After the chicks have flown out from the building for a day or two they will not return to the nest box. Their parents do not bring food to the nest after the last chick has fledged, so there is no reason for the young birds to visit it. To them, life is much more interesting on the wing than in the “baby crib” they just escaped from.

In late June the young birds will leave their parents’ territory in widening exploratory travels. After one of these short trips they may come back to Pitt for a day or two but they leave again soon. By late July they leave their parents’ territory forever. They spend a year or two wandering and then, in late winter, they look for a place to nest somewhere else far or near – but not at Pitt.

The adult peregrines do not use the nest again until the following spring. They do not sleep in it. The only thing I’ve noticed is that in late June / early July, Dorothy sometimes visits the nest briefly and looks at it as if to say “How quickly they grow up and leave home!”

Taught to fly:
The young birds learn by a combination of experimentation and watching the example of their parents. I think it’s similar to how human babies will crawl before they walk. Adult humans rarely crawl; adult peregrines rarely walk. Babies start with something easier and work up to the harder stuff by watching what the adults do.

Who teaches:
Both parents teach. The father peregrine is the main “bread winner” so he teaches hunting when he brings food back to the fledglings. The fledglings will learn to hunt about a week after they fly.