University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

BB and Yankee are back in the UB nesting box in the tower of Mackay Heating Plant. Photo: UB FACILITIES

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  Watch the live streaming video from UB’s falcon-cam.

By SUE WUETCHER

Published: April 5, 2012

Get out the binoculars and fire up the laptop: Yankee and BB have returned to their South Campus nesting box, ensuring local peregrine falcon watchers another spring of happy viewing.

At last count, four eggs were in the nesting box at the top of the Mackay Heating Plant tower along Winspear Avenue at the southeast corner of the campus.

This spring marks the fourth consecutive year that a female peregrine falcon has laid eggs in the nesting box. Local birdwatchers are certain the falcon parents are BB and Yankee; BB has laid eggs in the nesting box all four years, while Yankee became BB’s second partner in 2010 after driving off Smokey, BB’s partner in 2009.

The nesting box was built and installed in 2009 by UB Facilities staff working with local officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Buffalo Audubon Society. UB needed permission from the state Office of Historic Preservation to install the box because MacKay tower is a state historic landmark.

Facilities staff also placed a webcam—dubbed “Falcon Cam”—in the nest in 2010, and upgraded the coverage last year with a second camera to provide a view of the perch that extends out from the nesting box. That camera angle allows falcon fans to watch the chicks once they become mobile and go out on the perch.

The Falcon Cam has become one of the most visited of UB’s webpages.

A viewing hut was built near 250 Winspear last year after some onlookers hoping to get a glimpse of the hatched falcon chicks reported being swooped by BB and Yankee. Besides providing safety from the protective falcon parents, the shelter features a wealth of educational information about peregrine falcons, as well as the history of the falcons at UB, complete with photographs.

Four chicks were hatched in 2009, three in 2010 and four last year.

Biologists from the DEC band the chicks in order to identify and monitor them for the rest of their lives.

While biologists say falcon chicks are unlikely to return once they leave their nest, their parents frequently return to the same nest to raise another brood.

Classified as an endangered bird species in New York state, peregrine falcons were completely eliminated from the Eastern United States in the 1960s, mainly due to pesticide residues in their bird prey. Thanks to efforts like the one at UB, there were 57 breeding pairs in New York State in 2010, according to the DEC.