Fledgling birds are hard to keep track of.  Hard on their parents.  Really hard for humans!  Yesterday’s Peregrine Fledge Watch in Downtown Pittsburgh was a case in point.

By Saturday evening Fledgling#2 had flown for the first time and ended his day on the Union Trust Building.  Sunday morning he was still there when Doug Cunzolo arrived.  Soon the bird flew to the Courthouse ledge, then an hour later to Union Trust on Grant Street.  So far so good.

The bird’s parents had their hands full babysitting #3 at the nest and persuading #1 to fly high.  They were busy.  We watched #2.

Just before noon it started to rain so we stopped watching on Grant Street and sheltered under the scaffolding around the corner.  We thought #2 wouldn’t fly in the rain.  Hah!

When the rain was over he was gone.  All five of us searched the ground, buildings and plazas along Grant Street and Fifth.  We knew he wouldn’t be hit by a car because traffic was at a standstill, detoured for the Pride Parade.

Fledge Watch continued, we left, others arrived.  Then at 2:30pm Terry Wiezorek was watching on Fifth Avenue when PGC Officer Kline walked up with a cage and said, “Are you looking for this?”

#2 had been on the ground at BNY Mellon.  Who knew!

By 4:00pm Terry knew #2 was on the rescue porch and #3 was at the nest.  She could hear a fledgling, perhaps #1, calling for food.  She watched Dori and Louie for clues.  Where is #1?

Hard to keep track of!

(photos by Terry Wiezorek)

p.s.  After last night’s heavy rain (2.25 inches!) the birds probably won’t fly for a while and may be even harder to find.  More news later.

p.p.s. 9:15am all 3 accounted for: 2 on UTB, one at nest.

UPDATE, June 16, 9:40am: #1 on BNY Mellon ledge on 5th Ave at 6th across from ivy-covered old jail wall (a different building than Main), #2 on dormer at roof line of Union Trust, #3 sleeping in nest, Dori on Courthouse knob, Louie off hunting.

Downtown:  Status as of June 14, 7:00 a.m.

If you come Downtown, the best location for observing the nest ledge is at the Union Trust Building sidewalk on Fifth Ave. The ledge is the top balcony of Macy’s Annex on Scrip Way.  When there’s a fledgling on the “rescue ledge” it can be seen from Mellon Square.

We think Fledgling#1 left the “rescue ledge” yesterday morning.  We don’t know where he landed but his parents do and that’s all that matters.

As of 8:00pm, Robin reported that Fledgling#2 landed on the 4th floor ledge of the Union Trust Building.  He flew up to it from the ledge above the Frick Building entrance.  Up is good.  4th floor is good.  This morning Doug Cunzolo saw him fly to the Courthouse.  The bird is making progress.

As of 7:00am today (June 14), the 3rd nestling is still hanging back inside the nest area.

Thank you, Robin and Doug, for your reports.

If you have time, we need watchers in the evenings after 5:00pm.  No need to sign up.  Just come on down.  Make sure you write down the phone numbers on this flyer in case you need them.

Neville Island I-79 Bridge:  Status as of June 13 afternoon.

On Friday the female fledgling, “Red” above, landed on a barge traveling down the Ohio River and had to be rescued by PGC Officer Kramer.  She would have starved without her parents as she traveled to New Orleans (or wherever).  He took her back to Neville Island.

Yesterday afternoon Anne Marie Bosnyak saw a second fledgling flapping on the top arch of the bridge after many days of assuming he’d died. So there are two!  Great news!

Cathedral of Learning:  The Pitt chick will fledge in a few weeks.  Meanwhile, here’s an informative June 11 article in Pitt’s University Times.

(photos by Anne Marie Bosnyak)

Lunch hour in Downtown Pittsburgh was extra exciting yesterday when one of the three peregrine nestlings made his first flight.  Fledgling #1 landed safely on BNY Mellon’s plaza at Fifth and Grant and was rescued promptly by PGC Officer Kramer who placed him high on a nearby building to start over.

Michael Leonard, an Aviary volunteer and Pittsburgh Falconut, was passing by the area and helped guard the bird until the PA Game Commission arrived.  Then he snapped this rescue photo.  Great job, everyone!

Fledgling#1 is just fine so he’s ready to make his second flight from a much higher location than his inaccessible nest.  WCO Kramer put him on the “rescue porch” where he immediately and actively(!) checked out his surroundings.  He was not banded (no bands available at time of rescue).

His June 11 flight was two days earlier than I expected but weeks of preparation paid off.

Knowing that Fifth and Grant was likely to be Ground Zero for fledglings, I circulated this flyer with the PGC phone number to nearby businesses and security guards.  Perhaps someone used the flyer to make the call.

I also knew that rescued fledglings would need a higher zone than the 7th floor nest for their second take-off so I proposed a location, Art McMorris approved it, and Larry Walsh cleared the way.  Thanks to John Conley who handles on-the-ground details and to The Business Most Affected By This (whom I won’t reveal for privacy of the porch & fledgling.)  Many thanks to all!

Meanwhile two youngsters were still waiting for take off yesterday afternoon.  The brown one looks like he might fly today.  The other is younger and will wait a while. But who knows how long?  I’m afraid to predict at this point.

Downtown Fledge Watch starts tomorrow where Fledgling#1 landed.  Chances are there will be some excitement this weekend.  Click the link for details.

C’mon down!

p.s. Check Matthew Digiacomo’s Flickr page for recent photos from the nest.

(photo credits:  PGC rescue by Michael Leonard, Fledgling#1 on the “rescue porch” by Kate St. John, two nestlings by Matthew Digiacomo)

The peregrine situation looked sad yesterday at the Neville Island I-79 Bridge when site monitor Anne Marie Bosnyak checked for fledglings. She found one far below on the river’s edge — dead.  Apparently it had landed on the ground and a predator killed it(*).  … 1 Down.

But things looked much better today.  One of the remaining two birds had fledged to a tree.  … 1 Up.

His parents Beau (top left) and Magnum (bottom right) kept a close eye on him.

Meanwhile two nestlings remain at the nest, though only one was seen today.  The youngest, a female, will fly last because she has less feather development and is heavier.  … 2 to Go.

(*)  In the first 24 hours of flight, fledgling peregrines lack the wing strength to take off from the ground.  If they fledge to the ground they just stand there and may fall victim to predators or vehicles.

(photo by John English)

When you want to identify a banded peregrine it pays to find a good photographer.

In the old days we read peregrines’ bands using scopes and binoculars but it was notoriously difficult and nearly impossible at high nest sites like the Westinghouse Bridge.

We usually learn the females’ bands on Banding Day because mother peregrines guard the nest, but the males always remain a mystery because they never come close.

However… when the Hays eagle’s nest failed this spring, Dana Nesiti (Eagles of Hays PA) was casting about for a subject to photograph.  Site monitor John English invited Dana to the Westinghouse Bridge.

Right off the bat, Dana documented an unusual changeover.  Early in nesting season his photos showed the resident female was still Hecla (black/red, 68/H) but on April 12 the bands looked different.  His photo of black/green, 66/C revealed that the former resident Storm had ousted her rival.  We would never have known this without Dana’s photos.

Then on May 30 the PA Game Commission’s Art McMorris visited the Westinghouse Bridge to check on the peregrines’ nesting status.  Dana took photos from below while Art found two 5-day-old chicks and three unhatched eggs.   Several photos of the male were good enough to read the bands: black/green, 19/W.

It took a while to find out where this bird came from but it was worth it.  He hatched on Cobb Island in 2006, a barrier island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, and was hacked at the New River Gorge, West Virginia as part of the peregrine restoration program.  He had no name.

A Google map of Cobb Island is embedded below (zoom out to see more).  Click here for information on the New River Gorge peregrine program.

Now that he’s nesting this bird gets a name.  John English named him “George” for George Washington of Virginia, George Westinghouse of the Westinghouse Bridge, and the gorge (almost george) of the New River Gorge, West Virginia.

Thanks to Dana Nesiti we now know that Storm and George are at the Westinghouse Bridge.

Photos solved the mystery.

(peregrine photo by Dana Nesiti, map embedded from Google Maps, bridge photo by Kate St. John)

Now that peregrine nestlings have been examined and aged in the Pittsburgh area, we can estimate when each site will make its first flight.

The fledging dates below are just estimates, calculated as the 39th day after hatch(*).  Young peregrines fly at 40-45 days old but the actual fledge date is up to the individual bird and sometimes the weather.  Males fly earlier than females because their lighter weight makes it easy to get airborne. In a nest with both male and female chicks the youngest females are alone at the nest for a day or two after the males have left.

In Pittsburgh, point-based Fledge Watches are set for a day or two before expected fledge through at least the second day after the last bird has flown.  Two days before flight it’s fun to watch the birds ledge-walk.  Two days after fledge, young peregrines have enough strength and flight ability to move faster and further than Fledge Watchers can navigate, especially in Downtown Pittsburgh.  At that point the official Fledge Watch dissolves while we wait for random reports of young peregrines peering in windows (nice to know) or accidents requiring rescue.

The table below shows the estimated dates.  Note that end dates always depend on activity at the site.

Four of Pittsburgh’s eight peregrine nest sites have either no nesting activity or are a mystery this year.

• Mystery: Monaca, Beaver County. Nest site is inaccessible on top of the big black P&LE Railroad bridge that crosses the Ohio River from Monaca to Beaver.
• Mystery: McKees Rocks Bridge. Every year the peregrines’ nest is notoriously hard or impossible to find, even with a bucket truck.  This spring an adult pair was seen on May 24 and the pair “kakked” at a kayaker on the Alcosan side of the river on May 31.  It appears they have young but we have no idea where.
• No nest:  Tarentum Bridge: This pair has not attempted to nest, perhaps because the male is young and still in juvenile plumage.
• No peregrines: Green Tree water tower. Nest was attempted in 2013. No peregrines this year.

(photo of a fledgling at the U.S.Steel Tower, June 2014 by Patti Mitsch)

(*) The official first-flight age is 40 days after hatch, but can appear to be 39 days when a bird hatches overnight.