Peregrine chicks moved to center
Goal is to release birds into the wild
The Pittsburgh peregrines that temporarily sidetracked a Downtown construction project have been transferred to a wildlife rehabilitation center.
The four falcon chicks hatched weeks ago from a nest near the top of a Fourth Avenue building, and now are described as healthy, actively feeding and housed together in an incubator.
“They’re doing well, settling in,” said Jill Argall, director of Humane Animal Rescue Wildlife Center near Verona. “They came in healthy. We removed some parasites — feather lice — but nothing serious. Right now, they’re hunkered down.”
The goal is to raise, fledge and release the birds into the wild, Ms. Argall said Tuesday.
In April, a developer converting a building into student housing was told by the state Game Commission to stop exterior construction because peregrine falcons had nested nearby. Last week, the Game Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service granted permits to BT PittThird LLC of Horsham, Pa., a subsidiary of BET Investments, to have four 10-day-old peregrine falcon chicks moved from their nest.
Game Commission biologists determined the parents might not accept the nest or the chicks if the nest were moved to another location. The safest option for the chicks, they recommended, was for the birds to be
removed and raised by a wildlife rehabilitator. Agency staff removed the chicks and banded them for further study Tuesday.
“The relocation was completed safely and without incident of any kind, and it followed the plan as directed by the commission,” said Kevin Feeley, spokesman for BET Investments. “Work has now resumed on the project and we anticipate completing the renovations in time to welcome the 100 students who will begin moving into the building in August.”
Mr. Feeley said the company paid all of the rehabilitation costs.
Hours after the chicks’ removal, pedestrians watched the peregrine parents perched on a Downtown gargoyle and building ledges.
Peregrines were taken off the federal Endangered Species List but remain federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. In Pennsylvania, the species is designated as endangered.
The Humane Animal Rescue Wildlife Center is state certified and licensed, and Ms. Argall said the facility has rehabilitated and released injured adult peregrines. The chicks, now 20 to 24 days old, weigh 400 to 600 grams. They are expected to grow quickly on a diet of frozen quail and mice that are cut into bitesize pieces, she said, and staff are attempting to “mimic what they would get in nature.”
“Our main goal as a wildlife rehabilitator is to release the animals as wild as they were before they came to us,” Ms. Argall said. “We don’t want them to associate humans with food and become habituated and relaxed around humans.”
While hand-feeding the birds, staff camouflage themselves in leafy, bushy ghillie suits. To accommodate the next phase of the rehabilitation, the center has purchased peregrine falcon hand puppets, which they’ll wear to mimic a natural feeding situation.
The birds are expected to fledge 42 to 46 days after hatching. When they’re ready, Ms. Argall said, they’ll be moved to a larger enclosed space where they’ll learn to fly.
Unlike eagles, peregrines are not born with an innate ability to hunt. In a process called “hacking,” rehabilitators teach the young predators to locate, attack and kill food without injuring themselves. Ms. Argall said the center is working with the Game Commission to develop a hacking plan and process for releasing the birds into the wild.