I have never seen a peregrine nesting season as strange as the one that’s unfolding at the Cathedral of Learning this year. Since February Morela’s mate Terzo has been dealing off and on with an unbanded male intruder but the contest never ends. Morela courts with both of them and has not laid eggs though she looks like she wants to. Her body is probably confused. So are we.
Yesterday was a little different. Morela watched the sky and wailed repeatedly from the front perch.
I asked Kathy Majich, a peregrine monitor in Canada, what she thought of this behavior. Here’s her response, edited for length:
I’ve seen Morela yelling her head off at times in an agitated manner and that’s the same vocalization I hear when there are intruders in our territory. The female will race to the nest box and run up and down the ledge yelling her head off. That’s how I figured that other male was still around.
I’ve never seen a situation go on for so long. And her behavior tells me she’s young – an experienced female would have sent that other male packing during nesting season. I remember our first female here, Angel, had just laid an egg and suddenly another male came in and her mate got into with him. It was quite intense and she just pulled herself out of the nest box and flew over to both of them and went into a stoop and thumped the intruder and that was that – he took off like a rocket.
— Kathy Majich, 24 April 2020
My years of experience with the Pitt peregrines did not prepare me for this kind of contest. Intruders never lingered with Dorothy, Erie and E2 and with Hope and Terzo intruders were not the main problem.
Watch the National Aviary falconcam at the Cathedral of Learning to find out what happens next. Morela is learning and so are we.
What a strange spring it’s been!
(photo and video from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Thanks for the info, Kate. It’s been strange to watch Morela as she comes screaming into the nest, vocalizing loudly on the way in. I expect to see Terzo close behind but no, usually not the case. Then she sits in the nest, e-chupping away. Next she goes to the green rail, and more often than not after that, up on the roof. She’s been up there e-chupping for the last half an hour or so, seen only in shadow. (Wouldn’t you know that she has now left, at around 11:00 am.) The wailing she does just sounds sad.
I feel bad for her and know that I shouldn’t put human emotions onto what is happening – trying to keep that in check. So I continue to watch and listen, and hope that the two males will sort things out so that Morela can get on with what nature wants her to do. Too bad it’s not looking good for this season.
Thanks for the update, Kate! Pa Gal, I’ve noticed the same behavior a couple times, most recently on the 18th, although in both cases, she was already in the nest box. Judging from the vocalizations, I assumed there was a male nearby, possibly on top of the nest box. I assume that when she flew up there, the two mated, since the vocalizations changed, but without documentation, I can’t say for certain that was what was happening. In neither case did I see the other bird, so I don’t know which one it was. Most of the time when I check the cam, nobody is in sight, and I don’t hear any off-camera vocalizations. I’ve also checked a few times the past several evenings, and there’s been a bird perched on the rail perch, although he/she is half off-camera, and I’m not sure who it was. From the size, I’d guess Morela.
5:30. For 10 minutes Morela has been at nest. Quiet. Eyes keep blinking closed. Looks like she is sleepy and almost ready to fall over. Sometimes a blink but also closing both eyes at once