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Questions include: • What kinds of efforts are going on in your neighborhood? Once again, the winning authors will be invited to participate in the banding of newly hatched peregrine falcons, an opportunity these students earned through their essays on conservation. The essayists will work alongside veterinarians and scientists at the banding event, with students participating atop the Gulf Tower, and at the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning nesting site. Read last year's winning entries are (click on each name to read their essays): Bruce Glover, Allegheny Traditional Academy, Ms. Daher, teacher
Entries will judged based on the personal focus of the four questions listed above, depth of thought, use of facts and grammar/punctuation, etc. WPC felt Earth Day is the appropriate time to announce the winning entries. Support for the essay contest comes from the Mary Hillman Jennings Foundation. The peregrine falcon, fast-flying predator and one-time frequent nester on rock ledges across our region, was the first species placed on the Federal Endangered Species List. By the 1960s the widespread use of pesticides, which interfered with successful reproduction, and the disturbance of natural nest sites put the peregrine in danger of extinction. Fortunately, peregrines have made a remarkable recovery, thanks to pesticide restrictions and the creation of urban nesting sites on tall buildings which mimic the birds' natural habitat on cliffs. When a pair of peregrines took up residence at downtown Pittsburgh's Gulf Tower in 1991, it was the first nesting in western Pennsylvania in 40 years. In 2002, peregrine-watchers in Pittsburgh began following another pair in Oakland, far enough from the Gulf Tower pair to avoid competition. With financial aid from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, WPC staff and volunteers built a peregrine nest box and University of Pittsburgh administrators granted permission to place the box near the top of the famous Cathedral of Learning on the Pitt campus. The nest box is filled with round pea-size gravel that peregrines need to ensure their eggs do not roll off the ledge. The pair accepted the offering and nested on the Cathedral. Then, last Mother's Day, the first clutch of “Pitt peregrines” entered the world. While the peregrine falcon is no longer listed as endangered in the United States, it remains listed as endangered or threatened by numerous state wildlife agencies where recovery is not complete; including Pennsylvania. According to WPC's Director of Natural Heritage Charles Bier, the historic records show that the peregrine nested in at least 44 locations over 21 counties in our state, and these were all “natural” cliff-ledge sites. “A quandary for biologists has been that while recovery has seemingly gotten underway in Pennsylvania with the total number of nesting pairs having reached 13 in 2003,” Bier said. “Only beginning last year were two of those aeries located on native cliffs, with all the others situated on bridges and buildings in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh.” Last year (2003), for the first time, fifth graders and their teachers were invited to participate in a peregrine banding event at the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning nesting site on June 3rd. Below is a slideshow of the event. Click here to view our live Web camera at the site. For
more information, contact us at jrowley@paconserve.org
or call 412-586-2372.
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For the third consecutive year, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) will sponsor its “Conservation and Me” essay contest, which invites Pittsburgh fifth grade students to write a 300-word essay about their perspective on conservation. 