Tarentum Peregrines: This Is The Week!

Young chick flapping at Tarentum Bridge (photo by Lynn Mamros)

25 May 2021

If you’ve been putting off a trip to Tarentum to see the peregrines don’t wait any longer. This is the week to watch!

Thanks to Dave Brooke’s photos earlier this month we learned the chicks were 18-20 days old on 9 May so they must have hatched 19-21 April and are due to fledge around 29 May. The best time to watch peregrines is before the young fly. That’s this week through Memorial Day.

The Tarentum chicks were active outside the nest last weekend, walking on the pier and testing their wings. They begged loudly when their parents arrived, a sound that’s hard to miss from the Tarentum boat ramp.

Dave Brooke stopped by on Sunday 23 May and saw the youngsters preening. Click here for his video of the three chicks.

Three peregrine chicks at the Tarentum Bridge nest, 23 May 2021 (photo by Dave Brooke)

Later that day Lynn Mamros was on hand for a feeding. The chicks loafed on the pier, at top, then rushed their mother to get a share of dinner, a bird with long legs. (Peregrines eat birds.)

Peregrine chicks beg for dinner at Tarentum Bridge, 23 May 2021 (photo by Lynn Mamros)
Peregrine family at Tarentum Bridge, 23 May 2021 (photo by Lynn Mamros)
Peregrine family at Tarentum Bridge, 23 May 2021 (photo by Lynn Mamros)
Peregrine family at Tarentum Bridge, 23 May 2021 (photo by Lynn Mamros)
The chick in front tries to eat a very long leg, 23 May 2021 (photo by Lynn Mamros)
After dinner the young went back to the nestbox to rest, 23 May 2021 (photo by Lynn Mamros)

Visit the Tarentum boat launch or the sidewalk on 1st Avenue to watch the youngsters before they fly.  Click here for a map.

p.s. Lynn Mamros reminded me that the Tarentum Bridge will close for construction on 9 June. This closure will not affect the young peregrines. They will have left the pier long ago and will not be dependent on it by then.

(photos by Dave Brooke and Lynn Mamros)

4 thoughts on “Tarentum Peregrines: This Is The Week!

  1. “p.s. Lynn Mamros reminded me that the Tarentum Bridge will close for construction on 9 June. This closure will not affect the young peregrines. They will be long gone by then.”

    Long gone? Well, yes and no. They will be flying by then, but they will still be around and even back and forth to the pier from time to time. they will still need parental feeding and they won’t leave the area until they graduate from “flight school” in about 2 months.

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