When peregrines attack you’d better watch out, even if you’re not a bird.
At lunchtime on Friday my friend Karen Lang saw a turkey vulture slowly glide toward the Cathedral of Learning, home of the Pitt peregrines’ nest. This was probably the same vulture we’d been seeing for more than a week, always passing between 1:00 and 2:00pm, and always causing a stir.
Peregrines cannot stand it when a bird of prey flies near their nest, especially when they have nestlings.
Every day when the vulture appeared Dorothy and E2 would fly toward it and force it to change course before it could get near the building. But on Friday they were busy and didn’t see it until it was above the Cathedral of Learning.
Red alert! Both peregrines flew off the building in a fury and attacked the vulture. They dove and swooped like fighter jets attacking a bomber. Brave and relentless they would not give up.
The vulture was surprised and frightened so he flipped upside down to fend them off. Then Karen saw a blob of liquid fall from sky. And another blob. What was that?
Vultures are not equipped with talons but they have a very effective defense mechanism. When frightened, they vomit on their opponents. The smell is so obnoxious that the attacker leaves.
Projectile vomiting during an aerial attack doesn’t work well on peregrines but anyone in the line of fire on the Cathedral lawn was certainly repulsed.
Watch out below, indeed!
(photo of a turkey vulture by Chuck Tague)
Is it possible this vulture has been drawn by the leftovers scattered in the nest box and wherever the peregrines dump the other remnants? Don’t vultures have an amazing capacity to smell the dead?
I feel sorry for it. Scared out of its wits and all it wanted was to help Dorothy with housekeeping . Not that she needs much help – I mean look at that box! It doesn’t look like a graveyard hosting 5 nestlings at all!! 🙂 🙂
This is such an interesting and amazing story! Thank you so much for sharing it Kate.
I also learned something new: Turkey Vulture vomiting! 🙁 I feel bad for anyone below who may have been an unwitting target! Yuck!
I know that peregrines are really fast flyers, so the vulture better beware! I wanted to know more, so here is what I found:
The fastest bird recorded in the world is the Peregrine Falcon. It has a cruising speed of up to 68 mph. When stooping, or diving for food, it can reach speeds of up to 273 mph. Now that is flying! To find more information go here: http://www.extremescience.com/fastinworld.htm
From the above link in my previous comment, this National Geographic video takes you on a ‘ride-along’ with a Peregrine Falcon on the hunt. This is a test to determine just how fast Peregrine Falcons can fly.
http://www.extremescience.com/zoom/index.php/videos/180-peregrine-falcon-video
Hi Kate: Thanks for all of the information about the turkey vulture. I always wonder when I hear alot of commotion at either nest site, what is going on, especially once the kids are born and mom leaves the nest periodically. Thanks for the information. Should be a fun filled next few weeks at both COL and GT….
This is more of a random question, I’ve been watching both the live camera at the cathedral of learning and the pictures that update every 15 seconds… but sometimes they’re very out of sync… the stills were showing that they were being fed where the live feed showed them napping… what’s going on? Thanks.
Fascinating! We know from watching the webcam that something is going on, but can’t tell what. We’re so lucky to have you and your fellow peregrine watchers to fill in the blanks for us. And thanks to Marianne for the links. It takes your breath away seeing these beautiful creatures in action. Wow
Yuck! I hope I’m not over there during a vulture fight 😛
Well, this evening I spent a very enjoyable half-hour or 45 minutes over at Schenley Plaza, watching Dorothy & E2 through a pair of big binoculars! I got there about 7:45 — apparently right after a feeding — and spotted E2 on the lightning rod, with Dorothy perched on a parapet above the nest box. I watched them for a few minutes with my 10×50’s, then decided to set up the tripod and the big guys — 20×80’s. While I was setting up, E2 decided to take off. He headed around the building to the north, out of sight — maybe on a late pigeon run before it got too dark? 🙂
Dorothy stayed on the parapet, probably keeping a sharp eye out for any encroaching turkey vultures or other threats. And I kept a sharp eye on her — and got to show her to several passersby. Believe me, 20×80 binocs on a tripod do attract attention! I’ve been doing sidewalk astronomy for a couple of years and now I guess I’m branching out to sidewalk birding. Dorothy was looking just beautiful; everyone was pretty impressed. As one viewer commented, “Wow — they’re just up there, living their lives!” “They eat pigeons? Really?!” I hope I steered a few people to the webcams.
Dorothy went for a little flight around the Cathedral, and then landed on the lightning rod. I wondered if E2 were on his way back, but didn’t see him. She flew down and landed out of sight on the roof, and then flew back to the lightning rod. By that time the sun had set and it was getting dark, so I packed up & headed for home. Hey, if I’d stayed longer I’d have been tempted to point the binocs at Venus, or Saturn…..and I’d be there still! I checked chat (BTW, I’m The Wild Sow over there) and found out that the chicks were fed at 7:30 and I guess both Mom & Dad are being extra-vigilant because of the vulture scare.
I will have to do this more often.
Katherine, Last weekend the cameras were out of sync and it may have continued into Monday. The snapshot camera is accurate. The time stamp on the snapshots comes from the camera itself so if the time looks right, the snapshot camera is fine.
Kate, I am also watching the Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg PA. 3 of the 5 eggs have hatched but the camera switches from a long view to a keyhole view in the nest box. It might be just the way the camera moves but are the eggs super thin just before the chicks hatch? I swear it looks like you can see movement inside the eggs but it could also just be what looks like movement within the egg because the camera is getting ready to switch the view from inside the box to the exterior camera looking into the box. Earlier when she left the nest for awhile I swear it looked like you could see the eyes of the chick or the wing. Thanks.
Peregrine egg shells aren’t thin — at least they can’t be thin and survive to hatching. Thin shells break under the weight of the adult incubating them. That’s what happened when DDT accumulated in the peregrines’ bodies and resulted in the collapse and extinction of peregrines in the eastern U.S.
If the eggs are about to hatch you’ll see a pip (hole) in the eggshell or a crack as the young bird breaks out. You won’t see movement through the shell.