Peregrine falcons soar into homes on streaming video

Mar 13, 2010 — The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Mike Cronin

Mar. 12, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Not that these moms are keeping track, but Dorothy has beaten Tasha2 for the first time ever by laying an egg in her nest atop the University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning.

"It's pretty exciting," said Todd Katzner, director of Conservation and Field Research at the National Aviary in the North Side.

Tasha2's nest is on Downtown's Gulf Tower.

In another first, people can watch the birds on continuously streaming video, Katzner said. Online ads on those sites enable the aviary to raise money for conservation efforts and research every time someone clicks on the addresses, he said.

Katzner expects Dorothy to lay up to four eggs during the next week. Chicks hatch about 30 days after eggs are laid.

"That's normal," Katzner said. Hatchlings are expected to survive, he said.

Pennsylvania Game Commission officials will examine the chicks and band them about three to four weeks after they hatch, Katzner said.

Pesticides such as DDT decimated populations of the once-common peregrine falcons. The chemicals caused females to produce thin eggshells that often cracked during incubation.

In 1974 peregrines were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. After a nationwide recovery program, the peregrine falcon was federally de-listed in 1999.

The bird remains endangered in Pennsylvania because the populations have not fully recovered here.

The state is reviewing how it defines the bird as being endangered, threatened or having a healthy, sustainable population, said Daniel Brauning of the Wildlife Diversity Program at the Pennsylvania Game Commission in Montgomery.

Those designations are based on population and whether the nests are on man-made structures, such as buildings or bridges, or natural structures, such as cliffs.

State officials hope to hold a public comment period after July 1 before formalizing the parameters, he said.

"It's worthy of debate," Brauning said.

Mike Cronin is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 412-320-7884 or via e-mail.

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