Outside My Window

This morning at 8:07am I got a call from my friend Karen Lang.  She saw an eggshell next to Dorothy so we knew the eggs had begun hatching at the University of Pittsburgh peregrine falcon nest.  Congratulations to Dorothy and E2!

When Karen first saw the shell it was a perfect half shell.  As I write, the shell is no longer visible because Dorothy ate it.  However I’ve included two snapshots.

The first one shows what’s left of the shell at 8:37am after Dorothy already ate part of it.

The second snapshot shows E2 arriving to see the eggs hatching.  You can see a little bit of shell next to Dorothy’s shoulder.

I hope to see the chicks soon on the National Aviary’s webcam.

I believe the peregrine falcon eggs will hatch soon at Pitt. Compared to last week, Dorothy is spending more time incubating than E2. In this picture she seems to be telling him, “Get up! It’s my turn.” She has years of experience hatching eggs while this may be his first year as a dad.

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And maybe - just maybe - the photo at right shows some pips (dents) in the eggs. If so, the chicks are starting the exhausting job of breaking the shells.

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Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Here are two snapshots from the Gulf Tower peregrine nest on Tuesday afternoon April 22, thanks to Jamie Sehrer and Joanna Steward. 

In the first you can see the two chicks who hatched on April 20 and two eggs still waiting to hatch.  The baby birds are so tiny and weak they can barely hold their heads above the eggs.  In the second picture, Tasha2 arrives to feed them. 

The chicks cannot regulate their body temperature yet so Tasha will brood them for about 7-8 days.  A brooding mother bird looks a lot like she’s incubating.  The purpose is the same - to keep the babies warm.

It’s been six weeks since the first common grackles came back to Pittsburgh for the summer.  (We don’t have great-tailed grackles; they’re a southwestern bird.)

In the beginning the flocks were made up of males who came early to work out the pecking order before the ladies arrived.

In early April the females started to trickle in.  At first they were in such small numbers that the males outnumbered them and there were loud chases - three guys for every gal.

Now the balance has swung to 50-50.  The ladies are here and the guys are getting down to the serious business of courtship.

I could tell how far the grackle nesting season had progressed when I saw a pair of common grackles courting in a tree near my house.  The male puffed himself up and said “Skreeeeeeeek!”  The female fluttered her wings and said “ee ee ee ee ee ee ee.” 

It must have done the trick because they mated.  More grackles will soon be in the making.

I’m sure you’re beginning to wonder how much longer the peregrine falcons must incubate their eggs.  It’s been going on a long time and they aren’t done yet.  So when’s the happy day?

Peregrine eggs hatch around 33 days after incubation begins, but I have never been good about noticing when the parent birds switch from standing over the eggs to incubating them.  (This switch occurs when two or three eggs have been laid - not after the first one.)

I do, however, keep records of first egg dates and hatch dates so I can give you a rough idea of what to expect based on past history.

At Gulf Tower, Tasha laid her first egg on March 11.  Her eggs usually hatch 39-42 days later so this year’s clutch will probably hatch between April 19 and 22.  Start watching the Gulf Tower webcam this weekend for new baby birds.   News flash April 20:  Tasha2’s eggs began to hatch this afternoon!

At Pitt, Dorothy laid her first egg on March 23.  Her eggs usually hatch 38-40 days later so we can expect to see her first babies between April 30 and May 2.

Of course, just as with human babies, you can never predict exactly when they will be born.

Meanwhile, what is Dorothy doing? 

For those of you watching the Pitt webcam yesterday afternoon you may have seen the adult female peregrine do something strange.  She fanned out and hunched over (picture at left).

Dorothy was sunbathing.  There are various theories as to why birds sunbathe ranging from eradicating parasites to straightening their feathers.  They also might do it because it feels good.  “Ahhhh”, says Dorothy, “nice heat on my back.”

If you think the Pittsburgh peregrines’ life is a soap opera, they’re not the only ones.

My mother has been keeping me informed about a pair of bald eagles who are living their own Peyton Place at Norfolk Botanical Garden in Virginia. Their nest has an Eagle Cam so people can watch the drama - and there’s been plenty of it.

This pair has nested at the Garden for seven years, but this year after the female had laid two eggs a 4-year-old intruder (female) arrived, chased away the resident female and made herself charming to the resident male. The eggs got too cold to be viable and had to be removed from the nest. After a brief fling, the intruder left and the original pair reunited.

It looked like life was back to normal after the orginal female laid two more eggs, but those eggs bit the dust too. Something scary made her jump around in the nest at night and she stepped on them. Oh no! They cracked! She ate them the next day.

She laid one more egg (her third try this year) and has been incubating it since March 22.

So you see, life can be complicated even if you’re an eagle.

Read more and watch the videos at:

E2, the new male peregrine at University of Pittsburgh, is a very attentive father. He’s participating a lot in the boring but vital job of incubation, and he proves again and again that he’s a good provider by bringing Dorothy food.

Last week I saw him do both on the National Aviary’s webcam.

In this snapshot, E2 is sitting on the eggs when Dorothy arrives. She bows and touches his beak to let him know she’s ready to resume incubation. Click the picture to see a slideshow of this activity.

Rest your mouse pointer on the slideshow to see the captions.

Today’s photo of Dorothy, the female peregrine falcon at University of Pittsburgh, looks almost exactly like the one I captured on Easter Day.  The difference is that by now she’s laid 3 eggs. 

There were only 2 eggs in the nest last night; there were 3 this morning. 

If Dorothy follows her normal pattern, she’ll produce a fourth egg two days from now.

Watch her “live” on the National Aviary’s webcam

March 30, 2008, 12:31pm:  Dorothy has 4 eggs now.  Thanks to Larry Laude who sent me a ”heads up.”

The Aviary’s webcam at the Pitt peregrine nest is so cool! 

As of tonight the website is streaming live video so you can see the falcons in action from high atop the Cathedral of Learning.  

The camera is so good you can even see the birds at night!  Here’s a picture of Dorothy taken just after 10pm.  (Click here to learn why she isn’t sitting on the eggs full time yet.)

To see the live stream, click on the picture or go directly to the Aviary’s webcam.

This morning I woke up early to look for an egg.

Last night before I went to bed I saw that Dorothy, the female peregrine at University of Pittsburgh, was on her nest. That probably meant she was going to lay an egg before dawn.

Sure enough, here she is on Easter morning with her first egg of 2008. Congratulations!

To watch her at the nest, see the National Aviary’s webcam

March 25, 2008, 2:15pm: Dorothy laid her second egg today at about 2:15pm. Thanks to two sharp observers who sent me comments to alert me. It turns out that at 2:15pm I was outdoors watching the Cathedral of Learning. Suddenly Dorothy and Erie began a courtship flight. Maybe their flying meant “happy egg.”

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