Morela and Ecco bow on the green perch, 27 March 2023, 4:28pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot cam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
28 March 2023
After Morela returned from battling a challenger for four days, we wondered why she wasn’t spending much time at the nest. Before the challenge she stayed at the nest all day and looked as if she was about to lay an egg, but since her return on Saturday 25 March she hasn’t spent much time at the nest.
The reason is probably that Morela’s hormones tamped down so she wouldn’t need to lay an egg during the battle. She has to get back in the mood. Ecco is working on it.
Yesterday, 27 March, Morela and Ecco held three bowing sessions, each one longer than the last. At the second session Ecco warmed up for 20 minutes and made elaborate bows and pauses. All of his moves are part of his courtship “dance.”
Watch two of their bowing sessions in the video below. Alas, the microphone misbehaved so there is no sound.
Though none of us have seen any female peregrine for two days Ecco sometimes sees one in the sky — or maybe more than one. Yesterday afternoon he called to her from the nest. Whoever she was, she didn’t come in. Only Ecco knows whether she was Morela or the challenger.
Eventually a female will join Ecco at the nest so watch carefully at that point. Is she Morela? Or someone new?
Will there be eggs and chicks this year? No one can tell. Like Ecco, all we can do is watch and wait.
UPDATE on 26 March 2023: First egg hatched around noon on 26 March.
It’s been more than a month since the first egg was laid at the Hays bald eagle nest and today, 35 days later, we’re watching for a hatch.
Bald eagle eggs hatch in 34-41 days but thanks to eaglestreamer.org‘s record keeping we know that the Hays eagles hatch at the early end of that spectrum. This year’s predictions are:
Estimated hatch dates (based on 35 days incubation):
Lek: an assembly area where animals (such as the prairie chicken) carry on display and courtship behavior. Also an aggregation of animals assembled on a lek for courtship.
Male prairie chickens hold a lek to attract females and according to this diagram so do “grackles.” It was exciting to think that the puff and “skrinnk” of male common grackles in Pittsburgh was a lek. But it’s not! The three species of grackles in North America lead very different lives.
Bill Up is a male-to-male threat display. The puff and skrinnk is Song during courtship.
Boat-tailed grackles (Quiscalus major), found in Florida and along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, nest in harems. The males gather in leks to attract the females.
[Their] mating system can be described as non-faithful female frank polygyny, in which a territorial male has one or more social mates, each female has one social mate, and both sexes employ extra-pair copulation as a conditional mating tactic. Territorial males defend a small territory including from 1 to several trees, where one or more females nest. The male protects nestlings hatched on his territory, but not nestlings from other territories. He copulates with his social mates and may attempt to copulate with other females.
As I mentioned yesterday morning Morela was looking as if she’d lay an egg any minute, but yesterday everything changed. After days of lounging at the nest and crouching over the scrape Morela was barely on camera at all. When she returned in the afternoon she looked vigilant. Meanwhile Ecco spent 2.5 hours waiting at the nest, sometimes watching the sky.
What’s up with Morela? Why isn’t she trying to lay an egg? I think she may have a challenger who’s keeping her busy.
From just after midnight on 21 March through 7:00am 22 March (today) this timelapse video shows how both peregrines are absent from the nest. I’ve provided a description of the action below the video, some illustrated with snapshots.
Activities on the video:
Morela is at the nest nearly continuously on Tuesday 21 March from midnight to 4:50am when she jumped to the roof, still present at the nest though not visible.
Morela looks relaxed for an hour at the nest 9:50-10:57am. Then she disappears.
Ecco takes her place for more than an hour 10:59am-12:02pm. Ecco has a bright orange beak and legs compared to Morela’s pale yellow.
Ecco stops in briefly and watches the sky.
Morela’s back at the nest 2:03pm-3:32pm, for about 90 minutes, but she looks sleek and vigilant, not egg-y at all.
Ecco returns for 90 minutes, 5:29p-6:56pm.
Neither bird is at the nest after that.
The photos are numbered to match what they illustrate.
#1. Morela is on the roof during the early morning hours of 21 March.
Neither bird is at the nest today which indicates again that there’s probably a challenger.
Fingers crossed that the intruder is driven off soon. Go, Morela!
UPDATE on Morela and Ecco as of Friday 24 March 2023, 5:50 am:
Morela’s most recent appearance at the nest: Tues 21 March at 3:32pm.
Morela last seen: Vigilant on Heinz Chapel scaffolding Wed 22 March at 4:14pm.
Ecco last seen: Watchful at the nest, Thurs 23 March at 5:13pm.
The Challenger: Has not been seen yet (which is good news).
My conclusion from these sightings: The challenger is female. Morela is keeping her away the Cathedral of Learning but has not vanquished her yet. The challenger has not won either.
For almost a week Morela has looked as if she’ll lay an egg any minute at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest. Yesterday morning we thought she was ready. She lumbered off the green perch and stood in the scrape. We watched and waited.
But minutes later Ecco showed up with a snack. Morela didn’t tell him “Go away I’m busy.” Instead she got up to grab it and eventually left to eat. As Ecco steps up to watch her leave, he realizes he has fluff stuck to his toes.
This morning at 6:54am there is still no egg. So we’re still waiting.
The guys are back in town! Male red-winged blackbirds returned to western Pennsylvania early this month to get a jump on the breeding season. Males arrive 2-4 weeks before the females in order to shake down who owns what territory before the ladies get here.
The best territories are in the middle of a marsh and claiming a good one is extremely important. When the females arrive they chose a mate based in part on the quality of his territory. If the male and his territory are exceptional, up to 15 females join his harem.
According to Birds of the World, experiments have shown that females prefer a harem on good territory to being the lone mate of a male on poor territory. Female red-winged blackbirds would rather be one of many wives than alone with one male in a lousy home. With that in mind the males are getting ready to set up their harems.
Watch for the arrival of female red-winged blackbirds in late March or early April. You’ll hear the boisterous clamor of males when they see the flocks of females.
This 3-minute video shows red-winged blackbird behavior in the spring.
Morela looks up as Ecco brings a snack, 6 March 2023 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
7 March 2023
This month Morela has been staying close to the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest as her egg laying time approaches. Yesterday afternoon she was snoozing on the green perch when she saw or heard Ecco’s approach.
“Do you want a snack?”
“Yes!” And then lots of chatter as they discuss it.
In the middle of the video Morela jumps to the roof while Ecco is still off camera in the keyhole. We can’t see either bird because the streaming cam view is so close, but you can see the shadow of Morela’s tail.
Morela is on the nestbox roof, 6 March 2023 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
And you can see Morela’s toes on the nestbox roof in the snapshot camera view.
Morela’s toes are showing as she perches on the nestbox roof, 6 March 2023 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot cam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
At last Ecco presents the snack. It looks like he ate most of it already.
Ecco brings a snack for Morela, 6 March 2023 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
This morning we may be two weeks away from the first Pitt peregrine egg of 2023. Morela’s first egg in 2021 was March 17, last year it was March 18. But who knows? She could be early or late this year.
Yesterday the pair had three bowing sessions at the nest. The first was brief and initiated by Ecco. The second was longer and Morela stuck around to dig the scrape. The third was unusual: Morela spent the entire time on the nestbox roof while Ecco bowed below. Did you see her yell at him from the roof? Check out this photo.
When the pair is not together one of them may be on the green perch, stepping in a sideways sashay. (This sashay video repeats the steps for emphasis.)
While you watch the falconcam get some practice identifying the birds with the two-photo slideshow at top. Notice that Ecco is small, has brighter-white and darker-gray feathers (more contrast), and has bright orange skin on this face and legs. Morela’s feathers are duller with less contrast, she’s bigger, and she has a peachy chest.
