It was an uncharacteristically warm day in East Liberty during early February 2024, and I was desperately looking forward to a massage to distract me from a heavy workload and the inescapable seasonal depression that suffocates the city under its near-permanent gray, low clouds. Wanting to take advantage of the favorable conditions, I closed my laptop and decided to walk the 25 minutes to my appointment.
While waiting for a stoplight to change, I took a moment to admire the East Liberty Presbyterian Church in typical fashion when, suddenly, a series of loud screeches came from the steeple and a bird rocketed from a light fixture into the sky. The rapid wingbeats propelled the raptor over the nearby AAA building, around the Walnut on Highland apartment high-rise across the street, and eventually to the cross atop the steeple where it came to a rest. As I got closer to the church, I noticed a second bird perched elsewhere on the structure, and I could not believe my eyes. A pair of peregrine falcons, which had never before been documented at the church, were claiming it as their new nest site. That’s a big deal.
What’s So Special About Peregrine Falcons in Pittsburgh?
You see, fewer than 100 years ago, peregrine falcons – the fastest animals on the planet, which clock in at over 240 miles per hour while diving in their signature stoop almost went extinct. The man-made pesticide, DDT, was commonly sprayed on fields starting in the mid-1900s to control insect populations.
An unforeseen consequence, however, was that birds that ate insects carried traces of DDT in their systems. The falcons that preyed on those same birds would then, in turn, ingest the DDT. The accumulated DDT weakened the falcons’ eggs, depleting them of the crucial calcium needed to maintain their shell strength. The falcons would cover the eggs to incubate them, but the shells, too weak under the weight of the parents, would crack. Peregrine numbers plummeted worldwide, and in the 1960s, there were no peregrine falcons remaining in the eastern United States, and their numbers out west collapsed by a staggering 90%.
Thankfully, in 1972, the United States Environmental Protection Agency – influenced in part by Pittsburgh native Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring – banned the use of DDT, thus laying the groundwork for the peregrine’s recovery. Professor Tom Cade of Cornell University founded The Peregrine Fund to breed peregrines in captivity and release them into the wild in an effort to help populations rebound. The program works to successfully restore peregrine falcons to their historic range in the United States. In 1999, they were officially removed from the United States Endangered Species List.
How These Falcons Came to the Burgh
Peregrine falcons aren’t native to Pittsburgh – or to cities at all, in fact. Their traditional habitats are typically on cliff-sides or along coastlines, as well as mountains and river valleys where they’re able to find high perches to catch the wind and hunt their prey on the wing. Peregrine comes from the Latin for pilgrim or traveler. Thus it’s fitting that they wander from their birth sites to find new territories with similar suitable environs to raise their own offspring, sometimes traveling thousands of miles.
As part of the rehabilitation efforts, conservationists put nest boxes atop skyscrapers and bridges, which mimic the conditions in which the raptors evolved. As it turns out, peregrine falcons have adapted very quickly to their new urban environments and now, within roughly 40 years, fare better than their counterparts in non-urban settings. In fact, New York City, with its endless skyscrapers boasting manmade cliffs and ledges and abundant supply of pigeon meat, boasts the highest density of nesting peregrines anywhere on earth.
Early Conservation Efforts
According to Kate St. John, Pittsburgh’s peregrine authority who documents her avian observations on her blog, Outside My Window, these falcons were first spotted nesting in downtown Pittsburgh in the winter of 1989-1990. With the approval of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, nest boxes were installed at the Gulf Tower by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Peregrines have continuously nested there and at other downtown sites ever since, and in 2002, peregrines also began nesting atop the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning. Numerous other nest sites have popped up in the region, primarily on bridges over the city’s three rivers, and numbers locally have steadily increased.
Programs here and elsewhere have allowed researchers to band chicks that are born at some known sites and track their movements. In fact, the newest female resident at Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning can be tracked back to a skyscraper in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where she hatched in 2020 and was named Carla after a prominent employee in the building.
When I contacted St. John about this newly-spotted pair, she indicated this might be the first known nesting attempt by peregrines at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. And with peregrines being notoriously territorial, the existing nest at the University of Pittsburgh, roughly 2 miles away as the peregrine flies, might prove to be an issue.
The Problem with Falcons in the City
Where was the dividing line between territories, we wondered. Would these new falcons be treated as invaders, or could peaceful coexistence be achieved? With this new potential site being a quick 10-minute walk from home, I volunteered to keep an eye on their progress and report back regularly. As luck would have it, one of the local establishments had some outdoor picnic tables perfectly positioned for monitoring the new couple (peregrines mate for life), and after purchasing some binoculars, I set out to observe – but, as is often the case, I was witness to so much more.
In the northern hemisphere, peregrine falcons typically lay their clutch of 2 to 4 eggs sometime between late February and the end of March, and incubation generally lasts around 30 to 35 days. This meant a lot of time spent freezing my ass off while seated on a wooden bench on the corner of Baum Boulevard and Highland Avenue with my neck craned toward the sky.
How Peregrine Falcons Nest
The female eventually settled on a former red tailed hawk nest under a buttress toward the top of the steeple as the ideal spot to try her hand at raising a family. Peregrine falcons prefer flat ledges with dirt or gravel so they can dig a depression into which they lay their eggs, but on the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, some of the most prime real estate in the city for these elevation-loving birds of prey, no such flat surfaces exist. The hawks that once occupied the site built a nest of sticks, and those sticks provided the necessary security for the eggs – they wouldn’t roll off the surface of the church, and the falcons recognized this as their best shot at success. Those who came before helped pave their way, despite it being non-traditional for peregrine falcons.
During courtship, the falcons stay close to home to protect their turf. The more agile male, about a third smaller than the female, hunts prey to feed the pair as they share incubation duties. Yes, males do assist in the incubation process, although the amount of time they spend on the eggs will vary by pair (sounds familiar to many of us at ground-level, doesn’t it?).
Come mid-April, I could assume there were eggs in the nest since the female was spending her time crouched therein with only the tips of her tail feathers visible. Unfortunately, from my street-level perch, there was no way to know how many eggs there might be. Unlike the University of Pittsburgh’s nest site, there is not an National Aviary-run “falcon cam” here where folks can tune in online and keep tabs on the birds and their little ones as they hatch and eventually fledge.
The Beauty of Bird Watching
While trying to spot any evidence of successful hatching, I had plenty of time to soak in my surroundings without rushing somewhere else. The unforeseen beauty of bird watching, as it turns out, is ample down time. In my line of sight from the picnic bench is a branch of Pittsburgh’s magnificent Carnegie Library system, yet another legacy of one of Pittsburgh’s industrial barons who, unlike those in a similar position today, saw philanthropy as an essential responsibility that comes with such enormous wealth. I couldn’t help but wonder what Andrew Carnegie might think of the current scenery, the current state of the world – and the contrast that I’m sure he’d notice when it came to his ilk in the modern era, something impossible to ignore when a Tesla driver honks impatiently as an elderly woman crosses the street on her way to mass.
The Unexpected Effects of These Falcons
As the temperatures rose, so did the number of passers-by curious about what I was staring at in the heavens. A steady stream of Uber and Doordash drivers would pop on their hazards and leave their cars as they fetched Nashville hot chicken and poké bowls for my neighbors, chatting on their phones in Turkish, Arabic, and Uzbek. Open windows from other passing vehicles emitted an endless sensory tapestry of news radio, thundering bass, cigarette smoke, and the heady, unmistakable aroma of the stickiest and ickiest of marijuana. The odor of car exhaust added a familiar top note to the aromatic profile of the corner, particularly during the evening rush hour.
The bar whose tables I’d been using to observe the falcons inquired about my activities. They even ended up naming a cocktail after the new residents (it is going back on the menu this year, too, I’m told). A local woman, infamous for asking anyone within earshot if they can spare a dollar, took note of my repeat appearances and started to engage in friendly banter. After a few weeks, I, too, became something of a neighborhood fixture as “the bird guy,” and what started as a chance encounter became a near-daily routine.
Read More about East Liberty’s evolution in part one and East Liberty’s future in part three.
Story by Adam Knoerzer
Photo Courtesy of Nijwam Swargiary
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