Adams County now has two nesting pairs of falcons with a successful nest at each DP&L power plant. In early May four chicks hatched at the DP&L Stuart plant, a month later another three chicks hatched the Killen plant located near Ohio Brush Creek. The three chicks at the Killen plant represent the inaugural class of what is hoped to be a long string of successful nesting. Previous attempts have been unsuccessful but a recent move of the nest box to a more secluded location at the plant appears to have done the trick.
The female identified from a leg band is a Pennsylvania native that was hatched in 2009 at the Pittsburg Cathedral Tower of Learning. The male has so far eluded identification. The new chicks, two females and a male, were banded and given a brief medical checkup before being delivered back to the nest box. The nest box, a simple platform measuring about 2' x 2' sits in a window high atop a coal handling structure at the plant. The biologist took blood samples and attached leg bands before returning the noisy trio to the nest.
Locally other notable bird sightings would include two juvenile bald eagles seen recently at the Manchester Islands, a mature bald eagle was spotted at a private pond near Peebles last week and on May 28 a mature bald eagle visited Wrightsville.
Tom Cross
Exec. Director
Adams County TVB
