Back in March of 2001, I noticed this incredibly large, beautiful bird perching outside my office window here in Davenport.  After several days of coming back to the same location, I contacted our Environmental Department who in turn contacted a local falconer, Tom Deckert, to make an identification of the bird.  Much to his delight, it was a peregrine falcon. A couple of days later, he returned with a nesting box which we mounted outside my office window.  I obviously began to snap pictures and take notes.  She returned day after day for a couple of weeks, and then disappeared.  Almost a year to the day, she took up housekeeping inside the box with her mate close by.  On March 25, 2002, she made her scrape inside the box and on the 28th, the first egg was laid, with subsequent eggs laid on the 30th, April 1, and on the 4th.  It was exciting to watch as the proud parents took turns turning the eggs and sitting on them. On April 1, we received a blinding 5" snowfall and she stood vigilant over her eggs, keeping them warm from the elements.  The father stood by, completely covered in snow.  It was quite a sight to see.  On May 5th, the first egg was hatched, and the next two on the 6th and 7th.  The fourth egg never hatched and was recovered by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for research purposes.  It was amazing watching the parents feed them, take turns flying out for food and returning it to feed their young.  They were very eager eaters!  Scorpio primarily took the role of mother by staying with her young as the father scoured the downtown area for food, occasionally calling out to her and meeting her in mid-air to exchange the food with her returning it to the nest.  On June 3, with much fanfare, the IDNR arrived to tag the young, draw blood samples, and weigh them.  Of course, the local media took great interest in this, covering it on 3 of the 4 local channels and 2 newspapers.  One the local television stations, WQAD-TV Channel 8, an ABC affiliate, installed a web cam in the room across from the nesting box so that the community could monitor this wondrous event.  All told, they had nearly 45,000 hits on their website of people watching the bird's activity.  One day, while watching the young from the window across from the box, I witnessed the oldest female fall from the ledge and fortunately spread her wings and glide to the roof of the Radisson Hotel across the street.  Due to her young age, and with training I received from the IDNR, I retrieved her from the roof and returned her to the roof of our building where she found her way back to the safety of her mother and the box.  I had to retrieve all three chicks at least once, and one time with the police department blocking off a main thoroughfare downtown until I arrived to rescue the male chick.  They eventually took to flight very well, engaging in mock battles with each other in the skies of above downtown Davenport and the occasion buzzing of a maintenance worker on the roof of our building.  They were last seen in early July as Scorpio and two of the chicks buzzed the window washer on our building.  I still get reports from individuals here stating that they have seen them in the past several weeks, but no definite conformation could be made.  Scorpio was an exceptional mother, tending to them like you would expect a mother should with her young ones.  She was a magnificent bird in flight, as was her male companion.  I actually miss seeing them everyday because it was so interesting to do the research, to document them with pictures, and to be so close to something that is so rare for most people to witness.  We had a contest here at work to name them with the male being named Phoenix (very appropriate) and the two females named Artemis and Aphrodite.

David K. Sebben
Building Technician