27 June 2025
Ravens are omnivores whose varied diet includes roadkill, rodents, grasshoppers and the nestlings of smaller birds. Since ravens are the largest “songbird” all the smaller birds mob ravens. Ravens in turn mob hawks.
Watch how adult ravens keep the world safe for their youngsters in this video by Vance Crofoot.
p.s. Ravens also attack bald eagles. This photo is from Orcas Island, Washington. I’ve seen the same thing at Hays Woods.
25 June 2025
On Monday afternoon, 23 June, Carla and Ecco bowed at the nest then Carla was preening when her daughter “Yellow” crashed in. Carla left so quickly that the snapshot didn’t capture it.
Yellow had nothing else to do so she hung out in the heat.
(photos from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
It seems like the “kids” ought to be ready to leave home but they typically don’t depart until mid July. It’s going to be a long couple of weeks for Carla and Ecco.
21 June 2025
After this year’s Pitt peregrine youngsters learned to fly, they stayed away from the nestbox as if to say “That’s the babies’ crib and we aren’t babies anymore.” Instead they perfected their flight skills and relentlessly pursued their parents for food. The nestbox became a peaceful zone where Ecco and Carla could renew their pair bond and avoid their demanding “kids.”
All of that changed yesterday when their daughters invaded the nestbox. Blue barged in while her parents were bowing at 1:30pm and scattered them like ninepins. In a few minutes Yellow joined her.
The juvies stayed for 45 minutes while their parents avoided them. Ecco and Carla did not return until almost 3:00pm. I’m surprised they came back on the same day.
18 June 2025
We tend to take gray catbirds for granted but here are some cool facts you might not know. For instance:
Sexes show similar appearances in all plumages, although females average duller than males and average less-extensive rufous on longest undertail coverts.
— Birds of the World: Gray Catbird appearance
Here’s the catbird’s song:
(video from Wikimedia Commons)
And here’s his “meow.”
Enjoy his song this month. He’ll stop singing soon.
11 June 2025
By now most peregrine sites in southwestern Pennsylvania have fledged or are in progress. At East Liberty Presbyterian steeple the youngsters will fly next week. Here’s the news from the most active sites.
The young Pitt peregrines are really hard to find now. The best viewing I’d had in a few days was on Monday 9 June when I found 2 adults and 1 juvenile. Later a second juvenile flew off the Cathedral of Learning (CL) toward UPMC, circled back, and landed on the CL. Obviously they are flying so well that I cannot find them anymore. Except …
Yesterday Blue Girl surprised Ecco at the nest so she stuck around hoping he’d return with food. No chance. She bopped around in the nestbox pretending she was learning to fly. “I don’t wanna grow up!”
photos from the National Aviary snapshot cam at Univ of Pittsburgh
The young peregrines at East Liberty Presbyterian steeple may be a week away from flying. Adam Knoerzer’s photos above and below were taken four days ago when the chicks were already exercising their wings.
Yesterday, 10 June, they were lying flat but looked browner than on 7 June. The edge of the nest reveals an unhatched egg.
Stay tuned for news as they fledge.
Gene Henderson has been visiting the Sewickley Bridge frequently in the past week and has watched the youngsters progress. From in the nestbox to ledge walking to fledged and begging. Gene expects they will be flying so well in the next day or two that he won’t be able to find them.
On 3 June before they left the box.
On 10 June, ledge walking …
… and whining from the top of the bridge, “I flew, now feed me!”
Dana Nesiti stopped by the Westinghouse Bridge on Sunday and saw three youngsters. By now they’ve probably fledged. Dana’s video is 15 minutes long.
Southwestern Pennsylvania peregrine sites are listed in the table below. Help fill in the blanks below by visiting a site near you. Leave a comment if you find anything!
2 sisters: Pitt peregrine fledglings Blue and Yellow hang out and whine on 15South at the Cathedral of Learning, 7 June 2025 (photos by Kate St. John)
8 June 2025
My husband walked over to the Cathedral of Learning (CL) yesterday and texted me before he went indoors, “Just arrived at CL. I hear lots of begging peregrine babies!” I was preparing to drive home from Frick so I detoured to Pitt and stepped out to look.
I got lucky. The young peregrines would have been impossible to find on their third or fourth day of flying but they were noisy.
In half an hour of watching yesterday I saw the entire peregrine family!
If you stop by the Cathedral of Learning in the next several days check out these tips for finding the young peregrines: Fledge Watch Tips: Have They Flown? And Where?
Eventually they will perch on other buildings but when they are on the CL they typically perch at the floors marked in this photo taken from the sidewalk in front of Phipps Conservatory.
6 June 2025
When we arrived yesterday for Fledge Watch at Schenley Plaza, we could tell that all three juveniles had flown(*). None were visible on the camera or nestrail and though I walked around the Cathedral of Learning looking for fledglings, none were visible anywhere. It was hot.
At noon we noticed a juvenile silently perched in the shade under the CL tourcam. It was Blue Girl. I saw her blue tape through my scope. She preened and sometimes opened her wings, a motion that says, “Here I am, parents, in case you want to bring food.” If she was really hungry she would have whined.
A few minutes later we saw Carla feeding a juvenile on the opposite corner at 38SE.
Now that the juvenile peregrines are hard to find, Fledge Watch is over.
(*) My guess on when they flew: One or two probably fledged on the afternoon of 4 June and the remainder yesterday morning 5 June.
20 May 2025
What is the easiest way to find an owl? Listen for angry birds.
Songbirds always view owls as dangerous but during the nesting season they loudly mob owls to drive them away from their nests and fledglings. This attracts more birds to join the chase. What a ruckus! Here are some examples.
In this video blue jays mob a mother screech-owl who is taking a break near her nestbox in Florida. She isn’t going to leave the area so the mobbing isn’t going to work. Notice her reaction!
Her behavior is notable because:
Screech Owl uses newly documented scary daytime defensive posture against annoying Blue Jays and Mockingbirds consist of wide eyed blinking and open mouth snapping to look more intimidating.
— video description from MyBackyardBirding on YouTube
American crows bravely mob a great horned owlet, making it very easy to find this branching youngster.
Crows chase an adult great horned owl when it’s near their nest or fledglings. But there is real danger in this activity! The owl will eat the crow if he can catch him. There are moments in this video when the crow takes a big chance. (Watch for the cameo appearance of a mockingbird.)
RARE BIRDS! I could not resist starting this blog with a rare songbird chasing a rare owl. Both birds in the top photo — a Brewer’s blackbird and an American barn owl — are extremely rare in southwestern Pennsylvania. If I saw a barn owl being chased by a Brewer’s blackbird in the Pittsburgh area, no one would believe me. Both birds occur regularly in San Luis Obispo County, California where the photo was taken.
9 May 2025
Black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) are small members of the gull family that nest communally on sea cliffs.
They are also happy to nest near humans as they do Lowestoft Telephone Exchange building in the UK.
At Kiberg, Norway a building’s exterior was refurbished to house kittiwake nests. As of 25 March this year, the Kittiwake Hotel was fully booked.
Kiberg has a human population of about 200 people.
It seems there are more kittiwakes in Kiberg than there are humans. 🙂
*A NOTE ON NAMES: In Europe these birds are simply called “kittiwakes” but North America there are two species: black-legged and red-legged kittiwakes.
(photo embedded from Kristie Clarke-Rozsa on Flickr; click on the photo to see the original)
8 May 2025
Ravens (Corvus corax) are becoming more common in Pittsburgh so that I see them now about once a week. Never a flock, just one or two ravens at a time.
If Pittsburgh had a lot more raven pairs or even flocks of “teenage” ravens, we’d get to see them playing in the sky. Photographer Kristie Clarke-Rozsa captured a raven game in Chilliwack, BC, Canada, described below.
Two ravens tumbling down to the ground playing pass the stick, whoever lasts the longest before chickening out wins!
— description of photo at top by Kristie Clarke-Rozsa on Flickr
To see raven games in motion, visit this 2018 vintage article with my all-time favorite raven video.
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