Meet the peregrine falcon chicks nested in downtown Cincinnati

Downtown Cincinnati's Mercantile Library has an unofficial mascot in the peregrine falcon. The fastest animal on earth made a home of an 11th floor ledge this spring, with three fledglings hatching in early May.

After deliberation and suggestions from fans, the library's Executive Director John Faherty revealed the three chicks' new names: Beecher, Potter and Taft.

The name Beecher was inspired by social justice writers Harriet Beecher Stowe and Catherine Beecher. The library's peregrine falcon siblings were incubated with a fourth egg that never hatched, making the reference to two sisters even more meaningful.

Historian Eliza Potter is the namesake of Potter, and Alphonso Taft for Taft. Visiting author Tiya Miles made the winning suggestions, but the Mercantile Library decided to put a personal spin on the name Taft, originally meant by Miles to commemorate President William Howard Taft.

"Alphonso was the father of President Taft, but he is our favorite Taft because he wrote our 10,000 year lease that allows us to be a terrific library to this day," Faherty said in an email.

The three eyases, the proper term for falcon chicks, took their first steps out of the nest in mid-June. A livestream feed set up by the library showed the nest empty, and dedicated viewers voiced their concerns. In the first year of life, eyases can't fly well or hunt on their own, making it treacherous to venture far from the nest. In fact, one eyas born in Cincinnati in 2014 was found dead on a sidewalk in Covington after it flew from the nest and was chased by another bird.

The triplet eyases had only hopped out onto the ledge under the nest as they tested their wings for the first time. This feat is so difficult that only about 40% of eyases survive past one year, according to the University of Toledo.

Although young falcons might struggle to take flight at first, once they are fully fledged they can reach flying speeds up to 200 miles per hour, making them the fastest animal on the planet.

Luckily, all three Mercantile Library eyases survived the first flight, but not without a few hiccups. Raptor Inc. volunteer Jordan West returned one of the fledglings to the nest at the library June 22 after it landed on a downtown street and wasn't able to fly its way back up.

Falcons aren't native to Cincinnati, but they began breeding in Ohio in 1988 as part of efforts to protect the species. In the late 1960s, the peregrine falcon was declared endangered by the federal government after a pesticide called DDT caused a rapid decline in population. Exposure to DDT results in weak eggshells that break during incubation, which also caused near extinction of eagles.

Downtown Cincinnati first became a home for peregrine falcons in 1993, and the Mercantile Library put in the work to attract them. Two peregrines began scoping out an abandoned building next door from 2018 to 2020, but soon after flew away to use a different nesting spot. The library brought in nonprofit Raptor Inc. in 2022 to install a nest box designed specifically for the birds in hopes that the peregrines would choose it as a nesting spot the next spring.

"We missed the raptors," Faherty said. "We find them endlessly fascinating."

The gravel nest box is perfect for constructing a scrape, or a small depression dug into gravel with the birds' claws. The scraped out nests preferred by peregrine falcons don't use sticks or leaves like in traditional birds' nest. Peregrines nest on cliff ledges near rivers in nature, which makes a riverfront metropolitan area like Cincinnati ideal.

Raptor Inc. volunteer Jeff Hays helped to install the nest box in 2022, and when he spoke to the Enquirer he was actively getting ready to climb a tree to put a bird back in its nest. He said that even with a pre-prepared nesting box like one Raptor Inc. built, it can take at least a year for the falcons to accept it as a possible home.

Library staff were ecstatic when their first pair of peregrine parents arrived this spring. The newest set of parents, Juliet and Albert, laid eggs at the new nest box in early April of this year. The falcons are extremely protective of their nest — so much so that Faherty has to keep the shades on his 11th floor office down. When he pulls the shade up, a cacophony of angry squawks and the blur of Juliet or Albert flying in circles ensues.

"They're really good parents," Faherty said. He described what he calls the "different parenting styles" of the two lovebirds, saying that they took turns keeping the eggs warm and alternated in feeding once the eyases were born. When Juliet neglected one the smaller eyases, Albert ensured it was fed when it was his turn to bring back food for the babies.

Juliet is new to the Mercantile Library, while it's possible Albert has nested nearby in previous years. Juliet was born in Romeoville, Illinois eight years ago, which researchers know because she has been tagged with a metal band that carries an identification number. Beecher, Potter and Taft were tagged earlier this year, as it becomes impossible to tag a peregrine falcon once they've reached adulthood.

The library installed a camera this year and set up a livestream feed so anyone could get a bird's-eye view of the family, and viewers have become endlessly engaged with the falcons. YouTube users regularly check in for updates and provide information themselves for anyone who might have missed an interesting development.

With the new livestream available to watch the family's every move, over 400 subscribers eagerly awaited updates and provided information themselves.

"The mom or dad is sitting on the window ledge below, I can see from my office window," user Tricia Kelley wrote June 15. The family was not visible on the livestream for most of that week as Juliet and Albert helped the eyases make the big transition out of the nest.

Now that the eyases have left the nest, the livestream has been discontinued, but hopefully not forever.

Hays said that once the falcons use a spot they will usually come back, which the library hopes will continue in future years now that the peregrine parents have become empty nesters.

For Faherty, having the falcons around is a reminder of the "real world out your window," he said.

"We forget how predictable life is."