
Here’s a quiz. And a plea for help.
There’s a peregrine falcon in the picture above. Can you see him?
When I took this photo from an office window last spring I already knew the nest was nearby.
This spring the Downtown Pittsburgh peregrines have moved again. We don’t know where, but we can find the nest if we find a perching peregrine. That’s because the male perches within sight or sound of the nest while the female is incubating.
Within sight(?): On April 6, Trinidad Regaspi saw a peregrine perched on the SPACE Gallery building at 812 Liberty Avenue.
Within sound(?): Yesterday morning at 7:45am, Matt Webb was on his BirdSafe route when he heard a peregrine calling from the direction of the old Horne’s Building at Penn and Stanwix. Doug Cunzolo checked it out an hour later but couldn’t find anything except lots of workmen erecting scaffolding on the building. The workmen were still there when I came by at 5:00pm.
I didn’t find a peregrine yesterday but there are plenty of places to look. That’s why I need your help.
Here’s what to do (as posted last week):
Look up! Or look out of your office window. Look for a perching peregrine. One of the pair will perch in the vicinity of the nest while the other one incubates.
Tips on where to look:
Look at old buildings, probably less than 20 stories. Look at ornate parts of the architecture, window ledges, etc. The peregrines are often camouflaged on ornate buildings.
I do not need to know if you see peregrines flying. (They fly everywhere.) I do need to know where they perch.
Mission impossible? Not if you help.
If you see a perching peregrine, leave a comment telling me where it is and I’ll come Downtown to check.
Keep looking up!
p.s. Even if you don’t live in Pittsburgh, these instructions are good for finding nesting peregrines in cities.
(photo by Kate St. John)