Outside My Window

From March 18 until yesterday, April 21, there was almost nothing to report from the Downtown peregrines’ nest.  Without a camera at the site we have to rely on in-person observations but the birds were elusive and rarely seen.

Then yesterday Amanda McGuire emailed me this picture that her boyfriend, Mark Anderson, took at 8:17am.  It’s Louie plucking prey at the edge of Amanda’s balcony.  (Louie’s face is obscured by the railing.  Mark took the photo through a window so as not to disturb him.)

Peregrines don’t take food to their nests unless they’re feeding young.  The fact that Louie was preparing breakfast from a perch that overlooks his nest was new behavior and a hopeful sign that the eggs had hatched.

I stopped by the street late yesterday afternoon.  As I pulled up I saw Louie fly into the nest but I didn’t have my binoculars out (heck, I was driving) so I couldn’t be sure he was carrying prey.  I parked and waited to see what would happen next.

Louie left the nest but soon returned and walked into the nook.  I could hear him chirping as if he was having a conversation with Dori … and the kids?  After a few minutes he flew away.

He returned again!  Three visits in only 15 minutes!  Something really interesting was happening in the nest.

And then he flew away with the garbage.  I could see it clearly in his beak.

Woo hoo!  The eggs have hatched at the Downtown peregrines’ nest.

(photo by Mark W. Anderson)

p.s.  35 days elapsed from the last time Louie was active on the balcony.  Peregrine eggs hatch in 33-35 days.  Right on time!

Since Dorothy and E2′s eggs will hatch in the next few days, I’ve zoomed the snapshot camera so we can see better.

Good morning, Dorothy!

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh)

p.s.  The streaming cam is blurry but you can listen for sounds of the baby birds and hear Dorothy and E2 talk to them on the audio here: http://www.aviary.org/cons/falconcam_cl.html
Watch less blurry snapshots here: http://www.aviary.org/cons/FalconCam/Cathedral_refreshCam.html

Whoa it is warm today!  Over 80 degrees in the sun!

Dorothy was panting at the nest so when E2 showed up for nest exchange Dorothy jumped at the chance.  Here he’s the one standing in the background as Dorothy leaves in a hurry.

Watch for their eggs to hatch around Earth Day (Monday 4/22) give-or-take a day or two.  I plan on zooming the snapshot camera during the hatch so we can see the babies better.  This year it’s the only webcam we have.  Will you miss the wide view?

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh)

At the Pitt peregrine nest, E2 is sometimes so eager to incubate the eggs that he won’t get up when Dorothy arrives to relieve him.

If E2 is stays put and Dorothy’s not in a hurry she’ll wait as much as 15 minutes.  Last year she fell asleep while she was waiting!

To get him moving she “talks” and walks around him.  If he’s really stubborn she pokes him with her beak.

@PittPeregrines created videos of this parental bargaining using the webcam snapshots:  Stubborn E2, above, and Nest Exchanges, below.  E2 doesn’t dare to poke Dorothy but he’s persistent about taking his turn.

In a week or so Dorothy will take command and hardly allow E2 any time on the eggs.  That’s because she’s in charge of hatching, expected around Earth Day.  Visit the Pittsburgh Falconuts Facebook page to vote on the day you think the eggs will hatch.

(videos by @PittPeregrines on YouTube)

During courtship E2 is very active but now Dorothy has to plead with him to get up off the eggs.  Dorothy herself is able to sit for 12 hours in a snow storm.  How do they do it?

How do birds instantly switch gears from the frantic activity of courtship to sitting on eggs all the time?

They’re cued by hormones.  Here’s how:

1. As day length increases after the winter solstice, a bird’s hypothalamus releases LHRH (luteinizing hormone releasing hormone).
2. LHRH triggers the pituitary gland to release LH (luteinizing hormone).
3. LH increases production of testosterone in males and progesterone in females.
4. Testosterone triggers aggression, territoriality and sexual behavior.  It’s good at the start of breeding but doesn’t help raise a family.
5. Progesterone is the “pregnancy hormone” that induces egg production.  It’s only needed for a short time since female birds are only ovulating and pregnant until they lay the eggs.
6. On the day before incubation begins the hormones switch.  Prolactin, the hormone that promotes incubation behavior, rises sharply while the other hormones suddenly decrease.  In females, LH and progesterone drop off.  In males, testosterone has been dropping since egg laying began.  If the male shares incubation he has a sharp rise in prolactin, too.  On a graph this hormone switch looks like a sine curve.  There’s a moment where all these hormones are low, then prolactin takes off.

In peregrines, both parents have to be ready to incubate at the same time.  Their courtship rituals help get the couples’ hormones in synch.

This whole process may sound as if birds are at the mercy of their hormones but in every species reproduction is chemically tuned for success.  In humans for instance, progesterone and prolactin switch after delivery so that the mother’s body produces milk to feed the baby.  Individual animals whose hormones malfunction do not have live offspring.

So how do birds incubate so nicely?  In a word, prolactin.

(photo of Dorothy and E2 from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh.  Today’s Tenth Page is inspired by page 448 of Ornithology by Frank B. Gill.)

Spring is moving north and so are the robins.  This week a big wave arrived after Monday’s snow.  Now that they’re here, how soon will they nest?

Robins nest later the further north you go.  In 1974 Frances James and Hank Shugart were curious about the conditions that governed their nesting times throughout the U.S.  Using climate data and Cornell nest watch information from 8,544 robins’ nests they developed a model that predicted when robins would nest in a particular region.(*)

The model shows that robins cue on weather.  Hatching is timed to occur when local humidity is 50% and temperatures are between 45 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit.  By April 23, Pittsburgh’s highs and lows are exactly in that range so our birds are getting ready.  Here’s what they’re up to:

• Robins spend 5-7 days building their first nest of the season. 
• Egg laying begins 3-4 days after first nest completion.
• Eggs are laid one per day for a clutch of 3-4 eggs.
• Incubation lasts 12-14 days.

From nest building to hatching, the first nest takes 26 days. (Subsequent nests take less time.)

Our robins should be nest building right now except for one thing:  Do they have enough mud to begin construction?   Has the mud been frozen?

Watch the robins in your neighborhood to see what stage they’re in.   Join Cornell Lab’s Nest Watch program and your data can become the basis for studies like James’ and Shugart’s that broaden our knowledge of birds.

(Credits: photo by William Majoros on Wikimedia Commons.  Click on the image to see the original.
Today’s Tenth Page is inspired by page 260 of Ornithology by Frank B. Gill, portions of which are quoted(*) in this article.)

With her beak under her wing, Dorothy sleeps as it snows around her.

Periodically she wakes to shake the snow off.  Here her face is a blur while she shakes.

Through it all, she keeps her five eggs warm.

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the Univ. of Pittsburgh)

p.s. The snow is heavy and wet like a giant slush puppy on the roads.

p.p.s. Dorothy incubated all night until noon today (Monday Mar 25).  Here she is leaving the nest for the first time since the snow began.  You can see that she kept the eggs warm and dry.

Dorothy laid her fifth egg sometime after 4:00pm today.  (See the comment below, it was 4:12pm.)

I’d say she was trying to beat tonight’s snow but in fact she was due to lay one this afternoon anyway.

Here’s her movie from @PittPeregrines:

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh)

Dorothy laid her fourth egg last night at 9:20pm (exact time on March 21 is thanks to the sharp eyes of Pittsburgh Falconuts).

Here, E2 is about to leave the nest after relieving Dorothy this morning.  He’s looking up because she’s perched above him on the building.  I saw her there from Forbes Avenue at the time.

And here’s Dorothy’s video from @PittPeregrines:

And today.. a quiz!  See this link:  Who are the falcons’ nearest relatives?

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh)

Dorothy has definitely not completed her clutch.

Peregrine falcons begin incubation — they cover the eggs continuously — when the female has laid her next-to-last egg.

Today before dawn Dorothy roosted near her eggs but did not cover them.

Does she expect to lay five eggs this year?

Only time will tell.

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pitsburgh)