May 05 2010
Messy Nest
We each have our own housekeeping style. Some of us are as neat as a pin, others are not.
Dorothy is not.
I have been watching Dorothy, the female peregrine at the Cathedral of Learning, for as long as she’s lived at Pitt and I can tell you she’s one messy housekeeper. Every year when her “kids” are old enough to move from the scrape, the nest gets messy.
It looks like a Bird Bomb hit it. Something with feathers definitely exploded here.
The “kids” don’t seem to care. They have no idea this is a mess. How would they know?
Will they learn this behavior or will some of them turn out to be “neat-niks?”
We won’t know until one of them nests in front of a webcam.
(photo from the National Aviary webcam at the University of Pittsburgh)
And it seemed to happen overnight…I didn’t have access to a computer over the weekend and when I checked in on Monday morning, the debris had multiplied 10 fold!
We shall soon find out if her daughter, Beauty @ Rochester is as messy as her Mama and if she carries on the messy nest habit. So far Beauty’s nest is immaculate.
Bird bomb, indeed! Thanks, Kate, for reminding us that housekeeping is not at the top of Dorothy’s list. The chicks look well-fed and contented.
I’d like to share a haiku I found: “Fear not, spider. My housekeeping is casual.”
Funny! I am new to this experience and thought that Dorothy was keeping a nice soft bed for her babies to lie in.
She may be a messy Mom, but she sure is a good Mom. She and E2 are such wonderful providers and have those crops filled on those little guys! Look at the bulge on that one little one. Quite a few “snacks” have been consumed this week.
Dorothy needs to put in an appearance on “Hoarders.” She would probably just blame the kids and E2.
Is it just my imagination or does little Full Crop have a smile on his beak?
I watch the falcon cam in Harrisburg too. The female there ALWAYS takes the remains of the kill back out of the nest box.
WOW! So much activity! It actually looks (sorta) like my kitchen table if you substitute magazines and papers for bird detritus!
How goes the Gulf Tower kiddos?
Anne
Thanks for all the good updates! I can relate to Dorothy’s housekeeping. But I did notice yesterday that a couple of times one of the parents carried out the leftovers. I can’t tell who is who between Dorothy and E2. I was watching when the nest first got messy – Dorothy (I think it was Dorothy) had brought in some food and was very wildly tearing out feathers and sending them flying! It was quite funny to watch as she appeared to be in a frenzy sending those feathers sailing.
I do have a question regarding Dori and Louie at the Gulf Tower – yesterday I noticed on two occasions that when Dori came back to sit on the eggs, Louie would not get up for quite some time and Dori had to get right down in his face and chirp at him. In the afternoon, it seemed like she stood there for about 3 minutes before he would get up and leave the eggs. Is there something going on there? He seems to be cowering whenever she is around.
I thought it was my imagination, but it seems like it’s worse this year than last year… maybe that’s because she has more kids to feed this year LOL… Can’t wait till the kids are moving around … I always enjoy their antics!!!
Lillian, Louie may appear to cower in front of Dori but as you see he can be quite willful about incubating the eggs. They’re a new couple so this spring they are figuring each other out. Interesting to watch.
I got a good chuckle out of this one, since I have the same name and, unfortunately, the same housekeeping skils!
The poor guy – after all those years with Tasha it’s probably hard to adjust to a younger woman!