When a peregrine falcon chick tried to fly from his nest on a 40th floor ledge at the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning in June, he crashed to the ground and was hit by a car on heavily traveled Fifth Avenue in Oakland.

Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette This peregrine falcon was injured in June when it fell from the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland onto Fifth Avenue and was run over by a car. It is recovering at the Animal Rescue League Wildlife Center in Penn Hills. Click photo for larger image. Cost of care     The cost of caring for the bird, which includes several sets of X-rays, is approaching $2,500.     Anyone wishing to make a donation toward defraying the cost of caring for the peregrine can send a donation to the ARL, 6620 Hamilton Ave., Pittsburgh 15206. Write "falcon" in the memo line of the check.

Though he wasn't killed, his shoulder was broken and it was thought he would never fly again.

He's on the mend after two months of rehab at the Animal Rescue League Wildlife Center in Penn Hills. Yesterday, he was handed over to a licensed falconer who will teach him how to hunt, kill and eat birds -- the mainstay of a peregrine falcon's diet -- so that he can eventually be released into the wild.

The falconer also will work on improving the bird's flying skills.

The male peregrine falcon was one of three that hatched this year at the cathedral. A total of 15 peregrine falcons have hatched there since 2002. The birds have been watched over by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which bands them in an effort to track how the birds are doing.

The other two chicks "fledged successfully," said Alice Doolittle, a conservation assistant for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, meaning they learned how to fly and left the nest.

"To the best of our knowledge they are fine," Doolittle said. They haven't been spotted locally, but that's to be expected because after they leave the nest, they don't stay in the area.

Each year since 2002, a male and a female have returned to the Cathedral of Learning to lay and hatch eggs.

"We think it's the same pair" every year, Doolittle said.

Peregrine falcons are considered an endangered species in Pennsylvania, in various other parts of the United States and in Canada. Peregrines were nearly wiped out in the mid-1960s because of several factors: exposure to the insecticide DDT, habitat loss, shooting and natural predators.

The falcon chick that fell from its nest is now about full-sized, though he is not yet an adult, said Jill Argall, director at the ARL wildlife center. His shoulder has healed and he has been flying in a large flight cage at the Verona center. But now he needs to learn how to fly for longer and longer distances, Argall said, and that is what the falconer will try to teach him.

The falcon has been handled as little as possible, by staff and volunteers, because if he learns to like and trust people, he will not be able to survive in the wild.

The falconer who will work with the bird is licensed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.