Causes of egg binding and retention include environmental stress (e.g., large temperature fluctuations, excessive noise, and lack of appropriate seclusion). Egg-binding, or dystocia, is the failure of an egg to navigate through the oviduct in an appropriate time frame for a particular species. This particular condition is known as egg-binding. She often sat in position for long periods of time but with no result. However, we recently posited that it appeared Morela has had physical difficulty laying her eggs this season. This, in turn, likely required them to spend a lot of extra time being vigilant and defensive of their nest site.īack in March, it appeared Morela was close to laying. This usually indicates that there is a third Peregrine of either sex probing into their territory. John’s “ Outside My Window” blog, it, unfortunately, looks very likely that there is not going to be a nesting attempt at the Cathedral of Learning nest on the Pitt campus this year.Īlthough the female, Morela, and her mate, Ecco, seemed to be going through the motions appropriately, they did appear very distracted from time to time. May 3, 2023: As was noted recently in Kate St. It is highly unlikely that Ecco and Carla will attempt to nest this season, but we’ll be keeping an eye on the Falcon Cam anyway…just in case! We are sad about the difficulties that led to Morela’s leaving, though we look forward to more nesting activity at Pitt in the seasons ahead. While don’t know if Carla has become Ecco’s official new mate, we suspect that she has. Kate did some research and learned that she was female Black/Blue S/07, banded on three years ago on May 18, 2020, as a nestling on a building at One Summit Square in Fort Wayne, Indiana! She even has a name: Carla. She just happened to display her banded right leg very clearly. John alerted everyone through her Outside My Window blog that resident male Ecco was sunbathing on the nest platform. Since then, Morela has not been seen on camera. After several minutes of searching, she was nowhere to be found. May 19, 2023: On Sunday, May 14, we moved our Falcon Cam around to see if Morela might have taken refuge underneath, as it appeared in recent sightings that her speculated egg-binding episode left her in a weakened state. Thank you to The Birdwatchers Store for sponsoring the Peregrine Falcon Cam!

It’s important to remember that these nest cams give us a view into the wild world of birds, and while it’s not our role to intervene, we can learn a lot from studying these behaviors. We can all look forward to the 2024 Peregrine Falcon season: we will see if Carla and Ecco join us for it. New female, Carla, appeared on camera for the first time not too long after. Morela made her last appearance on camera in early May 2023. For several days in mid-March, it appeared as if Morela was close to laying eggs, however, she never did. The 2023 Season of the National Aviary’s Peregrine Falcon Nest Cam Has EndedĮach spring and summer, the National Aviary hosts a live stream of the Peregrine Falconsresiding high up on the southeast side of the Cathedral of Learning on the main campus of the University of Pittsburgh.Ģ023 marked the third year of Peregrine pair Morela and Ecco occupying the Cathedral’s nestbox.

Paragon falcon