City tops suburbs for winter living (Scout: Ohio female)

[Donna]

Most city dwellers grow weary of slushy streets and impassable sidewalks, but snow doesn't ruffle the feathers of at least one Downtown resident.

Scout, the peregrine falcon who lives atop the Rhodes Tower, continues to feast on the fruits of an urban jungle.

For a bird of prey in winter, there's no better place to live than a big city.

"For one thing, it's a little warmer in the city than the outlying areas," said Donna Daniel, a wildlife biologist and falcon expert with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

"And with so much snow on the ground, falcons would certainly have it better than a suburban red-tailed hawk or an owl this time of year."

With long wings and short tails, falcons are built for speed. They hunt from the air, targeting birds in flight ranging from ducks to pigeons.

Hawks and owls, on the other hand, tend to have shorter wings and longer tails for maneuvering through trees and underbrush, and pouncing on prey.

While such raptors also eat birds, they favor mice, rabbits and other small mammals on or near the ground.

Snow cover makes finding enough food a major problem for most raptors, Daniel said.

Peregrine falcons -- cliff-dwelling predators -- were nearly wiped out by the 1970s because of the pesticide DDT in their prey.

Ohio, along with other Midwestern states, introduced an initiative in the late 1980s to support the species, releasing young birds in the wild and building nesting spots atop bridges and office buildings.

The first nesting pair in Ohio made downtown Toledo its home in 1988, Daniel said, while the first pair in Columbus settled atop the 629-foot Rhodes Tower in 1993.

Scout, a female, is wintering alone atop the building. Her previous mate, Orville, died in July after being hit by a car near Rich and Town streets.

Biding her time until spring, when one or more males will probably arrive and vie for her affections, Scout passes the time sitting, hunting and sleeping.

One of the raptor's favorite Downtown dining spots, Daniel said, is the vicinity of the Scioto River, west of her perch.

"The river is like an interstate for birds -- so it's like a smorgasbord for falcons," she said.

"She's probably eating a couple of times a day."