LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ A live webcam installed in a nesting box where four peregrine falcons hatched this spring is giving viewers an up-close look at the lives of the downy chicks _ from gory feeding sessions to the moment when they'll try out their wings.
Wildflife officials say the youngsters will likely take their first flight sometime in the next few weeks. Watch the live feed online at lge-ku.com/falcon.
The webcam is installed inside a nesting box 300 feet high at Louisville Gas and Electric Co.'s Mill Creek Generating Station in Louisville.
LG&E said the power plant's nooks and alcoves are ideal nesting spots for the falcons, reminiscent of the mountain cliffs and ledges where they nest in nature. Pigeons and starlings at the plant provide a ready food supply.
Loren Taylor, a state avian biologist, said in a news release that web cameras are "an excellent way for people to learn about and observe wildlife without the risk of disturbing them. This is especially important when it comes to peregrine falcons, as they are still considered a rare species in Kentucky."
LG&E and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources have operated a webcam at Mill Creek since 2013.
"The technology's certainly improved" since then, said Liz Pratt, spokeswoman for LG&E. So this year, the camera was upgraded to an HD webcam with higher resolution.
That "has the potential to allow biologists to identify individual falcons by the unique characteristics of their facial plumage in future years," Taylor said.
The mother bird, Diana. is thought to have been nesting at the Mill Creek location since 2006. She usually raises two to four chicks during each nesting season, which is from February to June. This year, there are two girls and two boys, Pratt said.
Pratt said the first egg appeared in the nest March 6.
The chicks were briefly taken from the nest so that wildlife officials could attach leg bands to them that will allow biologists using high-powered optics to identify them in the future. The information on each bird is entered into a database that includes its gender, hatch date and the location of the nest.
Peregrine falcons suffered a significant decline in the mid-1900s because of the use of the pesticide DDT, which caused birds' eggshells to be too thin.
DDT was outlawed in the 1970s, and wildlife organizations began releasing young falcons into the wild, which has helped their numbers to rebound.
In 2015, Kentucky had 10 peregrine falcon nests that produced 23 fledglings.
The birds are among the fastest in the world, diving at speeds of 200 miles per hour, according to the release.
