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MI / Detroit - 2009-13

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The Peregrine Chick:
2013 NESTING SEASON

Peregrine falcons, chicks in danger atop vacant building
The Motor City Muckraker / 24 June 2013

The 15-story Whittier hotel has had many famous guests – The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, actress Mae West and playboy Horace Dodge Jr.

Now wildlife officials are worried about the abandoned building’s final guests. A pair of peregrine falcons and their chicks are nesting atop the 15-story renaissance building along the Detroit River. But since the owner stopped protecting the historic building this year, vandals, scrappers and urban explorers have been disrupting a pair of peregrine falcons and their chicks.

“It’s a very difficult situation; we are very worried about them,” Chris Becher, a peregrine falcon coordinator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, told me. “They shouldn’t live in that kind of environment.”

To the falcons’ credit, they have been aggressively defending their chicks, diving at people on the roof.

Peregrine falcons have been nesting atop the Whittier since five peregrines were released in metro Detroit in 1987 as part of an effort restore the then-endangered species to the Midwest and East Coast. Since then, more than 230 chicks have hatched in southeast Michigan, according to the DNR. The population of peregrine falcons was virtually wiped out in the 1950s due to DDT. In 1964, there were no known peregrine falcons living east of the Mississippi River, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

source: http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2013/06/24/peregrine-falcons-chicks-in-danger-atop-vacant-detroit-building/

Check out more about the Whittier here - Historic Whittier crumbles as owner neglects high-rise


Peregrine Preservation Watch:  Falcons at the Vacant Whittier Hotel Displeased with Scrappers
Paul Beshouri (Curbed) / 2 July 2013



What could possibly make the scrapping of a beautiful, historic building any worse? The endangerment of some undoubtedly cute falcon chicks.The Whittier Hotel—a riverfront beauty with some excellent terracotta detailing—is deteriorating rapidly. More rapidly than an abandoned building needs to, at least, as the building has been left largely unsecured. That's becoming a problem for a family of Peregrine Falcons living on the building's roof.

Peregrine Falcons have been nesting on the Whittier's roof since 1987, as the Whittier's height mimics their natural nesting sites on cliff ledges. According to Motor City Muckraker, the unsecured Whittier is now open to scrappers and trespassers, disturbing the birds on the roof. The chick's parents are fierce (Mama falcon has been diving at nearby humans) but the DNR is concerned and monitoring the situation.

Just a few years ago, the Whittier appeared destined for a $66M luxury condo conversion, after which it was to be rebranded as Whittier Park. While the Whittier Park website is still up, Motor City Muckraker says the ownership has "all but given up" on the buildling's security. According to Why Don't We Own This, building owner Phoenix Communities is $23K behind on their property taxes.

source:  http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2013/07/-how-could-you-possibly.php

Alison:
Thank you for the links, TPC! I do follow some of these nests.

Miriam and Allegro nest on the Whittier Building:

The Peregrine Chick:
Here's the link to the Macomb County (that's Detroit) Audubon Newsroom - lots of links on the peregrines nesting in the area ... I hope to have time to go through them in the next little while but thought y'all might be interested in reading up on them first ....

http://www.geocities.com/macomb_audubon/Newsroom.html#Falcons

Alison:
I'm not sure where their nest is, or how accessible it is, but people definitely do monitor these nests. I hope someone saw something - or do you think there is any chance that the chicks were ill?

carly:
I don't know but the more I think on it - chicks just don't disappear especially on private property.  Only a few people would have access to the area where they are nesting so no doubt someone either wanted to sell them or get rid of them.  I hope they investigate but without a cam to provide evidence - I doubt anyone will admit to it.

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