Outside My Window

Question:  Where should I look to see the peregrines at the University of Pittsburgh?

Answer: Look high up on the Cathedral of Learning.  If you see a bird near or at the top it’s a peregrine.  No other birds dare fly up there because the peregrines will attack or eat them.  This applies at all times of year.

During the nesting season, late March to early June, the following instructions apply:

The best place to stand when looking for them is at Schenley Plaza, the park between Hillman and Carnegie Libraries and across the street from the Cathedral of Learning.  It helps to be closer to the tent than to Forbes Ave.  

Don’t bother to try to see the peregrines from a window in the building.  You can’t see the nest from inside the building and I can tell you from experience that you can’t run from one window – or floor - to the another as fast as a peregrine can disappear from it.  Truly, the best way to see the peregrines is from the ground.

In the last week before the nestlings fly — in early June — they are most likely to be on what we call the “nestrail.”  (Click here to see what it looks like through binoculars.) 

To find the nestrail, use binoculars and…

• Look at the antenna (actually a lightning rod) on top of the building.  If there’s a lump on one of its perches that’s a peregrine, so look closely.
• Follow the antenna down until you see 3 windows with the sky showing through them.  Those windows have golden lights at their base.
• Look below the windows and you’ll see a roof.
• Look below the roof and you’ll see a wall with 5 architectural cutout designs.  Those are the “keyholes.”  The top of that wall is the nestrail.

I have tried to indicate the general area to look with a red circle on this low-quality picture from my cell phone.  Hope it helps.

(photo by Kate St. John)

Comments RSS