National Aviary, Cathedral of Learning - Pitt Peregrines

[DebInTexas]

Let's hope the horror of last year is not repeated, and that they all survive to fledge. 

Exactly what I've been thinking about.  Keeping positive thoughts!

[MAK]

4 eggs   

 

[carly]

New blog by Kate with a warning:

Caution!  Don’t watch the eggs hatch at the Cathedral of Learning if it upsets you to see a mother kill her young.  Again, we don’t know if Hope will do this, but she might.

http://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2017/04/20/meanwhile-a-caution-across-town/?platform=hootsuite

 

[Kris G.]

Sadly, Hope has consumed the 1st eyas that hatched..looks like a repeat of last yr, so far. 

[patsy6]

Oh dear God.

[Donna]

What the H is going on? Why sit for so long just to eat them??? Nope, I will not watch!! She's a strange girl!!
She needs help!! 

[MAK]

 

[Donna]

Sometime overnight there was a hatch at the Cathedral of Learning and Hope is brooding the eyas.

From FB

When they post now, they turn off all comments to that post! Can't blame them as people like me would be putting up a  smiley!  "They say, "if you don't like that she eats her eyas, don't watch"!

Who would watch???? 

[Donna]

I recently cautioned viewers about watching the Cathedral of Learning falconcam because the female peregrine killed and ate some of her young last year as they hatched.  I didn’t know if she would repeat this behavior. Last evening she did.

The first sign that Hope would kill the hatchling was around 6:15pm when she picked up and carried the hatching egg (above).  Carrying is not normal.  Half an hour later she killed and ate the chick and its eggshell.

Hope and her behavior were new to us last year.  We didn’t know if she killed and ate some of her young because she was under many stresses:  a new home at the Cathedral of Learning + loss of her mate + finding a new mate + other females challenging her while she was incubating the eggs.

This year none of those stresses apply.  None of them.  And yet Hope killed and ate her first hatchling last evening.

Last year one chick survived.  This morning it appears that Hope has spared the second chick.
But the chicks and eggs aren’t safe yet.  The remaining two eggs might succumb and last year when a second chick hatched successfully, it died within a week.  It appeared that Hope starved it.

We don’t know why Hope does this but we now know it’s not a one-time event.  She may have done this all her adult life but there was no camera at her former nest site, the Tarentum Bridge, where she fledged 0-to-2 young per year.

What’s next?

A Caution to Viewers:

Again, do not watch the Cathedral of Learning falconcam if it upsets you to see a mother kill her young.  The Gulf Tower in downtown Pittsburgh has a beautiful peregrine family with three chicks.  Please watch the Gulf Tower falconcam to learn about normal peregrine behavior!

A Caution to Commenters:

Though this situation resembles reality TV in which viewers can vote someone on or off the island, it is not a “votingâ€� situation.  If commenters become worked up and demand/request action in emails or phone calls to “those in chargeâ€� it will end the show.  Literally.  It will shut down the camera.  That’s what happened when commenters went over the top at the Woods Hole Osprey-cam.

Normally I do not edit readers’ comments but this situation is not normal.  If you post a comment that could inflame others, I will edit it or trash it.

Though I am not watching Hope closely (I don’t want see her kill her young), I do want the camera to stay up.

 Kate St. John

[patsy6]

I agree that they should keep the cameras rolling IF someone from the National Aviary is studying Hope to determine what is causing this behavior.  If no one is watching for a scientific reason, then I think they should turn them off.  But then again, it's not my business.

[carly]

A third chick has hatched and Terzo was right there apparently to ensure it lived..that's one smart tiercel. 

[Kris G.]

A third chick has hatched and Terzo was right there apparently to ensure it lived..that's one smart tiercel. 

That's good! He protected the lone eyas from her last yr.

[patsy6]

Kate's blog said two had hatched.  She had eaten the first one and was brooding the second.  So if this was a third hatching, what happened to the second one that she was brooding? Did she kill that one as well? Poor Terzo, he must be so confused.

[carly]

Well there are two alive and one egg left, one she killed.. So already doing better this year with 2 alive...for now. 

[Kris G.]

Well there are two alive and one egg left, one she killed.. So already doing better this year with 2 alive...for now. 

Hopefully she doesn't starve them like last yr.