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Juvenile peregrine in flight at Westinghouse Bridge, 2 June 2026 (photo by Dana Nesiti)8 June 2026, All Peregrines All The Time
June is the month when young peregrine falcons make their first flight in southwestern Pennsylvania. It’s also when we discover new peregrine families that flew under the radar until now, as happened last week at the 62nd Street Bridge.
Here’s a news roundup of Pittsburgh’s peregrines in early June with a site summary below. We currently have six active nests.
Site List and latest activity, a regional summary. (Yellow = nest is/was active in 2026, includes one failed nest. Boldface dates are May & June 2026.)
The Pittsburgh area is on track to add 16 young peregrines to the species population (* see note at end), a total that does not include the unknown count at the 62nd Street Bridge.
Activity in the region:
Cathedral of Learning, Univ of Pittsburgh:
The most notable thing about this year’s brood at the Cathedral of Learning is their apparent reluctance to fledge. Blue fledged on 3 June but after that no one else made an obvious move until Sunday afternoon.
In the slideshow below all three are at the nest on Sunday morning 7 June. One of them is flapping and landing. I predicted that all four would be flying by Friday 5 June (41 days old) but no.
I should stop predicting these things. Peregrines always surprise me.
Downtown Pittsburgh, 3rd Avenue:
On Thursday 4 June Lori Maggio stopped by Third Avenue to see the Downtown peregrines.
Two adults at the nest area, Male at top, female feeding at least 2 chicks, 4 June 2026 (photo by Lori Maggio)From the Smithfield St Bridge I could see at least two maybe three of them [the chicks]. The adult female was in the nest at the time and Terzo was on the beam above the nest ledge. The pictures from the bridge are not great due to the heat coming off the buildings and the bus/vehicle traffic shaking the bridge up and down.
— email from Lori Maggio, 4 June 2026The female perched on a Lawrence Hall gargoyle.
Female peregrine at Third Ave, 4 June 2026 (photo by Lori Maggio)Terzo watched from the upper airshaft beam.
Male peregrine, Terzo, at Third Ave on 4 June 2026 (photo by Lori Maggio)The chicks appear to be about 23 days old on 4 June, in which case they hatched around 12 May and will fledge around 21 June.
Two peregrine chicks at Third Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh, 4 June 2026 (photo by Lori Maggio)It’s worth checking the Third Avenue site around June 13-14, maybe earlier, to see if they’ve come to the ledge opening.
Sewickley Bridge, Ohio River:
Adult male “Bolt” at Sewickley Bridge, 3 June 2026 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)This successful nest has four young and two watchful parents.
Adult female “Wrench” at Sewickley Bridge, 3 June 2026 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)On 3 June Jeff Cieslak photographed four family members. Two of the “kids” were Upstairs and Downstairs: one on a high beam, the other on a lower one. Or was this an optical illusion?
Upstairs Downstairs: 2 peregrine chicks at Sewickley Bridge 3 June 2026 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)The Sewickley Bridge youngsters are due to fly soon if they haven’t already.
62nd Street Bridge, Allegheny River:
As mentioned yesterday we didn’t know that peregrines were nesting at the 62nd Street Bridge until Matt Jacob found a pair of them carrying food into a cubbyhole on the bridge on June 4 & 5.
Pair of peregrines at the 62nd Street Bridge, 5 June 2026 (photo by Matt Jacob @matt_jacob)Read more about this family and find out where to view them in this article: New Nest Found at 62nd Street Bridge.
Tarentum Bridge, Allegheny River:
Adult with 3 of 4 chicks Tarentum Bridge, 6 June 2026 (photo by Dave Brooke)When Dave Brooke checked on the Tarentum peregrine family on Saturday 6 June the chicks are all brown and ready to fledge.
In just four days their plumage changed a lot as seen in Dave’s 2 June video.
Westinghouse Bridge, Turtle Creek:
Adult with a chick at Westinghouse Bridge, 2 June 2026 (photo by Dana Nesiti)We didn’t know that the Westinghouse Bridge nest was successful until Dana Nesiti checked on it in late May and found two chicks. Last week he visited almost every day. His video from 2 June shows one juvenile ledge walking, falling and the flying for the first time.
video embedded from Dana Nesiti (Canonusr) on YouTube)
He was the first sibling to fly, shown in photos at top and below.
Young peregrine flying at the Westinghouse Bridge, 2 June 2026 (photo by Dana Nesiti)Here are the two siblings on 4 June. The one on the left looks darker overall.
Two chicks at Westinghouse Bridge, 4 June 2026 (photo by Dana Nesiti)The Status Table …
… at the top is a screenshot of the table taken on 7 June 2026. Here’s the up-to-date table if you’re reading this many months later.
(*) NOTE about “adding 16 young peregrines to the population this year.” 60% of young peregrines die in their first year, many of them before they leave home. The urban setting is unforgiving when it comes to chimneys and glass. By the Spring of 2027 that number 16 will be down to 6 or 7.
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