2010 Terminal Tower Peregrine Falcons

Many peregrine falcons make their homes in large cities, nesting on man-made structures such as skyscrapers, bridges, and power plants. These constructions are comparable to the cliff ledges and mountains where non-urban peregrines build their shallow nests, or scrapes.

One of CMNH's many educational projects is the FalconCam, which provides photographic coverage of the peregrine falcon scrape on the Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland.

At the time of this blog post, the pair at this nest site consists of a female known as SW and a male named Ranger. This is SW's ninth year at the Terminal Tower and Ranger's first!

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of visiting the site on a trip to install new cameras for the FalconCam. With my own camera I was able to snap some photos of the action!

When we arrived Ranger was sitting in the nest box (click photos to enlarge):




Wildlife Resources director Harvey Webster attached the new cameras to the building while SW kept a close watch:



Later SW perched near the scrape and allowed me to photograph her:



The falcon activity at the nest can be monitored online 24 hours per day on the FalconCam website, found here:

http://www.falconcam-cmnh.org

Springtime is a particularly exciting time to check in on the falcons, as often there are eggs to observe and then newly hatched chicks to enjoy!

Michelle Leighty, CMNH Wildlife Specialist