'They're phenomenal birds': Local volunteer part of effort to rejuvenate Alberta's peregrine falcon population

A native bird species that was on the brink of extinction in Alberta 50 years ago is flourishing in the province again, thanks in part to the help of some local volunteers.

Falcon Watch was established in 2008 to monitor nesting Peregrine Falcons in the Edmonton region.

Pete Fullbrandt says the idea originated with his wife.

"She started it to watch the falcons at the University of Alberta at the Clinical Sciences building which has a nest there," he told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday.

There are currently cameras set up at eight nesting boxes in the Edmonton area, including the Bell tower in downtown Edmonton, the U of A, Capital Power Genesee and the Shell Scotford site.

• Alberta Conservation Association peregrine cameras
• Genesee falcon monitoring program

As falcons are natural cliff-dwellers and prefer to settle in locations high off the ground, Fullbrandt says the nesting boxes are crucial for the survival of chicks born in urban settings.

"If they nest up here on the roof, what happens? We get these showers or rain storms and the chicks drown."

Fullbrandt's wife monitors the cameras and collects data on the birds born there each year.

"She can give you the exact time they were born, the exact time they leave the nest," he said.

She also calls on other Falcon Watch volunteers to step in if the baby birds get into trouble.

"The young falcons, when they first fledge, they're not great flyers. The fluff on those birds kind of slows them down, and they haven’t got the power and ability to maneuver like the adults do," Fullbrandt said. "A lot of times they fly into buildings, and sometimes they come to the ground. If they don’t hit hard enough on the buildings and they're still alive, we can rescue them."

If the birds are injured, the volunteers will rehabilitate them.

Ultimately, all the rescued birds are released into the wild outside the city in a spot near the Pembina River.

"They take these young ones and they put them in the hatch boxes there, and it looks out over the river valley and the canyons, and they imprint on that area. So they imprint on the wild area. Hopefully when they come back from migration, they’ll go back into the wild."

Fullbrandt says a lot of the chicks, which can be tracked via their leg bands, have come back and nested in the area.

A peregrine falcon family at the Cabrini Centre at Edmonton's Misericordia Hospital. (Credit: Falcon Watch)

Others still return to spots in Edmonton, including a nesting box at the Misericordia Hospital's Cabrini Centre, where three chicks were born this year.

"The father, he’s actually one that we rescued at the University of Alberta from the nest there, and that just goes to show you that the Falcon Watch does work," Fullbrandt said. "We rescued him, he survived, migrated, came back, and he ended up being the resident male here."

Fullbrandt says one of the chicks at the site has already been rescued and taken out to the site at Pembina.

"The other one is flying around here and having a great time, getting trained," he said."The third one, we don’t know where he is yet. We may have seen him today, we may not."

The nesting box has been at the site since 1994.

Fullbrandt estimates 60-100 chicks have been born at the Misericordia site alone.

It's no small feat considering the bird nearly disappeared from Alberta in the 1970s.

"In 1972, there was one bird here in Alberta. One bird," he said.

Fullbrandt says the decline of the birds was due to pesticide use in their southern migration habitats.

He says a dedicated breeding program was required to rejuvenate the species in Alberta.

"Out at Wainwright, they started a place where they’re trying to get the falcons to come back to Alberta," he said. "They brought some falconers, and brought their birds in, and they got some semen and actually started a bunch of young chicks, and it grew from there."

"When we first started this, there were 68 nesting sites in Alberta, and I would venture to say that’s increased quite dramatically since then."

Fullbrandt says he and his wife are starting to take a step back from Falcon Watch as a new generation of volunteers take over the cause, but he calls the work a labour of love and says he can't stay away completely.

A peregrine falcon family at the Cabrini Centre at Edmonton's Misericordia Hospital. (Credit: Falcon Watch)

"It's a lot of work, a lot of tedious hours, but it is just super to see them," he said.

"If you sit and watch those birds, they are phenomenal. The way they hunt, the way they train, the way they fly.

"They're phenomenal birds to watch."

Staff and patients at the Misericordia Hospital also love the nesting box.

"The birds were endangered, so to have that opportunity to see them and to hear them is just really special," Rosemary Malowany of the Misericordia said.

"We have staff who look forward to them coming back every year and keep a close watch on the nest to see if the pair is going to be there.

"There are a lot of people who are really invested in the success of the program."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson