Cathedral falcons checked out

Dorothy was an empty nester for only 20 minutes before her kids came back.

No, she’s not… Dorothy was an empty nester for only 20 minutes before her kids came back.

No, she’s not the chagrined parent of an indecisive freshman. Dorothy is the mother of four peregrine falcons who live atop the Cathedral of Learning in a nest box outside the 40th floor.

The chicks were retrieved and brought inside Thursday morning to be fitted with leg bands from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and given physical exams courtesy of Harrisburg, Pa., biologist Jeff Wagner.

Peregrine falcons have been on the state’s endangered species list since 1972 as a result of the widespread use of DDT pesticides from 1940 to 1960.

The presence of DDT in the environment caused the falcons to lay eggs with thinner, more brittle shells that led to a drastic decline in their population.

Now, after the restrictions passed on DDT in 1972 and the efforts of Pennsylvania conservationists to protect and preserve the birds, peregrine falcons are making a comeback in the state and throughout the region.

“You probably know that Pittsburgh was voted the most livable city in the nation, but what you might not know was that in this year’s rankings, there was one whole section on peregrine falcon nesting,” Charles Bier, senior director of conservation science at WPC, said.

The excitement surrounding peregrine falcons stems largely from the successful resurgence of their population in recent years.

“Over the past six years, 22 peregrine falcons have been produced here,” Bier said.

The two longest-occupied nests in Pittsburgh are perched atop the Cathedral of Learning and the city’s Gulf Tower. Peregrine falcons, who naturally nest on cliffs, have been making their homes more and more often in urban areas, using the recesses of Pittsburgh’s gothic architecture to anchor their dwellings.

“In Pennsylvania this year we have about 18 nests of peregrine falcons, but only two of those nests are on their native habitats, cliffs, and the rest are on buildings, bridges and places the falcons didn’t nest before the [population] crash,” Bier said.

Local birders have recently confirmed two more nests in the city.

“The name ‘peregrine’ means ‘wanderer,’ and that’s what they do,” Dan Yagusic, a local birder who discovered a nest under the 62nd Street Bridge, said.

According to maps provided by Western Pennsylvania Parks Conservancy, a female peregrine born in Pittsburgh July 11, 2002, had flown to New Hampshire by July 19 of that same year.

Because of their natural inclination toward migratory flight at an early age, wildlife conservation officer Beth Fife explained that at 27 days old, the falcon chicks were old enough to allow Wagner to determine their sex, yet still young enough not to try to fly off when she captured them in their nest.

Fife and another conservation officer from the Pennsylvania Game Commission edged their way along the close quarters of the Cathedral’s scaffolding to the nest as their audience pressed up against the glass to watch from inside.

“How do they get rid of the mom?” one spectator asked.

“She’ll leave, but then she’ll come back,” Bier said. “They’ll have to be careful because she’ll be dive bombing.”

And dive-bomb Dorothy did.

As Fife raided the nest, her partner stood behind, trying to fend off attacks from the parent falcons.

However, once inside, the chicks were relatively calm. All four, two males and two females, endured throat and rectal swabs quietly but screeched their way through blood tests to screen for parasites and West Nile virus.

Finally, they were deposited one at a time into a gift bag to be weighed and fitted with federal bands, state bands and individually colored pieces of tape to help in identification.

When the banding and the physicals were over, Fife returned the chicks to their nest and their mother, who, in 10 days time, will get a real taste of an empty nest when the chicks embark on their first solo flights.