Peregrine Falcons Fight Atop Cathedral of Learning

Look at these still pictures taken from a live cam in March of this year, that monitors a Peregrine falcon nest occupied by "Erie" and "Dorothy" at the University of Pittsburgh. It shows a male showing up to challenge Erie and a prolonged fight until both tumble off the platform.

http://www.paconserve.org/rc/peregrine-07-images/index.html

A male did return to "Dorothy" and until today researchers have not known the identity of the challenging falcon, though they assumed he flew off. Researchers assumed that "Erie" was the victor because his behavior with mate "Dorothy" seemed familiar and as it was. Well, today maintenance people actually found the body of the challenging male in a drain in the building. A metal leg band identifies him as "Pulse" a falcon from Cleveland. Apparently this is good news in a weird way because it indicates that the endangered peregrine falcon population has recovered so much that males are fighting for the few prime locations to safely have a nest, and for a mate.

Here's the article that reports finding and identifying the defeated challenger falcon.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07184/798994-100.stm

Erie and Dorothy have successfully parented 22 baby falcons since 2002!!