the Central Flyway. The map below shows five years of satellite tracking of an arctic peregrine, “Island Girl,” on her migration south from Canada to Chile (red) and returning in the spring (blue).
5-year map of an Arctic Peregrine’s migration routes (Island Girl map from Southern Cross Peregrine Project) NOTE: As of 2021 frg-org is no longer on the Internet
Meanwhile adult peregrines in eastern North America generally don’t migrate at all. Urban peregrines remain on territory year round because their food supply is constant (pigeons) and actually increases in the fall when migratory songbirds arrive for the winter. Adult peregrines may move a short distance during winter scarcity but not necessarily south. Juveniles definitely wander.
The animated PA Game Commission map below shows nine months of wandering by a juvenile peregrine that hatched at the Gulf Tower in Spring 2002. The bird left Pittsburgh on 1 July and wandered to New Jersey, the Chesapeake, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. This was only the beginning.
Telemetry map of juvenile peregrine falcon banded at the Gulf Tower in Spring 2002 (animation from PA Game Commission, 2003) This animation is no longer available on the PGC website
Juvenile peregrines wander until they reach maturity at age two, then wander to find a breeding territory. Good nesting “cliffs” are scarce so these floaters may wander for years. When they finally claim a nesting site they won’t leave home unless an even better site becomes available.
Do Pittsburgh’s peregrines migrate? No. I see them in person and on the National Aviary nestcam from November through February when migratory peregrines are in South America.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals. Telemetry map of juvenile peregrine falcon banded at the Gulf Tower in Spring 2002 (animation from PA Game Commission, 2003). This animation is no longer available on the PGC website)
Peregrine falcons occur on every continent except Antarctica and always breed in the spring. In Pittsburgh they lay eggs in March, hatch in late April, and fledge in early June. The breeding season ended here months ago as we head for fall.
Meanwhile on the other side of the world spring is about to begin in the southern hemisphere and peregrine nesting season is underway. Yesterday Ingrid Brouwer tweeted that the peregrines in Melbourne, Australia laid their fourth egg on Sunday 29 August.
Watch the Melbourne peregrines live at Peregrine Falcons at 367 Collins. Keep in mind that Australia is other side of the world in more ways than one.
Melbourne is 14 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S. so if you watch the peregrine nest at 6:00pm Pittsburgh time it is 8:00am tomorrow in Melbourne. I tuned in at 6am this morning and watched at 8pm there. The building must be floodlit from below; the nest is in shadow.
What is growing in the Pitt peregrine nestbox? (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
29 August 2021
Something big and green is growing in the Pitt peregrines’ nestbox. What is it?
It first appeared as a small green smudge in late July. You can barely see it in this photo of Morela.
By 2 August the smudge matched the green perch. Ecco ignored it.
By 27 August it was hard to ignore. Ecco gave it more space.
The leaves remind me of black locust but trees usually don’t have a growth spurt in late summer. Weeds do.
It’s probably a weed. Can you identify it?
Meanwhile, don’t worry that the weed will be a lasting problem. We plan to remove it during annual nestbox maintenance this winter. Even if we didn’t it won’t interrupt nesting. Young peregrines are fine with weeds as shown in this 5 June 2010 snapshot from the Gulf Tower.
Click here and scroll to the bottom for an up-to-date look at the Pitt snapshot camera. What do you think it is? Is it wild senna?
(photos from the National Aviary falconcams at Univ of Pittsburgh in 2021 and Gulf Tower in 2010)
Morela preens at the green perch, 12:24pm 12 August 2021 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera)
15 August 2021
Mid-August is a quiet time for the Cathedral of Learning peregrine falcons. This year’s youngsters have left the area to begin their life adventures while the adults stay close to home and wrap up their annual molt.
Morela and Ecco rarely visited the nestbox in July but last Thursday 12 August they spent eight minutes bowing together. They were not courting. They were strengthening their pair bond.
Morela calls to Ecco, 10:32am 12 August 2021
Come here!
Ecco arrives
closer...
further...
Ecco almost leaves
but he returns
and Morela leaves
Ecco goes back and forth, 3 times
After 20 minutes, Ecco leaves
In other news, I usually don’t check the snapshot camera but when I did so on Monday 9 August at 4:44am Morela was perched there in the dark. This was a one-time event.
Morela before dawn, 4:44am, 9 August 2021 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
To check the snapshot camera scroll down on this webpage to see the 2nd image. NOTE: The first image is the streaming camera which is not functioning now.
