NEWS

Bird's-eye view of falcons from atop city's tallest building

Brian Amaral
bamaral@providencejournal.com
A peregrine falcon looks out from atop the Industrial Trust building in downtown Providence in 2013. [The Providence Journal file/Bob Thayer]

PROVIDENCE— Peregrine falcons are the fastest birds in the sky, able to dive at more than 200 mph to catch prey, striking ducks, pigeons and songbirds in midair like a feather-covered, heat-seeking missile.

But people around the world will be able to watch them sit still atop Providence’s so-called "Superman Building" (also known as the Industrial Trust Building) as they do the other thing crucial to their avian nature: incubating eggs this breeding season.

A live cam pointed toward a peregrine falcon nest on top of the downtown Superman Building went live on the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s website Wednesday. The nest has four eggs, with two adults, the same unbanded pair that was there the year before. Around the city and the state, people sitting at desk jobs going precisely zero miles per hour will be able to watch the birds of prey over the next month prepare for the chicks to hatch, sometime around May 3 or sooner.

“Peregrine falcons were an endangered species, but because people were determined to bring them back from the brink of extinction, falcons are now recovering,” Jeffrey C. Hall, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s senior director of advancement, said in an email. “This nest in Providence has been the birthplace of 51 falcons since 2000 when the nest was first installed, with hopefully another four this year. This is a huge success story on how individual action can make positive change in our environment. So we stream this nest so even more people can learn to appreciate these beautiful birds and work with us to protect them.”

The camera first went live in 2010, with three or four falcons fledging from Rhode Island’s tallest building (26 stories) every year for the last seven years.