People all over the world celebrated Earth Day today with the knowledge that our little planet has a lot to be concerned about. Deforestation, global climate change and the loss of diverse wildlife remain enormous challenges that haven’t been adequately addressed. But even with these troubling problems, certain things on planet Earth are looking up, and Columbus has feathery video evidence to prove it.
In 1997, the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s Division of Wildlife started the Columbus Peregrine FalconCam program, aiming live cameras at a falcon nest box sitting on the 41st floor of the Rhodes State Office Tower. Thanks to these cameras, not only can scientists study the nesting behavior of the falcons, but anyone who is curious about the falcons can also watch as they lay and hatch their eggs.
Eggs were once the biggest problem for North America’s falcons. From the 1950’s through the 1970’s the widespread use of the pesticide DDT caused severe thinning of eggshells in raptor species, particularly affecting peregrine falcons. With brittle, fragile eggs, most falcon chicks never hatched and by 1968, the species was more or less extinct in the Eastern United States.
Banning DDT was the first step in saving the peregrine falcons and other raptor species threatened by the pesticide, but a large-scale repopulation program was needed in order to reverse the damage. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ohio began participating in the effort to return the falcons to the Midwest, importing and releasing 46 falcons in Cincinnati, Akron and Columbus. In 1993, two falcons started nesting in Columbus, ultimately raising 19 chicks in five years.
The success of the program led to the peregrine falcon’s removal from the federal government’s endangered species list in 1999. The falcon remains on Ohio’s list of threatened species.
The current occupant of the Rhodes Tower nest is a falcon named Durand. According to a blog operated by the Division of Wildlife, Durand is a bird with a very tight schedule, laying her first egg of the season on the exact same day, March 19, in 2013, 2014 and again in 2015. Durand laid four eggs in March and has been observed tending to them along with her apparent mate, Spark.
On Wednesday, blog contributor Karen Norris predicted the chicks should begin hatching around April 26. Anyone interested in seeing the falcon chicks emerge should make sure to hop on the live FalconCam feed on Sunday and enjoy a little reminder (or four little reminders) that some environmental stories a can have happy endings.