COLUMBUS, OH -- The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife has confirmed the first peregrine falcon egg hatch for 2000. Project coordinator Dave Scott reports that four chicks were present at the Cleves nest site, west of Cincinnati, when the box was checked on Tuesday, April 25. For site manager Rick Jasper, it was a welcome sight after documenting three successive seasons of failure.

"In 1997, peregrines were present but didn’t nest," said Jasper. "In 1998, the birds laid two eggs, but they didn’t hatch. In 1999, they laid four eggs; again, no chicks hatched. We finally have a healthy clutch of youngsters."

The four eggs in the Akron site are expected to hatch at any time; biologists are reluctant to disturb the nest because of the cool weather. Those monitoring the Columbus peregrine pair on the ODNR web site should begin looking for chicks; site manager Donna Daniel reports that the pair has become increasingly restless, suggesting hatch may be underway.

Ohio’s documented peregrine pairs increased to 13 with the confirmation of a nesting site near the west end of the I-90 bridge over the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. "I received an e-mail from an individual who had been working near the bridge and had seen the pair courting," said Dave Scott. "His description of the site was perfect—it took only minutes to locate the birds. The adult male is unbanded. The adult female has a black marker band and a silver U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service band, indicating that she is from Canada. They laid their first egg on April 26 on the bare beam."

Stuart Ravary, a geotechnical engineer with a Dublin, Ohio, firm, was working at the base of the bridge when he heard the birds calling. "I’ve been birding since about 1978," said Ravary. "I usually have a bird book and binoculars with me when I travel. I heard the calls and, even at a distance, could see the typical falcon profile and head markings. When I checked the division’s Internet site, I thought these might be the birds from LTV or the Terminal Tower. I was really thrilled to find a new pair."

The peregrines nesting at the Cleveland Clinic have been identified as Coke, a male hatched at the LTV site in 1999, and a female rescued as a fledgling from the waters of Chesapeake Bay in 1998. They laid their eggs in a gravel-filled drain on a terrace. "We like to provide a screen-bottomed tray filled with pea gravel to serve as a nest site, but we’re finding that peregrines are establishing nests without our assistance and many of these locations do produce young," Scott commented.

Updated information on all of Ohio’s known peregrine sites is available on line at www.dnr.state.oh.us

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