The first peregrine falcon chick of the season hatched at the Cathedral of Learning nest in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood Monday and appears to be doing well after three years of infanticide by the same mother, documented by a live webcam sponsored by the National Aviary.
For the past three years, Hope, the peregrine falcon nesting atop the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning, has killed some of her chicks just after they hatched. But she and mate Terzo went on to successfully raise the remaining chicks.
But not this year, as least so far, according to Kate St. John, monitor of the cathedral nest and author of the bird blog Outside My Window.
“Hooray! The first egg hatched at the Cathedral of Learning this morning, April 22, at about 9:32 a.m. (And his mother, Hope, did not harm him!),” St. John posted in her blog Monday.
There are four more eggs to go, though, St. John said.
St. John noted seemingly strange behavior Monday after the first chick hatched. Hope carried her chick away from the nesting area, known as a “scrape,” but brought it back.
“We know from three years’ experience that Hope only kills a chick when it first hatches. Once she begins to brood it, the chick is safe,” St. John wrote.
Infanticide and cannibalism are unusual for peregrine falcons, according to Art McMorris, peregrine falcon coordinator for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
“It’s certainly not normal for an adult to kill a nestling, but we don’t know what really happened,” McMorris said after Hope killed her first chick several years ago. “My guess is there was something abnormal about the chick and the female detected it.”
