Who's the baby daddy? Love triangle drama at Pitt peregrine falcon nest

With two male suitors for one female, and two eggs to tend, uncertainties abound at the top of the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning, the region’s most popular nesting site for the peregrine falcon.

The drama of peregrine falcon couples in Oakland, Downtown Pittsburgh, Tarentum and elsewhere is closely watched. Populations of the formerly endangered bird, the world’s fastest flier, are rebounding. The aerodynamic raptor that catches prey on the wing is listed in Pennsylvania as “threatened.”

It’s anybody’s guess which male falcon of the two present at the cathedral nest is the father of two eggs and if the peregrines will successfully raise a clutch of young birds, as they have been doing for nearly every year since 2002.

This is a different kind of year, though.

Two males are vying for the attention of a new female, known as Morela, which apparently mated with both. But now that there are two eggs, neither male is stepping up to help care for them, or for Morela, according to Kate St. John, who monitors peregrines in the region for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

“Whichever male is in charge — what a slacker,” said St. John, who lives in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood. She writes the blog Outside My Window on the region’s peregrines and other local wildlife.

“What we really care about is: Will a male support Morela during the breeding season? Will he hunt for her, bring her food and share food?” she said, adding that a female cannot incubate an egg or raise young alone.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s peregrine coordinator, Art McMorris, is equally stunned by the three birds’ peculiar breeding behavior.

“It’s unprecedented,” he said.

Typically two rival males will fight, sometimes to the death, with the victor determined within a couple of days, McMorris said.

“The new guy has not been successful in killing out the old guy, which has not been successful either. It’s a standoff.”

Neither male brought food to Morela when she was incubating Sunday and Monday, according to St. John. Morela calls out, but no males are coming to the nest, as documented by the National Aviary Pitt Peregrine Falcon Nest Cam.

Before eggs were laid, the males were seen on camera separately visiting the nest site. The newer male, Ecco, was often observed searching the skies, seemingly for the competing male, Terzo.

Once incubation has begun, the egg needs to be at a near-constant temperature for 32 to 35 days or else the eggs will not develop.