SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. and Ontario – It’s been another successful summer for the resident peregrine falcons at the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, with the pair of nesting raptors successfully raising three chicks this year. It's not currently known if it is the same pair that has nested on the bridge between the U.S. and Canada for years.
The chicks, a male and two females, were banded by a Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) team on June 4. Nest boxes for the peregrines have been installed on the bridge since 2010. Last year, the resident pair of peregrine falcons hatched four chicks. Over the years, the site has hatched 42 falcon chicks. Since conservation efforts started in the mid-1980s, the number of peregrines has fluctuated, but has generally increased since the 1990s, according to the MDNR.
Several years ago, the International Bridge Authority added a video camera trained on the nest box, the "FalCam." The live video stream is viewable at saultbridge.com/falcam,
