Very cool report Anne. A heart-stopper to boot! Good luck tomorrow and when they do fledge!! 

Ann Arbor's state-endangered peregrine falcons are the proud parents of three new baby chicks that share the family home: A nest perched atop the University Hospital.

The peregrine family is evidence the birds - which mate for life and have been spotted around Ann Arbor since 2006 - have accepted a nesting box built on top of the hospital in the last year, according to an article posted about the falcon family on the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology’s website.

U-M and Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials spotted the baby peregrines on May 23.


The adult falcons like to hang around various tall buildings around the U-M campus, especially the 192-foot tall Burton Tower, where they may have nested in the past, according to Janet Hinshaw, the bird division collection manager for the U-M Museum of Zoology.

But conditions there were less than ideal for family life, Hinshaw told AnnArbor.com in 2010. Storm water would disturb the nest, and once she found a cracked egg at the base of Burton Tower.

After the latest round of renovations began on the 1936 landmark tower in late 2010, DNR officials and others collaborated to lure the falcons away from the tower with nesting boxes, including one atop the hospital and another on the roof of North Quad.

The effort worked. According to the zoology website, the chicks looked to be about 9 days old on May 23.

That means the female falcon likely laid her eggs around April 10, and the chicks hatched around May 14. They may be able to leave the nest by the end of June.

According to the DNR, the use of the chemical DDT in pesticides almost eradicated the species. But due to the ban of the chemical and decades of reintroduction efforts, the birds were removed from the federal government's endangered species list in 1999, but remain a federally protected. State law still lists the peregrine as an endangered species.

  Ann Arbor.com

http://www.annarbor.com/news/peregrine-pair-begins-a-family-atop-university-of-michigan-hospital/

That chorus of chirping high atop the Throgs Neck, Marine Parkway and Verrazano-Narrows bridges is a rite of spring, courtesy of nine new peregrine falcons.

The MTA’s Bridges and Tunnels agency said three males were hatched at the top of the 360-foot Bronx tower of the Throgs Neck, four chicks were born inside a World War II-era gun turret 215 feet up on the Rockaway tower of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and two females were born atop the 693-foot Brooklyn tower of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

The males on the Throgs Neck were named Locust, Edgewater and Bayside by Throgs Neck workers in honor of the Bronx and Queens communities.

The four chicks of the Marine Parkway bridge were named Rocky for the Rockaways, Floyd for nearby Floyd Bennett Field, Marine for the bridge and Breezy for Breezy Point.

The two females on the Verrazano-Narrows were named Rose in honor of Staten Island’s Rosebank neighborhood and Sunset for the neighborhood in Brooklyn.

“It doesn’t cost the authority anything to have the falcons nest here,� said Throgs Neck Maintenance Superintendent Carlton Cyrus. “We just give them some peace and quiet and during nesting season make sure that our contractors and maintenance workers don’t disturb them. This allows the chicks to hatch and gives them a greater opportunity for survival.�

Cyrus, who has been with Bridges and Tunnels nearly 27 years, has overseen the nesting of falcons on the Verrazano-Narrows, Marine Parkway and Throgs Neck bridges since 1997. Urban falcons seek out bridges, church steeples and high-rise buildings for nesting since they offer excellent vantage points for hunting prey, including pigeons and small birds.

The falcon chicks on the three bridges were born around the first week in May. Banding begins three weeks later when the chicks’ talons are adult-size. Each chick gets an identification band for monitoring by federal wildlife officials.

Chris Nadareski, a wildlife specialist with the city Department of Environmental Protection Wildlife Studies Division, conducts the banding of the chicks.

Nadareski estimated that 16 pairs of the falcons live in New York City.
Peregrine falcons were almost wiped out in the 1960s because of pesticides that contaminated their food supply and they remain on the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s endangered birds list.

The peregrine nesting program began in 1983 with the Verrazano-Narrows and Throgs Neck bridges.

Peregrine falcons mate for life and nest in the same place each year.

A female peregrine falcon flaps her wings to protect her three chicks, born in late April or early May, as she reacts to a photographer who snapped a family portrait atop the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge. The three chicks were born inside a World War II gun turret 215-feet up on the Rockaway Tower of the bridge. Photo courtesy Metropolitan Transit Authority, Chris Nadareski

YourNabe.com

AKRON, Ohio — Ohio wildlife officials say it's shaping up to be another good year for peregrine falcons, a bird that had been considered endangered in the state before 2008.

Biologist Jennifer Norris with the Ohio Division of Wildlife says the state has its eye on 39 nesting pairs of falcons across Ohio. She tells the Akron Beacon Journal that 34 of the couples have produced eggs and that about 100 young falcons are likely in the state this year.

At least three nests in northeast Ohio may have hatched four chicks each, which Norris says is a somewhat unusually large number.

At least 100 baby falcons were hatched in the state last year.

The peregrine falcon is now classified as threatened in Ohio, as opposed to endangered.

The Republic

I was disappointed when I drove to Fargo from Jamestown, N.D., to attend the banding of the peregrine falcon chick. I have been going to this event for at least five years. This year, about a half-hour before the event was to take place, officials decided the public could not attend.

The falcon was banded on the roof of the bank building. People drove 200 miles to see it. Why wait until a half-hour before the event to make a decision like this? Everyone who planned to attend was already in town.

I have watched banding of peregrines in other states and towns over the Internet – some of them even invite school classes to come and watch. Viewers on the Internet can also watch the banding, as a camera is set up inside the building.

To date, until I watched the news, I have not been able to even see the new chick. The camera that is focused on the box has been off air 90 percent of the time, and the rest of the time it’s reruns and reruns of when the falcons first arrived. They’ve had four to five years to get the camera working right, and each year they promise a better one the next year, but it hasn’t happened.

I emailed members of the Audubon Society ahead of time to find out when the banding was taking place, and didn’t get an answer until a couple days before the event, while a friend of mine in Iowa already knew the date a month ago. Apparently it was posted on another site I haven’t seen.

I’ll be waiting to hear a believable excuse that a decision had to wait until we all got there before turning us away. If other towns can do it right, why not Fargo? It is an educational process for young kids and adults to see the banding process. You learn a lot more than watching a webcam.

Brown lives in Jamestown, N.D.

Handsome colors developing, and no interest in Mom's lunch.

Nature makes me feel good! Thank you!

She's back

Does anyone know-- is this the Milton who returned to his nest last year to find another male?

Almost 100% sure this is the same Milton who was displaced by Jack.  Wasn't it after he was injured & released from rehab?

Brampton Territorial Male Identified
April 30, 2011 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:

Bruce Massey was on-site today and was able to make a positive identification of the male.  It is the bird known as Milton that was hatched at the Gulf Tower in Pittsburg in 2002.  This male and his young mate, Truss from the Burlington Lift Bridge in 2009, are still holding the territory but their status as a nesting pair is still in question.  While copulation was witnessed by Bruce last week, the adults are being seen off of the ledge at the same time most often.  There was a period today where both birds entered the ledge and “discussed the situationâ€� but it is apparent that incubation is not underway at this time.  With the change over of the female from an unbanded one reported earlier to now being Truss has certainly disrupted cycles and timing at this potentially new site.  We will continue to monitor and update as we follow the pair this season.

10:09am She's just fine

!!! A good clear look at Truss, her band numbers and her eggs!
June 08, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
Mark Nash Reports:

A huge thank you to Ed for sending in some of his photos that he captured today of Truss on the nest ledge. In these photos, you can get a clear look at Truss’s band number and a proof positive confirmation of her identity. As many of you are already aware, Truss is a local gal, produced at the Burlington Bridge nest site in 2009. She dawns a Black 36 over Black X

With so many failed eggs and low production from many of our southern Ontario urban nest sites this year, we all have our fingers crossed that Truss and Milton are successful in hatching their eggs again this year.

Stay tuned………..

!!! Thunderstorm, stay at home
June 08, 2011 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:

All four chicks remain on the nest ledge. This afternoon, adults were seen doing touch and go and demonstrating flights skills. We couldn’t tell if the young ones were paying attention, because there  was no screaming of excitement from the kids. All was very quiet for the most part.

 A very threatening thunderstorm rolled through parts of the downtown area around 7p.m. Amazingly, some areas received hail and heavy winds and lots of rain. With the threatening weather we called the watch for the night around 7p.m.  I checked the webcam around 8p.m. and onward and had all four accounted for.

Wollongong retiree Bruce Wham was driving north on the New England Highway on May 22 when he noticed two kookaburras dart in front of him just before he collected one at 100km an hour, about 10km outside Scone.

Thinking the bird was dead, he continued driving.

When he stopped for petrol at Tenterfield he discovered Gorilla stuck in the vehicle's grille (hence the name), but again assumed the kookaburra was dead.

To his great surprise, and after a 700km journey to Queensland, Bruce discovered the next morning that his plucky little passenger had survived.

After the RSPCA freed Gorilla, his rescuers realised he'd lived through the ordeal with only minor injuries.

Within a few days the kookaburra was back to full strength, and plans were made to get him home.

After all, he had a lady friend waiting for him, the kookaburra he was flying beside when he was hit.

1233's Jill Emberson spoke to Leonie Rickard, senior wildlife officer at the Brisbane RSPCA, just before she boarded a plane with Gorilla to bring him home to the Hunter Valley.

Leonie says it's the first time they've taken one of their rescued animals on a plane.

"No, we've never flown an animal home before, we've sent a few on trucks long-distance but this is the first flight so it's pretty interesting," she says.

"Kookaburras and birds in general can be a little bit more susceptible to shock and stress so we want to get him back there as quickly as possible, and you know birds fly so I think he'll be happy with it!

"He's doing well, I wish he knew that he was going home today, I think he'd be a lot more excited.

"Gorilla is a wild kookaburra and he hates being in the cage here, he really wants to get back to the wild."

Leonie says they have a good idea where Gorilla was struck by the car and are confident they can get him pretty close to his home, although as a country kookaburra he would have a much bigger territory than his city cousins.

"They're a very territorial species so the most important thing is to get him back exactly where he came from, and the other reason is apparently there's a girlfriend waiting for him, so fingers crossed we can reunite the two," she says.

"They pair-bond really strongly so she won't have given up on him yet.

"Even if we don't see her, within a few hours they'll see each other."

This afternoon Gorilla was released near the town of Wingen, outside Scone.

He flew into a tree, ruffled his feathers then took off, perhaps to search for his lady love who wasn't there to welcome him home.

"This is definitely the best part of my job," Leonie says.

"We see a lot of injured animals and it can be pretty hard sometimes, but any that we can get back to the wild, and especially ones like Gorilla with such an amazing story, it really makes it worthwhile."

Leonie hopes Gorilla's story encourages people who hit wildlife with their car not to assume the animal is dead.

And she also reminds motorists who run into marsupials to check their pouches.

Gorilla

http://www.myvidster.com/video/1545465/Robins_4_Eggs_4_Weeks Well done!