An adult peregrine falcon sits on the ledge alongside the nesting spot where she raises her falcon chicks. Their home is on a side of the West Building on the Medical Campus.

Jeffrey Meshach, director of the World Bird Sanctuary, moves the young falcons to and from their nest in a pet carrier.

A falcon chick takes in the scene in the office where it and its siblings receive identifying bands. The birds are placed in a pet carrier as they’re plucked from their nest, and again on their way back to their home.

Sheri Palmer, a School of Medicine public safety officer, holds one of the young falcons. Palmer acts as a guardian angel to the birds. She and facility engineer Rob Ruzicka rush to help whenever they receive reports of falcon fledglings on the ground. They then return the birds to their home on the West Building.

One of the wide-eyed young falcons watches as its identifying bands are prepared.

From the left, Sheri Palmer, a School of Medicine public safety officer, and Jeffrey Meshach of the World Bird Sanctuary help keep a young falcon still as Roger Holloway, also of the World Bird Sanctuary, prepares to draw blood from the bird.

Pictured is one of the young falcons hatched in a cubby of sorts on the side of the West Building. Only a few decades ago, falcons were nearly eradicated by pesticide poisoning, but efforts to re-establish populations have been successful.

Jeffrey Meshach, director of the World Bird Sanctuary, (right) puts identifying bands above a young falcon’s talons as Roger Holloway, the sanctuary’s director of operations, holds the squawking bird.

Even at just a few weeks of age, a young falcon’s talons are intimidating.

The formidable wingspan of an adult falcon compared to a sparrow and a human.

Once this young falcon’s fluff is replaced with feathers, it will enable it to fly faster than any bird in the world. It has been reported that peregrine falcons can achieve speeds of 200 mph or even faster.

Identifying bands are placed just above the falcon’s talons. They allow ornithologists to track a bird’s age and where it came from. The mother falcon on the Medical Campus, for example, wears bands that identify her as having been hatched in captivity by the World Bird Sanctuary in 2002 and then released. She is the oldest peregrine falcon that Jeffrey Meshach, director of the World Bird Sanctuary, has ever known to lay viable eggs and raise a family.

THE BIG PICTURE

Resident raptors

Peregrine falcon chicks banded at Medical Campus

Photos and story by Elizabethe Holland Durando

Several years ago, construction workers noticed a peregrine falcon nest on the side of the West Building, one of the oldest buildings on the Medical Campus. School of Medicine employees eager to see the falcons thrive then crafted three potential nesting sites, including one on the side of the West Building.

Falcons have snubbed two of the spots (despite the fact both offer a penthouse view). But a mother falcon — or perhaps more than one — has returned to the West Building year after year to hatch and raise chicks.

Each year, after the chicks are a few weeks old, experts from the World Bird Sanctuary visit campus to apply identifying bands above the birds' talons and take blood samples. They access the nest via a movable panel, slip the chicks into a pet carrier to take them to a quiet office for banding and blood tests, then return them, usually before their mother even realizes they are missing.

This year, four chicks hatched — two females, two males. All four were safely banded, tested and returned to their nest. Whether any of the newbies will take to the other two long-spurned potential nests on campus remains to be seen.

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Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, publishes Outlook digital magazine six times per year. MORE >

Washington University School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty — the Washington University Physicians — also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. Through its hospital affiliations, the School is linked to BJC HealthCare.