Laura sent this update on Zephyr as posted on the
Midwest Peregrine Society facebook page.
"2012 will be the 10th nesting year for Zephyr and Guinevere who arrived in 2003. Zephyr was hacked at a powerplant in Muscatine, Iowa in 1999 and Guinevere was wild-produced and banded here along with her first brood. The first nest box was atop the Tower Bank building but when the building changed ownership, the box was moved across the courtyard to the County-City building. The birds stay throughout the year, and except for the breeding season, can be spotted at night in their usual roosts in the west-side windows of the Tower building.
When the nest box camera came online in 2011, the field team saw, to our dismay, that Zephyr was missing his right foot above the toes and immediately wondered if nesting would occur-which it did, but several weeks later than usual. We then had the opportunity to watch some different behaviors, especially during the incubation/brooding weeks. Where previously Guinevere had done the major portion of the incubation with Zephyr taking only a couple of short stints, it was now obvious that the birds were much more evenly sharing the duty and hunting for themselves during their "time off".
After the eggs hatched, Guinevere did the feeding but she was still doing more hunting than had been done in the past. The pair successfully fledged two chicks, and we watched Zephyr learn to live with his condition-adjusting his balance to compensate for the loss and learning a different way of approaching and landing on the nighttime window ledge. He survived the 2011-12 winter, probably a combination of his own adjustments and hunting skill and possibly also the fact that Indiana didn't have the usual hard winter weather.
Both birds have been seen visiting the nest box area more often and we'll wait and see what happens this year. To watch their activities yourself, go to:
http://southbendin.gov/falcam/"