10 March 2021
The falconcam at the Cathedral of Learning gives us a 24-hour window on the lives of the Pitt peregrines at their nest. What we see is often unique to the breeding season but one activity is probably true all year — peregrines don’t sleep through the night.
In the run-up to egg laying Morela is spending her nights perched at the front of the nestbox but it’s clear from the falconcam that she is periodically active after dark.
On the night of 8 March she fell asleep after sunset but left the nestbox at 8:50pm and returned 40 minutes later with a full crop. Since she’s not hunting for herself at this point I suspect Ecco brought her a bedtime snack.
Morela left the nest again at 4am and within half an hour Ecco showed up and called to her. Was he courting her at night?
Watch the Day-in-a-Minute video below, 8 March 4:20pm to 9 March 7:00am to see what our peregrines are up to on a typical March night.
By the way, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this on camera. In April 2010 Louie and Dori were active at night at the Gulf Tower nest.
Watch the live action for yourself at the National Aviary’s falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh.
(photos and videos from the National Aviary’s falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Kate I’m looking at the live stream and whoever is perched there seems to be holding a foot up. I can’t attach a pic but if you look at the stream around 11:14am you will see it. Is this an injury?
I didn’t see it but I doubt it’s an injury. Sometimes Morela gets tired of standing on both feet.
I want to break out into song! “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!” 🙂
Thanks Kate, I didn’t know they go on one foot at times! Interesting. I also don’t know why my post showed some form of your name instead of mine when I left the comment. ?????
Kate, any idea as to when we could expect Morela to lay the first egg? Is it possible like she could do it within the next like few days? I know Hope had usually laid eggs around now. Obviously, we can’t go off of last year due to the contest between Ecco and Terzo. But is it possible that Morela will lay eggs within the next few days?
Michael, I cannot hazard a guess on when Morela will lay eggs but it’ll probably be before April 15. The only history on Morela is that she laid eggs in May 2020 while she had 2 suitors. That’s not the case this year so who knows.
Meanwhile in the SF Bay Area…
Great news! Peregrines in San Francisco & Berkeley have laid eggs. Finger crossed for a happy nesting season. (Details on SFist website.)
Fingers 😉
Hi Kate, i love your blog! i have a photo i of the falcons i wanted to share with you, how can i do that?
You can share it to me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KStJBirdblog/