PEREGRINE FALCONS BEGIN NESTING SEASON IN OHIO Internet users can follow the season's progress at wildohio.com
COLUMBUS, OH - The 2008 peregrine falcon nesting season is underway in Ohio, following the March 11 appearance of an egg in a nest at the Miami Fort Station Power Plant in western Hamilton County. Internet users can follow the progress of this and other peregrine nests at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife's peregrine falcon Web page at wildohio.com. By April, most of Ohio's peregrine falcons will have chosen or re-bonded with a mate and selected a nesting site. As the nesting season progresses, key events such as egg laying, hatching and fledging will be noted on the Web page for each nest. Additional nests are expected at sites in Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus, Akron, Toledo, and several other communities within the next month. Because of nesting success in Ohio and across the nation, the peregrine falcon was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999; it is currently under consideration for removal from the state's endangered species list. Should that change be approved, peregrines would be considered "threatened" in Ohio. Along with several other Midwestern states, Ohio began introducing the birds in 1989. Several pairs were released in cities between 1989 and 1992. Last year in Ohio, 19 nesting pairs of peregrine falcons successfully hatched and fledged 56 young. Federal funds for the peregrine falcon project and other wildlife diversity efforts of the Division of Wildlife are provided through the State Wildlife Grant Program, which targets species with greatest conservation need.
Source: ODNR |