The first public peregrine falcon chicks are hatching in Alberta. A brood of four chicks can be seen at the Bell Tower on the Alberta Conservation Association’s (ACA) live cameras. The feeds are set up at five nest sites in the Edmonton area, allowing viewers to keep 24-hour tabs on families during nesting season. Pairs started laying eggs in April, and the first on-camera chicks hatched at the end of May. Viewers will be able to watch them grow until the fall when the young will fledge. Peregrine falcons – the fastest animals on earth with diving speeds of more than 320 km/hour – were endangered in Alberta until 1999, a result of steep population declines caused by pesticide use in the 1950s and 60s. The province reports just three pairs, and only one reproductive pair, were found in 1970. To protect the species, those birds were taken into captivity to breed. Thanks to recovery efforts, peregrine falcons were reclassified as a threatened species in Alberta in 2000. Only the Bell Tower nest had chicks as of Wednesday, but both the Genesee and Shell Scotford nests had eggs expected to hatch any day. The peregrine pair at the University of Alberta nest had no eggs because the female is a yearling and not ready to lay. However, the ACA said there is still lots to see as the couple hunt, eat and she undergoes her moult into adult plumage. The ACA said not to be alarmed should a few chicks disappear during the season. Due to high fledgling mortality in urban centres, two or three chicks are removed for conservation purposes. Those chicks will be raised by captive adult falcons (who have a hard time telling the difference between their own young and other chicks) and will be released into the Pembina and North Saskatchewan River valleys. “The results are difficult to ignore,” the ACA says on its website. “The peregrine population in Alberta has gone from one productive pair in 1970 to an estimated 80 pairs today. In southern Canada, the species has gone from three productive pairs in 1975 to several hundred.”
