Again this spring, the fastest animal in the world is nesting atop pier #22 under the International Bridge. A pair of peregrine falcons returned to the Sault to nest under the bridge.
On Monday, Phil Becker, the General Manager of the International Bridge, reported that bridge workers found four peregrine falcon eggs around 10 days ago. They located the nest and eggs where the falcons had raised their young last spring. Workers immediately moved to protect the breeding pair from disturbances. This is at least the ninth year the falcons have nested at the International Bridge.
The peregrine falcon’s eggs should hatch in the next three weeks and the chicks will begin flying in July. The eggs take 28 to 33 days to hatch, then the chicks — called “eyasses” — leave the nest after 42 to 48 days and depend on the parents for two more months.
Peregrine falcons can dive at over 200 miles-per-hour when chasing their favorite prey: Pigeons.
Interested residents can catch a glimpse of these fast falcons flying around the Sault area and sitting on various structures including the arches of the International Bridge.
The nest is sheltered well under the bridge deck near the north end of the second bridge arch over the Soo Locks. The young falcons will not be visible until sometime in July and August when they will fledge from the nest then fly around town.
“For the protection of the falcons and the bridge users, people must not stop on the bridge to try to locate the nest,” Becker warned. “The nest is not visible from the ground and nearly impossible to see from on the bridge.”
A peregrine falcon can be identified by its hooked beak, dark strips under its eyes, pointed wings, blue-gray back, and barred front.
Peregrine falcons have been seen around the Sault area for some 14 years.
Peregrines were on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species list, after the pesticide DDT decimated the populations in the 60s and 70s. DDT was eventually banded. Bald eagles, Cooper’s hawks and other birds were also damaged by the pesticide. The captive breeding of peregrines and their release into the wild expanded the falcon’s range to now include places such as New York City, Ontario’s Batchawana River area and Sault Ste. Marie.
The USFWS removed the peregrine from the endangered species list, but this falcon and all birds of prey are protected by Michigan and federal law. It is a felony to shoot any kind of raptor, including the fastest animal in the world — the peregrine falcon.
A female peregrine falcon looks up as she sits on her nest of four eggs on Monday afternoon. Workers on the International Bridge found her eggs during spring cleaning. The falcon’s nest rests under the driving deck and on top of a support pillar at the north end of the second arch over the Soo Locks. This is at least the ninth year the falcons have nested at the International Bridge.
