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Peregrine Falcons Hatch Near Top of Port's Crane

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 May 2006, 12:04 CDT

By John Dodge, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

May 9--Four fluffy, white peregrine falcon chicks less than 1 week old were spotted Monday in an artificial nest box near the top of a Port of Olympia dockside crane by a state Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist.

"They're little, downy, white fluff balls, about 4 or 5 days old," district wildlife biologist Kelly McAllister said Monday morning after climbing down from the nest site about 175 feet high in the port's southernmost crane at the Budd Inlet marine terminal.This marks the fourth year in a row that a pair of peregrine adults has used the crane during nesting season. It also is the most successful hatch at the port site. While documenting the chicks' presence, McAllister was attacked four times by the female adult falcon, including once when she knocked a helmet off his head. "She kept slamming into my head with the knuckles of her ... feet," McAllister said. And the male mate kept a watchful eye on McAllister from his perch on a crane railing next to the nest. If all goes well, the chicks could fledge, or fly from the nest, in the third or fourth week of June. Four years ago, the adult pair nested on the crane for the first time on an exposed steel beam. The four eggs were jostled during crane operations and failed to hatch. In the spring of 2004, the falcons produced one baby chick in a nest box that McAllister, with permission from port officials, secured to the crane's fixed frame. That chick is now sitting on a nest on the Ballard Bridge in Seattle. Last year, the peregrine pair produced three eggs, but they failed to hatch, perhaps because the gravel in the nest box wasn't deep enough to protect them from the weight of the parents. McAllister added more gravel to the nest before the 2006 breeding season. Port officials continue to use the crane, even when the falcons are on the nest. In fact, the crane was busy handling ship cargo last week at the same time the eggs were hatching. "It appears it doesn't bother them at all," said Jim Amador, port marine terminal director. "We exist with the birds, and the birds exist with us." Peregrine falcons, which are the world's fastest bird, were pushed to the brink of extinction in the 1970s as they fell victim to pesticide exposure that caused their egg shells to be thin. By 1980, there were only five known peregrine falcon pairs in the state. But a ban on DDT and other highly toxic chemicals, along with a captive breeding program, brought the peregrines back from the edge. There are an estimated 140 past and active nesting sites in the state, according to Fish and Wildlife's Eric Cummins. About 85 percent of the sites are active in any given year, including three in Thurston County, he said. And for some reason, a few of the falcon pairs are comfortable in urban settings, building nests on bridges, high rise buildings' window ledges and the port crane. About 30 percent of the peregrine falcon chicks born each year survive to age 1, Cummins said. They can succumb to great horned owls, bald eagles and predators on the ground, if they fall from their nests. Four eggs per nest is pretty typical for peregrine falcons, McAllister said. McAllister probably will climb back to the nest in early June to check on the chicks' condition and band them so they can be tracked by falcon researchers. John Dodge is a senior reporter and Sunday columnist for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5444 or jdodge@theolympian.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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Source: The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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