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Menu.From Bird Calls, The Newsletter of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Fall, 1993.
The Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland will soon become a nesting site for Peregrine Falcons. The project was the brainchild of National Aviary Development Director Frank Moone, and was done in cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Game Commission.
On Tuesday, November 9, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the University of Pittsburgh, and the National Aviary officially opened a Peregrine Falcon nesting box on a 38th floor parapet on the west side of the Cathedral. The nest was placed there in an effort to provide a home for at least two Peregrines that have been sighted in recent months flying near the Cathedral tower. It is the first such nest ever located on the Cathedral.
"We're very excited about this project," said Dayton Baker, executive director of the National Aviary. "Cooperative and creative ventures like this are exactly what the doctor ordered to save our endangered wildlife."
The falcon nest will fall under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Game Commission with an assist from the National Aviary, whose expert personnel will tend and manage the nest. The man-made nest, which will be monitored weekly, could remain vacant for months, or possibly years.
"The worst scenario may take a couple of years," said Lynn Leindecker, curator of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. "If we're lucky, it'll be spring of '94. If not, who knows?"
The location of the 3-by-4-foot box is ideal for the Peregrine Falcon, the world's fastest flying species, which traditionally nests on cliff sites.
The Cathedral nest will be the second such Peregrine site in Pittsburgh. For the last three years, the falcons have been nesting on the Gulf Tower downtown. The two nests are believed to be far enough apart to preclude any territorial problems, Leindecker explained.