GRAND RAPIDS -- There is a bunch of squawking coming from a couple of Kent County Courthouse regulars these days.
They're preferred guests, not habitual offenders. Swooping and circling high above the courthouse's 12th floor, they're prepared to dispense swift justice unto any would-be threat to their young.
The pair of peregrine falcons relocated to the courthouse roof in March from their former digs at the McKay Tower, 146 Monroe Center NW. Building renovations forced them to pack their bags and find a new landlord.
Chuck Dubridge, facilities manager at the courthouse, gave them a place to land.
"It's nice at least to provide a location so the species can grow, hopefully," Dubridge said.
John Will, a Wyoming resident and longtime peregrine champion, lauded Dubridge's effort. In 1986, he co-founded Peregrine Grand Rapids, a now-defunct community activist organization dedicated to preserving and proliferating the area peregrine population.
The group released 24 chicks over four years in West Michigan.
• Adults are about the size of a crow -- 15 to 21 inches long with a 40-inch wing span. Females are about 25 percent larger than males.
• Reach breeding maturity at 2 years
• Feed mostly on songbirds, shorebirds and ducks, and starlings and pigeons in urban areas
• A mother lays an average "clutch" of four eggs in the spring
• Found on all continents except Antarctica
• The name "peregrine" is a derivative of the Latin "peregrinus," meaning "wanderer."
Sources: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Nik Kalejs, state DNR; Cornell University
"(Dubridge's efforts) certainly saved the program for this year and may well have provided the continuity to keep their nesting interests here for the future," Will said.
Peregrines are a threatened species nationally, but are listed as endangered in Michigan due to a dearth of high-altitude nesting sites. In the 1960s, the introduction of DDT and other pesticides wiped out many birds east of the Mississippi River, Will said.
Recovery teams composed of local, state and national biologists began working together in the early 1970s to bolster the population. As a result, the peregrine was removed from the federal endangered list in 1999.
The regional flagship preservation organization, the Minnesota-based Midwest Peregrine Society (MPS), covers 13 states and two Canadian provinces. Its data shows fewer than 25 falcons produced in the Midwest in 1988 versus about 450 in 2007.
Nik Kalejs, senior wildlife biologist with the state Dept. of Natural Resources, recently banded the legs of the two fuzzy white babies -- not even a month old -- as mom and dad scorned him overhead. The leg tags help U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials keep tabs on where the birds are moving.
"The fact is, if we hadn't taken the steps to curtail use of pesticides, we would have lost a species in Michigan," Kalejs said.
Falcons in the Midwest mostly nest in structures such as buildings and smokestacks since there is a lack of natural, craggy areas, Kalejs said. In 2007, 56 percent of nests in the Midwest were located on buildings, according to the MPS.
"The requirements of these birds are a little more unique as far as nesting," Kalejs said. "Obviously, West Michigan isn't a place where we're going to find big, rocky cliffs, but they've managed to adapt to manmade structures."
Other successful area sites include the Consumers Energy B.C. Cobb Plant on Muskegon Lake and the Grand Haven Board of Light and Power. The Grand Haven site has hosted 25 hatchlings. The Cobb plant hacking box served five chicks last year.
At the courthouse, the chicks live in a wooden hacking box about 2 feet high and 3 and a half feet wide. It protects chick from inclement weather and "baking in the sun," Will said. There they will dwell until fully fledged, which is 40 days after birth. These were born on May 23.When taking a nose dive, peregrines can reach speeds of 180 to 200 mph.
"They're pretty tremendous birds," Kalejs said. "Amazing flyers.
"Just knowing that they're out there is kind of a cool thing for people."