You may remember reading reports of Common Ravens being seen on and around the 'steel stacks' at the old Bethlehem Steel plant in Bethlehem. Some people speculated that they might be nesting somewhere in the vicinity. While having a family dinner at my parents' house, I asked my daughter's boyfriend, who happens to work at the Sands Casino, if he happened to know that the Peregrine Falcons had three young and were about to fledge. He told me that he did and that he also noticed a huge nest inside one of the buildings next to the 'steel stacks' and asked if eagles nested inside buildings. That peaked my interest. I said that I was planning to go down and check out the Peregrines and asked him if there was a way to get some photos of it. He told me to give him a call the day I planned on going there and he would get me into the building. Obviously, this late in the year, the nest was empty, but I took several photos of the nest and the debris underneath.
To give an idea of scale, the cross beams under the nest are around 18-24 inches high.
When I mentioned it to Rick Wiltraut, he mentioned that ravens typically line their nest with deer hair. That pretty much assured that this was a ravens' nest since there were, indeed, patches of hair underneath it. It will be interesting to see if they return for the next breeding season.
