Hi folks,
I've wondered how the peregrines nesting in UC Berkeley's campanile can
tolerate the tremendous "gong" of the bells as they chime out the top of
the hour daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Do they fly out each time?
Because I live a few blocks from campus -- within ear-shot of the bells --
I watched the nest videocam when I heard the bells from my apartment. To my
disbelief, the bird on the nest had absolutely no reaction. But then, just
as the chimes stopped, the bird shook its head, several times in a row, in
a rhythmic fashion -- which is when I realized that the gongs were going
off *on the videocam* (barely audible). So there is a slight delay between
real time (my apartment) and what we view on the videocam. Knowing that, I
watched again on the next hour, and listened for the gongs on the videocam.
Sure enough, again the bird shook its head in rhythm with the gongs. It
also sometimes opened its beak very wide, or looked as though it was going
to regurgitate. All of those behaviors seem to me evidence that the bird is
having a physical reaction to the sound. Because its hearing system (like
ours) includes narrow tubes which connect the middle ear to its throat, the
beak/throat movements might be the peregrine's equivalent of our attempts
to "clear our ears" with a change in air pressure. Well, at least it didn't
fly away, which is what I was expecting. What, I wonder, will happen during
the long Sunday afternoon serenade?
Update -- this just in! While writing this, the 11 a.m. bells went off and
the nesting bird had no head reactions this time. I don't know if it's the
same bird as yesterday (do males and females take turns incubating?) This
bird's tail, however, was slightly pumping -- hmm, is this the female
laying another egg?

--Lorrie K.