In partnership with Missouri Department of Conservation and Ameren Missouri, the World Bird Sanctuary is pleased to be able to bring you a live video camera on a Peregrine Falcon nest box. Watch a pair of peregrine falcons as they nest and hatch their chicks with our live video feed. During our Falcon Season, the video runs from 7am – 8pm (central time) each day.

Have a Question About Peregrine Falcons? Ask Jeff!

Every May and June Jeff Meshach, Deputy Director, bands the Peregrine babies in at least 7 of the 9 known nests in the St. Louis area. Jeff considers his banding efforts to be one of the greatest privileges in the world. “Getting to put my hands on the fastest animal in the world, even for just a few minutes, is an unforgettable experience.”

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and your question maybe be answered at Ask Jeff!

May 23, 2019

Hello All. I have some bad news. Over the weekend 18-19 May our 2 chicks died. In working with the person who runs the camera, it has been determined that the adult female stopped coming to the box. The chicks were still totally dependent on being fed by the female. The chicks don’t start getting strength in their feet and beaks, at least enough to feed themselves, until about 30 days of age. At that time they can also stand. All 3 things, standing over the food to be able to tear, having the foot strength to hold the prey in place, and beak strength, are very important in them being able to feed themselves.

The male cannot raise the kids on his own. Nature has given him the job of providing food for the female, and she brings the food to the box, tears it into pieces with her beak and feeds the chicks. When the female stops coming to the box, the male just isn’t capable of taking over the duties of feeding. Our camera man poured over camera footage from the weekend and found some video of the male sitting on the unhatched eggs. Of course, he doesn’t have the capacity to understand this futile effort. This bazaar behavior tells me something happened to the female.

Our female was 13 years old. In Ask Jeff 1 I spoke about how this is quite old for a Peregrine. There are so many things that could have happened to her; so many things that it’s useless to speculate. Over the 8 nesting seasons we have been able to get our viewers into the lives of Peregrine Falcons, I’ve mentioned how hard it is to lead a life in the wild, not just for Peregrines, but for all wildlife. Nature is seemingly cruel. Wildlife has to deal with predators, prey that can fight back, bad weather, let alone the obstacles we humans place in nature. Unfortunately we have to deal with this event, but I can safely tell you that there will be a thousand Peregrine nests in the United States this year that will fail, or have already failed. Again, this is just the harsh reality of nature. The bright side is there will be many more thousands of nests that will be successful, as our nest has been for the 7 years before the 2019 nesting season. Bottom line is the Peregrine Falcon population is still very strong, and with all the care and compassion we humans put into helping them be successful, there will always be Peregrines and much more wildlife for us and future generations to enjoy.

I think I can speak for our falcon cam team to say we all look forward to bringing you Ameren’s Portage de Sioux Energy Center Peregrine Falcon cam in 2020.

Jeff Meshach, Deputy Director