Falcon lays first egg of 2021 atop Pitt cathedral
The balcony suite at the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland is once again occupied by an expecting young couple. The peregrine falcon female, Morela, laid her first egg of the year at 11:54 a.m. Wednesday.
The father, Ecco, was nowhere in sight but had been seen air-lifting food to the pebble-filled aerie. Morela’s delivery was captured on a livestreaming camera operated by the National Aviary. Last year, the peregrine webcam in Oakland registered 114,000 page views.
Bob Mulvihill, an aviary ornithologist, said everything at the nest seems “perfectly normal” compared to the gory homelife of the nest’s previous occupant, Hope, who ate her young.
“In the past, the female displayed some aberrant behaviors that even peregrine biologists couldn’t explain,” said Mr. Mulvihill. “But this is a fresh start. We’re anticipating a normal-looking result of their mating.”
Hope hasn’t been seen for two years. In 2019, Morela took over the cathedral space, and last year, she was courted by Ecco and another male, Hope’s former mate, Terzo.
“[Morela] laid two eggs, but none of them hatched,” Mr. Mulvihill said. “There was competition between the males, and I don’t think the eggs were ever fertilized.”
Terzo hasn’t been seen on camera since February, he said, and there is a “clear pair bond” linking Morela and Ecco.
The birds are unbanded; their ages and backgrounds are unknown.
Morela may lay as many as four more eggs, generally arriving every other day. Among peregrines, incubation normally begins when the second-to-last egg has arrived and lasts about 33 days. Egg-warming duty is shared. The male sits on the eggs when the female flies off to feed.
Peregrine falcons were on the endangered list in Pennsylvania until 2019, when their conservation status was reduced to threatened following increases in the number of nesting pairs statewide.