DENVER (KDVR) — Denver gains new residents every day, but some that recently moved in high above the city streets are the first of their kind known to call it home.
Earlier this year, the Raptor Education Foundation got news it had hoped for for years. Peregrine falcons had nested atop a Denver skyscraper. While not only good for the city, it’s a sign of a return for the bird that was once on the brink of extinction.
“We discovered that they were nesting off of Lawrence,” said Anne Price, president of the Raptor Education Foundation.
While speculation had been around for a few years, this is the first time peregrine falcons have ever been documented living in Denver.
“They are cliff nesters and they like high rises,” Price said.
Found in other major cities around the country, the first time Mile High City residents catch and eat nuisance animals like pigeons or rats.
“The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird on earth in a dive,” Price said.
And they provide a beautiful sight from the street.
“The beautiful long, pointed feathers are what you’re going to be looking for,” Price said.
Falcons in Denver: A welcomed sign of recovery
But most importantly, she said having them here is a welcome sight of recovery after the peregrine falcon was removed from the endangered species list in 1999.
“To finally have them in Denver’s highest, you know, urban center is kind of, sort of, the period at the end of the sentence, as it were, for real, documented statewide recovery,” Price said.
While the falcons spend the summer raising their young here in the city for the first documented time, Price said if all goes well, it likely will not be the last.
“That absolutely encourages them to return the next year and not reinvent the wheel,” she said.
Price said the falcons will most likely be here through the summer before migrating south in the fall, so she encourages grabbing a pair of binoculars and checking them out while you can. You can also check out videos of the falcons by visiting the Raptor Education Foundation website.
