Turns out that Scout may have been killed by a worker weilding a broom while protecting her fledgling Spirit
Witness: Worker struck falcon
Thursday, July 8, 2010 02:56 AM
By Jeffrey Sheban
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Scout, a female peregrine falcon, was found dead on Broad Street Downtown.A mother peregrine falcon found dead on Broad Street last week might have been done in by a worker wielding a broom atop the LeVeque Tower.
State and federal wildlife officials are investigating reports from at least one eyewitness to a supposed confrontation played out near the top of the 555-foot-tall skyscraper.
"The death of Scout is under investigation after we received some information from several people," confirmed Kandy Klosterman, law-enforcement supervisor with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife.
Because peregrines are a protected species under Ohio and federal law, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is assisting in the investigation, she said.
According to a witness who works Downtown in a nearby office building and wants to remain anonymous, a worker was near the top of the LeVeque last Thursday placing colored filters over spotlights for the next day's Red, White & Boom festivities.
That's when Scout, an adult female falcon who roosted on the 41st floor of the Rhodes Tower, started to divebomb the worker, possibly because her lone surviving fledgling was nearby. (Another youngster, Swoop, had plummeted to the sidewalk and died in its maiden flight three days earlier.)
After several menacing passes by the bird of prey, the worker went inside and returned with a broom, according to the witness. The worker allegedly struck the bird in a subsequent pass, resulting in Scout tumbling to the street below.
A state wildlife biologist previously said the mother falcon might have fallen after striking an office-tower window while hunting prey.
Klosterman declined to comment on the witness' story but said the division would like to hear from others. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
"We do want people to come forward with further information," she said. "We've received a few calls, but it's still very early in the investigation."
Anyone with information can call the division's tip line at 1-800-POACHER (762-2437), or the District 1 law-enforcement section at 614-644-3925.
LeVeque Tower property manager Kate Zurawski said the worker in question was an independent lighting contractor and not one of her employees. She declined to name the company.
"We don't condone hurting or killing or doing anything to wildlife, including falcons," she said.
Harming a peregrine falcon is a first-degree misdemeanor in Ohio, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail. The state also can assess up to $2,500 in restitution to support its peregrine management efforts.
Peregrines, capable of reaching speeds of up to 200 mph, are cliff-dwelling predators that were nearly wiped out by the 1970s because of the pesticide DDT in their prey. Ohio and other states began efforts in the late 1980s to support the species, releasing young birds in the wild and building nesting spots atop bridges and office buildings.
Scout and her mate, Trooper, produced two offspring this spring. The surviving juvenile, Spirit, continues to be watched over and fed by its father.
Meanwhile, wildlife officials have retrieved another dead falcon from the central business district.
An adult female, recently spotted Downtown after the death of Scout, was found dead Tuesday at the intersection of 3rd and Gay streets. A witness told officials that he saw the bird dive headfirst into the street, possibly misjudging its altitude while hunting.
"While it is easy to dwell on what birds we have lost recently, I ask folks to not forget the successes," said Donna Daniel, a wildlife biologist with the Division of Wildlife, writing in her falcon blog.
More than 40 young peregrines have been hatched and raised Downtown since the Rhodes Tower nest box was installed in 1994.
