Eyrie spies Cameras capture the secret life of the peregrine falcon

By JIM MANN

The Daily Inter Lake

Turkey vultures circle above lichen-covered cliffs overlooking Flathead Lake. A hummingbird buzzes, and seconds later there is a shrill scream from the planet's fastest raptor.

It is a timeless place, but there's something new here, and new to the world of avian biology: two cameras are pointed at a wild peregrine falcon eyrie tucked into the cliffside.

They are the handiwork of Polson biologist Byron Crow, who has pursued the idea of establishing a "falcon cam" at the eyrie since he found it in 1999. But it was a task that proved to be easier said than done.

And it appears to be a first for peregrine falcon research. Crow has scoured the Internet and other resources trying to find a precedent for around-the-clock camera coverage of a wild peregrine nest but can find none.

Falcons have been sporadically filmed in the wild, and there are numerous falcon cams available on the Internet, but they are all focused on falcons in box-like nests on man-made structures in urban areas.

The "godfather" of the falcon cam is at the Kodak Tower in Rochester, N.Y., Crow says.

The Smithsonian Institute, the National Aviary in Minnesota and the Cornell Flight Institute are among the prestigious institutions that have yet to establish remote camera monitoring in a wild peregrine eyrie.

"None of them have anything like this," Crow said.

But making it happen was a long process and a "logistical nightmare," stretching back to the task of simply locating an active eyrie, Crow says.

On the lower slopes of the northern Mission Mountains, Crow points out a series of cliffs in several directions.

"Out of all these cliffs, I'm looking for a 15-inch bird. Then you have to find one ledge or hole that this bird is going to occupy."

It took hundreds of hours of searching, and once the eyrie was located, Crow observed the peregrine pair from a distance. About six years ago, Crow started planning for a falcon cam, but often encountered skeptics who wondered that if it could be done, it would have been done already.

With a handful of supporters, including Stephanie and Lars Pointer and Mission Mountain Audubon, Crow continued with "The Bigfork Falcon Project."

The project involved multi-agency permitting, which mostly coordinated by Jane Ingebretsen, a biologist with the Forest Service's Swan Lake Ranger District.

Crow got a key break in March when he found Doug Shoup of Multimedia Solutions, a Missoula company that specializes in high-tech security systems.

Crow and Shoup had less than a month to design and build a self-sustained video system that could be set up before the migrating falcons returned to the eyrie in early April.

Five people ended up lugging cameras, cables, solar panels, batteries, tools, hard drives and lumber up to the remote cliff. It took six trips. Crow rappelled down the cliff face to install the two cameras in the empty eyrie.

When they returned just over a week later, the system was activated.

"April 14 was when their technicians turned on the laptop and there was a peregrine falcon staring at us," Crow said.

And that was an enormous accomplishment for Crow.

"It was a huge success," he said. "We gave each other high fives and thanked the powers that be that it worked. It was no small feat."

Since then, Crow has recorded hundreds of hours of activity at the eyrie, including the hatching of four "downy" falcon chicks.

He's observed nighttime behavior, parenting behavior and prey delivery.

Crow has witnessed a surprising and apparently symbiotic relationship between the falcons and a pack rat.

"There's a pack rat that comes into the eyrie at night, like a janitor, and cleans it up," he said. "The falcons watch it, and it doesn't go near the eggs."

What remains to be seen is how the young falcons respond to the rodent, and vice versa.

All the new footage is "just raising more questions" for Crow.

The eyrie has been actively producing young for years, but Crow wonders where they go. Last year, he found a new eyrie to the north, but that's all.

"We have a secure nesting area. We have a great prey base. But where are they?"

Crow is also pondering the potential for establishing a direct link from the falcon cams to the Internet, something that could happen next year.

"This is the Model T," Crow says, pointing to the two solar panels and the covered recorder box on top of the cliff, with video cables snaking to the eyrie below.

"On a scale of one to crude, this is crude," Shoup says. "But hey, it works … It's amazing it hasn't been done before, because this isn't rocket science."

Shoup said the system can be improved and the Internet link can be established with the installation of a small tower with a line of sight to telecommunications towers as far away as Polson.

The Bigfork Falcon Project, with its shoestring budget, was not typical for Multimedia Solutions, Shoup said.

"This has been a lot of fun. The technicians, they all want to be involved. And I mean all of them, even the boss," Shoup said. "It's not a day-to-day project for us."

Shoup said the staff have found Crow to be fun to work with.

"His enthusiasm is infectious," he said.

Indeed, Crow has a bubbling enthusiasm worthy of Steve Irwin, the late "Crocodile Hunter."

When the falcons shriek below the cliffs, he jumps up for a look to see the male go one way and the female another. He describes their vocalizations, and points out the distinct swept-back wings that inspired modern jet aircraft design.

"They basically hunt using physics," Crow says, describing how peregrine falcons will spot their targets from high above, and then drop into a "stoop" dive with speeds in excess of 200 mph. Using sheer velocity and a glancing blow with their talons, peregrines kill their avian prey "on the wing."

For that reason, peregrines have been a favorite species for falconry - the ancient sport of using falcons for hunting.

"If you have a well-trained falcon, it's like having a cruise missile," Crow said. "They don't miss."

Crow now has a deep interest in watching the young falcons develop.

At some point, he said, they will begin "stick play" in the eyrie - a ritual of passing a stick from one to the other.

"It's like watching a little falcon circus," he said. "They are actually practicing for prey exchange."

The young falcons should fledge from the nest by early July. Once that happens, Crow said, they are fun to watch because they behave like teenagers, testing out their new speedy wings.

"It's just amazing to watch them."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com