Online Falcon Cam Goes Live

Punxsutawney Phil was the first to predict an early spring, but now there's another sign that warmer weather is just around the corner: Harrisburg, Pa.'s peregrine falcons have returned to their nest on the 15th floor ledge of the Rachel Carson State Office Building.

To catch all the action, state officials have activated a live falcon Webcam today on the Department of Environmental Protection's Web site, Keyword: "Falcon."

"The adult peregrines have been difficult to track this year. After aperiod of unusually low activity on the ledge, they have finally begun to greet each other and exhibit breeding behavior," DEP Director of Environmental Education Jack Farster says. "Much of the courtship behavior seems to have taken place at other locations nearby."

Such courtship behavior includes food offerings by the male and displays of flight and hunting skills. The male does these acts seemingly to demonstrate his ability to be a good provider. Based on previous years' timing, the female Peregrine falcon should begin to lay eggs sometime this month. Last year, her first egg was laid March 25. The eggs began hatching on May 3 and the young falcons began to fledge, or take their first flight, in June. Also last year, for the first time, the pair produced five eggs, all of which hatched. Unfortunately, only two survived, state officials say.

This will be the eighth nesting season for this female peregrine falcon. The male is entering into his third nesting season. Carson, the original male at this site, injured on Dec. 16, 2004, still resides at ZooAmerica in Hershey.

Last year, the falcon feed was offered in two formats: Windows Media for broadband viewers and a dial-up version in Real Player. Due to theoverwhelming demand for the broadband feed, only the Windows Media format will be offered this year in order to provide as much access to the feed as possible, state officials say. The falcon cam will run daily from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The live video of the falcons will continue through the end of June.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Nest production to date has produced 29 eggs, 28 hatched(15 male and 13 female); nine males and eight females have survived.

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