On Friday morning, two baby peregrine falcons (eyases) joined the Salt Lake flock in a nesting box on the window ledge of The Joseph Smith Memorial Building and now you can watch the parents and babies on two live “nestcams.”--- 

In about 44 days, the eyases (baby falcons) will start flight school. At this time, Bob Walters, the Watchable Wildlife Coordinator with the Utah Department of Wildlife and volunteers will flock underneath the nesting box, poised to rescue the clumsy eyases in case they collide into buildings or free-fall from the sky. According to Walters, he and the volunteers call this training period “Hell Week.”

Click the image below to open the livestreams: 

Last year brought some soap opera-esque drama in the Salt Lake peregrine falcon family. A foreign male peregrine falcon (tiercel) started coming around the nest, getting close to the female. Soon after, the actual father falcon sustained an unexplained shoulder injury, compromising his flying, which resulted in the foreign tiercel taking over flight training. The female laid four eggs, but only one hatched. Unfortunately, the baby, named Solo, took flight and crashed into a glass window, dying soon after.

Rumor has it that last year’s usurping tiercel may be the father of this year’s eyases. Like last year, the same female laid four eggs, two have yet to hatch. With good luck and the help of Walters and volunteers, a few more peregrine falcons might take flight this summer and trim down SLC's pigeon population.