Nearly every summer since 2002, the Cathedral of Learning has served as a home to a pair of peregrine falcons. Multiple generations of the fastest animal in the world have hatched there and hopefully will continue to do so in the future.
A new pair of peregrine falcons are expected to settle into the nest on the Cathedral this month. Pitt facility management and the National Aviary have cleaned up the nesting area and prepared the camera to track the once-endangered species’ growth.
The new pair of peregrines seen around the Cathedral are courting, according to bird watcher and blog author Kate St. John. If the courting goes well, the female will lay eggs in mid-March, they will hatch in late April and the young will fly in early June.
“The first female and male that nested there had 43 young that fledged from there,” St. John said. “We are on the fourth male and female pair since 2001.”
The Cathedral of Learning has been a cornerstone in the conservation of peregrine falcons for over two decades. In 2002, St. John, the National Aviary, Pitt Cathedral of Learning Management and the Pennsylvania Game Commission worked together to set up a nest on the southeast side of the building, near the 36th floor, along with a camera, now known as the FalconCam, to monitor the growth of the peregrine falcons. The FalconCam will begin live streaming the current pair of falcons at the Cathedral on Feb. 1.
St. John noted that the start of an important nesting period is coming up for the pair in their decision to settle at the Cathedral.
“There is a period during nesting that if you disturb the birds, the nest might fail and the birds might not even come back,” St. John said.
St. John and the Pitt Facility Management for the Cathedral conducted an annual check-up earlier this month where they cleaned the camera lenses and the nesting area.
“We want to go out there before the season because we won’t be allowed out there again until late June, or in fact July,” St. John said. “We don’t want to disturb them enough that they leave due to human disturbance.”
Peregrine falcons were federally listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 1973. The Endangered Species Act, passed by Congress that same year, provided a program for the conservation of endangered animals and plants to habitat protection and reintroduction efforts for the falcons. This kickstarted conservation efforts throughout the US.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission listed peregrine falcons as endangered in Pennsylvania in 1978. Success in nesting boxes with peregrine settling and breeding, set up by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in the 1990s, provided a model to follow suit at the Cathedral.
Patricia Barber, an endangered bird specialist at the Pennsylvania Game Commission, cited the primary reason for the decline in falcon population during the 1970s was their exposure to DDT, a chemical originally used to control insects. Birds that ate insects ingested DDT, and in turn, falcons that ate those birds ended up consuming accumulated amounts of DDT.
“[DDT] caused the thinning of their eggshells. They would end up breaking their eggs before the chicks could incubate or while they were incubating before the chicks could hatch,” Barber said.
Although peregrines have never been a common species in Pennsylvania with an estimated 44 nests in the entire state, DDT led to the near complete extirpation of falcons in the state. This population decline inspired people like St. John and organizations like the Pennsylvania Game Commission to reintroduce falcons into the wild.
“What we were doing was trying to set the stage for the peregrines to do better … we aimed for a self-sustaining population, a healthy population,” Barber said.
Once peregrines were reintroduced, the PGC had difficulty finding nesting places for peregrine falcons. According to St. John, they are very territorial birds that live primarily on cliff faces, which provide both a high lookout point, shelter and protection from predators.
“The Cathedral of Learning is like a gigantic cliff. It’s so tall they can see any birds coming that might challenge them or birds that they might like to eat,” St. John said.
With easy access to the nest, the PGC and St. John could place identification bands on the birds’ legs, allowing them to track the movement of individual falcons.
Through years of reintroduction efforts, peregrine falcons were removed from Pennsylvania’s endangered species list in 2021 and named a recovered species.
Barber emphasized the importance of ecological awareness in the process of peregrine falcon conservation.
“It’s really critical for these species and for all the species in our environment that we protect the ecosystems that they depend on,” Barber said. “We want you and future generations to be able to go out and see peregrines, or at least know they’re out there.”