Peregrine Sightings Here and There

Peregrine at the Freeport Bridge, 15 August 2019 (photo by Dave Brooke)

There usually aren’t many peregrine sightings in August, but we had a few from here and there.

Freeport, PA: On August 6 Sean Brady was canoeing down the Allegheny River on a group trip from Kinzua Dam to Pittsburgh when he saw two peregrines at the Freeport Bridge (Route 356). On August 15 Dave Brooke stopped by the Butler-Freeport Trail and got this photo of a peregrine perched on the bridge. It stayed there for at least 30 minutes. Perhaps it feels at home.

Here’s an aerial view of the Freeport Bridge from downriver …

Freeport Bridge over the Allegheny River (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

… and Dave’s photo showing where the peregrine was perched.

Peregrine on the Freeport Bridge, 15 August 2019 (photo by Dave Brooke)

If you go to Freeport, Dave provided this map showing where he stood to see the bird.

Map of Freeport peregrine location from Dave Brooke

Sharpsburg, PA: On the night of August 6, Sharpsburg Police rescued an injured adult peregrine near the corner of Main Street and 6th Street. (Update: I have since learned that this peregrine was so badly injured that it had to be euthanized.)

Injured peregrine rescued in Sharpsburg, 6 August 2019 (photo courtesy Sharpsburg Police Dept)

The injured bird was found only a few blocks from the 62nd Street Bridge where peregrines may have nested this year. A fledgling was seen on the City of Pittsburgh side on July 3.

62nd Street Bridge from the Sharpsburg side (photo by Dan Yagusic, 2007)

This Google map shows where peregrines have been seen this year near the 62nd Street Bridge.

Hopewell, Virginia: On Monday August 12 my husband and I were the first car in line waiting 15+ minutes for the deck to lift while a boat passed under the Benjamin Harrison Lift Bridge in Hopewell, Virginia. This is the bridge where Hope, the resident female peregrine at the Cathedral of Learning, was born.

Benjamin Harrison Bridge from Jordan Point Marina, looking north (photo by VADOT, Creative Commons license via Flickr)

While we waited, a juvenile osprey perched very close to my side of the car. When the bridge deck finally started coming down (slowly!) a peregrine flew off the superstructure, zoomed right past our windshield and knocked the osprey off its perch. It then pumped out over the river and back up to the tower.  Wow! So close! I was cheering!

Was that peregrine one of Hope’s parents? I don’t think so. Hope is 11 years old … but you never know.

p.s. It never occurred to me to take a picture of the osprey or the bridge until we were miles away. 🙁

(photos by Dave Brooke, Wikimedia Commons, Sharpsburg Police Department, Dan Yagusic and VA DOT; click on the captions to see the originals)

6 thoughts on “Peregrine Sightings Here and There

  1. INFO ALERT:

    The aerial photo of the Freeport Bridge is from downriver, not upriver. The Bridge is downriver from town and is on river-right. If the photo were from upriver, Freeport would be on the Westmoreland Co side.

  2. How is the injured peregrine from Sharpsburg (one of the 62nd St bridge peregrines?) doing? Has it been taken to a rehab center?

    1. The Sharpsburg peregrine was taken to rehab but we don’t know where. Art McMorris, PGC Peregrine Coordinator, is trying to find out the status of this bird. If you hear of anything please leave a comment.

    2. Robin, I have since learned that the Sharpsburg peregrine was so badly injured that it had to be euthanized.

  3. My husband and I were on the inaugural Aviary river birding boat trip last Saturday. We got a great view of a Peregrine sitting on the girders below the McKees Rocks Bridge. Probably the closest we’ve ever been to one, except when we were eating at the long-gone Top of the Triangle restaurant in downtown Pittsburgh in the early 90’s and a Peregrine perched on the railing right outside of the window next to our table.

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