Is the city going to the birds?

[Donna]

by ELLIN WALSH | REPORTER

Cuyahoga Falls -- Are peregrine falcons making a reappearance in the city?

Jennifer L. Norris, the state-wide peregrine falcon project coordinator, says "occasional sightings" of peregrine falcons at the Cathedral of Tomorrow on State Road have interest piqued.

"We are keeping an eye on the site," Norris reports, "with hopes that the pair that we observed there last year will decide to nest at that location or nearby this year." Norris is a wildlife research biologist with the Olentangy Wildlife Research Station for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.

She says staffers verify reported sightings, performing a vital service to the program. By keeping track of sightings and resightings, Norris says "I can monitor the birds' home ranges and where they are traveling to, as well as estimate survival."

Norris can do this because she annually bands juvenile falcons. One band features a unique identification number on it -- "like a bird Social Security number," she says -- and the other is color-coded to indicate where the bird is from. In addition to the re-sightings of individual birds, Norris and her staff monitor each known nest, egg and the juvenile's survival

"Peregrine falcons are threatened in the state," Norris says, "so this monitoring is important to the management of the species."

You can learn more about peregrine falcons by visiting the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website at ohiodnr.com.

Falls News Press