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Current Salt Lake City date & time: May 11, 6:56 pm
HE PEREGRINE FALCONS have returned to Salt Lake City this year and once again nested on the northeast corner of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The female has laid four eggs this year and is currently incubating them.
The cameras show both the male and female visiting the nesting box. Be sure to turn up your speakers, the birds can be quite vocal at times.
Peregrine information
The female performs most incubation and care of the young, while the male spends most of his time hunting and bringing food to the nest. However, both parents typically participate in these tasks. Incubation takes about one month. If all goes well, the young will grow rapidly, move around the nesting box and begin practice flights in early July. As in past years, a volunteer team of falcon enthusiasts (Salt Lake City Peregrine Falcon Watchpost Team) will be close at hand, if needed, to rescue the young birds on their first "shaky" and even perilous flights (see box at lower right to find out how to volunteer). Within a month, or so, after learning to fly, the falcon family will abandon the territory for the season.
Peregrine falcons do not build nests from grass, or twigs. Usually, they create a scrape (a shallow depression in the substrate) on ledges, cliffs, or in this case, a high, protected spot on a downtown Salt Lake City building. Once established, a nesting site may be reused year after year, although alternative nesting sites have been utilized as well.
Peregrine falcons have used nesting locations in downtown Salt Lake City since 1984. With the help of Salt Lake City Peregrine Falcon Watchpost Team members, from 1986 through 1990 and 1995, 11 of 16 young learned to fly and dispersed to the wild. From 2004 through 2007, eight of
11 young successfully departed to wilder haunts. Five of the six youngsters fledged from 1991 through 1993 did so from a nest site located just north of Salt Lake City.
Peregrines are hunters extraordinaire that prey almost exclusively on birds caught in mid-air. Considered the world's fastest animal, the species can reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour during vertical dives. The pigeon population of downtown Salt Lake City provides ample food, but through the years more than 35 other bird species have been found to have fallen prey to these magnificent, awe-inspiring flyers. Many falcon prey species are not normally found in urban environments, indicating that the falcons forage both within and beyond the confines of the big city.
The peregrine falcon was removed from the federal Endangered Species List in 1999. The Utah peregrine population is recovering statewide, and the species continues to enjoy protection under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
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