C1 on Heinz Chapel steeple, 14 July 2016 (photo by Lori Maggio)
August has been boring for watching Pittsburgh’s peregrines outdoors. It’s hot, the adults are molting and lethargic, and the youngsters have left town. Even when female ownership changes at Pitt we never see it happen.
A month ago outdoor watching was more interesting. On July 14 Lori Maggio photographed C1 perched on the Heinz Chapel steeple.
C1 on a gargoyle at Heinz Chapel steeple, 14 July 2016 (photo by Lori Maggio)
C1 at Heinz Chapel steeple, 14 July 2016 (photo by Lori Maggio)
Shortly thereafter C1 left town to begin life on her own.
Since then the best place to watch the peregrines has been on the nestcams: Cathedral of Learning and Gulf.
Magnum at the Cathedral of Learning nest, 12 August 2016, 5:15pm (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Get ready to update your scorecard. There have been two! changes in female peregrine ownership at the Cathedral of Learning so far this weekend.
Friday evening “NR” saw a black/red banded female at the nest and posted a comment that Magnum was back on August 12 at 5:15pm — that’s 17:15 time code on the camera. The photo above clearly shows Magnum’s bands.
Then Saturday night, August 13 at 6:52pm, members of Pittsburgh Falconuts saw Hope on camera calling loudly. Terzo was nearby but he waited almost four minutes to join her. Though her black/green bands are hard to read here, we know it’s Hope based on multiple snapshots. She visited the nest again alone in the 8 o’clock hour.
Hope returns to the nest, 13 August 2016 at 6:52 pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
So here’s the state of play at the Cathedral of Learning pre-dawn on August 14. I’m writing this before they wake up and change things again!
30 Nov 2015: Hope arrives at the Cathedral of Learning
8 April 2016 (same day): Hope retains site after unbanded immature female visits the nest.
23 April 2016 (same day): Hope retains site after a banded adult female (black/red) visits the nest.
22 June 2016: Magnum (black/red 62/H) claims the Cathedral of Learning.
24 June 2016: Hope regains the site.
2 August 2016: Unbanded young female claims the Cathedral of Learning.
6 August 2016: Hope regains the site.
12 August 2016: Magnum (black/red 62/H) claims the Cathedral of Learning.
13 August 2016: Hope regains the site.
As of this writing I have no idea where Magnum is but she knows her way around. She’s been to the Cathedral of Learning before, possibly on April 23 and certainly on June 22. Her home base has been the Neville Island I-79 Bridge, to which she returned after her last visit.
I don’t know how long Hope will stay this time. Don’t even ask!
As I said on August 6, no humans ever see how these turnovers occur. As far as I can tell no peregrines get hurt.
Thank you to NR and to all of you who check the Cathedral of Learning falconcam for peregrine activity. Without your help we’d never know how interesting this summer has been.
Unbanded young female peregrine visits Cathedral of Learning nest, 2 August 2016 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Yesterday at 5:30pm Carol D. and Megan Briody saw something that the rest of us missed: This unbanded 1-year-old female peregrine bowed with Terzo at the Cathedral of Learning nest.
Apparently Hope was not at home.
Hope was last seen on camera on Sunday evening, July 31 at 6:49pm. No peregrines visited the nest on Monday. Then yesterday afternoon, August 2, Terzo visited alone several times and often looked up. Was he looking for someone?
At 5:29pm Terzo came to the nest and called to someone. Soon an unbanded young female arrived and they bowed for five minutes. Her color is a mix of gray and brown because she’s molting into adult plumage.
Unbanded young female, back to camera, bows with Terzo (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
When the session began Terzo was in the back corner but the male peregrine (almost) always leaves the ledge first so the two had to change places. That maneuver was so clumsy that it looked as if the young female chased Terzo away.
But no, Terzo paused on the nestrail to watch her as she bowed again.
Unbanded young female bows to Terzo (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
He left. And then she left.
Unbanded young female peregrine leaving Cathedral of Learning nest, August 2, 5:32pm (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Female “intruders” at this site have become a routine occurrence. As I said in my reply to Carol D, Hope has probably gone wandering. Her behavior shows she’s a weak owner of the Cathedral of Learning so I won’t be surprised if she’s chased away next spring and replaced by a new female.
p.s. Click on these links to read Carol D’s and Megan‘s reports. (You might have to scroll down.)
Dori and Louie bow at the Gulf Tower nest before dawn, 30 July 2016 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)
In late July, the nesting season is over but Pittsburgh’s adult peregrines still see each other every day and sometimes visit the nest to bow and cement their pair bonds.
The Downtown pair, Dori and Louie, are especially early risers. Here they are this morning, Saturday July 30 at 5:53am. In the distance you can see the sky lighting up in the east and the silhouette of the Cathedral of Learning. The sun rose at 6:16am. (They also visited before dawn on July 24.)
The Cathedral of Learning peregrines aren’t such early birds but they’re bowing too. Sometimes Hope is impatient for Terzo to join her at the nest. Below, she shouts, “Come here!” on 25 July at 8am.
Hope shouts to Terzo, “Come here!”, 25 July 2016 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Yesterday they bowed twice — at 4:11pm and 6:22pm, July 29. Here’s their second session.
Tezro and Hope bow at the Pitt peregrine nest, 29 July 2016 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Now that the “kids” have grown and flown, the adults spend time with each other.
Peregrine falcon, Dorothy, at the Cathedral of Learning in February 2011 (photo by Patricia Szczepanski)
Twenty-five years ago peregrine falcons moved into the City of Pittsburgh. Since then lots of cool raptors have come here, too, including red-tailed hawks, Coopers hawks, turkey vultures and, most recently, bald eagles.
City living provides food and protection from predators but birds face new challenges by living near humans. Jean-Nicolas Audet of McGill University wondered if these challenges put city birds at a disadvantage compared to their country cousins so he designed some tests to answer these questions: Which group is better at problem solving? Which group is more immune to disease? And since both traits require lots of energy, is there a trade-off such that smarter birds have lower immunity?
The Caribbean island of Barbados has both city and country habitats and an endemic species that lives in both places, the Barbados bullfinch (Loxigilla barbadensis). Audet tested the bullfinches and the results were surprising.
“We found that not only were birds from urbanized areas better at innovative problem-solving tasks than bullfinches from rural environments, but that surprisingly urban birds also had a better immunity than rural birds,” says Jean-Nicolas Audet, a Ph.D student in the Department of Biology and first author of the study published in the journal Behavioral Ecology in 2016.
As earth’s human population grows and more habitat is converted to cities, more birds may have to choose the urban environment. If they can adapt, it will be a smart move. As Audet says, “Urban birds have it all.”
Read more about the 2016 study and find links here to “The town bird and the country bird: problem solving and immunocompetence vary with urbanization“.
Terzo and Hope bow at the Cathedral of Learning nest, July 2016 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Peregrines Don’t Mess Around. This is true of many aspects of peregrines’ lives but here I’m referring to a new report about their sex lives.
Last weekend mentalfloss.com reported that DNA studies of peregrine breeding pairs and young in Chicago indicate that all the offspring have been born of the established pairs. In other words, peregrines aren’t having extramarital affairs. Peregrines don’t mess around.
“Even greater than their loyalty to each other was the falcons’ loyalty to their nesting sites. It makes sense; while a partner might die in a collision with a building or a power line, a safe nesting niche is forever.”
p.s. In case you missed it: Yesterday July 19 at 1:45pm I saw all three peregrine family members at the Cathedral of Learning. C1 flew in (squawking!) and landed at the 23rd floor northeast corner. Terzo evaded her and hid in a nook at 32 east. Hope flew in and landed on a 28th floor stone peak below Terzo. Both parents were avoiding C1’s demands. (No worries. This is normal behavior.)
p.p.s. Thanks to @PittPeregrines for alerting me to this article.
C1 stops by the Cathedral of Learning nest for a visit, 15 July 2016 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
This month Hope and Terzo stop by the Cathedral of Learning nest nearly every day to bow with each other but yesterday C1 showed up. Megan Briody reported on July 15:
I heard C1 screaming off camera today around 2:27 PM, and not long after she started, Terzo flew into the nestbox. He must have been trying to hide from her! After he left at 2:41, C1 came into the nest and stayed until 2:48! She looks different without her baby fluff!
Yes, her parents are trying to avoid her but C1 is persistent. Eventually she’ll get the hint that it’s time for her to leave town and begin her own adventures.
Dori and Louie bow at the Gulf Tower nest, 14 July 2016, 3:48pm (photo from the national Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)
Yesterday (July 14) was Old Home Week for the Downtown peregrines as they toured all the places they’ve nested since Dori arrived in Pittsburgh six years ago.
Around 7:30am Lori Maggio saw “an adult peregrine, Dori I assume, preening on the Third Avenue nest ledge. Then she entered the nest.” The photo below from last May gives you an idea of what Lori saw. The peregrines nested here in 2012, 2013 and this year, 2016.
Adult peregrine at entrance to Third Avenue nest in May 2016 (photo by Lori Maggio)
At 10:55am Dori and Louie visited their 2015 nest at the old Macy’s Annex. Matt Digiacomo, who captured these photos, says the area is under renovation. The door is open on the balcony behind Dori so she’s not likely to nest here. Perhaps she was curious.
Dori visiting her 2015 nest site at the former Macy’s Annex, 14 Jul 2016 (photo by Matt Digiacomo)
And perhaps Louie was curious, too. While Dori checked out Macy’s, he perched at his usual overlook on the Union Trust Building. I’m sure he’s glad the Union Trust scaffolding is gone.
Louie at his usual perch on the Union Trust Building, 14 July 2016 (photo by Matt Digiacomo)
Finally at 3:48pm the pair rounded out their tour with a bowing visit to the Gulf Tower, at top. Dori nested here in 2010, 2011 and 2014.
All of Dori’s predecessors — and Dori herself — used the Gulf Tower continuously from 1991-2011. It’s a mystery why she’s so nomadic.
(photos from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower, Lori Maggio and Matthew Digiacomo)
Dori at the Gulf Tower, 13 July 2016, 6:38am (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower, Pittsburgh)
Dori watches the city wake up, Downtown Pittsburgh, Wednesday, July 13.
Dori refused to use this nest in March but she likes it in July. Her nest site on Third Avenue faces south-southwest. This nest at the Gulf Tower faces north-northeast.
