Downtown building is part of falcon chick's recovery

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Peregrine falcons are an endangered species in Ohio.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF Writer

YOUNGSTOWN — Wildlife biologists plan to keep track of one of the city's newest residents.

Officials from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife were in town Friday morning to place a band on the leg of a peregrine falcon chick hatched in a nest on the Stambaugh Building.

"We had expected to find two because we knew there were two eggs," said Tom Henry, wildlife management assistant supervisor.

They found only one, a male, that hatched about three weeks ago. Henry believes the second chick died shortly after hatching.

Officials placed two bands around the bird's leg. One of the bands is visible through binoculars as the bird flies overheard and the second can only be detected if the bird is captured.

The bands will allow biologists to keep track of the bird.

Peregrine falcons are an endangered species in Ohio. In 1968, the peregrine population was completely eradicated east of the Mississippi River. The Eastern Peregrine Recovery Plan was developed to restore the population in the eastern United States in 1979.

Recently, falcon nesting sites have come up in areas across the state.

Two peregrine falcons hatched in a nest on the Stambaugh Building last year, too. Only the first chick survived its first flight. The other crashed into a window and died.

Nudging the falcons

Because last year's nesting spot within a cavity on the building's southwest corner didn't provide easy access for biologists who wanted to band the birds, ODNR personnel tried to block that spot. They placed a box on top of the area in hopes of coaxing the birds inside to build their nest and start their family.

The birds initially resisted and instead built a nest earlier this year on a Market Street bridge, Henry said.

Eventually, the birds ended up back at the Stambaugh Building and in the box where the eggs hatched.

Henry said that July is late for peregrine falcons hatching. The birds usually lay eggs in late March or early April and a 33-day incubation period follows.

The birds usually return to the same nesting spot year after year, he added.

Saturday, August 5, 2006