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.
Yesterday they bowed twice — at 4:11pm and 6:22pm, July 29. Here’s their second session.
Now that the “kids” have grown and flown, the adults spend time with each other.
(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the Gulf Tower)
It is so nice to see Louie and Dori at the Gulf tower. Hopefully they will nest there next year. Thanks Kate for another great article about our favorite birds.
It”s wonderful to see them, thank you for your contributions, I am so glad I found this site. I am learning so many things about Peregrins, and all the other wonderful things you write about. I love the Pergrines, thank you again.
Would be nice next year to watch two families of Falcons in the area. Gulf tower is such a wonderful nesting site. Would like to see it being used.
Kate,
I just looked at the archives for today (Aug. 2) and at 5:30 this afternoon Terzo was in the scrape and an unbanded falcon flew in and seemed to go after him. It looked a lot bigger than him so it must have been a female, but there were no bands on the legs.
It chased Terzo off. I was wondering if anyone has seen Hope today? I checked the archives for the whole day and she wasn’t in the scrape at all. I just hope everything is ok.
Thank you.
Carol D, If I have seen it clearly, the bird at 5:30pm appeared to be a 1+ year old female without bands. They bowed together and then he left first. The male always leaves the bowing session before the female. She was abrupt when they changed places so it looked like she chased him, but he paused before he left. He wasn’t frightened.
Thanks Kate for your reply. So will Terzo bow with any random female that comes along? It makes me wonder about where Hope could be because I’m sure if she was around that wouldn’t have happened.
I have’t seen her on the cam since Sunday around 7:00 pm. Do falcons take short vacations like bald eagles or do they pretty much stay in their area all year long? Hope has been pretty consistent about being there at least once or twice a day, sometimes with Terzo and sometimes alone.
Sorry for all the questions. I just get a little concerned if I see a falcon in the scrape that shouldn’t be there.
Carol D, regarding Terzo bowing with other females, see this quote from my “Peregrines Don’t Mess Around” article of July 20:
This literally means that Terzo is more loyal to the building than to Hope. Yes he (and any male) will bow with a new female that claims the building. That is The Way of the Peregrine.
Some peregrines stay home, some wander, some migrate. Dorothy and E2 both stayed home. Terzo stays home too. They knew/know that if you leave a prime territory like the Cathedral of Learning you’ll lose it & must fight to regain it. So they stayed in the area and came home every evening.
Hope has probably gone wandering. (Rob Protz reported her at Tarentum earlier in July. Maybe she visits her old nest site.) Her behavior shows she’s a weak owner of the Cathedral of Learning. Other peregrines take advantage of this weakness. I won’t be surprised if she is chased away next spring and replaced by a new female.
More peregrine drama! I got home just in time to see/hear an unbanded female in the nest with Terzo (17:30 on the webcam). He called her in, they were in the nest together for about 6 minutes, and then she chased Terzo out. Her beak is paler yellow than either Hope or Terzo, the white on her belly and legs is more yellow-brown, and a few of her wing feathers looked brown. Maybe it’s the same juvenile who visited Terzo in April
The last time I found Hope in the archived footage was Sunday night, 07-31-16 around 18:50, but there are a few chunks of missing time between then and now. I tried to go back to the footage of the juvenile in April to see if she had a pale yellow beak, but I got the “stream not found” error when I clicked on it
Truly a continuing drama with this nest site. If Hope is not a strong defender of this nest then I expect we will see a new female in the spring. Hopefully it will be one with good parenting skills. Terzo is a fine catch. Miss the years of watching Dorothy’s time at this nest. Am assuming repairs and cleanup will be done at the nest site before next nesting cycle begins.
Sue, yes repairs and cleanup late this fall.