Last week Lori Maggio visited Third Avenue between Wood and Smithfield to take photos of the Downtown peregrines.   Look closely and you can see that both birds are banded.  Unfortunately we can’t read the bands yet.

Though we’re not sure of this pair’s identity, the choice of nest site on a ledge on Third Ave leads me to believe the female is still Dori.

My guess is that the bird pictured below is the male.  Is this Louie? We don’t know. Louie is 14 years old now — quite old for a peregrine — so it’s possible he was replaced by a new male.

Both adults like to perch on the turquoise-colored “shields” on top of Wood Street Commons.

The adults go in and out of the nest with food, indicating there are young at the nest.

We won’t know how old the nestlings are until they appear at the edge of the opening.

(photos by Lori Maggio)

Most of us have never seen peregrines nesting at wild cliffs so it’s a real pleasure to find this excellent video from Hokkaido, Japan showing a pair nesting by the sea.

Click on the screenshot above to watch peregrines’ family life as the chicks grow up from ages two to five weeks.

Here’s what you’ll see:

• The male chases dense flocks of birds to separate out a single bird and capture it.
• 1st feeding, chicks 2 weeks old (This is C1’s age today at Pitt):  The male brings food close to the nest but not into it. The female leaves the nest to take the prey and carries it back to the nest to feed the chicks.  If you were watching this feeding on a nestcam you would not see the male at all and might mistakenly think the female does all the hunting.  Nope.
• 2nd feeding, chicks 3 weeks old:  The chicks have full crops showing as gray bulges on their throats. This is a sign they are well fed.  (You can see this bulge already on C1’s throat when he is full.)  The chicks are not very hungry so after their mother eats she takes away the leftovers to cache them.
• 3rd feeding, chicks 4 weeks old: The chicks are half brown with growing feathers.  They rush at their parents to grab the food and eat it on their own.
• Ledge walking and learning to fly, 5 weeks old:  One chick flaps and lands at the bottom of the cliff in the water.  Notice that he can swim!  He gets out of the water and climbs the cliff.  🙂

Nestcams see such a tiny piece of birds’ lives that you might misunderstand what’s going on.

Peregrines are fascinating when you watch them from the ground.

(screenshot from video by Eduence Field Production, Ltd)

11 May 2016

Congratulations to Lori Maggio whose search for perching peregrines has paid off.  She found the nest site of the Downtown peregrines!

Lori walks to and from her workplace at the USX Tower and often walks at lunchtime so when I asked folks to look for peregrines Downtown, she decided to help.

It was a fruitless effort until Monday May 9 when she found a peregrine perched on a high railing at Point Park’s Lawrence Hall. Later that day she stopped by and a peregrine was perched there again.

Then yesterday, May 10, she saw a peregrine take food to the nest!  Both adults went into the nest and came out after about 30 seconds.  Are the young old enough to feed themselves?  If so we should be seeing them at the nest opening soon.

If you’d like to help watch for activity, visit Third Avenue between Smithfield and Wood Streets.  Heading down Third Avenue (it’s one way), pause at the parking lot that runs between Third and Fourth Avenues.  Facing Wood Street, look up to the right and you’ll see a building that looks like this.

Look for activity at the opening, as shown in the top photo, and let me know if you see a chick. We won’t know when to have Fledge Watch until we know how old the chicks are.

Thank you, Lori!  So glad you found the nest!

(photos by Kate St. John)