Who is Who? Carla or Ecco?

Ecco and Carla at the Cathedral of Learning nest, 18 May 2023 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

21 May 2023

Just one week ago the new female peregrine, Carla, appeared on camera at the Cathedral of Learning. Since then she and the resident male, Ecco, have been courting every day, sometimes as often as 10 times a day, and Carla has shown an interest in the scrape.

Carla digging the scrape, 19 May 2023 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Now that these two are a permanent couple how do we tell them apart? Here are some tips for comparing and identifying each bird.

Banded: The easiest clue is that Carla is banded (black/blue S/07) and Ecco is not.

Compare Carla and Ecco: bands and no bands (photos from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Coloration: Carla’s chest has tiny dark flecks. Ecco’s chest is pure white.

Carla and Ecco: flecks on breast vs clear white breast (photos from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Carla’s back is nearly uniform charcoal brown while Ecco’s back shows light-dark contrast between his paler gray back and black wingtips and tail.

Carla and Ecco: Carla’s back is uniform charcoal brown, Ecco’s shows contrast (photos from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Size: Male peregrines are 1/3 smaller than females. Carla is always the bigger bird as shown in photo at top. Compared to Ecco, Carla’s body is longer and she is bulkier. If only one bird is on camera, compare it to the size of the nestbox or camera view.

And now we’re ready for a quiz. See if you can identify who is who.

The more we watch Carla and Ecco the better we’ll get at identifying them.

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

3 thoughts on “Who is Who? Carla or Ecco?

  1. Thanks for sharing ways to tell Carla and Ecco apart. I must say that having bands will certainly make it much easier to tell them apart. I need to work on my observation skills while looking at the color of their backs. Not there yet, but hoping to get there!

    By the way, one of our friends has been sitting on the green perch for some time today. At 10:00, it looks like Ecco with the pure white chest.

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