Watch for Peregrine falcons at Calgary’s Foothills hospital with new nesting box

At the top of the 14-storey south tower at Foothills Medical Centre, a new nesting box was installed as part of conservation efforts to attract a pair of Peregrine falcons.

According to John Campbell, a volunteer and avid Peregrine falcon advocate, Calgary has only one such bird, currently residing at the University of Calgary. There are about 65 of the birds across Alberta.

Peregrines faced lower numbers after a pesticide called DDT was introduced, causing eggshells to thin and eventually killing the birds.

“They nest on in the wild on tall cliffs and basically this is just an urban cliff here,” Campbell said. “So you pick out areas that look good, and you put up boxes and hope that the birds will come in and use them.”

“We know that this environment in Calgary works, as I said we did have four [in the past], so we are trying to get them up to that. And hopefully if we can get a good base established here they will start spilling out into some of the river bases.”

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Campbell said he compliments the work of the hospital for putting up the nesting box and hopes to see six to eight Peregrines in the city in the future.

Hospital maintenance carpenter, Ray Dorey, said the introduction of the nesting box doesn’t inconvenience the hospital at all.

“Personally I think we need to make room for wild things in the city,” he said.

Through the work of Dorey and his team at the hospital, a nesting box was made that they feel will best accommodate the species to seek shelter.

“They need shelter from the elements, they need a place that is secure so that no ground predators will pray on their chicks, and I think the food supply around here…is one of the many reasons an urban centre such as Calgary attracts falcons,” Dorey said.