Observers watching the live video stream on “nest cam” saw the first peregrine falcon chick break through one of four eggs just after 6 a.m. on Tuesday. The last one hatched around 11:30 a.m. on Friday.
Kalamazoo’s favorite peregrine falcon pair, Rebecca and Kewpee, have been nesting near the top of the Fifth Third Bank Building in downtown Kalamazoo every year for a decade.
“This is actually our ten-year anniversary," said Gail Walter, a retired veterinarian and the falcon liaison for the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo. "This is the tenth year that we have had chicks hatch in that box.”
The cameras were set up in 2015, according to the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo website.
Walter said peregrine falcons were taken off the federal endangered species list in 1999. But the Michigan Department of Natural Resources still considered the bird endangered in Michigan.
“They remained on the states endangered species list until just this spring,” said Walter. “And the DNR re-examined all of the different species, and the peregrines just recently move from endangered to threatened.”
The nestlings, called eyases, will stay in the nest for another 35-42 days. Then they will be ready to fledge or take their first flight.
The public can continue to watch them grow live on the nest video stream.
