thedeadlyhook

Oh, they're not nesting out in the open, and it's only 3.5 floors above street level - lower than most peregrines nest. It isn't a very good picture at the end of this link, but it does show the row of light colored chimney or pillar looking things that front the building. Well, you wouldn't know it to look at those structures, but they're hollow inside. About a foot or so in there's a grating covered with gravel. That's where they nest. Above those pillars is the low eve of the library roof, below which runs a convenient crossbeam - convenient for the parents to perch on. So,their chosen nesting site offers concealment from above and below, protection from the wind, rain &/or snow (like today - yuk!), and plenty of drainage. Not at all a bad choice. Plus, when the chicks (or eyasses) get too big for that small space and start venturing out onto the ledge, they have an adjacent window box about five or six feet below their pillar to fall/drop/flutter (as the case may be) into, so they're not taking a tumble onto the pavement before their ready to fledge. (Not that urban peregrines don't often find end up on the ground when they do try their first flight.) This location has worked out pretty well for the library peregrines, and those of us who watch them aren't complaining either, especially with the seventh floor windows in the building across the street that offer a view down into the nest. Watching the nest from those windows has its drawbacks though; they're in the recessed, center of the building. One's field of fiew is very narrow because the building on either side of the windows juts out so far that only the street directly below and the sky directly above the nest location is visible. You can't keep an eye on the parents when they're in the area but not on or in the nest pillar. You can hear them all right, but you can't see them. Still, can't have everything. We've got it pretty easy, for peregrine watching.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/scubiedeb/EPL%20Falconcam%202007/eplphoto2.jpg