Dorothy at Dusk


Back in June when the peregrine fledglings had just flown at the University of Pittsburgh, Steve Valasek saw Dorothy perched on one of the 32nd floor spouts at the Cathedral of Learning.

He went inside and took this picture from the 36th floor window.  It gives you an idea of the peregrines’ perspective.  So high up. 

Night was falling and the lights were coming on.

Dorothy at dusk.

(photo by Steve Valasek)

14 thoughts on “Dorothy at Dusk

  1. WAY too high for me! It makes me dizzy….

    Dorothy is beautiful and such a good mommy!

    Thanks for the great pic, Steve!

  2. A wild wonderful view of a beautiful wild bird that we all enjoy looking in on her “mother” phase of her life. She fulfills her natural notch in wild nature very well. I feel it such a privilege to partake of this experience and look forward to the “next” chapter in 2011. Thanks Kate.

  3. Today was a good day for watching peregrines at Pitt. At lunchtime Karen Lang and I saw both adults in side-by-side nooks on the east face of the Cathedral of Learning’s 32nd floor. They were facing inward but they must have been “talking” to each other because Karen heard them calling.

    About 15 minutes later a young kestrel flew past the Cathedral of Learning from the direction of Heinz Chapel. Perhaps this was the same kestrel Anne Marie saw this morning.

    Yse, this activity doesn’t sound like much but after weeks of boredom it was relatively exciting.

  4. yay, thanks for using another photo Kate. This is an awesome birthday present (today is my birthday!)!

    I need to get cracking on some more Falcon pics, although I’ve never photographed a Kestrel…
    And I saw, what was probably, a Red Tailed on the top of the Pete last weekend. It had drawn quite the crowd, but I was in the car and couldn’t take any pictures of it.
    I was also at Tarentum for about 15 minutes yesterday afternoon and I did not see any Peregrines.

  5. Great pic! I spotted one of the peregrines on the lightning rod yesterday — looked big, so probably Dorothy. And there’s me without binocs or a camera, of course (not to mention, I was driving!) I stopped at the Phipps farmers’ market and when I looked back toward the COL to see if she was still there, she chose that moment to take off. I don’t know where she went — my eyes aren’t quite *that* good — but she did not come toward the park. Still abundant redtails over in that neighborhood, of course.

    Happy birthday to Steve! Mine was last week, and my family got me a nice digital camera with excellent zooming power — but I haven’t gotten to try it out on a peregrine yet. I can’t even get my backyard hummingbirds to stay put long enough for a good pic!

  6. Hi all — I finally photographed the hummingbird! Of course, he showed up just as I was giving up, and I couldn’t zoom all the way in. By the time I got the close up, it was “Bye Bye Birdie!”

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/VAdame/Birdies/005.jpg
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/VAdame/Birdies/006.jpg
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/VAdame/Birdies/007.jpg
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/VAdame/Birdies/ByeByeBirdie2.jpg

  7. Thanks everyone! Today I’m getting married, talk about a crazy week. My next mission is to photograph some gold finches that hang out around my work, there seem to be dozens.

  8. Congrats on your marriage, Steve-o! At least you aren’t superstitious about Friday the 13th! 🙂

    Keep on taking those great bird pics!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *