Tiny screeches and caws were matched by "oohs" and "ahhs" each time a young bird
showed its face Tuesday.
Falcons keep coming to Bowling Green like clockwork.
The city’s perennial pair of Peregrines have set up shop in the bell tower of the county courthouse for
the fourth year in a row, this time siring four young birds in early May that were revealed Tuesday to
each be female.
State wildlife officials were in town again to attach identification bands to the birds’ legs in a
process that always draws a crowd.
Dozens of students packed the courthouse atrium again Tuesday to get a look at the tiny predators, which
biologist Jennifer Norris told them is the fastest animal on the planet when it reaches a flight speed
of around 200 miles per hour.
"They’re actually one of the fastest critters on Earth," Norris told the students from St.
Aloysius.
With assistance from four student volunteers, Norris placed two bands on each of the falcons, one with an
identification number and another with information that can be identified from the distance.
Also assisting Norris was a wildlife officer, Eric VonAlmen, who hadn’t held the animals before but held
his own as they tried to squirm free and escape their new accessories.
"I just didn’t want to break ’em," he said.
"You’ve got to watch their claws."

Earlier in the day, Norris and other Ohio Department of Natural Resources staff banded two young falcons
in Toledo.
Norris said the banding program has been scaled back lately because it’s been so successful, with the
Peregrine population that was down to one pair of birds in 1988 having grown to 28 across the state.
Once a pair has mated successfully in a location like Wood County’s courthouse – ideal because of it’s
height and resemblance to a cliff – it’s not uncommon for the family to return year after year to roost,
Norris said.
The falcon parents were on edge when their children were removed from the nest. A shield guarded those
tasked with snatching up the young ones and placing them back home.
Once missing, one of the two adult falcons searched each corner and crevice looking for their young.
When it was finished the birds were clearly agitated, the babies causing a ruckus in the nest and the
parents soaring and screeching around the steeple in protest.
Banding the animals is almost always a popular event, particularly in Bowling Green, which places special
significance on the falcon.
"It’s the mascot association, I guess. And of course, they’re cute little fuzz balls at this
age," Norris said.