Last weekend there was a shuffle at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest.  A new female came to visit.

On Friday afternoon Carol D. noticed something unusual and sent me this comment:

[11/11/2016]  I was watching the Pitt falcon cam this afternoon and Terzo was at the nest. At about 1:00 you could see the shadow of another falcon land on the ledge out of sight of the camera. After a short time, it came into the nest and didn’t act like Hope. I couldn’t see the legs very well, but it didn’t look like it was banded. I took a screenshot of it and compared it to one (of the many) that I have of Hope and it wasn’t her. She has a white chest area with few brown dots and comparing this screenshot with hers, the one that was there with Terzo had more of a cream colored chest with a lot of brown spots. I was just wondering if you or anyone else noticed this.

No one else reported it but thanks to Carol’s tip we knew where to look. I pulled the motion detection snapshots while Pittsburgh Falconuts friends made a video bookmark here: Terzo and friend at scrape.

Who was this female visitor?  Here’s what we know.

Her face has a faint peachy color.  (Notice the area between her nape and malar stripe in the next two photos.)

She appears to be unbanded.  You can see one bare leg while she’s perched below, and both bare legs in the next snapshot.

And just as Carol said, her chest plumage is peachy-colored with many dots.

Even though she’s unbanded her appearance is so unique we’ll be able to recognize her if she returns.

And, yes, she is gone.  The shuffle was temporary.  24 hours later Hope was back at the nest.

(photos from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ. of Pittsburgh)