This morning I tuned into the Gulf Tower falconcam to watch the sunrise and — Surprise! — there was a peregrine falcon at the nest.  Soon there were two peregrines bowing on camera.

These two look like Dori and Louie and, no, they aren’t going to nest right now. They’re strengthening their pair bond.

Happy October!

(photos from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)

Thanks to Kathy Majich, I learned last month that a Pitt peregrine granddaughter is nesting in Ontario, Canada.

Dorothy and Erie were the first peregrine falcon pair at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning(*).  Their 2003 brood was especially successful because three of those four chicks went on to nest elsewhere.  One of them, Belle, nested at the University of Toledo until 2014.

During the 2014 nesting season, Belle was challenged by an intruder yet she successfully raised two chicks despite her injuries.  After the chicks were banded and fledged, Belle disappeared and the intruder took over.  Belle’s mate, Allen, coached the youngsters to independence.

This year we’re happy to discover that one of those chicks, Dr. Jane, was identified this spring in St. Marys, Ontario raising her own two chicks with her mate Cosmo.

(click on “View larger” so see Pittsburgh on the map.)

So Dorothy and Erie’s legacy continues with a granddaughter and great-grands in Ontario.

Click on the image above to read about “Dr. Jane” at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation’s Facebook page.  Click here to read about the peregrine family in St. Mary’s Stratford Beacon Herald.

(photo linked from Canadian Peregrine Foundation Facebook page. Map showing St. Mary’s, Ontario linked from Google maps)

(*) Note: Dorothy hatched in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1999 and was present at the Cathedral of Learning from 2001 through 2015.  Erie hatched in Columbus, Ohio in 1998 and was present at Pitt from 2001 through 2007. Erie was followed by E2.

Yesterday I learned that this juvenile female peregrine, black green 08/BR, was found dead at Allegheny County Airport, apparently hit by a plane on Sunday July 9.

08/BR hatched at the Cathedral of Learning this year and left home to start her new life four weeks after she first learned to fly — right on time.  Just 6.3 miles away she found a big open space in which to hunt.  Alas, she didn’t know anything about airplanes.

The video below by Peter Bell shows her on 8 June 2017 at Heinz Chapel when she was new to flying.

Her death, and the death of her brother 09/AP, leaves only one surviving juvenile from the Cathedral of Learning 2017 nest.  With a 62.5% mortality rate in their first year of life this peregrine brood has now matched the statistics, unhappy as that is.

Meanwhile, as of today July 14, we can confirm that the remaining young female is fine.  She’s been seen and heard nearly every day in Oakland, begging from her parents in a very loud voice.  She’s due to leave home any day now.

(photo and video of Pitt fledgling, black/green 08/BR, by Peter Bell)

UPDATE 21 July 2017:  The young peregrine died at Allegheny County Airport, not Pittsburgh International.  Thanks to Ryan for providing the correct information in the comments.

On Friday morning, 16 June 2017, this young male peregrine from the Cathedral of Learning flew head first into a window at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) on Fifth Avenue. He died instantly.

Banded black/green 09/AP, he was the adventurer among this year’s three chicks.  He flew faster, tried more stunts, and chased his parents more than his sisters did.  But, like all birds, he didn’t realize that the reflection of the sky in a window is not the sky.  He never got a second chance to learn.

When he was found dead at SEI’s front door, someone called the Pennsylvania Game Commission. WCO Kline recovered the bird’s body and took this picture of the location where he was found.  There’s a bird-strike smudge on the top right pane in the vault above the front door.

From the ground the top right window doesn’t look like the sky, does it?  At a higher elevation it reflects the sky and looks like a hole in the building just the right size for a peregrine to fly through. In the photo below I circled the smudge mark where 09/AP hit.

With a dark background (reflected wall) you can see the smudge.

This is how the building fools birds. On every side it looks like open rectangles to the sky.  In 2011, two of Pitt’s young peregrines hit the building on the Henry Street side. One died, one survived.

But this building is not unique.  Over the years young peregrines from the Cathedral of Learning have hit windows at other buildings near Fifth and Craig, died in a chimney (which has since been covered), and been hit by a vehicle.  Unfortunately peregrine mortality is 62.5% in the first year of life.

Meanwhile, windows kill one billion birds every year in the U.S.  44% of them die when they his residential buildings. You can help mitigate this problem by volunteering in many ways:

• Prevent window strikes at home by treating your own windows so they don’t fool birds.
• In many U.S. cities & Canada:  Volunteer with a group that rescues window-stunned birds and tracks window kills. In our area contact BirdSafe Pittsburgh (or their Facebook page).
• If you know architects and developers, learn about bird-safe glass and urge them to use it.
• If you have influence with LEED certification of “green” buildings, urge LEED to formally add bird-safe glass to the certification requirements (it’s in the pilot phase now).  Then urge developers to use LEED.

(photo of 09/AP by Peter Bell. photo of SEI front door area by WCO Kline; photos of SEI building by Kate St. John)

All three Pitt peregrines were airborne yesterday morning (June 8) and flying so well that they’re hard to keep track of.

By day’s end they had visited several floors of the Cathedral of Learning (CL), Heinz Chapel roof and steeple, and Alumni Hall.  Meanwhile their parents, Hope and Terzo, flew from place to place delivering food and watching the youngsters.

We could see one or two peregrines using a scope from Schenley Plaza Fledge Watch but Peter Bell got the best views by walking on the lawn near Heinz Chapel.  Great closeups!

Here’s a video of one youngster on Heinz Chapel roof.

She and her sibling then perched on the Chapel’s ornate posts. Can you find two juvenile peregrines in Peter’s photo?

… and then to the steeple.

… and then to Alumni Hall’s roof.

Hope paused after delivering food to the Forbes Ave side of the Cathedral of Learning.

She and the youngster both had food on their beaks.  This is the juvenile male, 09/AP.

The peregrines are hard to see from Schenley Plaza so PITT PEREGRINE FLEDGE WATCH IS OVER.

You might find a few of us wandering on campus with binoculars. We can’t get enough of the best Pitt Peregrine Season we’ve had since 2012. All three are airborne. Hooray!

(photos and video by Peter Bell, Pitt Peregrines on Facebook)

Best Since 2012:  This is the first time in five years that we’ve had more than one juvenile peregrine at Pitt.  In 2012 Dorothy and E2 had 3 youngsters, only 1 in 2013, none in 2014, one in 2015. Hope and Terzo had only one fledgling last year, 2016.

At Tuesday’s Fledge Watch we were very tired of waiting for the Pitt peregrines to fledge and someone joked, “They always fly when you’re not here, Kate.  Don’t come to Schenley Plaza tomorrow.”

It worked.  I didn’t hold a Fledge Watch on Wednesday June 7 and two of the three youngsters flew for the first time.

Kim Getz, who works at Pitt, was the first to notice.  Just after lunchtime she saw lots of flying around the top of the Cathedral of Learning so she walked around the building and found two fledglings.

I alerted Peter Bell (Pitt Peregrines on Facebook) who sent me updates when he found them.  Here are Peter’s photos of two fledglings flying and perching.

This one landed with talons outstretched.  Grab that building!

The second fledgling perched near the northeast corner of the 30th floor.  You can’t see this bird from any window.

Now that we had some action I went down to Schenley Plaza at 3:45p and stayed for an hour.

The third chick hadn’t flown yet — and still hadn’t as of 4:45p — but her parents really wanted her to.  Hope carried food past her in the air as if to say, “If you fly you’ll get to eat.”  Hope eventually gave up and dropped off the snack.

This morning at 7:25am Karen Lang saw two fledglings perched high on the Student Union side of the Cathedral of Learning.  I plan to go to Schenley Plaza this afternoon to see what’s up.

Stop by Schenley Plaza for PITT PEREGRINE FLEDGE WATCH today, June 8, at 3:30PM.

(photos by Peter Bell, Pitt Peregrines on Facebook)

Listen for whining and watch the parents.  That’s how you’ll find peregrine falcon youngsters after they’ve fledged.

Lori Maggio has been tracking the Gulf Tower peregrines using those two clues and shared these photos from June 1 through 5.

Above, a youngster calls to her parents from a corner of the Federated Building.  Here’s where the two birds were.

Look in unlikely places and you’ll find an adult peregrine perched inside the C of the UPMC sign on the US Steel Building.

The fledgling was on a ledge below.

And yesterday, a fledgling spent several hours on a 19th floor windowsill at the Gulf Tower.  The lucky folks in that office had a nice close look at a peregrine.

PITT PEREGRINE FLEDGE WATCH:  The weather looks acceptable today, Tuesday 6 June 2017, so I’ll be at Schenley Plaza from 11:30a to 1:30p.

No additional Fledge Watch days are scheduled but stay tuned, especially on Facebook and Twitter, in case I decide to go to the Plaza (maybe Friday Jun 9).

(photos by Lori Maggio)