On Monday 26 August 2019 I received a text message from Dan Yagusic while he was looking at a peregrine perched on the 62nd Street Bridge. The bird was banded: Black/Blue 48/N.

I replied, “I think I know that bird. Will look her up and text you back.”

Sure enough, she’s the peregrine falcon who spent part of last winter near the Hulton Bridge on the bald eagle side(*) of the Allegheny River. Gina Gilmore took many photos of her and was able to read her bands. 48/N is a female who hatched on the Tower Building in South Bend, Indiana in 2016.

Dan said, “I was at the bridge for five minutes when she flew in with a pigeon and gave me a great look at her band while she ate breakfast.”

So now we’ve seen three peregrines at or near the 62nd Street Bridge in just two months.

• A fledgling below the bridge at Tree Pittsburgh on 3 July 2019.
• An unbanded injured peregrine rescued on Main Street in Sharpsburg on 6 August 2019. This bird was so badly injured that he had to be euthanized. From the photos he looked like a 2nd-year male to me.
• An adult female on 26 August 2019, Black/Blue 48/N, who spent the winter of 2019 near the Hulton Bridge.

It’s beginning to look like there was a peregrine family at the 62nd Street Bridge this year. Maybe they used the nestbox. Dan says it’s in good condition.

Read more about 48/N and see more of Gina’s photos in this post from last January.

(*) The “bald eagle side” is on the north side of the Allegheny River. It’s where photographers stand to take pictures of the Harmar eagles.

(photo by Gina Gilmore)